A Conceptual and Empirical Examination of Key Account Management Orientation and its Implications – The Role of Trust

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine the role of top management in effective key account management (KAM) relationships, making a distinction between top management commitment and top management involvement. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses data from 304 suppliers from different sectors to test the research model and hypotheses developed. Data were collected by means of personal interviews. The survey instrument was a structured questionnaire. Findings – Results show that top management commitment positively affects top management involvement. In addition, top management involvement totally mediates the relationship between top management commitment and relationship quality. Finally, relationship quality positively relates to financial performance. Research limitations/implications – The study focuses on the role of top management in KAM. Future research that considers the top management’s role simultaneously with other internal or external factors would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the antecedents of effective KAM. Future studies can also examine the potential detrimental impact of top management involvement in KAM. Practical implications – Top managers should get actively involved in KAM. The study provides managers with guidance concerning how top management can have the greatest effect on KAM effectiveness. Originality/value – The study adds to our understanding of the role of top management in KAM. The study provides an integrative empirical examination of the influence of top management in KAM and offer insights on which ways top management determines KAM success.

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The crucial role of key account management

Key Account Management ◽

10.1002/9781119207252.ch1 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 1-23

Keyword(s):

Crucial Role ◽

Key Account Management ◽

Account Management ◽

Key Account

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Spitzenleistungen im Key Account Management

10.15358/9783800646432 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Christian Belz ◽

Markus Müllner ◽

Dirk Zupancic

Keyword(s):

Key Account Management ◽

Account Management ◽

Key Account

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Mind the gap: A process model for diagnosing barriers to key account management implementation

Industrial Marketing Management ◽

10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.07.008 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 70 ◽

pp. 58-67 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Alexander Leischnig ◽

Björn S. Ivens ◽

Barbara Niersbach ◽

Catherine Pardo

Keyword(s):

Process Model ◽

Key Account Management ◽

Account Management ◽

Key Account

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The reflexive turn in key account management

European Journal of Marketing ◽

10.1108/ejm-10-2010-0561 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 48 (11/12) ◽

pp. 2071-2104 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Markus Vanharanta ◽

Alan J.P. Gilchrist ◽

Andrew D. Pressey ◽

Peter Lenney

Keyword(s):

Empirical Studies ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Success Rates ◽

Key Account Management ◽

Content Type ◽

Account Management ◽

Long Run ◽

Key Account ◽

And Performance ◽

The Uk

Purpose – This study aims to address how and why do formal key account management (KAM) programmes hinder effective KAM management, and how can the problems of formalization in KAM be overcome. Recent empirical studies have reported an unexpected negative relationship between KAM formalization and performance. Design/methodology/approach – An 18-month (340 days) ethnographic investigation was undertaken in the UK-based subsidiary of a major US sports goods manufacturer. This ethnographic evidence was triangulated with 113 in-depth interviews. Findings – This study identifies how and why managerial reflexivity allows a more effectively combining of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM practices. While formal KAM programmes provide a means to initiate, implement and control KAM, they have an unintended consequence of increasing organizational bureaucracy, which may in the long-run hinder the KAM effectiveness. Heightened reflexivity, including “wayfinding”, is identified as a means to overcome many of these challenges, allowing for reflexively combining formal with post-bureaucratic KAM practices. Research limitations/implications – The thesis of this paper starts a new line of reflexive KAM research, which draws theoretical influences from the post-bureaucratic turn in management studies. Practical implications – This study seeks to increase KAM implementation success rates and long-term effectiveness of KAM by conceptualizing the new possibilities offered by reflexive KAM. This study demonstrates how reflexive skills (conceptualized as “KAM wayfinding”) can be deployed during KAM implementation and for its continual improvement. Further, the study identifies how KAM programmes can be used to train organizational learning regarding KAM. Furthermore, this study identifies how and why post-bureaucratic KAM can offer additional benefits after an organization has learned key KAM capabilities. Originality/value – A new line of enquiry is identified: the reflexive-turn in KAM. This theoretical position allows us to identify existing weakness in the extant KAM literature, and to show a practical means to improve the effectiveness of KAM. This concerns, in particular, the importance of managerial reflexivity and KAM wayfinding as a means to balance the strengths and weaknesses of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM.

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