The effect of CRM use on internal sales management control: An alternative mechanism to realize CRM benefits

  • Authors:

  • Liang Li;Ji-Ye Mao

  • Affiliations:

  • School of Business, Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Beijing 100872, PR China and Department of Management, Bentley University, 175 Forest Street, Waltham, MA 02452, USA;School of Business, Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Beijing 100872, PR China

  • Venue:
  • Information and Management
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

This case study investigates how effective internal sales management control is achieved through CRM use and why enhanced control is beneficial to firms, which are largely overlooked by the extant literature. The main theoretical lens is organizational control theories. Results show that CRM use strengthened formal control and informal control simultaneously. Formal control was significantly boosted by enhanced outcome measurability and process visibility of sales work. CRM use also facilitated informal control, by serving as the carrier of new institutional processes and sales philosophy, which bolstered clan control, and by functioning as tools for self-control.