Study goals
To map the evolution of customer centricity and translate it into actionable guidance for marketing intelligence and planning by integrating senior executive evidence with bibliometric/scientometric mapping to identify implementation patterns, gaps, and research priorities.
Relevance / originality
Reframes customer centricity as a dual-core system: a relational core (trust, commitment, coordinated processes) and a technology core (data, analytics, AI, production), connected by customer experience and co-creation, and reshape the technology's role from enabler to driver.
Methodology / approach
A sequential mixed-methods design: in-depth interviews with ten Brazilian senior executives and a bibliometric/scientometric analysis of 1,941 articles (1979–2024) from Scopus and Web of Science; integration via a joint display contrasts convergence and divergence between practice and scholarship.
Main results
Five clusters structure the field: Relational Core; Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Experience; Digital Transformation Bridge; Technology and Production Frontier; Value Co-Creation Periphery. Convergence on culture/leadership and proactivity; gaps in data ethics and dynamic, financially linked measurement; technology emerges as a strategic driver.
Theoretical / methodological contributions
Delivers a practice-first synthesis that integrates forty-five years of scholarship with executive evidence; clarifies mechanisms and implementation configurations; proposes principles for measurement architectures, data and AI governance, and capability sequencing; and outlines a research agenda to test effects, boundaries, and technology mediation.
Social / management contributions
Provides a planning roadmap: sequence digital capabilities with leadership sponsorship; standardize shared components for identity, consent, and channel decisioning; adopt composite scorecards linking journey indicators to revenue, margin, and cost to serve; and integrate privacy, ethics, and ESG into governance.