BIZCHINA> Top Biz News
|
BIZCHINA> Top Biz News
|
|
Strategic CRM for Chinese auto OEMs
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-04-14 16:42 CRM Strategy CRM strategy is the overall guidance to the development of the entire customer relationship management. Without an appropriate CRM strategy hardly will investment in other aspects such as Process, IT Infrastructure, Culture and Organization be fruitful. Therefore, it is worthwhile to spend some time and have a look at how companies should work on that. We also would like to share our observation and project experience with regard to the lessons learned from auto OEMs in China.
Linking to the CRM activities (Understand, Offer, Sell, and Retain), an effective CRM strategy should be developed and focused on three dimensions § Customer Portfolio: an appropriate level to group or segment customers § Customer Offer: a focused or broader offering § Customer Interaction: a one-to-one or one-to-all interaction
Different industries have different characteristics and trends along these 3 dimensions of CRM strategy development. Based on our extensive project experiences, CRM strategy in automotive industry is often around a combination of a medium-level grouping of customers, core product offering and mass communication. Two clear trends towards individual customer segmentation and total solution offering have been observed Nevertheless, companies are also different from one to another. An effective CRM strategy must be built based on a clear understanding of the company itself and capture of the customer needs and industry trend. Let's have a look at 2 case studies Shanghai VW introduced Touran into the Chinese market trying to develop its MPV customer segment in China. It is a model with high technology content and quality to be proud of – Touran gained a "five stars" Euro NCAP rating[2]. However, Touran didn't make a big splash as it did in the foreign markets. It was not favored by Chinese consumers. There could be a number of causes leading to this unsuccess. But, it is for sure that a successful introduction of new model is required to have a right target segment and selection of core product based on a full understanding on customer needs Recently, we completed a consultancy task related to customer management for a leading Chinese automotive OEM. Part of the assignment was to assess customer integration of the company. The issue of the company, most probably common industry wide in China, was it thought to have realized customer-oriented product development and offer by collecting customer requirements with an installed research tool. However, its status is still very immature when benchmarking with "Best-In-Class" companies who use formalized tools, conduct survey with large enough sample, collect and incorporate customer inputs (requirements) into various stages of product development and offering. Has your company reached strategic CRM and Customer Management Excellence?[1] According to various studies by ADL and/or other organizations [2] Euro New Car Assessment Program Test, five stars is the highest rating About Arthur D. Little Arthur D. Little, founded in 1886, is the world's first management consultancy. We are unique in linking Strategy, Innovation & Technology to master our clients' business complexity to deliver sustainable solutions. We are unique in the quality of our people, combining deep industry expertise and innovative thinking to create a client focussed service offering. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
|
