Every company gathers information on customer preferences and buying history in order to improve their long-term customer relationships. Maintaining a customer database requires protecting the confidentiality of the information.

Consider the following scenario:

Sara is the marketing manager of a small human resource (HR) consultancy firm. She wants to address improving customer relations and understanding and managing consumer behavior. She would like to implement a process of using a database to assist her company in its marketing efforts. She is also concerned about online privacy versus off-line privacy.

Now, respond to the following:

• How would you address Sara’s concern about the level of privacy in an online versus off-line database?
• What are ways in which she might be able to use the database for better understanding consumer behavior and building customer relationships? Provide at least five such ways.

Write your initial response in approximately 300 words. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

By Saturday, June 28, 2014, post your response to the appropriate Discussion Area. Through Wednesday, July 2, 2014, review and comment on at least two peers’ responses. Do the following when responding to your peers:

• Read all your peers’ postings.
• Respond in a substantive way by addressing issues brought up in your peers’ posts. Please note that simply registering your agreement with a peer’s post is not considered a substantive response.