Integration of customer relationship management: status quo and implications for research and practice

This paper assesses the state‐of‐the‐art research on CRM integration. After introducing the concepts of customer relationship management (CRM) and integration, it argues that CRM integration is vital to corporate performance on the project or enterprise level. Based on results of own and third‐party market studies as well as on a systematic literature review of selected papers in top journals spanning five disciplines, it shows that research has mainly been confined to the specifics of those domains. Interestingly, applicable theories of the firm are not widely employed as a foundation from which to explain CRM integration. This paper identifies research gaps for researchers and practitioners alike and suggests areas that need further consideration in future.

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