European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems 2009 (EMCIS2009) July 13-14 2009, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Izmir Schindlholzer et al. A Maturity Model for the Internationalization of Customer Care in the Automotive Industry 1 A MATURITY MODEL FOR THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF CUSTOMER CARE IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY Bernhard Schindlholzer, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, bernhard.schindlholzer@unisg.ch Lukas Gysi, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, lukas.gysi@unisg.ch Michael Klaas, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, michael.klaas@unisg.ch Walter Brenner, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, walter.brenner@unisg.ch Abstract In the context of customer relationship management, customer care management takes the role of dealing with customer requests as well as complaints. Organizations have to ensure that service quality in customer care centers meets the customers’ expectations to ensure customer satisfaction. The maturity model developed in this paper aims to support a global automotive manufacturer in his activities to identify the current state of customer care management of regional distributors and provide guidance for improvement initiatives in the areas processes, systems and organization. The paper shows the potential of maturity models as management tool for company and industry specific domains, in this case for the management of the internationalization of customer care. The novelty of this research lies in the explorative evaluation of the use of maturity models within an organization to support the internationalization of global customer care standards, best-practices and guidelines that lead to a globally consistent customer care service quality. Keywords: Customer Relationship Management, Customer Care, Globalization, Maturity Model 1 INTRODUCTION Research has shown a positive correlation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty as well as between customer loyalty are customer profitability (Hippner and Wilde 2006). A recent study has shown that companies with above average customer satisfaction ratings also report above average stock market returns (Fornell, Mithas et al. 2006). Organizations have started to actively manage relationships with their customers to ensure customer satisfaction and therefore loyal customers. This can be observed through dedicated departments in many organizations that focus on customer relationship management (CRM). Even though CRM is very often seen as merely a technical system for the management of customer data (Brill 1998; Fischer-Neeb 2000), we follow the definition from (Hippner and Wilde 2002) in the context of this paper which defines CRM as a customer-oriented strategy that uses modern information and communication technology to build profitable and sustainable customer relationships through marketing, sales and service concepts. 1.1 Definition of Scope Customer Care is a sub-area of customer relationship management which is concerned with communication that has been initiated by the customer (Stauss 2004). Even though this definition