ABSTRACT
As we continue our journey through Level 3 and higher of the supply chain evolution, we make the passage from supplier relationship management (SRM) to customer relationship management (CRM), a natural progression that combines the learning and experience gained from techniques described in the previous chapters with the ardent desire to keep growing the business. Now the firm begins paying serious attention to using supply chain techniques for building top-line revenue as well as reducing costs that affect the bottom line. Such an effort starts when a firm has the internal house in order by virtue of achieving many of the previously discussed initiatives. It expands as the firm moves into the networked arena with the help of equally skilled business partners. In many industries where the number of customers is small, firms will find CRM becomes a necessary effort to sustain the most important customer relationships, but it certainly is not a self-funding exercise. The links to supply chain become an imperative under these conditions, to include improvement benefits that help fund the effort and achieve the goal of better acquiring, satisfying, and retaining the most profitable customers.
