A fidelização de clientes como um recurso estratégico: um estudo exploratório em empresas prestadoras de serviços na Grande São Paulo

Abstract

The following dissertation s main objective was to understand the various aspects of customer loyalty as a strategic resource that leads service-providing companies to obtain superior results considering the point of view of their managers. This topic was considered important due to the limited available studies concerning themes related to both loyalty and strategic resources and due to the importance of service-providing sector for the country s economy. This study was based on theoretical concepts related to customers loyalty, resource-based view (RBV) and competitive advantages. This way, an exploratory qualitative research was conducted in the Greater São Paulo area with seven executives from marketing or customer loyalty department of service-providing companies from various segments whose services are targeted to individuals. Data was acquired by in-depth interviews based on a semi-structured interview guide, and content analysis was employed for analysis and data interpretation. The outcome revealed that customer loyalty is an important issue, but that it is not necessarily considered a priority in companies business strategy. It was also identified characteristics of strategic resources in loyalty, such as perceived value, exclusivity and the"empowerment" of opportunities and reduction of threats. However, it was observed that the loyalty strategies are not necessarily non-imitable. Besides, evidence of competitive advantage through customer loyalty was also found, given a general view of the executives that loyalty actions have high potential to increase the customers profitability.