Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) is a new research, and development, project (www.projectvrm.org) led by The Berkam Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School that seeks to “bring a useful and productive balance of power between vendors and customers, supply and demand — for the good of both — in the marketplace.” - see previous blog entry for more details.
Doc Searls introduces VRM and it's role in creating a "personal platform" and the potential of turning "customers into platforms" in the presentation and video below.
Central to the presentation is the concept of the "Relbutton".
Further information on the Relbutton and various customer related scenarios are available here.
VRM related blog entries from Doc's blog are available here.