Exploitation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for Strategic Marketing in Higher Education : Creating a Knowledge-based CRM Framework for Swedish Universities

Abstract: Abstract Swedish universities have always received greater attention from international students thanks to their well-quality and tuition-free programs. However, due to the introduction of tuition fee for non-EU/EEA students from fall 2011, it is predictable that by raising the threat of losing a rather large portion of international students, Swedish universities may experience a critical period over the early years after this change. This is occurring in an environment in which universities attempt to leverage their tangible and intangible resources for maintaining their competitive niche in the worldwide market. Besides, many universities have moved towards establishing student-centric strategies as a means to achieve a high level of students’ satisfaction and long-lasting relationships. The issue has become so substantial in the recent years that, as Pausits (2007) has also suggested, universities need to transform into “relation-based organizations”. To solve this possible problem and in order to help Swedish universities to pass this critical situation safely, this study has conducted a qualitative research on the basis of analysis of the empirical data gathered from a series of semi-structured phone and personal interviews with five Swedish universities that have the most number of international students (Lund, Uppsala, Linköping, Jönköping and Blekinge Universities) with the intense support of previous literature and the theoretical body of the study under investigation which has lead to the creation of a knowledge-based CRM model. The main aim of this conceptual CRM model is to systematically organize the operations of building, managing and retaining relationships between Swedish universities and international students. This model has been formed by combination of two theories of CRM, as a business strategy which has been proved to be one the most efficient customer-oriented business approaches within the past decades, and Knowledge Management (KM) as the pivot for effective operation of the proposed CRM framework by providing a constant learning environment.