Integrating customer relationship management and supply chain management

Traditionally, the routes to competitive advantage have typically been based upon strong brands, corporate image, effective advertising and, in some cases, price. These are the classic components of conventional marketing strategies. More recently, however, there have been a number of signs that suggest that the power of the brand – in both consumer and industrial markets – is in decline (Brady and Davis, 1993). For whatever reason, the customer seeks more than ‘brand value’, as it is sometimes called, and is looking increasingly for value in a much wider sense.