Customer Relationship Management counts as an Major Elective for Global Supply Chain Management and Entrepreneurship. The course is especially relevant for student interested in working somewhere in the 80 percent of our economy comprised of service industries/businesses, including consulting, healthcare management, transportation, online retail, and many others.
About CRM
What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? CRM has been defined as “A business strategy that maximizes profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction by organizing around customer segments, fostering behavior that satisfies customers, and implementing customer-centric processes.” (Gartner Group)
This CRM course covers methods and principles for effective management of customer relationships and interactions. We will learn how to analyze customer-interactive processes and how to facilitate customer roles and customer value. We will also study methods for strategically redesigning customer relationships to achieve increased satisfaction and decreased costs. This includes identifying and evaluating opportunities for service innovation, which often includes application of technology. One type of CRM technology is so-called “CRM Systems” for tracking customer information. We will discuss the impact of CRM Systems and other technologies on customer service design, although this is not “tech” course per se.
Course learning objectives:
Be prepared to analyze and improve customer relationships and service process design. This includes…
- Learn important concepts pertaining to service design and improvement (PCN Analysis).
- Be able to synthesize and integrate principles that guide effective service design.
- Be able to explain principles of service design in a convincing way.
- Be able to describe factors for the effective application of service technologies.
- Be able to apply service design principles to real organizations.
Teaching Methods and Materials:
The course will involve study of customer relationship management through a method known as PCN Analysis. We will learn PCN Analysis through exercises involving CRM design decisions. The foundation of the course is the text:
Essentials of Service Design and Innovation, 4th Edition, by Scott Sampson (2015). Available online or at the BYU Store.
Additional course readings, listed on the syllabus schedule, are available from the university website.
About the instructor
Besides teaching at BYU, Professor Sampson has taught service design and innovation courses at leading MBA and Executive MBA programs including at Cambridge University (UK), Exeter University (UK), University of Surrey (UK), Pforzheim University (Germany), and Chinese European International Business School (Shanghai). He has also been a visiting lecturer at the IE Business School in Madrid (Spain), the University of Melbourne School of Business (Australia), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), Catholic University of Portugal (Porto), and the University of Florence (Italy). He has been recognized as #3 researcher in service operations worldwide and is a recognized leader in the area of service design. In 2019 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the POMS College of Service Operations (which probably means he is a has-been). He has been on the BYU faculty since 1996, previously taught at Florida State University, received MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Virginia (Darden School), and an undergraduate degree from BYU. He and his wife Kristin are the parents of six delightful children.
Recent syllabus
To see a recent syllabus from the CRM course click here.