Customer relationship management in small-medium enterprises: The case of science and technology parks of Iran

CRM (customer relationship management) has been increasingly recognized as a business strategy to effectively understand, manage, and sustain customer relationship with advanced information and communication technologies. Rapid development of customer relationship management applications have seen the trend that more and more SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) are seeking to implement CRM in order to survive and compete in the world. In this study, the factors influencing the implementation of customer relationship management at small and medium-sized science and technology park of Iran were analyzed. The findings of the research indicate that communication-distribution infrastructure, business dynamics, customer relations and innovation-quality factors affect CRM. Business dynamics plays an especially critical role in customer relations. It was also determined that the most important barriers to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in science and technology parks are poor communication, inadequate supporting budgets and inefficiencies in business process.