Strategic Client Research Articles

Organizational attributes that contribute to the learning & improvement capabilities of healthcare organizations: a scoping review

BackgroundThis study aims to explore and identify the organizational attributes that contribute to learning and improvement capabilities (L&IC) in healthcare organizations. The authors define learning as a structured update of system properties based on new information, and improvement as a closer correspondence between actual and desired standards. They highlight the importance of learning and improvement capabilities in maintaining high-quality care, and emphasize the need for empirical research on organizational attributes that contribute to these capabilities. The study has implications for healthcare organizations, professionals, and regulators in understanding how to assess and enhance learning and improvement capabilities.MethodsA systematic search of peer-reviewed articles published between January 2010 and April 2020 was carried out in the PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and APA PsycINFO databases. Two reviewers independently screened the titles and abstracts and conducted a full-text review of potentially relevant articles, eventually adding five more studies identified through reference scanning. Finally, a total of 32 articles were included in this review. We extracted the data about organizational attributes that contribute to learning and improvement, categorized them and grouped the findings step-by-step into higher, more general-level categories using an interpretive approach until categories emerged that were sufficiently different from each other while also being internally consistent. This synthesis has been discussed by the authors.ResultsWe identified five attributes that contribute to the L&IC of healthcare organizations: perceived leadership commitment, open culture, room for team development, initiating and monitoring change, and strategic client focus, each consisting of multiple facilitating aspects. We also found some hindering aspects.ConclusionsWe have identified five attributes that contribute to L&IC, mainly related to organizational software elements. Only a few are identified as organizational hardware elements. The use of qualitative methods seems most appropriate to understand or assess these organizational attributes. We feel it is also important for healthcare organisations to look more closely at how clients can be involved in L&IC.Trial registrationNot applicable.

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.

Психологические компетенции в системе профессионального роста менеджеров по продажам

Abstract. Sales management is a rather difficult profession. The competencies of a good specialist in this field are universal and fairly well studied. At the same time, such competencies contain both personal qualities that are extremely difficult to change (for example, extroversion) and skills that can be mastered (for example, negotiation skills). The research analyzes the further improvement of the competencies of sales managers during their professional improvement – support of strategically important clients. The main method of research was an analytical review of the scientific literature on the topic. As a result of the review, we compiled a map of the development of psychological competencies of a sales manager working with strategic clients. Such competencies include four main groups: personality traits (extroversion, stress tolerance, emotional stability, etc.); cognitive adaptive processes (accuracy in judgments, self-monitoring, communication, coordination, knowledge about customers and products); cognitive and motivational skills in need of development (skills of building long-term relationships, conflict resolution, cross-cultural communication, negotiation skills, in-depth understanding of the client, a high level of openness and trust in relationships, as well as their ethics); new competencies that should be mastered for the successful performance of activities in the field of strategic sales (“entrepreneurial” abilities, creativity, self-identification as a SAM specialist, management and leadership skills, “internal” sales skills). Thus, the developed competence structure can be used in organizing the professional development of sales managers.

National Bank of Kuwait

The national bank of Kuwait was set up in 1952 as not only the first local bank but also the first shareholding company in the state of Kuwait. Thus far, NBK has set up 162 branches across 15 countries. Also, the international expansion opportunities in the state of Kuwait, NBK is among the most profitable bank. Over the year, NBK has been consistently ranked among the top 50 safest banks in the world. NBK has established strategic client relationships which have enabled it to increase its client base across the state and also in the region. The bank avails a wide range of financial and investment products and services to its individual, corporate and institutional clients. Based on the that, partnering with NBK as a digital marketing agency can help propel further recognition of NBK which will then translate to increase in its growth and profit rates.

Optimization of single outsourcer\u2013single subcontractor outsourcing relationship under reliability and maintenance constraints

In this paper, we focus on outsourcing activities optimization problem in single period setting. In some situations, capacity planning or outsourcing is a one-time event and can be modeled as a single period problem. The aim of this research is to balance the trade-off between two echelons of a supply chain consisting of a single outsourcer and a single subcontractor. Each part is composed of a failure-prone single machine that produces one product type to satisfy market requirements. The outsourcer’s manufacturing system is not able to satisfy the demand; in this case, outsourcing is allowed to recover the lack of capacity. We consider that the subcontractor can satisfy the demands of strategic clients and rent his machine for the outsourcer under a win–win partnership contract. We assume that the hazard failure rate depends on time and the adopted manufacture rate. When unforeseen failures occur, minimal repairs are implemented. Overhaul can be performed to reduce the degradation effects. Hence, we develop a mathematical model to define a profitability interval so that both parties of supply chain can be considered as winners. We seek to determine the contract parameters that suit both parties (duration, start and end dates, the production and outsourcing rates). Then, we develop an exact algorithm to solve the problem of single period optimization, which offers a better execution time through a series of test problems. Finally, we consider a sensitivity analysis based on outsourcing parameters (cost, periodicities, etc) to analyze their effects on partial costs and individual profit of each part, as well as the total profit generated by the system.

The need to improve communication about scope changes: frustration as an indicator of operational inefficiencies

Early and timely sharing of information can provide a sustainable competitive advantage. However, even if lean information management aims to improve this information flow, it has mainly been investigated in ‘operations-based’ companies. This paper fills this gap, drawing upon the experience of the authors working within a large project-based company engaged in the ‘engineer and manufacture to order’ of a complex piece of equipment costing millions of dollars, for its strategic long-term client, both working in the same industrial field, i.e. nuclear decommissioning. This research investigates the information flow regarding scope changes between the project-based company and the long-term client adapting and applying a five-step framework to highlight operational inefficiencies, reduce the corresponding transaction costs and increase the overall company’s competitiveness. This is exemplified through a particular case, but can be applied to other project-based companies dealing with strategic clients involved in long-term relationships.

The Nature and Significance of Listening Skills in Accounting Practice

While surveys of the employers of accountancy graduates highlight the significance of listening skills, relatively little is known about how such skills are utilised in accounting practice. The present study attempts to address the above lacuna by utilising the findings of in-depth interviews with Australian public accountants about the nature of their communications with their small business owner-manager clients. The small business sector is a significant user of the accounting profession's information and services. The resultant insights, informed by media richness theory, demonstrate the importance that practitioners place on listening skills, the types of listening skills used by practitioners and how these skills are incorporated in the communication practices that practitioners adopt with clients. In particular, the study highlights the application of listening skills at the levels of day-to-day technical communication, strategic client service and relationship development. The paper provides important evidence to convince both accounting educators and students of the need to develop listening skills as part of the accounting curriculum.

On the Robustness of BitTorrent Swarms to Greedy Peers

The success of BitTorrent has fostered the development of variants to its basic components. Some of the variants adopt greedy approaches aiming at exploiting the intrinsic altruism of the original version of BitTorrent in order to maximize the benefit of participating to a torrent. In this work, we study BitTyrant, a recently proposed strategic client. BitTyrant tries to determine the exact amount of contribution necessary to maximize its download rate by dynamically adapting and shaping the upload rate allocated to its neighbors. We evaluate in detail the various mechanisms used by BitTyrant to identify their contribution to the performance of the client. Our findings indicate that the performance gain is due to the increased number of connections established by a BitTyrant client, rather than to its subtle uplink allocation algorithm; surprisingly, BitTyrant reveals to be altruistic and particularly efficient in disseminating the content, especially during the initial phase of the distribution process. The possible gain of a single BitTyrant client, however, disappears in the case of a widespread adoption: our results indicate a severe loss of efficiency that we analyze in detail.

Organizational learning and market orientation: interface and effects on performance

This paper discusses the relationship between market orientation and organizational learning and, in particular, the former's contribution to the generation of double-loop learning. Although prior contributions on this topic have been controversial, the authors, departing from the principles of RBV, consider market orientation a resource capable of generating higher order organizational learning and, in this way, capable of additionally reinforcing firms' sustainable competitive advantage. The empirical study provides evidence on the existing relationship between a firm's learning and market orientation degree and the organization's economic and non-economic results. Findings indicate that learning orientation stimulates the market-oriented behavior and that it also positively affects the establishment of long-term relationships with strategic clients. Contrary to prior research a significant and positive effect on business performance is only contrasted in the case of market orientation.

Network service organisation: a multiple pilot study

PurposeCentralised workplace and decentralised facilities management organisations combine several interacting functions. Different levels of a network service organisation are presented. The interacting functions are divided into three organisational levels: strategic clients, network integrators, and functional service units. The research paper demonstrates proposals, data collection plans, and relevant lines of questioning for future case studies and network analysis on the basis of the connections discovered in the pilot study environments.Design/methodology/approachStrategic, operational, and functional connections are analysed by studying formal and informal links between the managers responsible for various functions. The research was conducted with four pilot cases divided into four types of business units: a corporate headquarters (a financial services group); a large business unit/subsidiary (a telecommunications service provider); a medium business unit in the area of property management (a real estate investment company); and a small business unit (a technology park). The pilot cases function as a laboratory for the authors future case studies.FindingsThe article provides information how formal connections such as cross‐functional teams, task forces, and liaison roles create stronger ties between strategic planning and operational service delivery. The pilot study implies that without formal connections the functions of the network service organisation faces barriers to both vertical and horizontal interaction.Research limitations/implicationsRegardless of the popularity of the network analysis method, the conducted pilot cases and the found connections did not explain the whole value of centralised planning and strategic interaction between different workplace and service functions.Originality/valueThe network analysis takes place in a new facilities management environment. The article argues on a general level that post‐modernistic organisations, such as network, boundaryless, temporary, hybrid and virtual organisations, that are fragmented and managed informally can benefit from formal control mechanisms and meetings.

A method for strategic client briefing

Strategic client briefing is now recognised as an essential component of best practice in facilities management. A number of different briefing approaches have evolved, or are being developed, and this paper presents strategic needs analysis (SNA). It has been applied within six project‐inception studies with real clients, for developing and choosing a strategic direction for the project being considered by all the stakeholders. Moreover, a survey of stakeholders was carried out after each study, in order to find out how well participants thought the workshop performed in terms of six key process characteristics. Such key characteristics were further divided into a total of 41 additionally assessed attributes considered as important within the client‐briefing process. Analysis of such assessments revealed some interesting positive and negative features. Consequently, the SNA approach was refined. Presents the major findings of the work carried out along with some observations about overall processes, and suggestions for further improving strategic client briefing using SNA or similar approaches.