Tecto de vidro? Uma hipótese de explicação (parte X)

Parte I , parte II,  parte III, parte IV, parte V, parte VI, parte VII, parte VIII e parte IX.
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Voltando ao artigo citado na parte V, "The implementation of customer profitability analysis: A case study" de Erik M. van Raaij, Maarten J.A. Vernooijb, Sander van Triestc, publicado em Industrial Marketing Management 32 (2003) 573– 583. Mais um exemplo da necessidade de perceber quem são os clientes rentáveis:

"Within any given customer base, there will be differences in the revenues customers generate for the firm and in the costs the firm has to incur to secure those revenues. While most firms will know the customer revenues, many firms are unaware of all costs associated with customer relationships.
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In general, product costs will be known for each customer, but sales and marketing, service, and support costs are mostly treated as overhead." [Moi ici: Faz-me lembrar a experiência industrial sobre os custos da manutenção, o tal "Ovo de Colombo"]

Na empresa do artigo, uma empresa americana e grande:

"The largest 20% of customers were not responsible for 80% of revenues as the 20/80 rule suggests but for 93% of revenues and for 95% of profits. It is not surprising that the top customers account for the largest share of absolute profits, but do they also have higher profit margins on their revenues? 
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The results also provided support for a differentiated CRM strategy that the firm had introduced around the time the customer profitability project was started: a ‘‘small business’’ concept with more standardized, low-cost services for smaller customers. This differentiated approach should help alleviate the disappointing profitability figures for small customers and small customer locations. But while many firms may be tempted to concentrate exclusively on taking measures towards unprofitable customers, this firm chose to give extra attention to the profitable customers, especially in those market sectors that showed a vulnerable customer base, i.e., those sectors showing a high degree of dependency."

E no caso da sua empresa, sabe?

• Quais são as suas fontes e sumidouros de lucro?
• Como associa o tipo de relação com as características e custos dos clientes?
• Como aloca os recursos entre os diferentes clientes?

Não devia saber?