Identifying Critical Success Factors for Adopting CRM in Small: A Framework for Small and Medium Enterprises

Economic globalization and Information Technology development have intensified the competition among modern enterprises, independent of the trade and sector in which they develop. In this intense battle, the customer relationship has arisen as an important resource for establishing a competitive position against the rest of competitors. Customer Relationship Management (CRM), particularly, is a new technology, strategy and idea that provides overall guidelines and support for business in the construction, maintenance and management of customer relationships. However, CRM implementation into Mexican Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), is, until now, a field under continuous exploration which mainly generates recommendations about success and failure factors. However, there is evidence about the success of CRM in developing countries that enables countries to establish a comparative basis. This paper provides an exploratory study about CRM experiences in developing countries’ SMEs, and presents a framework which implements the minimal requirements identified for this kind of enterprises in Mexico.