Handbook of Strategic Account Management: A Comprehensive Resource

Recent developments in relationship portfolios: a review of current knowledge

by Judy Zolkiewski

Abstract

Recent developments in relationship portfolio research are reviewed including contextuality, their significance in technology-intensive industries and innovation, portfolio dynamics and developments in customer lifetime value and other finance-based models. The interfaces between CRM, segmentation and portfolio analysis are also considered. The managerial implications are presented; these highlight the ongoing usefulness of portfolio analysis as a strategic decision-making tool.

Introduction

For business, relationship management is as central today as it was 30 years ago. Academic focus has moved from the marketing mix (e.g. Borden 1964) through relationship marketing (e.g. Grönroos 1994; Payne et al. 2005) to the current discourses on customer experience and engagement (e.g. Brodie et al. 2011), value (e.g. Ettenson et al. 2013; Ngo and O'Cass 2009; Woodruff 1997) and service-dominant logic (e.g. Grönroos 2011; Vargo and Lusch 2011). Nonetheless, it is the firms that successfully manage and meet the needs of their customers profitably that remain at the forefront of business. While customer relationship portfolios do not attract extensive attention, they remain an underlying theme in much of the research that is undertaken into strategic account management and strategy itself, and reflect the increasingly strategic role of business-to-business marketing (Wiersema 2012) and ...