Open AccessCoping with earthquakes and COVID-19: A perspective of customer relationship management
Author(s) -
Karen L. Orengo-Serra,
María Sánchez-Jauregui
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
estudios gerenciales
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 2665-6744
pISSN - 0123-5923
DOI - 10.18046/j.estger.2021.159.4435
Subject(s) - business , customer relationship management , coping (psychology) , covid-19 , resilience (materials science) , business continuity , marketing , process management , computer science , computer security , medicine , psychology , physics , disease , pathology , psychiatry , infectious disease (medical specialty) , thermodynamics
This study describes Customer Relationship Management (CRM) resiliency activities carried out in Puerto Rico by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during a series of earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of the study is to provide strategies to help businesses move forward and cope with negative effects of unexpected disruptive events. The data gathering process comprised 121 firms surveyed and 7 in-depth interviews with business owners and managers operating in Puerto Rico. Results reveal that reinforcing customer communications, followed by distribution and logistics re-engineering were some of the CRM resilience strategies frequently used by SMEs. By backing up their Critical Infrastructure (CI), businesses avoid telecommunications interruptions and stay in communication with stakeholders mainly via satellite and mobile Wi-Fi connections.