The Theoretical Underpinnings of Customer Asset Management

Abstract

Most research in customer asset management has focused on specific aspects of the value of the customer to the company. The purpose of this article is to propose an integrated framework ? called CUSAMS -- that enables service organizations to comprehensively assess the value of their "customer assets" and to understand the influence of marketing instruments on them. The foundation of the CUSAMS framework is a careful specification of key customer behaviors that reflect the length, depth and breadth of the customer-service provider relationship: duration, usage, and cross-buying. This framework is the starting point for a set of theoretically based propositions regarding how marketing instruments influence customer behavior within the relationship, thereby influencing customer value. Then, building on prior research, we provide two empirical examples of how the CUSAMS framework can be used to conduct financial analyses of the return on investment from marketing expenditures designed to influence behavior and increase the value of the customer base. The framework and propositions provide the impetus for a research agenda that identifies critical issues in customer asset management

Keywords: customer asset management, customer equity, customer behavior, customer retention, cross-buying

JEL Classification: M, M31, C44, G12