In the context of intense competition, complaint management is becoming a core component of defensive marketing. Particularly through its strategic potential in customer relationship and quality management, it can sustainably contribute to improving a company's competitive ability. However, empirical complaint research shows that it has so far only been insufficiently successful in effectively leveraging these strategic potentials to strengthen the company's competitive position. Martin Mende outlines the strategic planning concept of a market-oriented complaint management system. It aims to generate functional competitive advantages and optimize the effectiveness of complaint management as a strategic factor in support of the overall company's competitiveness. His approach to strategy formulation is theoretically well-founded.