Key Account Management Research Articles

Relationship selling and key account management

Relationship selling and key account management

Key Account Management as a Differentiator in Trade-offs: The Case of Universal Heater Industries

The case narrates a typical business-to-business scenario wherein the customer (Bodha Constructions) calls for a fresh tender for the water heater supply. Universal Heater Industries (UHI), the current vendor, has won the price agreement for three years in the past, and seemingly has done a terrific job. UHI is surprised by the turn of events on the fresh tender, as their previous price agreement gave them an entitlement to a 15% price hike after three years. The new development of a fresh tender with a minor specification change put UHI’s plans in a quandary. The case depicts the tactics played by a large customer in pushing a vendor to align to new expectations despite a pre-agreed price hike.

Multilevel Value Co-Creation Within Key Accounts

Optimizing complex service partnerships requires an understanding of multilevel value co-creation processes in a customer-supplier ecosystem. Such strategic business-to-business relationships impact supplier costs and revenues, necessitating dedicated personnel across hierarchical levels to co-create value. The authors study the customer-supplier ecosystem intra-organizationally across firm levels to understand value expectations and orientations, and extra-organizationally to identify supplier harmonization strategies for managing multilevel value co-creation. Empirically, the authors conduct a multilevel-multisource qualitative case study within a strategic partnership, with a service contract valued at over $100 million per year, that includes senior- and frontline-level interviews in the key account customer organization (32 participants) and supplier organization (22 participants). The analysis focuses on how institutions, spanning contracts, and behavioral norms within the business-to-business customer-supplier ecosystem, govern actions and aspirations. Findings typify the nature of divergent value expectations between customer hierarchies along with level-specific co-creation orientations. As future prognosis hinges on harmonizing practices and institutions to address discrepancies in value visibility across customer levels, such an assessment also enables actionable strategies to enhance reengagement. The findings collectively offer theoretical implications for key account management (KAM) research, influencing areas such as professionalization of KAM, effectiveness in KAM, and network dynamics within KAM.

First person – Ann-Christin Groh and Annika Möller-Kerutt

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Annika Möller-Kerutt and Ann-Christin Groh are co-first authors on ‘ PALS1 is a key regulator of the lateral distribution of tight junction proteins in renal epithelial cells’, published in JCS. Annika is a postdoc in the lab of Thomas Weide at University Hospital of Münster, Germany, and Ann-Christin undertook this work while a PhD student in the same laboratory lab and is now a Key Account Manager for Merck Healthcare, Germany. They are interested in how junction formation is dependent on cellular polarity.

Analyzing Factors That Affect Korean B2B Companies’ Sustainable Performance

This study empirically examines factors that can influence the sustainable corporate performance of Korean business-to-business (B2B) companies with the help of unique survey data. Factors such as technological capability, the chief executive officer (CEO)’s risk-taking propensity, B2B seller skill, and key account management (KAM) are analyzed to clarify their impact on sustainable financial and non-financial performance. In particular, given that environment, society, and governance (ESG) reporting has recently been widely recognized as an important evaluation factor for companies, we look at the mediating effects of ESG management on sustainable business performance. The results show that the CEO’s risk-taking propensity and B2B seller skill significantly impact the company’s sustainable financial performance, while technological capability and the CEO’s risk-taking propensity significantly impact sustainable non-financial performance. The fact that a CEO’s risk-taking propensity affects both sustainable financial and non-financial performance indicates the importance of entrepreneurial competency in the sustainability of the company. Furthermore, the findings reveal that ESG management plays a crucial role in sustainable corporate performance. The mediating role of ESG management allows technological capability, B2B seller skill, and KAM to influence sustainable financial performance significantly. Likewise, all of the explanatory factors contribute to the company’s sustainable non-financial performance through ESG management. The findings are important for both practitioners and scholars because they emphasize the need to establish an optimal ESG management strategy for corporate survival and sustainability. Furthermore, this study underscores that ESG management should be implemented by all organizational members, from CEOs to employees. Future research will include more comprehensive samples and analyze various strategic factors not covered in this study to derive effective ways by which companies can increase their performance and sustainability. We will also explore the factors that contribute to good ESG management practices.

Exploring gender diversity in key account management: A comparative global perspective on gender-specific roles and competencies for customer success

The present research investigates the influence of gender on the roles and competencies in Key Account Management (KAM) across various cultural settings. Twenty-six managers from the following six countries participated in this study: Germany, France, Spain, Hungary, India, and Vietnam. The five major themes uncovered through thematic analysis shed light on the gender dynamics in KAM. Insights into gender-specific approaches to KAM are provided by our findings, which also emphasize the distinct contributions of various genders in KAM. The result highlights the potential advantages that organizations can derive from incorporating gender diversity into KAM teams. This study, which is among the initial ones to examine gender perspectives in KAM on an international scale, addresses a substantial void in the current body of literature and offers noteworthy implications for applied theories.

Advancing diversity in commercial science: an interview with Daniel Similaki, founder of the Afro-Caribbean Commercial Science Network

Daniel Similaki has a background in chemistry. While working as a Key Account Manager at a leading global provider of products and services in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector, where he is also the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion lead for Europe, he founded the Afro-Caribbean Commercial Science Network (ACCSN), which aims to raise ethnic representation in the commercial and broader life science sector. The Biochemist spoke to Daniel about the ACCSN’s journey so far.

Was COVID-19 the end of B2B Sales as We Know it? Understanding the New Skills and Competencies of the B2B Salesperson After a Disruption Event Such as COVID-19

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine despite Covid-19 pandemic, several companies managed to grow their sales. This leads us to our research questions: what selling competencies make best salespeople post Covid-19 disruption? And, which of the sales competencies make to be most important toward their job performance? Theoretical framework: The B2B selling abilities post Covid-19 as the subject of this study has been little research by the academy and without a dominant theoretical framework, but rather a partial vision. This article contributes to integrating the scarce academic literature, which, as we demonstrate, is mainly empirical, with a theoretical domain. Design/methodology/approach: The use of established generic scales capturing each of the constructs of interest by surveying Key Account Managers in a B2B industry setting. Descriptive statistics, psychometric properties, pairwise correlations, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) where deployed. Findings: The results suggests that there is a positive direct effect of salesperson bricolage, adaptive selling, resiliency, salesperson' self-efficacy, and psychological flexibility with salesperson post-disruption performance. Lastly, a negative indirect effect is found between learning orientation, salesperson creativity, and salesperson grit. Research, Practical & Social implications: The study has focused on the proposal of what are the new sales competencies that B2B key account managers must develop to achieve a better sales performance, so managers must train and coach their B2B Key Account Managers (KAM) considering the new abilities needed (salesperson bricolage, adaptive selling, resiliency, salesperson' self-efficacy, and psychological flexibility) for sales success. Originality/value: The value of this study is a novel effort to understand what skills are needed to succeed in the post Covid-19 B2B selling environment.

Competency Development for Boosting Performance of Sales and Key Account Manager, A Case Study in PT Security Indonesia

PT Security Indonesia, which has been operating for over 20 years with 9,000 employees in 121 cities, serves customers in various industries. The focus of PT Security Indonesia is to provide manned security that incorporates technology to deliver better services. Sales and Key Account Manager are the key to sustaining the business. Sales are responsible for acquiring new customers, while the Key Account Manager retains existing customers, ensures their satisfaction, and delivers products and services that meet their needs. Based on the financial performance of PT Security Indonesia during 2020 and 2021, it appears that the company is not performing well. It is measured by the company’s total revenue and gross margin. Both actual and budget figures were compared, and it was found that the company did not meet its revenue targets and gross margins were lower than expected. This research conducted what are the competency needed for Sales and Key Account Manager to improve performance of PT Security Indonesia. And how PT Security Indonesia can improve level of competency of Sales and Key Account Manager. Competency is an underlying characteristic of a person that has a causal relationship to successful and/or outstanding performance in a role or circumstance. (Spencer & Spencer, 1993). Competencies are set of Knowledge, Skill, and Attitude of the persons carrying out the work. (Busch, 2012). In this research, the level of competency needed are measure by quantitative method. The result of this research will become a recommendation that can be implemented by PT Security Indonesia in the future.

Competency Development for Boosting Performance of Sales and Key Account Manager, A Case Study in PT Security Indonesia

Competency Development for Boosting Performance of Sales and Key Account Manager, A Case Study in PT Security Indonesia

IMPACT OF KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT ORIENTATION ON COMPANY’S FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Key account management (KAM) is a strategic approach that focuses on developing and retaining long-term relationships with key customers. In today’s business world, where competition is fierce and disruption is the norm, KAM has become increasingly important for companies looking to maintain a competitive edge. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, many companies are beginning to recognize the value of KAM and are implementing KAM strategies to improve their financial performance. To better understand the impact of KAM on financial performance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ongoing research is being conducted to identify the influence of key account management orientation on company financial performance in different industry sectors. The research has collected data from several companies in various industries, with each company being considered as a unit of analysis. To ensure the reliability and validity of the research instrumentation, a validated and reliable questionnaire was used, and item total reliability and confirmatory factor analysis were employed to test the reliability and validity of the constructs. The analysis of the data collected will be done using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, which will allow the researchers to identify the effects of key account management orientation on the company’s financial performance. The researchers expect to find statistically significant evidence supporting the impact of KAM orientation on the financial performance of companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The findings of this research could have important implications for companies looking to improve their financial performance through the implementation of KAM strategies. By demonstrating the impact of KAM on financial performance, the research could encourage more companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt KAM strategies and help them gain a competitive edge in their respective industries.

Gender issues in key account management research: A systematic literature review and avenues for future research

In many academic disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and management studies, there is broad interest in gender issues. But does this hold true for the literature on key account management, global account management, or strategic account management? Anecdotal evidence suggests that key account management, in practice, is still a rather male domain. Is this reflected in extant research, either through a discussion of the role of female key account managers or through the absence of such a discussion? This study first presents a systematic literature review of the key account management literature regarding research on gender issues. The results show that academic interest in gender issues in key account management has been very limited. It then argues for the necessity for increased scholarly research into gender issues in key account management and it develops numerous avenues for future research along the lines of (1) actors, (2) activities, and (3) resources in key account management as well as (4) relationship atmosphere and the environment in which key account management relationship are being managed.

Operational Management and UX Optimization on Lazada Mobile Top Up Page

This MBKM final report contains the author's overall activities during internship in Lazada's Key Account Management Digital Goods division. This report will be preceded by an introduction that covers the government's MBKM program in outline. After that, the report will be continued with the activities carried out by author, both routine and non-routine, complemented by the process to constraints and solutions. Where, author's main activity during internship in this division was to manage operations and also the final project in the form of UX optimization on Lazada mobile top up page. This report will also focus on the knowledge, abilities, and other things that author has gained during internship. Author also provide evaluations that could be useful for the next batch of MBKM programs.

Developing Key Account and Distributor Management to Stimulate Sales in Krakatau Steel

Krakatau Steel (KS) is a steel manufacturer in Indonesia. As a steel manufacturer, KS has to operate efficiently by achieving the economies of scale. Plays in commodity, make KS has to deal with price fluctuation. In uptrend price, customers tend to place more order to maximize the profit. Customers tend to place less order in the downtrend price to minimize the risk of high price inventory. KS has domestic competitors like Gunung Raja Paksi, Gunawan Dian Jaya Steel, Java Pacific, and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel. KS also has competitor from import like China, Japan and Korea. To fulfil production capacity constantly, KS has to collaborate with its custmers, understanding their needs and fulfil it with the product and service that delivered. There are several categories of customers in this industry, large fabricators, small fabricators, large resellers, small resellers, projects and retailers. Large fabricators and large resellers have a big portion in order placement. KS has to select large fabricators and large resellers to join with key account and distributor management. Then categorize it into strategic customers, star customers, status customers or streamline customers. KS has to collaborate with every category differently to be effective and efficient.

Developing Key Account and Distributor Management to Stimulate Sales in Krakatau Steel

Developing Key Account and Distributor Management to Stimulate Sales in Krakatau Steel

Improving Sales Forecasting by Combining Key Account Managers’ Inputs and Models Such as SARIMA, LSTM, and Facebook Prophet

Sales forecasting is important for a company to plan its production. The quality of its forecasts influences finances and the product availability. The impact of sales forecasts on a company may result on an immobilization of cash flow by causing a high stock level, which is the opposite of out-of-stock impact. The purpose of this study was to find a suitable model for predicting the best company sales forecasts that has a better accuracy or production plan. The proposed method includes an adjustment of the prediction model by including the key account managers’ expertise as qualitative forecasting method. This adjustment was analyzed using different time series forecasting techniques such as exponential smoothing, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average and Facebook Prophet. These techniques were compared in parallel with neural network approaches such as long-short term memory. Comparisons were made using root mean square error and residual stock to determine whether the forecasts were too optimistic or pessimistic. The proposed model is dynamic. Adjustments of the qualitative inputs could directly influence the proposed values obtained using different quantitative methods.

Key account management in B2B marketing: A systematic literature review and research agenda

The emergence of various approaches in relationship marketing has transformed business marketing practices in managing strategic clients. In this direction, firms have embraced Key Account Management (KAM) as a relationship marketing tool for profitably managing their strategic customers. The concept of KAM has evolved and gained importance in academic literature as a distinct sub-division of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. However, the current academic understanding is very diverse and disintegrated, posing a threat to domain expansion and challenges for better managerial practice. This study reviews the extant KAM literature with a systematic review approach and tries to address this void in the extant body of knowledge. 104 research papers published between 1990 and 2022 were systematically reviewed. The results suggest a synthesized framework integrating the characteristics of numerous KAM practices and antecedents. In addition, we provide directions for future research based on the synthesis of the extant literature grounded in theory, context, characteristics, and methodology.

Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) Industry: Status and Prospects Affecting Its Growth in the Philippines

In the Knowledge Process Outsourcing market, the Philippines is slowly gaining traction as a genuine challenger. Despite the effect of the pandemic, BPO industries in the Philippines continue to advance, with a promising future in the years ahead. The study focuses on the KPO practices in the Philippine setting and the factors affecting them. The researchers used a descriptive cross-sectional design to analyze the factors affecting the KPO industries and their practices. This study used a purposive sampling technique to 100 supervisory and key account managers as respondents from six BPO firms with KPO services. This study included measures of central tendency and inferential statistics to determine the relationship between KPO practices and the factors affecting them. The result of the study shows that among the three (3) KPO practices, the provider capability gained the highest level, followed by client-retained capacity and contractual governance. In addition, among the four (4) factors affecting KPO practices, regulatory aspects got the highest level, followed closely by innovative elements, technological factors, and human resource factors. Moreover, the study observed low to moderate associations between the KPO practices and the factors. Finally, the technological aspect emerged as a predictor of industry KPO practices.

End-to-end solutions for mRNA development and manufacturing

Watch the video or read the poster to learn about:Common challenges in the development and commercialization of mRNA therapeutic products  The advantage of choice – why filling only your unique gaps can be the key to speed Summary of key foundational analytical and characterization capabilities  Susana Domingues-Vallon is currently Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Global Subject Matter Expert for mRNA. With a PhD in Quantitative Biology from the University of Texas and a Business Management certification and Licentiate in Biology from the University of Algarve, Portugal, Susana has 13 years of expertise in TALEN’s, CRISPR/Cas9, and RNAi-related technologies. Prior to joining Thermo Fisher Scientific, Susana was a Key Account Manager at Roche Diagnostics, where she worked with customers in the cell therapy, molecular, and mRNA spaces.

Key account management formalization and effectiveness: A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

Formalization is both an important design factor of key account management (KAM) systems and a key concept in research on KAM. However, extant research has provided contradictory results regarding the effect of KAM formalization on KAM effectiveness. We attempt to explain those results by chosing a different methodological perspective, by taking a more differentiated view of KAM formalization, and by studying the combined effects of formal and informal KAM design elements on KAM effectiveness. Our study uses survey data collected from 221 KA managers and analyzed using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). It identifies several equifinal configurations of formal and informal KAM design elements that foster high KAM effectiveness.