客户盈利能力分析中英文外文翻译文献Word下载.docx

客户盈利能力分析中英文外文翻译文献Word下载.docx

《客户盈利能力分析中英文外文翻译文献Word下载.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《客户盈利能力分析中英文外文翻译文献Word下载.docx（7页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

RaaijEMV,VernooijMJA,TriestSV.Theimplementationofcustomerprofitabilityanalysis:

Acasestudy[J].IndustrialMarketingManagement,2003,32（7）:

573-583.

英文原文

Theimplementationofcustomerprofitabilityanalysis:

Acasestudy

RaaijEMV,VernooijMJA,TriestSV

Abstract

Byusingcustomerprofitabilityanalysis（CPA）,firmscandeterminetheprofitcontributionofcustomersegmentsand/orindividualcustomers.ThisarticlepresentsanapproachfortheimplementationofCPA.Theimplementationprocessisillustratedusingacasestudyofafirmproducingandsellingprofessionalcleaningproducts.ThecasestudyhighlightsspecificissuesrelatedtoCPAinanindustrialsetting,andtheresultsprovideexamplesofthepossiblebenefitsofimplementingaprocessofregularCPA.D2003ElsevierScienceInc.Allrightsreserved.

Keywords:

Customerprofitability;

Customerrelationshipmanagement（CRM）;

Implementation;

Casestudy

1.Introduction

Withinanygivencustomerbase,therewillbedifferencesintherevenuescustomersgenerateforthefirmandinthecoststhefirmhastoincurtosecurethoserevenues.Whilemostfirmswillknowthecustomerrevenues,manyfirmsareunawareofallcostsassociatedwithcustomerrelationships.Ingeneral,productcostswillbeknownforeachcustomer,butsalesandmarketing,service,andsupportcostsaremostlytreatedasoverhead.Customerprofitabilityanalysis（CPA）referstotheallocationofrevenuesandcoststocustomersegmentsorindividualcustomers,suchthattheprofitabilityofthosesegmentsand/orindividualcustomerscanbecalculated.

TheimpetusfortheincreasingattentionforCPAistwofold.First,theriseofactivity-basedcosting（ABC）inthe1990sledtoanincreasedunderstandingofthevaryingextenttowhichthemanufacturingofdifferentproductsusedafirm’sresources（Cooper&

Kaplan,1991;

Foster&

Gupta,1994）.WhenusingABC,firmsfirstidentifycostpools:

categoriesofactivitiesperformedwithintheorganization（e.g.,procurement）.

Second,informationtechnologymakesitpossibletorecordandanalyzemorecustomerdata—bothintypeandinamount.Asdatasuchasnumberoforders,numberofsalesvisits,numberofservicecalls,etc.arestoredattheleveloftheindividualcustomer,itbecomespossibletoactuallycalculatecustomerprofitability.

Itisconsideredgoodindustrialmarketingpracticetobuildandnurtureprofitablerelationshipswithcustomers.Tobeabletodothis,afirmshouldknowhowcurrentcustomerrelationshipsdifferinprofitability,aswellaswhatcustomersegmentsofferhigherpotentialforfutureprofitablecustomerrelationships.

2.ThepotentialbenefitsofCPA

ThedirectbenefitsofCPAlieintheinsightitprovidesintheunevendistributionofcostsandrevenuesovercustomers.Theinformationonthespreadofcostsamongcustomerswillbevaluableinparticular,asthedistributionofrevenueswillgenerallybeknowntothefirm.Thisinsightintheextenttowhichspecificcustomersconsumethefirm’sresourcesgeneratesnewopportunitiesforthefirminthreeareas:

costmanagement,revenuemanagement,andstrategicmarketingmanagement.

First,CPAuncoversopportunitiesfortargetedcostmanagementandprofitimprovementprograms.Publishedfiguresshowexampleswhere20%ofcustomersgenerate225%ofprofits（Cooper&

Kaplan,1991）,wheremorethanhalfofthecustomersisunprofitable（Storbacka,1997）orwherethelossonacustomercanbeashighas2.5timessalesrevenue（Niraj,Gupta,&

Narasimhan,2001）.CPA,asaspecificapplicationofABC,revealsthelinksbetweenactivitiesandresourceconsumption,anditthereforepointsdirectlytoprofitopportunities（Cooper&

Kaplan,1991）.Second,CPAprovidesabasisforwell-informedpricingdecisions,bonusplans,anddiscountstocustomers.Itshowswhyfillingsomeorderscostmorethanothersandenablesfirmstohavetheirpricesreflectthosedifferences（Shapiroetal.,1987）.Theanalysisoutcomesmayalsohelpinrevisingexistingdiscountingstructurestoimproveprofitability（cf.Kalafatis&

Denton,2000）.

Third,CPAopensuppossibilitiesforsegmentationandtargetingstrategiesbasedoncostandprofitabilityprofiles.Somecompanieshavesegmentedtheircustomerbaseinplatinum,gold,iron,andleadcustomers,basedontheircontributionstoprofits.

ThesepotentialbenefitsofCPAarefrequentlycitedintheliterature.YettheissuesarisinginactuallyimplementingCPAareseldomdiscussed.Inthenextsection,anoverallapproachfortheimplementationofCPAispresented.

3.AnoverallapproachforimplementingCPA

TheactualcalculationofcustomerprofitabilityamountstoanextensiveABCexercise.TomakeCPAreallyuseful,theimplementationshouldgofurtherthandrawingupacustomerprofitabilitymodelandpluggingdataintoit,asthevalueoftheanalysisisintheactionsbasedonbetterinformeddecision-making.Therefore,asix-stepapproachtoimplementingCPAissuggested.Thisapproach,outlinedinFig.1,providesadirectiveforateamconsistingofatleastamarketerandamanagementaccountant.Dependingonthecharacteristicsofthefirmanditsinformationsystems,theteamcanalsoincludeoperationsmanagersandinformationspecialists.

ThesixthandfinalstepdealswithestablishingthenecessaryinfrastructureforthecontinueduseofCPA.EmbeddingCPAinthedailyroutinesofsalesandmarketingandaccountingmaywellnecessitatechangesinprocedures（e.g.,marketingplanning）,changesinresponsibilities,andchangesinsystems（e.g.,informationsystems）.Thenextsectionpresentstheapplicationofthissix-stepapproachinabusiness-to-businesssetting.

4.TheimplementationofCPAinanindustrialcleaningfirm

Thecaseorganizationisoneofthenationalsalesofficesofamultinationalfirmthatengagesinthedevelopment,production,sales,andmarketingofprofessionalcleaningproducts（chemicals,cleaningsystems,andconsumables）.Amongthefirm’smainmarketsareindustriallaundry,officecleaning,hotelcleaning,kitchenhygiene,andpersonalhygiene.Itsproductsaresolddirectly（tolargeend-userssuchasin-flightcaterersandtoserviceintegratorssuchasprofessionalcleaners）,aswellasthroughdistributors.Thefirmhasdivideditsmarketintomarketsectorsbasedonthenatureoftheend-user（e.g.,healthcare,lodging,ordairy）.Aswithmanyindustrialfirms,thisfirmemploysaconsiderablesalesandserviceforce.Thesalesforceisresponsiblefortheinitiation,maintenance,anddevelopmentofcustomerrelationships.Theserviceforceisresponsiblefororderprocessing,customertraining,advice,productdemonstrations,maintenance,andrepair.

Proceduresarealsopartoftheinfrastructure.Toimprovetheaccuracyoffuturecustomerprofitabilityfigures,thesalesmanagersandaccountmanagerswererequestedtostartregisteringthedurationoftheircustomervisits.Intheabsenceofsucharegistrationinthefirstroundofanalysis,salescostswereallocatedtocustomersasapercentageofrevenues.Thewillingnessofthesalesforcetorecordtheirtimespentforcustomerswashigh,astheyunderstoodtheimportanceofthisinformationforaccurateanalysesofcustomerprofitability.

5.LearningfromCPA

Theexercisedescribedabovewasthisfirm’sfirstexperiencewithCPA.AsWardandRyals（2001）suggest,themosteffectiveapproachforattainingaccuratevaluationsofcustomerrelationshipsisaniterativeapproachinwhichacustomerprofitabilitymodelisprogressivelyimplementedintheorganization.Thismeansthat,witheachcycle,themodelistobeimproveduntilthecalculationsaresufficientlyaccurateformarketingpurposes.Forthisfirm,thefirstimprovementforthenextiterationconcernstheregistrationofsalesforcehourstoallocatesalescostsmoreaccurately.IthasfurtherdecidedtorepeattheCPAexerciseevery6monthsandimplementimprovementsalongtheway.Forthefirm,theexercisehassparkedlearningonthreedifferentlevels:

Onthefirst,andmostbasiclevel,thefirmhaslearnedwhateachcustomer’slastyearcontributionhasbeentothefirm’soperatingincomeandhowthisinformationcanbeusedforcostmanagement,revenuemanagement,andmarketingmanagement.Second,thefirmislearninghowrevenuesandcostsarebestallocatedtoindividualcustomers.Thefirstattemptdescribedinthisarticleisonlythestartofacontinuousimprovementofsuchallocationmethods.Andthird,thefirmislearningwhatthevariousfactorsarethatdeterminethevalueofeachindividualcustomer（customerprofitabilitybeingbutoneofthosefactors）.

6.Discussion

ThereareafewthingsyoushouldknowaboutCPAusers.First,CPAnumbersareconstructedfrommultipledatasources.Theaccuracyofthesedatasourceslimitsthepossibleaccuracyofcustomerprofitabilityfigures.Inaddition,theCPAmodelmustbeagoodrepresentationofactualprocessing.

TheCPAexercisereportedhereisaretrospectiveanalysis,whichisanexampleofananalysisofpastrevenuesandcostsincurredbycustomersinaparticularcycle.Managerswillalsobeinterestedinprospectivecustomerprofitanalysis.Thequasi-CPAcalculatesthenetpresentvalueofthefutureexpectedcostsandrevenuesassociatedwithservingthecustomerthroughouthisfuturelife.TheQuasi-AccountantOfficeisalsoknownasthecustomerlifetimevalueanalysis.Tobeabletoestimatefuturecostsandbenefits,andtheanalysisofcustomerprofitabilityisavaluable,ifnotnecessary,firststep.

7.Conclusion

Inthiscase,asix-stepapproachtoimplementingCPAwithinthecompany.Costsandrevenueshouldbeallocatedtotheonlyactivecustomer,whic