International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), India Online ISSN: 2319-7064 Volume 2 Issue 1, January 2013 www.ijsr.net Customer Relationship Management and Bank Performance in Nigeria: An Empirical Validation Study Kenneth C. Adiele 1 , Justin M.O. Gabriel 2 , Adiele C. Kenneth 3 1 Lecturer, Department of Marketing Faculty of Management Sciences Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt, Nigeria adiken33@yahoo.com 2 Lecturer, Department of Management Faculty of Management Sciences Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt, Nigeria justinpozy@yahoo.com 3 Lecturer, Department of Marketing Faculty of Management Science Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt, Nigeria adiken33@yahoo.com Abstract: Retail financial services in all markets, including emerging markets, are undergoing major transformation that is driven by change, deregulation and customer sophistication. Customer service and specifically relationship management in particular is crucial to attaining a sustainable competitive advantage, in the market place. This study is designed to examine the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) on the Business Performance of Nigeria money deposit banks. The nomothetic methodology was adopted and forty copies of structured questionnaire were our primary data collection instrument which was distributed to ten functional and registered money deposit banks in south-south zone of Nigeria. However, the postulated hypotheses were tested by employing the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient (SRCC) statistical tool which was facilitated by the statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS). The study however showed that a significant relationship exists between CRM & BP. Furthermore, it was found that amongst the dimensions of CRM, customer identification and retention impacts more significantly on business performance. The study therefore concludes that Nigerian money deposit banks should increase their customer identification and retention strategies since they commensurably impact on their level of performance. However, the study recommended that the key to efficient performance of Nigeria banking industry is hinged on their ability to identify, attract, retain and develop their customers better than competitors. Keywords: Customer Relationship Management and Banking Sector Viability. 1. Introduction Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has attracted an expanded attention of practitioners and scholars. More and more companies are adopting customer-centric strategies, programs, tools, and technology for efficient and effective customer relationship management. They are realizing the need for in-depth and integrated customer knowledge in order to build close cooperative and partnering relationships with their customers. The emergence of new channels and technologies is significantly altering how companies interface with their customers, a development bringing about a greater degree of integration between marketing, sales, and customer service functions in organizations. For practitioners, CRM represents an enterprise approach to developing full- knowledge about customer behavior (Coltman 2006). Marketing scholars are studying the nature and scope of CRM and are developing conceptualizations regarding the value and process of cooperative and collaborative relationships between buyers and sellers. Many scholars with interests in several sub-disciplines of marketing, such as channels, services marketing, business-to-business marketing, advertising, and so forth, are actively engaged in studying and exploring the conceptual foundations of managing relationships with customers. These days, Banks have realized that customer relationship is very important factor for their success. The aim of this study is to examine and analyze the strategic implementation of Customer Relationship Management and its impact on the performance of money deposit banks in Nigeria. 2. Theoretical Background 2.1 Conceptualization of Customer Relationship Management and Business Performance Customer Relationship Management has developed as an approach based on maintaining positive relationships with customers, increasing customer loyalty and expanding customer lifetime value (Brassingtor and Pattit, 2000). Customer Relationship Management is defined as a firm’s practices to systematically manage its customers to 416