Customer Experience and Success Management: assessing the maturity of CXM and CSM in companies and exploring the synergy between these emerging areas

Abstract

This Doctoral Thesis presents a multifaceted approach to understanding the intersections and potentialities between Customer Experience Management (CXM) and Customer Success Management (CSM). The thesis is structured into four articles. The first, “The Customer Success Community: An Exploration of Non-Firm Epistemic Communities and Their Influence on a New Sales Practice,” investigates the influence of external epistemic communities and the maturity stage in the implementation of Customer Success Management in different cultural contexts in Brazil, the United States, and Portugal. The second, “Comparing and Contrasting Customer Success Management and Relationship Marketing,” compares Customer Success Management and Relationship Marketing, emphasizing their differences, similarities, and synergy for potential application in companies through an extensive literature review. The third, “Developing a Comprehensive Customer Experience Management Maturity Index Based on Employee Perceptions,” proposes a maturity index in Customer Experience Management, adopting advanced statistical techniques for validation. Finally, the fourth, “Customer Experience Management and Customer Success Management: Are They Friends or Strangers in the World of Customer-Centricity?”, explores the relationship between CXM and CSM, identifying how these areas complement and interact with each other, based on detailed comparative analyses. The thesis aims to contribute to the advancement of scientific research and practical applications in companies.