International Business Research, Teaching and Practice The iourrral of ttre AIB-SE Intemational Basinest: Rnearch Teaching ad Prattice 2008 2(1) CusrouER REr-ATroNSHrp MANAGEMENT StnetBcv (A TnecHrNG Cesu Sruov) Tamilla Curtis. Nova Southeastcrn University 317 Aleatha Drive, Davtona Beach, FL 32114 Donald Barerc Nova Southcastcrn Univcrsifi, 1900 Pelican Landing Blvd, #1t)23, Clear-water, FL 33762 Tom Griffin N c.rva Southeastern University 2900 NE 30th St. Unit 8G, Fort Lauderdale, FL 3330(r Despite the benefit afered lry ilte integration of cuttomer relationsltip management (CkM) strategy with aduanced lechno/0g,, manlt companiu ii//fail to see competitiae aduautage results protnbed b1 CRM.'I'his case stadl proaides a platformfor student anafisis and discassion in lhis area. This case ttud1 is presented in two parts. Tlte frst part descibu the unvccessfal inplemenlation of an integrated CRM ysteru witbin a ntidsiqefnancialfrm based in the (J.l; the second partprouides an oueruiew 0f CkNI deueloptrent in kusia af huo telecomruunication companies. Suge$ed tlueilions .for discassion are presenled. Appendix A prauides an oueruiea of CkM that can be eruplayd al the option rf an instractor tct transition between a spectfic curicu/urt and the case. Teaching ncttes (inckding exanple respzltrr,i for each discussion question) are aaailable b), contacting the come$onding author. Telephone: 386 226 7173 e-mail: cuttist(@erau.edu 53 a fnternational Business: Research, Teaching and Ptactice 2008 (2) 1 MesnrcN GRoup N{ashkin Group Inc. (N{ashkin), a wholly owned subsidiary of Amir Inc., a British financial conglomerate, is a medium-size, asset-managemerit group based in the US. Mashkin consists of three primary dir.isions: a mutual fund company with $10 billion in assets; a separate, but closelr,- affiiiated asset management companv rvith $15 billion in assets; and a financial services company. Since the early 1990s, these three enterprises have shared the same client database and other software programs. The first program utilized, an inexpensive, off-the-shelf system with limited capabilities, was used by the sales department of both the mutual fund company and the asset maflagement company primarily to store names, telephone numbers, and notes of salespeople. A second progtam was used by the IT department to update the database as new clients arrived and record daily sales data. A third program was installed at all internal and external salespersons' workstations and laptops to provide current data to the sales force. In addition, the Client Service Call Center used a sepa(ate designed-in-house program to track incoming call activity. The technology systems utilized by employees in N{ashkin were designed to support general sales activities. None of the software was designed specifically for the needs of their financial divisions (either the murual fund or the asset management side) and lacked the anaiytic functionality as weil as the.

1. International Business
Research, Teaching and Practice
The iourrral of ttre AIB-SE
Intemational Basinest: Rnearch Teaching ad Prattice
2008 2(1)
CusrouER REr-ATroNSHrp MANAGEMENT
StnetBcv
(A TnecHrNG Cesu Sruov)
Tamilla Curtis.
Nova Southeastcrn University
317 Aleatha Drive, Davtona Beach, FL 32114
Donald Barerc
Nova Southcastcrn Univcrsifi,
1900 Pelican Landing Blvd, #1t)23, Clear-water, FL 33762
Tom Griffin
N c.rva Southeastern University
2900 NE 30th St. Unit 8G, Fort Lauderdale, FL 3330(r
Despite the benefit afered lry ilte integration of cuttomer
relationsltip management (CkM) strategy
with aduanced lechno/0g,, manlt companiu ii//fail to see
competitiae aduautage results protnbed b1
CRM.'I'his case stadl proaides a platformfor student anafisis

2. and discassion in lhis area.
This case ttud1 is presented in two parts. Tlte frst part descibu
the unvccessfal inplemenlation of
an integrated CRM ysteru witbin a ntidsiqefnancialfrm based in
the (J.l; the second partprouides
an oueruiew 0f CkNI deueloptrent in kusia af huo
telecomruunication companies. Suge$ed tlueilions
.for discassion are presenled. Appendix A prauides an oueruiea
of CkM that can be eruplayd al the
option rf an instractor tct transition between a spectfic
curicu/urt and the case. Teaching ncttes
(inckding exanple respzltrr,i for each discussion question) are
aaailable b), contacting the
come$onding author.
Telephone: 386 226 7173
e-mail: cuttist(@erau.edu
53
a
fnternational Business: Research, Teaching and Ptactice 2008
(2) 1
MesnrcN GRoup
N{ashkin Group Inc. (N{ashkin), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Amir Inc., a British
financial conglomerate, is a medium-size, asset-managemerit
group based in the
US. Mashkin consists of three primary dir.isions: a mutual fund
company with
$10 billion in assets; a separate, but closelr,- affiiiated asset

3. management companv
rvith $15 billion in assets; and a financial services company.
Since the early 1990s,
these three enterprises have shared the same client database and
other software
programs. The first program utilized, an inexpensive, off-the-
shelf system with
limited capabilities, was used by the sales department of both
the mutual fund
company and the asset maflagement company primarily to store
names,
telephone numbers, and notes of salespeople. A second progtam
was used by the
IT department to update the database as new clients arrived and
record daily sales
data. A third program was installed at all internal and external
salespersons'
workstations and laptops to provide current data to the sales
force. In addition,
the Client Service Call Center used a sepa(ate designed-in-
house program to track
incoming call activity.
The technology systems utilized by employees in N{ashkin were
designed to
support general sales activities. None of the software was
designed specifically for
the needs of their financial divisions (either the murual fund or
the asset
management side) and lacked the anaiytic functionality as weil
as the collaborative
functionaLitv to interface with other systems rvithin Mashkrn.
This limited
functionaliry of technologv forced emplovees to spend an
inordinate amount of
time manuall1, jumping bctween applicauons and creating new

4. reports to import
and export data between applications that could not be cr-
rrrentil, integrated.
Srgnificant effort was also expended in e-mail and other
communications
between users throughout the firm to collect information that
rvas not recorded
in the system.
STorking around the limitations of the technologies had been
possible when
the sales volume and number of clients was small, but with the
expansion of the
company the situation had become unacceptable. Management
felt that it was
time to implement a comprehensive CRM strategy with
integrated technology
specific to the needs of their financial divisions (both the
mutual fund and the
asset management sides). The three companies undet the
umbrella of Mashkin
shared the same objectives for their new CRM approach:
1.To pror.,ide superior service to customers inaddition to the
benefit of
the core ptoduct;
2. To identify, focus on and retain key customers;
3. To develop customer's profiles; and
4. To improve managerial decisions and workflow.
54
Cunis, Barerc & Gdffin

5. CRM Case Srudy
The desired (and expected) outcome of the new strategic
approach, whichincluded the internar
'rorguniru,ion or the use oi ,.rorr..s, was increasedproductiviq'
through ar,""r ".."* to comprehensive client recofcrs;
fasterresponse ro customer needs; better reporting ana
^rrri1.ri.ai capabilities; reducingdupti c a ti o n o f e fro rts ;
^"
d il ;;;, ".;;;;;;,;# lr.i,io,u r,. r.
:
THB CRM pnoyecr
In order to deal with the- complex issues of identification
anclimplemcntation of ,r,. ,pprofrirr.^cnu pr'"grr-,'^ iiM
trrkforce was formedconsisting or m1119eriri i.rr.i "-ptoy..r.
wi.,it. ir;g;^;;_, have rhe resourcesrequired to buy
comprehenrir," ..,jtom svstems, ,r.r4r.. firms are often forcecl
touse low cost, off-the--shelf p."au.,r, -odify produ.i, a*"r"pecr
for other firms,or build a sysrem in-house; ,"d l; Mu"tLir,r;;;rir"
budgetary constraintsprohibited the outrigh, p.rr.hrr" o i^a fury-
"gr;;;;:;;;.- sysrem. ,{n outsidecRN[ consurtant wai hired to
ur.ir,'i.r rrr. pr"'gr;'rrii'rr.rp se]ect an off_the_shelf integrated
sysrem for use trlro,rgho.l; ,r- ?Im. working with theconsultant's
input, the task force determh.a tn. :";d;., the
impremenradonprocess inciuding sofrware ,.qoir.-.rtr, r,endor
,Ii..tio.r, budget, projecttimeframe, p.rs.,i-rn.r involved ;;;-;r..
training. Aft.r Lorrth, oi.._,mpuringprograms thar could be
adaptecr to the unique leeds or-,r_,. companies withinMashkin,
one was seiected ,i-,^, *^ successfu,y^- ,r. Ly a sim,ar, but
rarger,firm' Mashkin finany ."-*iii.a'io , .rror.n CRM ,yri._ and
the softwarelicenses were purch^r.a. ,r. ii dJprrr*.r, ensured that
arnerworks for thenew CRM prog.ram were in pt"... fi. new
system was popuiated with currenrdata that was tia.,sfer..a

6. rroirli-,-"
"ra ar,^u^J;. ;; ;;;J'," minimize risk, thelr1],.J:"-s were left in
pir."*,i
"rr,
purnu.t with th. ,rewty instat.led cRM
Despite careful planning Mashkin faccd major challenses c'rrino
rh^ ^-^:^^-implemen tation. rhe co s t o i the ".* cry,1,: ;; #ffiff
;i::i:.Hr.Tli.jbc subsrantialJl' grcater rhan was budgetcd.
conrrovcrsiar issoverruns began surfacing ar eve{, b;;r"J
meeting. iues concerning cost
In the process o_f dataffansfer tens-of thousands of client fires
with contactnotes and crient prof,es were ,ru.,rr.r..d ura ^gu;;.i,
,iun.r, regard to theirchr,nol.gy. This rack ,f .hr,,n.,r.rg1.-..rn,
users had r'scr', through years ofnores ro iocare recenr enrries
nnd ,iou. rhem near ,n" ;;;, rhe fire in order rorender them
useabr5. .The nt., -o*'nrr..,.a *.r;'il"r". -Jr to.,g_,r_e
crients,many of whom had. done b.rsin"ss *r,i ,f.. firm for 10
orclients had lengthv fires-that *;;;;j" .,.-b.r.o-. ,"i irin.I:i:
ffi;:i:r;result of rhe data rransfer. a-"rg;hl'ri.r., tho,se doing
heavy sares vorume ancrthose atrempting to grean useabr: ;;;r-
;r, of the ,..rirul.i' fires were afFecreclmost' user efficienciis in
this ,.rr-,rrr"].ptimal system declined further.
iir;1,-*
ir
55
7
Intemational Business: Research, Teaching and Practice 2008

7. (2) 1
Another shortcoming was user training. The firm provided on-
line training
of sales personnel in the new CRM system, but the system $/as
based on on-
demand user training and there was no structure in place that
ensured employees
completed the training instead of merely employing it as a
"Help" system. As
employees left and new ones replaced them training deteriorated
to an associate
spending a few miriutes demonstrating the system to a new
employee, who was
ultimately left to figure it out on their own. While an integrated
CRM application
specific to the financial industry was implemented, financial
advisots and
salespeople were not utilizing it. The end users prefetted to rely
on old
technologies and iuggled different applications instead of using
the newly
installed, comprehensive CRM system. Ultimately, the outcome
of the CRM
implementation at Mashkin was completely the oppo$te of what
management
envisioned with end results of employee confusion, whsted
money and lost time.
AMIR LrurtBo
AMIR, a British financial conglomerate with a large
telecommunication
division, was interested in further expanding its business
operations and was
investigating opportunities in the former Soviet Union for its

8. financial services
division. AMIR's Board of Directors sought information on the
current state of
CRM practices in Russia with particular intetest in any specific
challenges that
might be faced in implementing CRM strategies in Russian
ftms.
James Williams, a senior project advisor with AMIR's
intetnational division
was tasked with developing a presentation on CRM in Russia
for the Board of
Directors. Prior to joining AMIR, Williams had been program
manager ^tMashkin and a member of the task force that had
steered the unsuccessfi.rl CRM
project.
l7illiams was given the following report ptepated by a manager
at AMIR's
telecommunications division who had been given a similar
tesearch task focusing
on the communications market.
, ,' it'
,, i 1.,, i-,r,
REPORTTOMANAGEMENT
:
CRM IN THE TELECOMMUNICAT'OilS
'IVDUSTRY'IV
RUSS'A
Srnce fhe collapse of the Sovief Union in 1991, market reform
in

9. Russra has resulted in dramatic changes in the business crmafe.
Economic
reform resulted in a massive transfer of government ownership
to the
private secfor (Hisrich, 1996). The economic restructuring
reform promoted
economic growth ln Russra by making a transition from central
government
control to a market-based economy with large opportunities for
foreign
capital and investment,
56
Curtis, Barrere & Griffin CRM Case Study
There is an indication that foreign and Russran parTners have
different
views of underlying busrness principles. Due to the emphasts of
Russian
management on collectivistic approaches fo buslness and
reliance on
capital and functional aspecfs over human assefs (Katsioloudes
and
lsichenko, 2007), a large number of foreign investment
companies sfarted
joint ventures with Russian companies. Ihe Russian market's
orientation
had previously focused on processrng inventory with emphasis
placed on
supply rather than on consumer demand. As a result, Russlan
companies
largely ignored the consumer (Hisrich, 1996). ln the changing
economic

10. conditions, many firms ln Russia were forced to create new
methods of
dolng busrness.
CRM, a relatively new concepf ln Russra, started to gain
recognition in
early 2000. The finance and telecommunication industries are
the largest
secfors currently employing CRM strafegies. Wagner indicated,
"Contemporary Russian marketing practices cover only a narrow
spectrum
of the diversity of marketing practices observed in other
nations, and
overall intensity of marketing activities ls low in comparison
with
international benchmarks" (2005:1 99).
Io address the needs of the accelerating Russian'CRM market,
the
CRM Association was founded in July 2004 to:':bonduct CRM
forums,
conferences, and discussions; fo assisf organizations with
training; to
distribute publications in order to increase auvareness about
CRM buslness
practices; and to conduct research. The overall goal of the CRM
Associafion is to build CRM awareness and share the best
technologies
and practices, Ihe first CRM congress was held in Moscow in
December
2004, where the besf Russian CRM projects were presented and
new CRM
systems and approaches were dlscussed. More than 350 top
managers
from Russia n and international companies participated in the
congress.

11. lndustries included financial serulces, pharmaceutical,
marketing,
telecommunication, and others. ln March 2005, Microsoft
Corporation,
together with DataArt (a provider of high-end software
outsourcing serulces
with headquafters in New York), conducted a CRM sysfems
seminar in St.
Petersburg, Russia fo address the development of new CRM
so/ufions.
The leading global busrness technology event, the lnterop
Moscow
Exhibition, supported by the American Chamber of Commerce
in Russia,
was held in April 2008, and provided opportunities for
international
companies to examine fhe Russian market and to display the
latest
technologies available in the CRM area. According fo
speciallsfs, Russla
currently represenfs large investment opportunitiesi'for foreign
CRM
technology and consulting companies, '' ''!:
57
fntemational Business: Reseatch, Teaching and Practice 2008
(2) 1
EXAMPLES OF CRM PROJECIS
Although academic research on CRM developmenf ln Russla is
minimal,
the implementation of CRM practices are evident in the example
of two

12. telecommunication providers: Svyazinvest (a national provider);
and
MegaFon-MoscoLv (a regional provider).
Svyazinvest is a telecommunication investment joint stock
company
that was formed by consolidating shares owned by the federal
government
in regional telecom operations during the priuatization of the
telecommunications secfor. lt is considered one' of the largest
telecommunication holding companies in the wotd (Svyazinvest,
2008).
Svyazinvest incorporates seven large mega-regional
telecommunications
operations, and national domestic long-distance and
international
operations. The holding company's subsidtaries operate public
telephone
networks with capacity exceeding 32.4 million telephone lines.
ln 2005,
Svyazinvest, together with IBM and Amdocs (fhe provider of
billing and
CRM products and seryices for integrated customer
management), began
the largest CRM billing modernization projectin Russia
(GlobalTechnology
Unit, 2005). This project was desrgned to replace more than 180
of
Svyazinvest's billing sysfems across seven regions with Amdocs
products,
and included the implementation of new voice and data services
for ifs
subscribers. The CRM project was conducted in several phases,
including
the introduction of a single billing system across Svyazinvest
operations.

13. The new CRM sfrafegles and technologies eventually will
provide
Svyazinvest with the ability to connect different operations
located in
different geographic regions under one umbrella. This will give
employees
the ability to get a single comprehensive view of consumers.
Overall, the
implementation of new technologies is expected to give the
company a
competitive advantage by developing the efficient, ald',effective
network
infrastructure in order to provide a high-quality
telecoiimunication servrce
fo lfs subscrlbers. i'l
MegaFon-Moscow, a division of the MegaFon Group
telecommunication company, and one of the first Russian
mobile operators
in the Global Sysfem for Mobile communications (GSM,), was
formed at the
end of 2001 due to reorganization of severaltelecommunication
companies
(MegaFon-Moscow, 2008). MegaFon-Moscow ls one of the
three telecom
providers responsib/e for the wrreless network coverage of the
Moscow
region. The cell phone market has experienced tremendous
growth in
recent years in Russra. Currently MegaFon-Moscor,v has more
than five
million subscribers. ln March 2005, company management made
a
decision to implement the Amdocs CRM technology (MegaFon-
Moscow,
2005). The new Amdocs automation resulted in many

14. advantages, such as
58
i ,,.,,J
Cuttis, Bartete & GriIlEfi CR-tuI Case Study
time saving for consumers calling the call center, an increase in
the
number of customer's cal/s taken, and a better call routing
structure. New
CRM technologies allowed MegaFon-Moscow to link call
centers with its
sfores, and to provide better access to customer information
data. Amdocs
CRM was able to consolidate MegaFon-Moscow data into a
single unified
platform, which is fully integrated with existing billing systems.
Customer
seruice employees receive fasf access to customer data, giving
them the
ability to respond quickly to customer's reguesfs and provide a
high level of
customer seruice.
l7illiams finished teading the report and reflected on the
manager's analysis
of CRM practices in Russia and his own experiences at
Mashkin.
QursrIoNs Fon DrscussroN:
Assume you are James $7illiams developing a presentation on
CRM in Russia for

15. the Board of Directors of AMIR limited:
1,. Identify strategies for the CRM project implementation.
2. Identify reasons contributing to thd':'failure of the CRM
implementation at Mashkrn.
Discuss the current state of CRM practice in emerging markets
using the example of Russia.
What additional challenges might companies in Russia face in
implementing CRM projects?
RBrpnpNcss
Hisrich, R. D. (1996) The Russian distribution system:
Problems for entrepreneurs and
new venture efltrance', Manageruent Rttearch News, 19(8) : 1 -
1 8.
Global Technology Unit (2005) IBM and Amdocs undertake
Russia's largest wireline
billing ptoject', [www document]
http://www-05.ibm.com ltl/gru/success/amdocs.html (accessed
15 March 2008).
I(atsioloudes, M. L & Isichenko, D. (2007) 'International joint
ventures in Russia: A recipe
for success,' Man age m e n t Re s e arch l{ e tt s, 30 (2) : | 3 3 -
I 52.
NlegaFon-Moscow (2008), [www documcnt]
http://english.rnegafonmoscow.ru/abourf generalf (accgss3d 20
Apri12008).
MegaFon-Moscow (2005) 'MegaFon-Moscow to implement
Amdocs CRM solution',
[wwv, document] http://u'w-w.crm2day.com f oewsf

16. crm/EEplpFykVkkEN{wltbc.php
(accessed 25 February 2008).
:-.;, .
).
4.
59
Intemational Business: Research, Teaching and Practice 2008
(2) 1
Peppers, D. & Rogers, M. (2004) "Roots of Customer
Relationship Management", in
Managing Customer Relationships: A Sttategic Framework,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.:
Hoboken, pp.5-8.
Srryazinvest (2008), fwww document)http:/
/eng.sryazinvest.ru/about/ (accessed 25 April,
2008).
X/agner, R. (2005) 'Contemporary marketing practices in
Russia', European Joantal of
Marketing 39(1. /2): 1.99-21.5.
60