International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-022-00800-x

Customer relationship management and its impact

on entrepreneurial marketing: a literature review

Vicente Guerola‑Navarro1 · Hermenegildo Gil‑Gomez1 ·

Raul Oltra‑Badenes1 · Pedro Soto‑Acosta2

Accepted: 22 May 2022

© The Author(s) 2022

Abstract
Entrepreneurship is one of the business forces with the greatest power to transform
today’s society, due to its ability to discover and take advantage of new opportunities
to satisfy customer new and changing needs and expectations. Customer relation-
ship management (CRM) has proved to be both a highly influential business man-
agement strategy and a powerful business management technology solution, with a
particularly relevant impact in the area of entrepreneurship. CRM has helped drive
growth and future expectations and has had excellent results in terms of return on
investment wherever it has been implemented. An exhaustive review of previously
published findings in a specific subject area can uncover new lines of research. This
paper uses semi-systematic review to the study of the reality of the link between
CRM and entrepreneurial marketing in business. This approach is used to compre-
hensively describe the state of the art of the impact that CRM can have in the mod-
ern business environment, through the empowerment of entrepreneurial marketing.
In a structured manner, the present paper reviews the 86 most relevant studies of
how CRM affects entrepreneurial marketing policy development through its align-
ment with relationship marketing and customer-centric business models. The grow-
ing use of CRM in companies is one of the pillars of technological and social change
in entrepreneurship, being a clear example of how big data can benefit society. The
study focuses on the period from 2015 to 2019.

Keywords Customer relationship management · CRM · Entrepreneurial marketing ·

Entrepreneurship · Literature review · State of the art

* Vicente Guerola‑Navarro
[email protected]
Extended author information available on the last page of the article

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Introduction

In a globalized commercial world such as the current one, markets are dynamic and
changing, and the customer lies at the beginning and end of the value chain. One of
the greatest values that entrepreneurship provides in an environment like this is the
ability of entrepreneurs to take advantage of opportunities and discover new ways
to meet customer expectations, and thereby transform the world in general and the
market in general particular, all due to the unstoppable process of digital transfor-
mation. One of the consequences of globalization is the greater ability of custom-
ers to access both information and the acquisition of products and services offered
even beyond the borders of countries (Guerola-Navarro et al., 2019). This means
that the needs, desires, and expectations of customers are changing and increasingly
demanding, with which the market has become so dynamic that only companies that
manage to adapt to said dynamism survive. And for this it is necessary to invest in
innovation and development, and to have an entrepreneurial spirit that is open to
discovering and taking advantage of new opportunities and ways of satisfying those
needs, desires and expectations. Entrepreneurship thus becomes one of the engines
of change and transformation of society, which justifies the growing research inter-
est in this area (Hills et al., 2008).
The area of entrepreneurship is being the center of study for various researchers
from different perspectives due to its important role as an engine of economic and
social development, reaching the point of being able to affirm that the entrepreneur
is the single most important player in a modern economy (Sánchez, 2011). It was
not too long ago that the field of entrepreneurship was considered little more than
an applied trade as opposed to an academic area of study and there was no research
to be accomplished because it was thought that those who could not attend college
would simply “practice” the concept of new business start-up (Hills et al., 2008).
The role of entrepreneurship in society has changed drastically in the last quarter
century, to the point that, in recent years, entrepreneurship has been viewed as the
engine of economic and social development due to the power it has developed to
provide a better quality of life to society. society through its impetus and its trans-
formative potential. Entrepreneurs are those who work on transformative environ-
ments, discover or identify opportunities, or create and exploit them to add value
to society. Entrepreneurship is nowadays regarded as the study of the processes of
identifying, evaluating, developing and exploiting opportunities, as well as of the
resources and conditioners that influence these processes, as part of one of the most
powerful tools that business has for bringing better customer experiences. (Frederick
et al., 2018).
Nowadays, the customer is also considered the engine of business success
(Díez de Castro et al., 2002). In such a world, companies must have the right
tools to collect the necessary management information so that they can meet the
needs and expectations of customers and thereby mold their productive, logistic,
and commercial efforts to match these needs and expectations (Gil-Gomez et al.,
2021; Ochoa Laburu, 1996; Vicedo et al., 2020). This makes the development of
entrepreneurial businesses especially difficult, which is why it is shown that all

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those tools and technological solutions that can have a high impact on customer
management and entrepreneurial marketing are key, an area in which Customer
Relationship Marketing (CRM) has proven to have a special impact.
In the current business environment, and especially evident in its entrepreneur-
ial part, where the client appears as the key and determining figure for any deci-
sion making (de Guzmán Miranda, 2014), it is essential to evaluate the impact
that any strategy and tool may have on the management of the client’s knowledge
available to the company (Alfaro Faus, 2004), in order to be able to adapt its
commercial and marketing actions towards the most efficient and appropriate tar-
get. Marketing (understood as the management of commercial relationships with
customers within the market), and more specifically entrepreneurial marketing
(as a powerful association of marketing tools and the innovative and transform-
ing power of entrepreneurship) is therefore one of the great forces that promote
the economic development of society. Along these lines, CRM has emerged in
recent decades as the most widely disseminated strategy and management tool
in terms of a tool designed and focused on managing the powerful marketing
strategies through the management of the relationships with customers, and con-
sistently and efficiently managing information and actions aimed at the clients
(Al-Omoush et al., 2021), which is especially important in the field of entrepre-
neurship. This study tries precisely to analyze the previous and relevant studies
that unify these important aspects of business management: the management of
customer relationships, and marketing as a strategy for reaching customers, spe-
cifically in the field of entrepreneurship. The ultimate objective is to identify the
dimensions that other previous studies have highlighted as more relevant and with
the greatest impact in these fields of business management, to draw conclusions
from the results obtained, and to propose future lines of research consistent with
the results obtained.
For most entrepreneurial marketers, marketing is a social, personal activity and
not only an organizational function. Marketing to achieve growth is what many
entrepreneurs are passionate about. Marketing from the perspective of an entre-
preneur is not just one of the functions of the business that must be carried out
such as accounting, finance, or HRM; but is often considered by entrepreneurs
as the core function of the firm (Hills et al., 2008). Regarding marketing area
impactful tools, Customer relationship management (CRM) is one of the lead-
ing business strategies and business management tools (Al-Omoush et al., 2021),
and it has been shown to be crucial in developing sales, marketing, and produc-
tion planning strategies. This key role of CRM is a consequence of the customer-
related information that can be obtained from all CRM sources of value, in the
sense of providing the overall efforts of companies with the appropriate sense of
customer service and customer needs (García Moreno et al., 2001). CRM refers
to both a customer relationship management philosophy and the technological
solutions or methodologies required for its implementation because each tool and
each level of implementation of CRM is a true reflection of the CRM philoso-
phy or strategy itself (Chen et al., 2020). Value chain management, together with
the resulting strategy for producing goods and providing services, thus becomes
meaningful and effective when it is based on the knowledge of the vital business

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reality of customers (Guerola-Navarro et al., 2020c; Ochoa Laburu & Arana

Pérez, 1997). This feature is one of the most highly valued characteristics of
CRM’s action points.
Menguzzato and Renau (1991) established the principles that should be followed
by business decision makers of successful firms that seek to achieve high levels of
business performance and endure over time as model companies and shining exam-
ples of business success. In this sense, the presence and relevance of entrepreneurial
marketing as part of business success is crucial to the study of any business manage-
ment methodology (Miquel Peris et al., 1994). Therefore, any tool such as CRM,
which supports the collection of customer management information and its use in
planning strategies, is essential in management (Hills et al., 2008).
Hills et al. (2008) points out that entrepreneurs are characterized by creating and
exploiting turbulent markets, something that other economic actors tend not to do.
Economic theory suggests that entrepreneurs are seen as creating imbalances by
introducing innovations to drive markets or as firms that attempt to move economies
away from equilibrium by exploiting previously unidentified opportunities. The use
of knowledge management and innovation, empowered by the use of CRM tech-
nologocal solutions, to create entrepreneurial rent has important implications for
marketing (Gil-Gomez et al., 2020). In this way, entrepreneurial marketing proves
not to be the direct consequence of specific managerial decisions but more the out-
come of entrepreneurial processes and culture (Hills et al., 2008). The aim of study-
ing the reality of CRM through scientific research in the areas of business, soci-
ology, and technology is to effectively demonstrate that CRM is one of the most
powerful business tools for managing sales, entrepreneurial marketing, and services
(Guerola-Navarro et al., 2021b).
In this paper, and during the following sections, the impact of CRM on entrepre-
neurial marketing will be studied. First, a Literature Review section is presented in
which what has been ascertained from previous studies on the relationship between
CRM and marketing in general is referenced, particularizing on the entrepreneurial
aspect of business marketing. In the following sections, the methodology followed
in the study is explained, as well as the results obtained and the conclusions derived
from this scientific study.

Literature review

Marketing is one of the areas in which the expectation of impact is greatest through
the use of CRM technological solutions and the culture of customer relationship
management itself. Specifically, and within the general concept of marketing, entre-
preneurial marketing is one of the areas with the greatest projection both at the
business level and at the research level. This section initially analyzes the concept
and relevance of entrepreneurial marketing, and then the concept and evolution of
CRM solutions, to later proceed to establish the marketing approach to the CRM
customer-centric management theory, all of it as previous stages for finally stating
the state of the art on the impact of CRM on entrepreneurial marketing specifically.

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Entrepreneurial marketing

Marketing is the discipline concerned with studying the behavior of markets and the
needs of consumers. Entrepreneurial marketing, as part of the global discipline of mar-
keting, but with the special characteristics of entrepreneurial agents, analyzes compa-
nies’ commercial management in attracting, capturing, and retaining end customers by
fulfilling their wishes and resolving their problems all with the aim of transforming
society by discovering opportunities and paths not explored by other business agents
(Hills et al., 2008; Bennett, 1995). Regarding entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs’ tactics
for using the marketing strategies differ from the traditional business brand, where
product development, pricing, promotion, and distribution are the key marketing mix
pillars (Martin, 2009). Entrepreneurs prefer direct interchanges and building personal
relationships, being the entrepreneurs’ tactics clearly based on personal observation and
contact information, rather than formal research and global marketing initiatives.
Kraus et al. (2010) establishes that, within the business field of discovering and tak-
ing advantage of new business opportunities that can transform society and improve
the overall customer experience, entrepreneurial marketing can be understood as the
combination of marketing with an entrepreneurial mindset, which leads to a definition
of entrepreneurial marketing as the "organizational function of marketing by taking
into account innovativeness, risk taking, pro-activeness and the pursuit of opportunities
without regard for the resources currently controlled". Smart and Conant (1994) sug-
gests that entrepreneurial firms have a different set of marketing competencies that typi-
cally includes a superior understanding of customer needs, market trends, and market
positioning. Hills et al. (2008) indicate that entrepreneurs engage in marketing in ways
that differ the classical marketing theory.
Jones and Rowley (2011) suggest that marketing in SMEs is intertwined with other
activities and behaviors in small business and argue that to understand marketing
in SMEs it is essential to understand its context, specifically in relation to customer
engagement, the innovation. and business approaches to marketing. Given the rele-
vance of the interaction between entrepreneurship and marketing, the concept of "entre-
preneurial business" has gained significance in the research and business sphere. While
some authors argue that entrepreneurial business is important to all organizations (large
and small), there is a general recognition that the concept is particularly appropriate for
the context of small businesses (Jones & Rowley, 2011).
Stokes (2000) establishes how marketing adapts to entrepreneurial contexts and pro-
poses a conceptual model of the marketing processes undertaken by entrepreneurs. This
study explores how entrepreneurial marketing differs from traditional marketing theory,
concluding that entrepreneurs tend to be innovation-oriented, driven by new ideas and
an intuitive feel for the market, rather than rigorous evaluation of business needs.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

The origins of CRM date back to the 1970s, when CRM emerged as a technologi-
cal solution for companies to automate the management of the internal sales force
(Buttle, 2004). Recent bibliometric studies assessing the evolution of the hubs of

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productivity and influence in terms of the eminent authors, countries, and institu-
tions in the field of CRM have shown the exponential growth of interest in CRM
since 2010 (Liu et al., 2020), being a definite complement for the recent extensive
literature reviews performed about CRM impact on entrepreneurial marketing and
innovation areas (Guerola-Navarro et al., 2021a).
CRM is one of the most modern business management tools to establish effective
channels and methods of customer-centric information management, in conjunction
with Enterprise Resource Planning solutions (Vicedo et al., 2020; Oltra-Badenes
et al., 2019). Its primary goal is to improve organizational performance to enable
firms to achieve better business results (Guerola-Navarro et al., 2020a). This modern
approach differs considerably from earlier approaches such as the one described by
Chen and Wu (2016), who proposed a basic definition of CRM as “a combination
of people, processes and technology that seeks to understand a company’s custom-
ers.” This definition has become obsolete given the recent evolution of CRM tools
toward a global vision of comprehensive management of information in relation to
customer knowledge to achieve more effective interactions with clients. Modern
studies of business management and the use of information technology consider the
necessity of the comprehensive management of key information for business deci-
sion makers. Payne and Frow (2005) established a global conceptual framework for
this modern approach to the comprehensive management of customer information
and expectations, leading to successful decision making and the planning of coor-
dinated and effective entrepreneurial marketing strategies to attract and retain the
company’s most profitable customers. For this purpose, CRM is a fundamental tool
(Ayyagari, 2021).
Recent studies corroborate the importance of CRM as a key tool in the digital
transformation of society and the current globalized and dynamic market (Gil-
Gomez et al., 2020). The role of CRM is stressed not only because of its potential
to improve current management (or exploitation), but also because of its potential in
developing innovation (or exploration) capacity. This potential makes CRM one of
the most powerful management technology solutions in the field of modern business
management (Adiwijaya et al., 2017).

Marketing approach to the CRM customer‑centric management theory

Having established the importance of CRM as a business management technology

solution with a major impact in the field of marketing, and especially on entrepre-
neurial marketing, it is important to identify the marketing approach that is most
closely aligned with the CRM customer-centric management theory. This marketing
approach is used in this study to ensure that the results are consistent and relevant
for future studies. Of all current theories and trends in marketing, the definition of
relationship marketing (or relational marketing) is of greatest interest because of its
close match with CRM objectives. Specifically, relationship marketing is defined as
the integrated effort to identify and maintain a customer network, with the aim of
continually reinforcing it for the benefit of both parties, through individualized con-
tacts and interactions that generate value over time (Harker, 1999).

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This concept of relational marketing is especially important in the area of entre-

preneurship, since maintaining a long-term relationship with loyal customers
empirically shows that it favors the creation of a financial cushion and a culture of
confidence in the future of the company, which they are the basis for every entrepre-
neurial agent to continue taking risks and facing new challenges. In short, a loyal
customer base allows entrepreneurs to be what they are, agents who pour all their
energy and capacity for innovation into transforming society through previously
undiscovered or untapped opportunities. Loyal customers are defined as those who
always buy a specific type of item in the same store, who always consume the same
brands, and who always carry out their business operations through the same entities
(de Guzmán Miranda, 2014). In terms of its basic principles, relationship marketing
(Alfaro Faus, 2004):

• is based on segmented or customized marketing,

• tries to generate long-term benefits,
• represents a commitment to the development of a mutually beneficial relation-
ship continued over time,
• is based on continuous improvement and the creation and contribution of value
to the client,
• orients and coordinates the entire company toward the client,
• requires complex and continuous internal marketing,
• directs the training, motivation, and evaluation of employees toward increasing
customer satisfaction,
• seeks customer satisfaction with each relationship through an emphasis on cus-
tomer service.

In the entrepreneurial business environment, there is therefore a link between

CRM technology solutions, relationship marketing based on customer centered
focus and business success. To achieve the expected benefits of relationship mar-
keting, CRM is a key tool for business management. In a globalized, dynamic, and
changing market, like today’s, the principles of relationship marketing are critical to
the success of any entrepreneurial marketing strategy adopted by any company hop-
ing to succeed. CRM is one of the technologies that has aroused the most interest in
the last decade. This interest is reflected by numerous bibliometric studies. Its mar-
ket share has increased dramatically in recent years, especially with the development
of cloud computing platforms. CRM is a technology that has only relatively recently
attracted interest. Also, its scope of development is closely linked to relationship
marketing. Therefore, it was considered both interesting and novel to conduct fur-
ther research on this subject, hence the motivation for the present literature review.

State of the art on the impact of CRM on entrepreneurial marketing

Given the relative newness of CRM technology solutions as a focus of scientific

research, there are few studies of the state of the art in terms of its impact on the
current business reality. Following the theory of the duality and complementary

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nature of the qualitative and quantitative studies of the realities under investigation
(Hernández Sampieri et al., 1996), the state of the art should first present quantita-
tive analysis of the publications and citations in this area and should then offer in-
depth analysis of the most relevant publications.
The first approach to the study of the state of the art is to examine the quantita-
tive reality of the subject. This approach is reflected in CRM bibliometric studies
such as the study by Tsai (2011) and the more recent study by Guerola-Navarro et al.
(2020b), who reviewed the most important and well-recognized databases in scien-
tific research to graphically analyze the evolution of the number of publications and
citations and determine the hubs of greatest productivity and influence. The origin
(author, country, entity, etc.) of the research articles stored in these databases was
considered in terms of productivity. The origin of articles whose publications had
most citations were considered to be of greatest influence.
Regarding the second, this approach to the state of the art of CRM, scholars have
conducted systematic reviews of the literature on CRM, identifying lines of inves-
tigation that have been proposed for future research. Ngai (2005) reviewed the aca-
demic literature on CRM from 1992 to 2002, providing a comprehensive bibliogra-
phy and proposing a method of classifying the literature. Subsequently Ngai et al.
(2009) built an academic database of literature for the period 2000 to 2006 and pro-
posed a classification scheme to classify these articles. More recently, Soltani and
Navimipour (2016) systematically reviewed the state-of-the-art literature on CRM
mechanisms and offered recommendations for future research.
Considering previous research and the intention to establish a complete state of
the art for CRM technology, there is a lack of studies that specifically address the
entrepreneurial marketing side of CRM. The decisive influence of a good entrepre-
neurial marketing strategy on successful business activity has been verified. Simi-
larly, CRM has also been cited as one of the most relevant technological solutions in
obtaining the key management information for the development of such a marketing
strategy. Therefore, a study that reflects the state of the art of CRM in the specific
field of entrepreneurship marketing can prove valuable for subsequent research. This
future research on the role of CRM in improving marketing strategies is expected to
be vital to enhance company performance.
Therefore, through an extensive literature review, this paper complements the
existing bibliometric studies of CRM by adopting a semi-systematic review to
studying the business reality of CRM, focusing specifically on the entrepreneurial
marketing side. This approach, together with the quantitative approach of bibliomet-
ric analysis of the productivity and influence of the scientific research community,
establishes a complete state of the art that can be used to support future research on
the impact of CRM as a tool and its marketing applications in the modern business
environment.
This paper thus offers a comprehensive review of the literature on the potential of
applying CRM technology solutions through their impact on companies’ manage-
ment of entrepreneurial marketing strategies. All research articles published since
the birth of CRM to the present day (end of 2019) are reviewed. This paper has the
following structure. First, the research methodology is described. Then, the method
to classify articles on CRM in entrepreneurial marketing is presented. Next, these

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articles on entrepreneurial marketing in CRM are reviewed and analyzed. Finally,

conclusions are drawn in relation to future research on CRM and its impact on mar-
keting management.

Methods

Research methodology

There are several types of literature review research. However, certain elements are
common to all of these, namely analysis of the most important papers on a given
topic of study, categorization of these studies under the proposed taxonomy or con-
ceptual framework, and the establishment of the basis for the future research agenda.
Snyder (2019) notes that a “literature review can broadly be described as a more or
less systematic way of collecting and synthesizing previous research,” raising ques-
tions about the quality and trustworthiness of classical literature review studies and
establishing guidelines for new methods. Systematic review papers may be of several
types: structured reviews focusing on widely used methods, theories, and constructs
(Canabal & White, 2008; Paul & Singh, 2017; Kahiya, 2018); framework-based
studies (Paul & Benito, 2018); hybrid-narrative studies with a framework for setting
the future research agenda (Kumar et al., 2019a); theory-based reviews (Gilal et al.,
2018); meta-analyses (Knoll & Matthes, 2017); bibliometric reviews (Randhawa
et al., 2016); and reviews aiming at model or framework development (Paul, 2019;
Paul & Mas, 2019). Torraco (2005) and Callahan (2010) argued that an integrative
literature review should offer a research agenda, a classification of concepts, concep-
tual frameworks as the way of thinking resulting from the study, and the basis for
developing future research. In line with the indications of Snyder (2019), the present
study follows a semi-systematic review, with the following four phases: 1) design, 2)
conduct, 3) analyze, and 4) structure and write the review. The elements followed in
each phase of this study are detailed below.

Phase 1. Design the review

The purpose of this study is to categorize the most important papers on CRM and
entrepreneurial marketing. The goal is to provide a map of studies and conclusions
that can help establish a focused research agenda. The purpose of the study is to sup-
port the empirical testing of models of the impact of CRM and entrepreneurial mar-
keting on firm performance. Previous bibliometric studies show that CRM is a busi-
ness management technology that has been growing since 2000. This growth has
been especially pronounced in the last decade, particularly in the last five years, with
the development of cloud computing platforms. Therefore, the present review was
deemed necessary. The potential audience for this study is growing as it is shown
in the bibliometric studies confirming the growing interest and influence of papers
on CRM (Guerola-Navarro et al., 2020b). The same growing interest is shown in
the literature around entrepreneurial marketing, as one of the most powerful forces
to transform the society and the market itself. The search strategy is based on

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bibliometric studies carried out with the same research criteria. This study follows
and complements these previous studies by describing the state of the art. Therefore,
as explained in this section, the Web of Science Core Collection database for the
period 2015 to 2019 was used.

Phase 2. Conduct the review

The present study provides a review of the literature on the interaction between CRM
and entrepreneurial marketing. Therefore, the selection procedure was designed to
identify articles based on all the keywords related to these two concepts that pro-
vide meaningful results. Certain adjustments were foreseen to eliminate articles that
were not impactful or whose content was not intrinsically relevant to the study. The
selected articles were carefully read to ensure the quality, representativeness, and
applicability of the study in the scope described in the future research agenda.

Phase 3. Analyze

In order to obtain the needing information for carrying out this study, three sources
have been explored: complementary bibliometric studies, previous literature
reviews, and methodological studies of literature review processes.

Phase 4. Structure and write the review

The paper begins with the description of the scope and objective of the study, fol-
lowed by the description of the methodological basis followed on it. The informa-
tion regarding the impact of CRM and entrepreneurial marketing has been reviewed,
considering Its importance, representativeness, and relevance for future research.
The conclusions are presented with the aim to bring the most interesting points to
other researchers and to open new researching lines in the future.
Following these propositions (Snyder, 2019), the starting point has been to deter-
mine which database to use to identify scientific research articles published in pres-
tigious journals. The database chosen in this study was the Web of Science (WoS)
Core Collection, which is owned by Thomson Reuters. The journal’s own page
contained the citations from any journal (Mulet-Forteza et al., 2019), but we only
wanted to take into account the citations from the most relevance journals in the
research fields, and this was why we have used only this database. WoS core collec-
tion covers most of the known scientific disciplines, hosting more than 50,000,000
papers across more than 15,000 journals (Merigó & Yang, 2017). In the field of sci-
entific research, it is generally assumed that WoS contains only high-quality jour-
nals characterized by timely publication and review of papers, scientific criteria for
the peer review process, and broad dissemination through the Internet and the most
widely used channels for the publication of scientific research (Martínez-López
et al., 2020). Therefore, WoS was considered the most appropriate database for this
study, both due to the specific interest of our study, as well as the prestige, complete-
ness and relevance of this database in the scientific field.

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In the WoS refine categories, there is no specific section for CRM and entrepre-
neurial marketing. Therefore, the search had to be refined by filtering the results
depending on the primary focus of the journals and the papers included in these
journals. The Web of Science Core Collection database was the core database
used for this study, as it has been explained previously. The initial period used in
the literature search for this study was 1900 to 2019, with the intention of cover-
ing all completed and closed years in terms of publications (at the time of the
study, the year 2019 was not yet closed and it continued to receive publications).
It was based on the search strings “customer relationship management”, (“Cus-
tomer relationship management*”), “CRM” (“CRM*”), “entrepreneurial market-
ing” (“entrepreneurial marketing*”), “entrepreneurship” (“entrepreneurship*”)
and “marketing” (“marketing*”). With these refine filters, it has been observed
that the database obtained contained a sample of the entire spectrum and range
of topics that were intended to be analyzed in this study, so it was not considered
necessary to expand, reduce, or change these parameters for others (in fact, it
has been found that introducing other parameters deviated the database from the
sample that was intended to be used in the research). The search returned 1,034
results from the Web of Science Core Collection in these areas for this timeframe.
To consider the most relevant research papers for a comprehensive literature
review, an important field in WoS is Document Type (Vallaster et al., 2019). The
document types of interest in this study were article, review, and letter (Merigó
et al., 2015; Vallaster et al., 2019). The original data set of 1034 was reduced
to only articles, reviews, and letters, being the number of results of the search
reduced to 646 articles.
The focus of this study is the relationship between CRM management technol-
ogy solutions and the management of marketing strategies, all within the scope of
business management. Therefore, filters were applied to select articles in the WoS
categories of Business, Management, Operations Research Management Science,
Computer Science Information Systems, Information Science Library Science,
Computer Science Interdisciplinary Applications, and Economics. This process
gave a total of 541 results.
Analysis of the timeframe of previous literature reviews shows that the most
recent state of the art was created in 2016 by Soltani and Navimipour (2016).
Therefore, to ensure the originality of the articles and choose the correct time-
frame in this study, these results were filtered for the years 2015 to 2019. The
reasons for selecting this timeframe are given below.

• The period 2015 to 2019 covers the last five years for which data are available.
Therefore, this period best reflects the most up-to-date approaches and trends
in this area.
• The bibliometric study by Guerola-Navarro et al. (2020b) to examine the evo-
lution and trends in scientific research on CRM shows that the recent rise in
the number of publications on CRM (and, by extension, the interest in this
topic) began in 2015.

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• After applying this filter in WoS, the search returned 197 articles, covering
the type, content, and magnitude of research database that was looked for the
research.

The full text of these articles was reviewed to eliminate those that were unrelated
to the application of CRM marketing tools in the planning and development of busi-
ness marketing strategies. All articles where the primary focus was not the inextrica-
ble relationship between CRM and marketing were eliminated, considering not only
the existence of a marketing module within the CRM technological solution itself
but also (and even more importantly) the impact of CRM strategy on the develop-
ment of effective marketing strategies and policies.
Thus, the number of relevant articles was 86 following the elimination of those
that were not considered relevant to this study or that were not considered important
articles in relation to the application of marketing techniques to CRM. These 86
articles were classified according to the dimensions of CRM and its elements and
according to the dimensions of marketing and its elements.
Other items were discarded for the following reasons (research studies that
appeared as search results in the WoS Core Collection with the strings used in this
study, but that for different reasons have been analyzed but are not part of the sample
from which the results and conclusions were obtained of this study):

• Some articles were found in WoS using the filters for this study. However, their
content was not entirely relevant to the concepts represented by these filters.
Examples of these articles are those by Hu et al. (2019), Naudé and Sutton-Brady
(2019), Skarmeas et al. (2019), Mosavi and Afsar (2018), and Di Benedetto
(2017).
• Some articles were relevant to CRM but not to entrepreneurial marketing. Exam-
ples are those by Cricelli et al. (2020), Cruz and Vasconcelos (2015), Garrido-
Moreno et al. (2015), and Mohammadhossein et al. (2015).
• Some articles were relevant to entrepreneurial marketing but not to CRM. Exam-
ples are those by Coda and de Castro (2019), Levin et al. (2019), Mehrabi et al.
(2019), and Alnawas and Hemsley-Brown (2019).
• Some articles were mostly technical and focused more on the technological side
of the CRM tool than on its impact on business management. Examples of these
articles are those by Cu et al. (2019), Yang and Shieh (2019), Ullah et al. (2019),
and Ivan and Popa (2015).
• Some articles focused exclusively on applicability to a specific environment or
situation and were not general enough to be extrapolated and to be considered
representative of a general case. Examples are the articles by Sota et al. (2020),
Junaid et al. (2019), Rahimi and Gunlu (2016), and Siems et al. (2015).

With the results of the literature review and with the bibliometric research, it is
hoped that the most relevant areas of research interest and focus can be detected.
The future research agenda (Paul & Rosado-Serrano, 2019) will be defined by
these research trends. It will help reveal the most relevant and influential stud-
ies of the expected benefits of the implementation and use of CRM in the field of

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entrepreneurship. This study aims to achieve a model to measure the impact of the
use of CRM and entrepreneurial marketing on firm performance.. For this purpose,
it is crucial to have a study of the state of the art as a starting point. This study of the
state of the art consists of a solid bibliometric study and a thorough literature review.
Following this description of the selection of these articles, the methodology that
was used to classify them is now developed. The first step to classifying the articles
that explore the links between CRM and entrepreneurial marketing (i.e., the articles
whose content is relevant to the present study) and to building a comprehensive state
of the art was to identify the dimensions and elements that characterize CRM and
those that characterize entrepreneurial marketing.

CRM dimensions

When performing an extensive search for previous studies of literature reviews or

the creation of a state of the art of CRM, different CRM dimensions and elements
can be used to classify the articles. The literature review shows that CRM can be
defined in terms of four dimensions with the following elements (Kracklauer et al.,
2004; Ngai, 2005; Parvatiyar & Sheth, 2001; Swift, 2001):

1. Customer identification:
a. Target customer analysis
b. Customer segmentation

2. Customer attraction:

a. Direct marketing
3. Customer retention:
a. Loyalty programs
b. One-to-one marketing
c. Complaint management

4. Customer development:
a. Customer lifetime value
b. Upselling/cross-selling
c. Market basket analysis

Ngai (2005) analyzed the concept of CRM as a tool to identify the most valu-
able clients, attract them as trusted clients, retain them with loyalty policies, and
develop a lasting partnership with them. For this process, four dimensions are
used: customer identification, customer attraction, customer retention, and cus-
tomer development. These dimensions are a true reflection of the potential of
CRM technology solutions to reinforce the business value chain based on knowl-
edge of the needs and expectations of clients and to achieve the goal of customer

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satisfaction. This goal is client focused, and the needs of clients offer the starting
point in this business value chain (Li et al., 2006, 2019; Lin et al., 2010).
Kracklauer et al. (2004) defined customer identification as any effort by the
company to turn as many individuals as possible into customers as per the busi-
ness aims of the company for a given time and under given circumstances. This
phase has two elements or stages that are central to its success in customer
acquisition.

• Target customer analysis is where a company studies its capabilities and pos-
sibilities for development in the short and medium term, analyzes what its target
market may look like based on its circumstances and surroundings, and identifies
its target customer to direct its recruitment efforts (Hult & Ketchen, 2001).
• Customer segmentation is where a company tries to identify and analyze its tar-
get customers, and after establishing its global potential market, the company
segments or divides its target market according to the characteristics of the
homogeneous segments that are of interest for its commercial activity (Huang &
Lin, 2005).

Customer attraction is defined as any effort by the company to get customers

interested in the goods and services it offers. Customer attraction is the next step
after segmentation during the previous step of customer identification (He et al.,
2004). This stage consists of one primary activity.

• Direct marketing is the principal tool to overcome challenges and grasp opportu-
nities associated with the need for customer attraction. Companies must address
target audiences both directly and indirectly, always keeping in mind that reach-
ing the right customers is the key to business success (Palmer & Koenig-Lewis,
2009).

Customer retention is the most difficult objective to achieve in the current glo-
balized, changing, and dynamic market. Econometric studies show that it is con-
siderably more efficient for companies to retain their best existing clients than to
secure new clients whose long-term performance is unknown (Reinartz et al., 2004).
Establishing the fundamental elements for customer retention is therefore crucial for
business success.

• Loyalty programs involve creating a global structured plan composed of syn-

chronous actions in which all efforts are focused on retaining the best clients
(Kracklauer et al., 2004), especially through customer service and support pro-
grams.
• One-to-one marketing is important because in markets as competitive as today’s
globalized environment, personalizing marketing efforts to suit the clients (or
segment) that these efforts target is the only way to match marketing campaigns
to customers and expected results (Miquel Peris et al., 1994).
• Complaint management is important because in the current market, customer
retention is not viable without an adequate customer service and support policy.

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This policy describes how to accept, process, and respond to all feedback and
complaints from customers (Karimi et al., 2001).

Finally, customer development refers to all efforts to strengthen and develop

commercial activity with long-term clients. This activity occurs through attempts
to expand and strengthen profitable lines of business with existing loyal customers
(Aggarval & Yu, 2002). Three key elements are considered at this stage.

• Customer lifetime value analysis refers to the prediction of the total net income a
company can expect from a customer (Drew et al., 2001).
• Upselling and cross-selling are promotion activities that aim at augmenting the
number of associated or closely related services that a customer uses within the
company (Prinzie & Poel, 2006).
• Market basket analysis means maximizing customer transaction intensity and
value by discovering patterns in the purchase behavior of customers (Aggarval &
Yu, 2002).

Each of these four dimensions of CRM has several elements, which are used in
this study to classify the selected articles in the field of marketing in CRM.

Entrepreneurial marketing dimensions

Following the same research approach as for CRM, previous literature reviews or
state-of-the-art analyses of marketing and entrepreneurial marketing, specifically
relationship marketing, were reviewed. Interest in this form of marketing is due to
its growing importance, its alignment with CRM technology solutions, and its effi-
ciency, which has been shown in recent studies (as mentioned in the introduction).
Harker (1999) synthesized the definitions of relationship marketing. The follow-
ing dimensions or conceptual categories and their corresponding elements were
identified:

• Creation/birth: attracting, establishing, getting

• Development/develop: enhancing, strengthening
• Maintenance/maintain: sustaining, stability, keeping
• Interactive/interaction: exchanging, mutually, co-operating
• Long term/temporary: lasting, permanent, retaining
• Emotional content: commitment, trust, promises
• Output: profitable, rewarding, efficiency

Despite being the most extensive and most specific of any research on this topic,
the aforementioned study is also the oldest. Therefore, these categories were taken
as a conceptual reference, but a more recent study was sought to identify the dimen-
sions that are most pertinent to the current economic and business environment.
Samiee and Walters (2003) studied and classified the most important arti-
cles on relationship management in an international context. This approach is

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especially interesting because the current market is characterized by increasing

globalization. Therefore, the international business approach is considered up to
date and relevant to this study. Samiee and Walters (2003) concluded that the fol-
lowing constructs can be used to classify articles (in order of appearance in the
studied articles):

• Trust
• Power
• Commitment
• Conflict
• Relationship quality
• Reciprocity
• Investment in the relationship
• Information exchange

The third literature review considered on relationship marketing is the most recent
one. Das (2009) presented an adaptation of the study by Samiee and Walters (2003)
to a more up-to-date environment. This adaptation is concise and simple, reducing
the categories under study to the following five constructs:

• Trust
• Commitment
• Cooperation
• Closeness
• Relationship quality

The list of constructs compiled by Das (2009) is the most recent list and is con-
sistent and well aligned with that of Samiee and Walters (2003). Thus, the dimen-
sions defined by Das (2009) are used in this study. These dimensions are the most
well recognized in the recent scientific research on relationship marketing. They are
also accepted as suitable for the study of international business. Therefore, the mar-
keting dimensions used in the classification of the selected articles are trust, com-
mitment, cooperation, closeness, and relationship quality.
Trust depicts the concept of relationship management as emotional and behavio-
ral, focusing on concepts such as bonding, empathy, reciprocity, and trust (Sin et al.,
2005). This concept is linked to the current trend of customer-centric marketing and
thus to CRM as a tool to achieve this goal.
Adamson et al. (2003) focused on the joint impact of a strategy combining trust
and commitment on retail customer management, where the relationship with the
customer and the customer service and support strategy is fundamental to business
success.
Also central to the success of the business marketing strategy is the cooperation
between the different components of the value chain, starting with clients and their
needs and expectations, passing through all internal departments of the company
including the outsourced external services (logistics, supply, etc.), and ending again
with the client and client satisfaction (Vazquez et al., 2005).

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Closeness refers to the interest and familiarity with which the company deals
with clients. The aim is to meet their needs and expectations while giving them the
highest degree of satisfaction possible, thereby establishing a long-term partnership
that is beneficial for both customer and company (Nielson, 1998).
The last dimension is relationship quality, which is the most general of all and
involves characteristics of all the previous dimensions. It brings together all the
efforts of the company (within its relationship marketing plan and strategy) to estab-
lish a relationship of trust, cooperation, customer service, and support that guarantees
customer loyalty and a long-term partnership with customers (Bennett & Barkensjo,
2005; Storbacka et al., 1994; Ulaga & Eggert, 2006).

Classification process

Once the dimensions of CRM and entrepreneurial marketing had been established,
the articles were classified according to these dimensions and their elements. The
first step was to read each article carefully and evaluate whether it was related to
CRM. If the article was considered to be related to CRM, then the dimensions of
CRM that were relevant to the study were identified. The second step was similar to
the first step, except this time for entrepreneurial marketing. In this case, the dimen-
sions of entrepreneurial marketing that were applicable to the study were identified.
Once the dimensions of CRM and entrepreneurial marketing had been identified for
each selected article, the third step was to organize the results in a table to analyze
the results and draw useful conclusions for future entrepreneurial marketing studies
in CRM.

Results

Once the selection process of the articles considered in this study had been carried
out and the methodology and classification process had been defined, the 86 selected
articles were classified according to the following factors:

1. the four dimensions and nine elements of CRM and the five dimensions of entre-
preneurial marketing
2. the year of publication of each selected article
3. the journal where each article was published
4. the number of citations of each article according to WoS.

From these classifications, a clear and concise picture about the state of the art
was expected to form. This picture can be used to focus and develop future studies in
which the primary topic of study is CRM in entrepreneurial marketing in general or,
more specifically, the impact of CRM on company performance through its strategic
potential in entrepreneurial marketing.

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Next, and as support for the discussion of results and presentation of conclusions
of the study, the results are presented concisely and in a table format that allows an
easy identification of the key arguments of discussion.
To analyze the results of the study, classification of the 86 selected articles was
first necessary. The detailed distribution of these articles classified according to the
proposed classification framework is shown in Table 1.
In this table (Distribution of the selected articles according to the proposed clas-
sification framework) it has been identified which are the determining dimensions
and elements (of CRM and entrepreneurial marketing) in each of the studies ana-
lyzed, in order to establish new classifications a posteriori that make it possible to
identify the most relevant research focuses for future research, as well as to identify
in which areas CRM and entrepreneurial marketing coincide decisively in terms of
powerful business management tools. Following the four specified distribution crite-
ria, this classification was analyzed to determine the most important selection crite-
ria in this field.

Distribution of the selected articles by CRM dimension and entrepreneurial

marketing dimension

From the results obtained in Table 1, it has been analyzed and taken a further step in
their interpretation based on the distribution of the selected articles by CRM dimen-
sion and entrepreneurial marketing dimension. The aim is to identify which are the
dimensions of CRM and entrepreneurial marketing that have aroused and arouse
more interest in recent years, so that conclusions and recommendations can be
drawn on relevant aspects of both tools that help to improve business management
strategies, and with it to improve organizational performance and business results.
The quantitative distribution of the selected articles by CRM dimension and
entrepreneurial marketing dimension is shown in Table 2. This table was created
once the CRM dimensions, CRM elements, and entrepreneurial marketing dimen-
sions that are crucial for business decision makers had been highlighted for each
selected article shown in Table 1.
The overall distribution in Table 2 shows that customer retention is the most com-
mon CRM dimension where marketing is used to support decision making. Table 2
shows 32 results out of a total of 86 selected articles, representing a percentage of
37.21% of the total. The next most common CRM dimension by number of results
is customer development, with 23 results, representing 26.74% of the total. Next are
the CRM dimensions of customer identification, with 17 results (19.77%), and cus-
tomer attraction, with 14 results (16.28%). Summing the results of customer reten-
tion and those of customer development gives a total of 55 results, representing
63.95% of the total of 86 selected articles. Therefore, these are the most influential
CRM dimensions.
The most commonly used CRM element for assisting business decision makers
is loyalty programs (within the CRM retention dimension), with 23 results, repre-
senting 26.75% of the 86 selected articles. The CRM elements with the next high-
est numbers of results are customer lifetime value (within the CRM development

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 Table 1  Distribution of the selected articles according to the proposed classification framework. Source: the authors
CRM dimension CRM element Entrepreneurial Marketing dimension Reference(s)

Customer Identification Target customer analysis Trust

Commitment Gu et al. (2016)
Cooperation Roopchund (2019), Ascarza et al. (2017)
Closeness Diffley et al. (2018)
Relationship management Chierici et al. (2018), Kantorová and Bachmann (2018), Lau et al. (2016a),
Singh and Saini (2016), Rodriguez and Trainor (2016)
Customer segmentation Trust Kumar et al. (2019a, b)
Commitment Ravasan and Mansouri (2018)
Cooperation Barac et al. (2017)
Closeness Ben Rhouma and Zaccour (2017)
Relationship management Mau et al. (2018), Oh and Ma (2018), Wali et al. (2016), Lau et al. (2016b)
Customer attraction Direct marketing Trust El-Gohary et al. (2013)
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal

Commitment Powell et al. (2018), Wang and Kim (2017), Singh et al. (2017)
Cooperation Fu and Chang (2016), Chung and Chen (2016)
Closeness Foltean et al. (2019), Kashani and Shahmirzaloo (2017), Matikainen et al.
(2015)
Relationship management Nemati et al. (2018), Kim and Kumar (2018), Bucic et al. (2017), Charoensuk-
mongkol and Sasatanun (2017), Marolt et al. (2015)

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 Table 1  (continued)
CRM dimension CRM element Entrepreneurial Marketing dimension Reference(s)

13
Customer retention Loyalty programs Trust Hitka et al. (2019), Hu et al. (2018), Galvão et al. (2018), Ashraf et al. (2017),
Mehta and Tajeddini (2016b), Ozuem and Thomas (2015), Venturini and
Benito (2015)
Commitment Oumar et al. (2017), Brockman et al. (2017), Kamboj et al. (2016), Mehta and
Tajeddini (2016a), So et al. (2016)
Cooperation Aliyu and Nyadzayo (2018)
Closeness Yang and Hu(2015)
Relationship management Lu and Miller (2019), Alhakimi and Ghaleb (2019), Haenlein (2017), Kang
and Kim (2017), Jaber and Simkin (2017), Chang and Zhang (2016), Gupta
and Aggarwal (2016), Breugelmans et al. (2015), Hutchinson et al. (2015)
One-to-one marketing Trust Yoon and Sims (2014)
Commitment Budiman et al. (2019)
Cooperation
Closeness
Relationship management Miell et al. (2018), Dukić and Gale (2015)
Complaint management Trust Marino and Lo Presti (2018), Swarts et al. (2016)
Commitment Pesonen et al. (2019)
Cooperation
Closeness Kaptein (2018)
Relationship management Cheng et al. (2019)
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal
 Table 1  (continued)
CRM dimension CRM element Entrepreneurial Marketing dimension Reference(s)

Customer development Customer lifetime value Trust Dewnarain et al. (2019), Orantes Jiménez et al. (2017)
Commitment Al-Zadjali and Al-Busaidi (2018), Olavarría-Jaraba et al. (2018), Youssef et al.
(2018)
Cooperation Canhoto et al. (2017), Pedron et al. (2016)
Closeness
Relationship management Pohludka and Štverková (2019), Alizadeh Zoeram and Karimi Mazidi (2018),
Bojanowska (2017), Afèche et al. (2017), Duggal and Verma (2017), Wil-
liams et al. (2017), Fidel et al. (2015)
Upselling/cross-selling Trust
Commitment
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal

Cooperation Nawaser and Jahanshahi (2018)

Closeness Filip et al. (2016)
Relationship management Hamidi and Safareeyeh (2019) Law et al. (2018), Serebrennikova (2016)
Market basket analysis Trust
Commitment
Cooperation Morgan et al. (2018), Stone et al. (2017)
Closeness
Relationship management Denizci Guillet and Shi (2019), Chen and Wu (2016)

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 Table 2  Distribution of the selected articles by CRM dimension and entrepreneurial marketing dimension. Source: the authors
CRM dimension CRM element Entrepreneurial Marketing dimension Number per entrepreneurial Number per Number
marketing dimension CRM element per CRM

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dimension

Customer identification Target customer analysis Trust 0 9 17

Commitment 1 (10.47%) (19.77%)
Cooperation 2
Closeness 1
Relationship management 5
Customer segmentation Trust 1 8
Commitment 1 (9.30%)
Cooperation 1
Closeness 1
Relationship management 4
Customer attraction Direct marketing Trust 1 14 14
Commitment 3 (16.28%) (16.28%)
Cooperation 2
Closeness 3
Relationship management 5
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal
 Table 2  (continued)
CRM dimension CRM element Entrepreneurial Marketing dimension Number per entrepreneurial Number per Number
marketing dimension CRM element per CRM
dimension

Customer retention Loyalty programs Trust 7 23 32

(26.75%) (37.21%)
Commitment 5
Cooperation 1
Closeness 1
Relationship management 9
One-to-one marketing Trust 1 4
(4.63%)
Commitment 1
Cooperation 0
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal

Closeness 0
Relationship management 2
Complaint management Trust 2 5
(5.83%)
Commitment 1
Cooperation 0
Closeness 1
Relationship management 1

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 Table 2  (continued)
CRM dimension CRM element Entrepreneurial Marketing dimension Number per entrepreneurial Number per Number
marketing dimension CRM element per CRM

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dimension

Customer development Customer lifetime value Trust 2 14 23

(16.28%) (26.74%)
Commitment 3
Cooperation 2
Closeness 0
Relationship management 7
Upselling/cross-selling Trust 0 5
(5.83%)
Commitment 0
Cooperation 1
Closeness 1
Relationship management 3
Market basket analysis Trust 0 4
(4.63%)
Commitment 0
Cooperation 2
Closeness 0
Relationship management 2
TOTAL 86 86 86
(100%) (100%)
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal

dimension) and direct marketing (within the CRM attraction dimension), both
with 14 results, each representing 16.28% of the 86 selected articles. Aggregat-
ing the results from these three most common CRM elements gives a total of
51 results, representing 59.31% of the total. The rest of the CRM elements in
descending order are target customer analysis (10.47%), customer segmentation
(9.30%), complaint management (5.83%), upselling/cross-selling (5.83%), one-
to-one marketing (4.63%), and market basket analysis (4.63%).
Table 3 shows the importance of the entrepreneurial marketing dimensions
according to their prominence in the decisions of business decision makers.
The results were obtained by classifying the 86 selected articles. To avoid over-
laps, the most relevant dimension is considered. These dimensions are shown in
descending order.
Relationship management is the most commonly used entrepreneurial market-
ing dimension, with 38 results of the 86 selected articles, representing 44.19%.
With less than half this number of results are commitment (17.44%) and trust
(16.28%). Following these are cooperation (12.79%) and closeness (9.30%).

Distribution of the selected articles by year of publication

Table 4 shows the distribution of the selected articles by year of publication. In

this table, the 86 selected articles are sorted according to the year in which they
were published.
Clear growth can be observed since 2015, which, as previously stated, is the
year in which scientific research interest in this subject began to rise (Guerola-
Navarro et al., 2020b).
The decline in publications in 2019, based on the recent trend and experience,
is most likely to have occurred because some articles have been approved for pub-
lication but are still in the editing and production process. The calendar year 2019
had just ended at the time of this study, so there is still the possibility of more
papers being published with the reference year of 2019.

Table 3  Distribution of Entrepreneurial Marketing dimension Number of Percentage

the selected articles by publications
entrepreneurial marketing
dimension. Source: the authors Relationship management 38 44.19%
Commitment 15 17.44%
Trust 14 16.28%
Cooperation 11 12.79%
Closeness 8 9.30%
Total: 86 100.00%

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Table 4  Distribution of the Year Number of

selected articles by year of publications
publication. Source: the authors
2015 12
2016 19
2017 20
2018 21
2019 14
Total 86

Distribution of the selected articles by journal

The selected articles were also classified according to the journal where they were
published. This analysis shows which journals are most focused on this topic. This
distribution is presented in Table 5.
The first noteworthy conclusion arising from the distribution of articles by jour-
nal is that this distribution has a broad spread, with the 86 selected articles published
across 62 journals. Therefore, many journals can be used to search for information on
this topic. The second striking conclusion is that no journal stands out over the others.

Table 5  Distribution of the articles by journal. Source: the authors

Journal Number of Percentage
publications

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & INDUSTRIAL MARKETING 5 5.81%

JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MARKETING 4 4.65%
MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT 4 4.65%
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY 3 3.49%
HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
JOURNAL OF INTERACTIVE MARKETING 3 3.49%
JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH 2 2.33%
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MARKETING 2 2.33%
INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT & DATA SYSTEMS 2 2.33%
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN 2 2.33%
THE SERVICE SECTOR
IRANIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES 2 2.33%
COGENT BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT 2 2.33%
JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH 2 2.33%
MARKETING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: CONCEPTS, 2 2.33%
METHODOLOGIES, TOOLS, AND APPLICATIONS
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT OF INNOVATIONS 2 2.33%
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT & BUSINESS EXCELLENCE 2 2.33%
OTHERS (47 JOURNALS) 1 1.16%
(× 47 Journals) (× 47)
Total: 86 100.00%

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Table 6  Distribution of articles by number of citations. Source: the authors

Number of Percentage of Author(s) of article(s)
citations citations

39 11.27% Fidel et al. (2015)

31 8.96% Breugelmans et al. (2015)
29 8.38% So et al. (2016)
27 7.80% Wang and Kim (2017)
14 4.05% Morgan et al. (2018)
13 3.76% Charoensukmongkol and Sasatanun (2017)
10 2.89% Fu and Chang (2016)
9 2.60% Ascarza et al. (2017), Hutchinson et al. (2015), Yoon and Sims (2014)
(× 3 articles) (× 3)
7 2.02% Youssef et al. (2018), Stone et al. (2017), Chang and Zhang (2016), Chen
(× 5 articles) (× 5) and Wu (2016), Marolt et al. (2015)
6 1.73% Kim and Kumar (2018), Marino and Lo Presti (2018), Rodriguez and
(× 5 articles) (× 5) Trainor (2016), Matikainen et al. (2015), Venturini and Benito (2015)
5 1.45% Law et al. (2018), Diffley et al. (2018), Kang and Kim (2017)
(× 3 articles) (× 3)
4 1.16% Dewnarain et al. (2019), Haenlein (2017), Bucic et al. (2017), Lau et al.
(× 4 articles) (× 4) (2016a)
3 0.87% Olavarría-Jaraba et al. (2018), Galvão et al. (2018), Oumar et al. (2017),
(× 9 articles) (× 9) Afèche et al. (2017), Barac et al. (2017), Gu et al. (2016), Wali et al.
(2016), Swarts et al. (2016), Gupta and Aggarwal (2016)
2 0.58% Kantorová and Bachmann (2018), Jaber and Simkin (2017), Singh et al.
(× 7 articles) (× 7) (2017), Kamboj et al. (2016), Pedron et al. (2016), Lau et al. (2016b),
Ravasan and Mansouri (2018)
1 0.29% (× 19) Foltean et al. (2019), Kumar et al. (2019a, b), Pesonen et al. (2019),
(× 19 Pohludka and Štverková (2019), Cheng et al. (2019), Ben Rhouma and
articles) Zaccour (2017), Hu et al. (2018), Alizadeh Zoeram and Karimi Mazidi
(2018), Aliyu and Nyadzayo (2018), Miell et al. (2018), Nawaser and
Jahanshahi (2018), Kaptein (2018), Ashraf et al. (2017), Brockman
et al. (2017), Filip et al. (2016), Mehta and Tajeddini (2016a), Mehta
and Tajeddini (2016b), Singh and Saini (2016), Chung and Chen
(2016)
0 0.00% Chierici et al. (2018), Lu and Miller (2019), Hamidi and Safareeyeh
(× 24 (× 24) (2019), Roopchund (2019), Denizci Guillet and Shi (2019), Hitka
articles) et al. (2019), Budiman et al. (2019), Alhakimi and Ghaleb (2019),
Al-Zadjali and Al-Busaidi (2018), Nemati et al. (2018), Mau et al.
(2018), Powell et al. (2018), Oh and Ma (2018), Bojanowska (2017),
Dukić and Gale (2015), Duggal and Verma (2017), Orantes Jiménez
et al. (2017), Kashani and Shahmirzaloo (2017), Canhoto et al. (2017),
Williams et al. (2017) Serebrennikova (2016), Yang and Hu (2015),
Ozuem and Thomas (2015), El-Gohary et al. (2013)
346 100.00% Total

In the period under study, the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing pub-
lished the most articles (five), representing a percentage of 5.81% of the total of 86
selected articles. With four published articles each (4.65% of the total), the Jour-
nal of Strategic Marketing and the Middle East Journal of Management were the

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next most prolific journals. Two journals published three articles each (3.49% of the
total): International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and Jour-
nal of Interactive Marketing, and 10 Journals published two articles each (2.33% of
the total). The rest of the journals published only one article each (47 journals with
1.16% of the total).

Distribution of the selected articles by number of citations

Table 6 was used to study the articles with the greatest influence in this field of
scientific study. Table 6 shows the distribution of articles by number of citations of
each publication in the WoS.
The most cited article has a much higher number of citations than any other arti-
cle. It can therefore be considered the most influential of the selected articles. This
article, by Fidel et al. (2015), had received 39 citations when this study was con-
ducted, representing 11.27% of the total citations of all selected articles. In second
place is the article by Breugelmans et al. (2015), with 31 citations (8.96% of the
total). This article is followed by the article by So et al. (2016), with 29 citations
(8.38% of the total), and then the article by Wang and Kim (2017), with 27 citations
(7.80% of the total citations).

Discussion and conclusions

After reviewing the most recent literature on the impact of the use of customer
relationship management strategy and systems in the field of entrepreneurial mar-
keting, the general conclusion is that effectively a good efficient use of these tools
appears in these studies as a strong link between business management and com-
pany results. The second important conclusion is that this is due to the fact that
the use of CRM favors the adaptation of entrepreneurial marketing efforts to the
most effective and relevant needs and focuses of action in the environment of the
company’s customers.
Looking at the results of the study, it has been identified which entrepreneurial
marketing and CRM dimensions are the most relevant in previous studies. The
main contribution of this study has been to identify these dimensions, as a result
of the points of interest raised by previous studies, and therefore covering the gap
in the literature as no previous study has been found that followed the parame-
ters used in the present investigation. This contribution provides interesting ideas
about what future lines of research can be undertaken by researchers interested
in the impact of the use of CRM combined withentrepreneurial marketing in the
search for a joint and powerful impact on the effective management of customer
relationships within the current changing and dynamic world in which entrepre-
neurship finds its greatest asset to demonstrate its power to transform the market
and society as a whole..

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The most important conclusion for future research is that the field of scientific
research on the use of CRM as a strategy and technological solution that acceler-
ates and stimulates the entrepreneurial marketing, is developing and growing, as
reflect by most of the recent bibliometric studies on the subject. In this study,
after a process of careful selection, a detailed and exhaustive analysis of 86 sci-
entific research articles was conducted, providing valuable information for busi-
ness decision makers in this area. The timeframe for selection of these articles
was 2015 to 2019. In 2015, scientific research interest in this year began to rise.
Although the timeframe spanned the period up to the year 2019, some articles
approved for publication in that year are still awaiting publication.
The second conclusion is that CRM retention and CRM development are the
key CRM dimensions for business decision makers looking for tools to create suc-
cessful entrepreneurial marketing strategies. Regarding the distribution of articles
by CRM dimensions, customer retention is the most common CRM dimension
where marketing is used to support decision making, with 32 articles focusing
on this dimension (37.21% of the selected articles). Within customer retention,
loyalty programs represent the CRM element addressed by most of these articles,
with 23 articles (71.88% of the articles on customer retention). The second most
influential CRM dimension was identified as customer development, with 23 arti-
cles (26.74% of the total). Customer lifetime value was the most highly valued
CRM element within this dimension, with 14 articles (60.87% of the customer
development articles). These two CRM dimensions (CRM retention and CRM
development) are addressed by 55 (63.95%) of the 86 selected articles, so they
may be considered the most influential CRM dimensions. This conclusion was
expected and does not imply any contradiction with what CRM systems and strat-
egies have been designed for, since (as seen in the articles reviewed) modern mar-
keting theories indicate that the best business success policy is the retention of
good existing customers. Although it was an expected conclusion, this study has
shown that it is indeed true and demonstrable, and that the desired and expected
benefits of the use of CRM confirm the initial hypotheses. On the other hand, and
as can be seen in the following conclusion, it has been more specifically identified
which CRM elements (directly related to these most relevant dimensions identi-
fied in this case) are the ones that have the greatest impact on good management
of the business. business marketing.
The third conclusion of the study, in relation to the CRM elements with the
greatest impact on decision making in entrepreneurial marketing, is that the most
decisive CRM elements are loyalty programs, customer lifetime value, and direct
marketing. The most commonly used CRM element for assisting business decision
makers is loyalty programs, with 23 results (26.75% of the total), followed by cus-
tomer lifetime value and direct marketing, each with 14 results (16.28% of the total).
These three categories account for a total of 51 of the selected articles, representing
59.31% of the total. The third conclusion is fully consistent with the second con-
clusion because loyalty programs, customer lifetime value, and direct marketing are
essential values in any retention and development program targeting a company’s
most profitable customers. Once again, it is confirmed that the empirical results of
the study are in line with those expected, which gives the researchers the necessary

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security to assume that a good use of CRM can lead to an improvement in the degree
of organizational performance and with it the results of the company. Specifically,
the use of loyalty programs is presented as the most effective tool for companies in
the marketing area, with CRM being the most efficient support available to compa-
nies to design such loyalty programs.
Fourth, regarding the key entrepreneurial marketing dimensions for business
decision makers, relationship management was identified as the most commonly
used marketing dimension, referenced in 38 of the selected articles (44.19% of the
total). Commitment, with 15 articles (17.44%), and trust, with 14 articles (16.28%),
are less common. Again, these results are consistent with the previous conclusions
because relationship marketing, commitment, and trust are the relationship market-
ing dimensions upon which the concept and working strategy of CRM are based.
The findings obtained from the study, referring to the predominant dimensions in
the field of marketing, and more specifically in the field of entrepreneurship, confirm
that a good management of the information on customers (their needs, tastes, char-
acteristics, priorities, etc.) is essential to business success, and this is achieved most
efficiently through the use of CRM systems and strategies. Collecting and managing
in a centralized and consistent way the history of interactions with clients, helps to
design new and impactful marketing actions aimed at capturing, maintaining, and
expanding the partnership with clients.
All these conclusions are aligned with the initial expectations for this scientific
research. The review of the highlighted key entrepreneurial marketing dimensions
for business decision makers, CRM dimensions and CRM elements shows that the
greatest commitment of the joint between CRM and entrepreneurial marketing is to
retain and develop relations with the most profitable existing customers. This strate-
gic focus was observed to be much more prominent than the identification, acquisi-
tion, and attraction of new customers. Promoting and establishing a culture of cus-
tomer loyalty and customer lifetime value is crucial to business success. Within this
area, customer relationship management is the key marketing factor, along with the
development of an environment of trust and cooperation with customers.
In addition to the first objective of identifying and ranking the primary focus in
the area of CRM in entrepreneurial marketing, the second objective of this study
was to offer suggestions for future research. The findings of this study regarding the
quantitative evolution of the selected studies over time lead to recommendations for
future studies to further research in this area. Based on the content and key indica-
tors obtained in this study, the areas of customer retention and customer develop-
ment are those of greatest interest and opportunity for future research. The elements
that are most valued in this study and that may provide the fundamental pillars for
future research are relationship management, supported by trust and commitment
toward customers.
In line with the initial expectations of this study, the most influential papers,
authors, and journals in relation to the study of CRM were detected. CRM is a high
impact technological solution in entrepreneurial marketing and can have a strong
influence on firm performance. In fact, given its powerful link with marketing in the
area of entrepreneurship, and as previous studies on the growing influence of CRM
among the most relevant Information Technologies within the field of business

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management show, the growing use of CRM in companies is one of the pillars of
technological and social change in Business spirit, which is precisely one of the
most obvious consequences of the use of marketing in the area of entrepreneurship
and in its commitment to take advantage of unknown opportunities to offer new and
better goods and services to society. The transformation power that CRM is exerting
on the client’s commercial management capacity is being a clear example of how
big data can benefit society through a greater and more efficient adaptation of the
offer of companies to the needs of customers, which clearly results in customer sat-
isfaction and the overall good of society.
Based on the state of the art, which is jointly illustrated by the bibliometric stud-
ies and literature review, the following future research agenda is proposed. The
recommendation is to evaluate the current (exploitation) and future (exploration)
benefits that make CRM a key tool for achieving a sustainable impact on busi-
ness performance, and this in coordination with the impact area of entrepreneurial
marketing as an unstoppable force for development and transformation of society
through its unlimited source of inspiration to find new ways and paths to take advan-
tage of opportunities to satisfy customer needs. It will thus be possible to iden-
tify and evaluate the key factors for success from among the paths that lead from
CRM and entrepreneurial marketing to firm performance. Once these key factors
have been identified and evaluated, a measurement model should be proposed. This
model should show the relevant constructs for the use of CRM and entrepreneurial
marketing (directly linked to Innovation capabilities) to improve business manage-
ment. The validity of the model and of the associated hypotheses can then be empir-
ically tested. More specifically, and following the particular findings of the study, it
is proposed to analyze which specific entrepreneurial marketing actions are empiri-
cally demonstrated as the most effective, aligned with the identified elements (loy-
alty programs) and the identified dimensions (customer retention), and supported by
the dominant dimensions identified (relationship management).
The combination of this review of the literature on CRM as a business manage-
ment solution in entrepreneurial marketing, together with the bibliometric study of
CRM, provides a crucial foundation for subsequent studies of the impact of CRM on
firm performance through the use of powerful entrepreneurial marketing strategies.
This research enables identification of the most relevant previous studies. Previ-
ous conclusions can be used to formulate the most accurate research models. These
models can be empirically tested in different sectors or areas of business activity.
The main value of this study therefore lies in its review of previous results and con-
clusions to establish new research models for testing. In the literature review, a gap
has been detected regarding the existence of generic models and global empirical
studies on the impact of the use of specific CRM components on specific entrepre-
neurial marketing elements. Consequently, the empirical design and testing of mod-
els in concrete and real environments that provide valuable decision criteria to busi-
ness decision makers is proposed as a line of research.
Finally, the main limitation of this study (but also its greatest virtue) is that it was
performed using the Web of Science Core Collection database. This database is one
of the most prestigious and complete databases of scientific research publications.
Another limitation is that it reviewed high-impact publications for the period 2015

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to 2019. This period corresponds to the last five years prior to conducting this study.
It also coincides with years of strong growth in interest in research on this subject.
Therefore, the study is restricted to the content contained in this database, leading
to the possible exclusion of articles that are not recorded in the database. The study
is also restricted to this period, even though publications on this topic have also
appeared outside this period. Furthermore, the study suffers from a gap left by arti-
cles approved for publication in 2019 (appearing as articles published in 2019) but
still pending publication at the time this study was conducted.

Funding Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.

Declarations

Conflict of interest N/A.

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License,
which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as
you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Com-
mons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article
are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the
material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is
not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission
directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://​creat​iveco​mmons.​org/​licen​
ses/​by/4.​0/.

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Authors and Affiliations

Vicente Guerola‑Navarro1 · Hermenegildo Gil‑Gomez1 ·

Raul Oltra‑Badenes1 · Pedro Soto‑Acosta2
Hermenegildo Gil‑Gomez
[email protected]
Raul Oltra‑Badenes
[email protected]
Pedro Soto‑Acosta
[email protected]
1
Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia,
Spain
2
Departamento de Organización de Empresas Y Finanzas, Universidad Murcia, Murcia, Spain

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