Sustaining the ‘connective tissue’ of customer relationships

Abstract

᭹In this paper we focus on the growing trend toward outsourcing customer contact and argue that particular care is required to ensure that the customer relationship is not, in effect, itself outsourced. Outsourced customer contact centers (CCCs), like their internal counterparts, are a key channel for interaction with customers, acting as important transactional, service, and point of sales channels. However, the danger and unintended consequence, particularly in the case of outsourced CCCs, is their greater potential to lead to a weakening of the 'connective tissue' between the fi rm and its customers. The 'voice of the customer' can become muted or lost to decision-makers and strategists within the fi rm, and important organizational learning dissipates. This can result in a negative spiral of 'organizational unlearning', and potential disintermediation of the customer relationship itself. The authors explore this phenomenon, and suggest strategies to ensure both that such 'organizational unlearning' is guarded against, and that a more thoughtful analysis of the end benefi ts is undertaken from the outset.

Bringing ICT to the strategy table

“…While we acknowledge these conceptual developments pointing to the increasing strategic importance of ICTs, our research over the past decade on ICT strategies has shown that many businesses will seek to emulate the ICT strategies of competitors or other perceived leading businesses, rather than seeking appropriate differentiation where this would provide them with their own competitive edge (Stace et al ., 2001, 2004, 2005; Stace and Bhalla, 2008). In the first two of these papers we set out to explain the deflation of the dot.com bubble in 2000 by characterizing six types of behavior exhibited by organizations in the run‐up to the collapse.…”

Bringing ICT to the strategy table

“…While we acknowledge these conceptual developments pointing to the increasing strategic importance of ICTs, our research over the past decade on ICT strategies has shown that many businesses will seek to emulate the ICT strategies of competitors or other perceived leading businesses, rather than seeking appropriate diff erentiation where this would provide them with their own competitive edge (Stace et al, 2001(Stace et al, , 2004(Stace et al, , 2005Stace and Bhalla, 2008). In the fi rst two of these papers we set out to explain the defl ation of the dot.com bubble in 2000 by characterizing six types of behavior exhibited by organizations in the run-up to the collapse.…”

Change leadership: case study of a global energy company

“…Kotter, 1995;Beer, 2000;Pettigrew et al, 2001;Stace and Bhalla, 2008). Building from this, Higgs and Rowland (2005) conducted an extensive review of the change literature and identifi ed two core axes around which change approaches could be organized.…”