The impact of the Qatar blockade on customer relationship management

The 2017 blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt constituted a profound geopolitical crisis that reshaped the country's economic and social landscape. One of the most affected domains was customer relationship management (CRM) in service industries, which faced immediate disruptions to supply chains, reputational challenges, and uncertainty about customer trust. This research focuses on the impact the blockade on Qatar had on CRM within the aviation, healthcare, banking, oil and gas, and insurance industries. Following an interpretivist research paradigm, qualitative research was undertaken and semi-structured interviews with senior executives in the industries were used to capture the organisational responses. The study identifies and describes a range of adaptive CRM strategies the organisations implemented designed to help maintain and nurture customer loyalty, including supplier diversification, accelerated digital transformations, retraining employees, developing social CRM, and shifting to a more active multi-channel CRM. Embedding various digital and relational marketing tools also sustained and helped retain the focus of customers during the politically and economically destabilising period. This also helped bolster the long-term viability of the organisations. By detailing the improvisational CRM practices of service firms, this study adds to the literature on CRM and crisis management focusing on small economically and geopolitically important countries.

There is recognition of the need to strengthen digital infrastructure and public support for the stabilisation of the service sectors and CRM innovation for crisis preparedness. Future studies should examine comparative cases of CRM resilience regionally within the scope of political conflicts and globally, with crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.