From customer relationship management to customer‐managed relationship: unraveling the paradox with a co‐creative perspective

Analyzing three perspectives on customer relationship management (CRM) developed by academics, numerous paradoxes are illustrated, as it can be an integrated corporate approach, a specific strategy to customer behavioral modification or differential customer treatment. The paper highlights that an evolutionary change in the concept of CRM is required. Three key findings have been made. First, customers should be the major focus, and companies are actually dealing with customer‐managed relationships (CMR). Second, it is not just a one‐to‐one relationship pattern. The linkages with other parties are the cores of the relationships between customers and companies. It should therefore be a one‐network‐one relationship. Third, a co‐creative approach should be used in order to integrate the CRM and CMR concepts to enable customers to participate in corporate strategy formulation and to encourage companies to cooperate with third parties in serving customers. The financial service sector is taken as a major example to illustrate the full concept of CRM and CMR. Managerial implications arising from the implementation of the co‐creative approach are explored, which include market share and mind share.