: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF CRM IMPLEMENTATION IN THE MALAYSIAN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

Abstract

The deregulation of the Malaysian automobile industry has resulted in intensified competition with the presence of more players in the market place. Customer relationship becomes important when there are many companies trying to satisfy their customer needs and create customer loyalty. The practice of CRM is relatively new in Malaysia and this exploratory study is one of the first to look into this area with regards to the automobile industry. This study compares the perspectives of two national and ten non-national car companies in Malaysia with special reference to the various CRM Programs implemented by them. Despite the fact that CRM usage is still relatively new in Malaysia, the study concluded that it has been indeed proved useful to Malaysian automobile marketers, especially in identifying the target customers and reach specific customer segments besides identifying various customer needs. The researchers suggest some areas for future research.