Managing Customer Knowledge in Service Economy: Proposing a Conceptual Model of CKM for Services

Abstract

In the age of service and knowledge economy, firms have realized that obtaining, managing, and sharing customer knowledge can be a valuable resource to have advantages over their competitors. However, the review of the literature of Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) area suggests that firms often fail in applying the true notion of CKM, thinking it only as a new technological innovation related to IT. Moreover, the terms Knowledge Management (KM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) are not well differentiated in the extant academic literature. This chapter aims to present a conceptual differentiation between these terms by analyzing and comparing the various components of KM, CRM, and CKM. The effort has been made in the chapter to map CKM practices in the Indian service market by presenting case studies of two Indian commercial banks. The authors also made an attempt to propose a conceptual framework of CKM, which can be applied in service firms to successfully implement CKM practices in their organizations.