Processual issues in key account management: underpinning the customer‐facing organisation

1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 328-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Millman ◽  
Kevin Wilson

Addresses the question of how to make key account management processes in industrial and business‐to‐business markets more customer focused. Considers the processual issues emerging from recent empirical research and looks at a range of factors: cultural; organisational; and attitudinal; which have been found to affect the benefits gained from attempting to implement KAM processes. Points are drawn from a number of different sources, such as: formal research projects, studying particular buyer/seller dyads, broader industry surveys, and from observations made during KAM workshops and consultancy projects. They are presented as a guide to those issues that will be the major focus of future research.

Author(s):  
Niksa Alfirevic ◽  
Nikola Draskovic ◽  
Jurica Pavicic

This chapter presents a model of customer-centric strategy implementation based on best practices developed by Vetropack, one of the leading companies in the European glass packaging industry. The company developed its own mix of customer-centric marketing strategies, which are implemented on various organizational levels and include processes such as quality assurance, key account management, customer care, business partnering, and a marketing information system. Although the model developed and case presented are based on some industry specific features, the overall approach could be used as a benchmark for different industries and companies, especially those active in business-to-business markets. As an outcome, combining the theoretical framework and best practice findings, we propose a new approach to customer-centric strategy, which unifies internal and external organizational learning.


IMP Journal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn S. Ivens ◽  
Catherine PARDO

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify what managerial implications research related to inter-organizational interfaces has been produced in marketing. For this aim, the authors focus on a specific concept implemented in many firms that operate on business-to-business markets, which is key account management (KAM). Design/methodology/approach – The authors used the Ebsco Database entering “account management” as a key word in the title row. The search provided 51 papers to which the authors added four MSI reports written by Moriarty and Shapiro between 1980 and 1984. The authors then identified such keywords as “managers”, “practitioners”, “marketers”, “managerial”, “business”, and their variations as well as normative words such as “should”, “must”, etc. in order to identify managerial implications. Findings – Four main findings are provided: a clear managerial purpose is affirmed by KAM academic works whether as a central “purpose” of the works or as “implications”; these managerial implications may display different forms (dimensions to be considered, consequences to anticipate, advices); though the managerial scope of KAM works is clearly visible, the sophistication of managerial recommendations remains … limited; the identification of who is exactly “the manager” targeted by the implications remains vague. Research limitations/implications – The authors discuss the notion of managerial relevance of academic research. Practical/implications – The authors explore sources for practices (whether they are the ones of scholars or managers) that could help “spelling out more effectively the managerial implications. Originality/value – To the knowledge this is the first work that reviews so precisely how academic articles address to the managerial audience on a precise issue. Furthermore, the authors believe that KAM is an interesting and appropriate field for such a review because it is widely implemented on business markets.


2016 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 102-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn S. Ivens ◽  
Catherine Pardo ◽  
Barbara Niersbach ◽  
Alexander Leischnig

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