The Customer Asset: Understanding and Managing its Value

This book delves into the concept of customers as financial assets, explaining how firms can assess investments in customer relationships. Crucially, these strategies' advantages can be communicated in financial terms to non-marketers, instilling accountability in marketing and augmenting firm value through well-informed investment decisions. This book delves into the concept of customers as financial assets, explaining how firms can assess investments in customer relationships. The authors present the VARIED framework for quantifying the customer asset, enabling marketers to devise strategies that enhance its value. Crucially, these strategies' advantages can be communicated in financial terms to non-marketers, instilling accountability in marketing and augmenting firm value through well-informed investment decisions. This methodology offers a practical avenue to enact the strategic concept of customer centricity. It will resonate with marketers, accountants, and all managers eager to demonstrate customers' financial worth to the organization. Neil Bendle is Associate Professor of Marketing in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, USA. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and a director of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB). Shane Wang is Professor of Marketing at Virginia Tech Univiersity, USA. His research focuses on artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques with applications in business and social media analytics, firm strategy and management.