Does innovation drive customer relationship management performance? The case of Qatar

We examine innovation as a driver of customer relationship management (CRM) performance, and the mediating role of strategic market and technology orientations. Using the stimulus-organism-response framework, we argue that the stimulus (innovation), influences the organism (market and technology orientations), which in turn leads to the response (CRM performance). The analysis of data collected from 229 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Qatar reveals two major findings. First, product and business model innovations have no direct effect on CRM performance. Only process innovation is directly impactful on CRM performance. Second, the indirect effect of innovation is mediated through market and technology orientations. This study provides new insights on the internal drivers of CRM performance and highlights the need for strategic orientations to facilitate the spillover of innovation to the customer front end of businesses. Understanding the interplay between innovation, business orientation and CRM can realize greater benefits from optimal CRM implementation and lead to increased business performance.