Companies: Emerson Marine Tank Management.

Language: English

The purpose of this thesis is to try to find out if Emerson MTM, a supplier in the maritime industry can increase their customer retention and at the same time address the recent changes in the industry by selling their customers a Product Service System (PSS) instead of simply a product. It will provide an extensive in-depth analysis of Emerson MTM’s internal processes and external environment to give an overview over the company’s current situation. That situation will later be address through a conceptual framework, constructed from theories concerning Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that the author perceived appropriate to address the problems Emerson MTM is facing. Applying the conceptual model gives an idea of if and how internal processes at the company can be redesigned in order to support the offering of PSS to their customers. After the model has been applied the initial and the possibly enhanced situation are compared in order to find out if offering PSS could increase Emerson MTM’s customer retention. The thesis provides a guideline on how the problems Emerson MTM’s is having with their internal processes can be addressed through reengineering and the support of a CRM system, which serves as a very important enabler in the new process. It also provides suggestions of several PSS concepts that Emerson MTM could implement and explains their potential benefits and challenges. The thesis concludes that Emerson MTM’s is operating in a very complex and dynamic environment of the maritime industry and there is clear need for internal changes for the company to be able to keep their strong market share in the industry. It also concludes that Emerson MTM’s customer interaction process should be successfully redesigned with the help of BPR principals and that the new process will with the help from a central CRM system and increased information flow be well capable of supporting the offering of PSS to Emerson MTM’s customers. By offering beneficial PSS concepts to selected customers it should be easier for Emerson MTM to increase their customer retention and establish a long-term successful relationship with their customers.