scholarly journals Managing Business-to-Business Customer Relationships following Key Contact Employee Turnover in a Vendor Firm

2002 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeli Bendapudi ◽  
Robert P. Leone

Customers form relationships with the employees who serve them as well as with the vendor firms these employees represent. In many cases, a customer's relationship with an employee who is closest to them, a key contact employee, may be stronger than the customer's relationship with the vendor firm. If the key contact employee is no longer available to serve that customer, the vendor firm's relationship with the customer may become vulnerable. In this article, the authors present the results of two studies that examine what business-to-business customers value in their relationships with key contact employees, what customers' concerns are when a favored key contact employee is no longer available to serve them, and what vendor firms can do to alleviate these concerns and to retain employee knowledge even if they cannot retain the employee in that position. The studies are based on a discovery-oriented approach and integrate input from business-to-business customers, key contact employees, and managers from a broad cross-section of companies to develop testable propositions. The authors discuss managerial and theoretical implications and directions for further research.

Author(s):  
Helen Pierce

How was the multiplied, printed image encountered in Shakespeare’s London? This chapter examines a range of genres and themes for single sheet, illustrated broadsides in an emerging, specialist print market. It discusses how such images were used to persuade and to entertain a potentially broad cross-section of society along moral, political and religious lines, and according to both topical and commercial interests. The mimetic nature of the English print in both engraved and woodcut form is highlighted, with its frequent adaptation of continental models to suit more local concerns. Consideration is also given to the survival of certain images in later seventeenth-century impressions, indicative of popularity and the common commercial practice of reprinting stock from aging plates and blocks, and the sporadic nature of censorship upon the illustrated broadside.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1956 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 832-832
Author(s):  
Frederick J. Martin

Gastrointestinal allergy has been said to be a rare cause of colic in infancy. We had been impressed by the family history of allergy elicited in many cases. Frequent occurrence in colicky babies of stools containing mucus, eosinophils, and sometimes blood, was also noted. The Nance method of staining stool mucus for eosinophils was used. A point was made of inquiring concerning hay fever, allergic asthma, perennial allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, frequent and severe sinusitis and migraine headache, in the mother, father, siblings, grandfathers, uncles, aunts and first cousins. This has been done in the case of all newborns. The following data were accumulated from newborns whom we treated throughout the course of their complaint. We found 367 colicky infants among 611 who came from allergic families, an incidence of 60.1 per cent; among 296 infants from non-allergic families, 74 had colic, an incidence of 25 per cent. Where the father and mother both suffered from major manifestations of allergy, out of 55 infants, 43 had colic, an incidence of 78.2 per cent. A total of 814 infants had 308 colicky babies among them, an incidence of 36.1 pen cent in our practice. These data were gathered because we could find none in the literature answering the basic question of the incidence of colic in private pediatric practice. A broad cross-section of social classes and nationalities found in a metropolitan area were included. The over-all incidence of 36.1 per cent was a surprise to us. The incidence of 60.1 per cent of colic found in allergic families was impressive.


Author(s):  
Alvin J. Williams

As organizations seek to maintain competitiveness in an ever-challenging global economic environment, considerable attention has been focused on rationalizing and realigning supply bases to match market realities. Firms are reducing and restructuring the number and types of suppliers from which they buy goods and services worldwide. This restructuring has a direct impact on minority suppliers. This chapter focuses on how minority suppliers can use technology, with particular focus on electronic procurement systems and related methods, to strengthen performance and attractiveness to potential business-to-business customers. Through the use of e-procurement, electronic auctions, and multiple customer relationship management processes, minority firms can strengthen relationships that lead to long-term success.


2021 ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Laura Warren Hill

This chapter documents several brutal clashes between African Americans and the police, which engendered a loose coalition of Black organizations and a number of sympathetic white ministers. It recounts the Rochester cases that garnered significant attention, while police clashes occurred throughout most cities in the postwar era. It also mentions a case where the US Justice Department interceded and another case where the famed Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X joined the protest efforts. The chapter argues that police brutality became a salient issue for a broad cross section of the Black community, which included ministers who cultivated and promoted a unified response. It talks about the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that worked closely with Malcolm X and local Nation of Islam leaders to organize a unity rally, chastising the Rochester branch for consorting with reputed Black separatists.


1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
William T. Robinson

In a broad cross-section of industrial goods businesses, market pioneers tend to have substantially higher market shares than late entrants. A stronger product in relation to competitors’ products and certain industry characteristics help explain these pioneer share advantages. Though pioneering a new industrial market is not easy, the findings indicate that many pioneers develop important and sustainable competitive advantages.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 21-23

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Brands are playing an increasingly influential role in business-to-business markets. Suppliers can become better positioned to exploit the opportunities offered by devising and implementing branding strategies appropriate to the nature of the relationship with and requirements of each customer type. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditya Gupta ◽  
Alok Kumar ◽  
Rajdeep Grewal ◽  
Gary L. Lilien

In business-to-business (B2B) markets, the success of key account management (KAM) teams depends on how they are structured and how they handle customer relationships. The authors conceptualize relationships among selling team members as a within-seller (intrafirm) network and the relationships between selling team members and buyer representatives as a buyer–seller (interfirm) network. Drawing on both structural (buyer–seller density, within-seller density, and within-seller centralization) and functional (buyer–seller similar function ties and within-seller cross-functional ties) composition attributes of these networks, the authors examine how the interplay between these networks drives seller account profitability. Using data from 207 key account managers across B2B industries, the authors uncover a nuanced pattern of interplay across the two networks. Densities in the two networks are mutually substitutive, but density in the buyer–seller networks and centralization in the within-seller networks serve complementary roles. Cross-function ties in the within-seller network serve a complementary role too, but only in relation to similar function ties in the buyer–seller network. In contrast, within-seller centralization supports both network density and similar function ties in the buyer–seller network and, thus, emerges as a valuable KAM team characteristic. These findings suggest multiple ways for firms to align interfirm and intrafirm KAM networks to improve account profitability.


Author(s):  
Jacob S. Hacker ◽  
Philipp Rehm

Abstract Leading accounts of the politics of the welfare state focus on societal demands for risk-spreading policies. Yet current measures of the welfare state focus not on risk, but on inequality. To address this gap, this letter describes the development of two new measures, risk incidence and risk reduction, which correspond to the prevalence of large income losses and the degree to which welfare states reduce that prevalence, respectively. Unlike existing indicators, these measures require panel data, which the authors harmonize for twenty-one democracies. The study finds that large losses affect all income and education levels, making the welfare state valuable to a broad cross-section of citizens. It also finds that taxes and transfers greatly reduce the prevalence of such losses, though to varying degrees across countries and over time. Finally, it disaggregates the measures to identify specific ‘triggers’ of large losses, and finds that these triggers are associated with risks on which welfare states focus, such as unemployment and sickness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 1225-1246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russel P.J. Kingshott ◽  
Piyush Sharma ◽  
Smitha Ravindranathan Nair

Purpose This paper aims to combine the social–technical systems and social exchange theories with the resource-based view of the firm, to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) service firms manage their social and technical resources to manage customer relationships. Design/methodology/approach An online survey-based study with 321 managers working in Australian small and medium (SME) firms is used to test hypotheses about the sequential and substitutional impact of four social and technical resources (service quality, satisfaction, trust and commitment) on customer loyalty, using both offline and online platforms. Findings The findings show that both social and technical chains of effects are viable channels for B2B service firms to build customer loyalty; however, mixing of both social and technical resources results in the weakening of both these chains. Research limitations/implications The results based on B2B service relationships between Australian SME firms and their banks may not be generalizable to other contexts. Practical implications This research would help managers in B2B service firms understand the pitfalls of combining their social and technical resources because it may hamper their ability to build customer loyalty. Hence, they need to learn how to synergize their marketing resources across both offline and online platforms to achieve optimal results. Originality/value This research introduces social and technical chains of effects as a novel way to examine the ability of B2B service firms to optimize their social and technical resources in a synergistic manner to build and nurture stronger customer relationships.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document