One of the main reasons that makes this dissertation so current even though a lot of literature has been written about customer loyalty and some even about CRM is the fact that neither customers nor companies operate in a vacuum the world and the conditions in the market place have an impact on their loyalty, their decision making processes, as well as their behavior in general. Over the last decade a lot of things has happened when it come to globalization and together with technology advances this has had, and will continue to have immense impact on economic-, decision making- and spending power all over the world. To be able to come out on top of this change, a new skill set and update of the world view, as well as business insights has become necessary as it will not be a sustainable strategy just trying to keep holding on to the present concepts.
However, especially in this era of rapid globalization and “flattening” of the world suggested by (Friedman, 2007) in his book the world is flat. When several new very important nations, cultures and people are entering the market and are destined to become trendsetting and impact the world view and the power structures of the world for generations to come. He is not alone in this “prediction” and while Friedman more speaks of it as a reality, concept and the fact that it is happening right now. The Swedish statistics professor Hans Rosling has even given an exact point in time when the takeover of the Asian continent will occur in 2048 according to statistics (Rosling, 2009).
One of the more prominent changes of our time is probably the ongoing shift in power from a European and US focused world to one more influenced by Asia and the golden BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). This has changed travel patterns, power dynamics and the economic scene, as well as the hospitality industry just over the last decade. This even becomes apparent when looking at the company structures in the form of e.g. out-sourcing, crowd-sourcing and off-shoring.
The culture impact is something that requires new knowledge, a wider perspective and a deeper understanding of culture. In the hospitality industry the list is long when it comes to culture adaptations and it is no longer surprising that Asian breakfast is standard in most 5-star hotels. A rapid expansion and investment from the entire world into these emerging regions and new properties are being rolled out by the minute. Culture understanding and adaptation of products is something that is self-evident today.
This especially applies to the web since what is done online is visible to everyone, at any time. Knowing what people are doing, liking and disliking are extremely crucial. Online reputation monitoring and market intelligence analysis is not leverage anymore, it is a must. Nevertheless, as Werner Reinartz suggested already in 2002, “with the pace of technology development there are already a lot of tools that make this easier, allowing companies to record analyze the often complex, and sometimes even perverse behavior of their customers” (Werner Reinartz, 2002)
Research and analytics from the social media statistics site Socialbakers.com argue that “if you localize your social media strategy, you instantly become more interesting for your target audience, as you are keying into region-specific topics and formulating your communications what is relevant to your target market” (SocialBakers, 2011)
