Implementation of Key Account Management: Who, why, and how?: An exploratory study on the current implementation of Key Account Management programs

Key Account Management, as currently described in relationship marketing literature, is an important approach to creating value, by implementing specific processes targeting most important customers. This exploratory study contributes to the understanding of Key Account Management by focusing on factors influencing the decision for implementing Key Account Management and the implementation-process. The findings suggest that the intensity of competition as well as the intensity of coordination are factors driving companies towards the adoption of Key Account Management programs, and that companies still pay too little attention to the selection of key accounts. The study also reveals the phenomenon of ‘hidden key accounts’: More than 80% of the investigated companies without Key Account Management offer their key customers special treatment without aligning their own internal organizational structures.     

Refining value-based differentiation in business relationships: A study of the higher order relationship building blocks that influence behavioural intentions

Research on the behavioural intentions (BI) of business-to-business customers has focused on the influence and the interactions among constructs driving BI, giving rise to two perspectives for the structural equation modeling of constructs influencing BI. In the first perspective, BI is impacted directly by relationship quality (RQ) and its antecedents such as relationship benefits (RB) and relationship sacrifices (RS). The second perspective suggests that antecedent dimensions of RB and RS may act indirectly through the construct of relationship value (RV), which drives RQ but also directly influences BI. The current study was undertaken to resolve the differences between these two perspectives. The findings indicate that RQ has a strong direct influence on BI while RV has a weak direct influence but a significant indirect influence on BI through the RQ construct. In addition, the constructs of RB and RS influence RQ directly, as well as through the RV construct.     

Are key account relationships different? Empirical results on supplier strategies and customer reactions

In this paper, the authors analyze 91 key account relationships and 206 ordinary supplier-buyer dyads regarding differences in suppliers' relational behaviors and customers' perceptions of relationship quality (satisfaction, trust, and commitment). The results suggest that while - as compared to ordinary relationships - suppliers put significantly more effort in “value-creating behaviors” in key account relationships, they do not modify their “value-claiming behaviors” in those dyads. On the customer side, suppliers' increased value creating activities lead to increased commitment. However, customers are neither more satisfied, nor do they trust their suppliers more when they receive key account status.     

Making the transition to collaborative buyer-seller relationships: An emerging framework

In recent years, many business-to-business marketers have been influenced by the concepts put forth in the area of relationship marketing, with its emphasis on long-term collaborative relationships among trading partners. However, buyers and sellers alike have found it difficult to make the transition from an arm's length, “invisible hand of the market” relationship to one of collaboration, for a variety of reasons. We propose a framework, still emerging, that captures the elements critical to the transition process. We do not advocate collaborative relationships in all buyer-seller relationships; however, where they make sense we demonstrate how to overcome barriers to collaboration. Explicitly recognizing the elements of the framework and their relationship to one another would help potential collaborators better manage the transition process and thereby increase the likelihood of reaping the benefits of a truly more collaborative relationship.     

Capturing value creation in business relationships: A customer perspective

Collaborative relationships in business markets are of growing importance to customers and suppliers alike. Customers need to decide whether to invest in a new supplier relationship, to maintain and develop a valued relationship, or to divest from a low-value relationship. Suppliers, in turn, face growing commoditization of products and seek to differentiate themselves through relationships. The measurement of value creation in buyer-seller relationships is still in its infancy, and a sound understanding of how firms create and deliver value in business relationships is needed. Emerging studies investigate relationship value based on dimensions derived from theory and lack a managerial perspective. Therefore, the present research explored relationship value from a grounded theory perspective. In-depth interviews with purchasing managers identified eight value drivers in manufacturer-supplier relationships. Implications for the measurement of the concept are discussed, and directions for further research are suggested.     

Changes in sponsorship value: Competencies and capabilities of successful sponsorship relationships

The sponsorship relationship has evolved considerably over the past few years. As a result, the value delivered to both sponsors and the sports entities with which they form relationships needed to be redefined. While some of these partners have made the necessary leap forward, some sponsors have also been confronted with resistance on the part of sport entities to adapt to evolving perceptions of value. Based on a qualitative study aimed at canvassing the views of some of the most prominent experts in the field and spanning 4 years and four continents, we document this evolution of sponsorship value and identify those key competencies that differentiate successful sponsors from less successful ones. Our research provides insights for other inter-firm relationships, particularly those in the service sector.     

Basking in reflected glory: Using customer reference relationships to build reputation in industrial markets

Corporate reputation is an important intangible asset that enables firms to establish customer relationships. Customer relationships, specifically customer reference relationships, can in turn be utilized to build supplier reputation in industrial markets. The aim of this conceptual article is to analyze the combination of these two concepts. It lays the foundation for further investigations into the effectiveness of reference customer relationships in enhancing supplier reputation. By developing propositions on the determinants impacting effectiveness of reputation transfer between customer and supplier firm, implications for practice and research in business marketing and corporate reputation management are derived.     

Return on marketing investments in B2B customer relationships: A decision-making and optimization approach

The basic notion of relationship marketing entails that firms should strive for mutually beneficial customer relationships. By combining relationship marketing theory and operations research methods, this paper aims to develop and demonstrate a managerial decision-making model that business market managers can use to optimize and evaluate marketing investments in both a customer-oriented and economically feasible manner. The intended contributions of our work are as follows. First, we add to the return on marketing literature by providing a first decision-making approach that explicitly assesses the optimization of marketing investments in terms of profitability, effort, and resource allocation. Second, we show how the risk of marketing investments can be assessed using sensitivity analysis. By means of an empirical study the versatility of our decision-making approach is demonstrated by assessing various critical decision making issues for business marketing managers in detail.     

Building capabilities via suppliers' effective management of relationships

This paper is an empirical study identifying the role of a relationship-specific capability of building capabilities through relationships (CBC) when suppliers put efforts into increasing their perceived market effectiveness by managing the effects of relationship quality. The relationship between relationship quality and effectiveness is mediated by CBC. Suppliers in a supply chain form different levels of relationship quality with partners in response to market conditions and industry characteristics. Relationship marketing by suppliers requires a deep understanding of the role of CBC that is developed by a supplier and an effective utilization of CBC to lead an effective relationship to better outcomes. This leads to maximizing of the competitive advantages for suppliers and will help maintain effective relationships.     

The relationship between buyer and a B2B e-marketplace: Cooperation determinants in an electronic market context

“Stop thinking like a supplier and start thinking as a customer.”

The authors argue that cooperation may be achieved by augmenting the core product with technology-based services. Given the growing importance of real time information exchange and interactivity, a better understanding of the use of technology to the establishment and development of the buyer-supplier cooperative relationships is essential for knowledge advancement. This paper argues that firms should aim to put themselves into their customers' shoes and use the “voice of the customer” to take their major relationship management decisions. To do so, the authors use a sample of nearly 400 SMEs' purchasing managers, to better understand cooperation determinants from the buyers' perspective. The study reveals that in an electronic marketplace, cooperation is positively affected by termination costs, supplier relationship policies and practices, communication and information exchange, and negatively affected by product prices and opportunistic behavior. Moreover, both relationship commitment and trust play a major role in mediating the relationships between these five determinants and cooperation. Surprisingly, resources relationship benefits do not show a significant impact on either commitment or cooperation. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Dark side of relationships: A tensions-based view

By drawing on the tensions-based view to depict the components of the dark side of relationships, this study presents a conceptual model explaining how the dark side of relationships can moderate the positive relationship between relationship quality and relationship function. The authors test the hypotheses via a mail survey involving 136 manufacturing firms. The results support the hypotheses, which posit that relationship quality is positively associated with relationship function. Moreover, the empirical results partially support the argument of the author that the influence of relationship quality on relationship function is strengthened or weakened when three relationship tensions (namely, behavioral, structural, and psychological tension) are balanced or imbalanced. Theoretical and managerial implications are extracted from this study, and potential future research directions.     

Role of competences in creating customer value: A value-creation logic approach

This paper addresses the issue through what kind of competences companies are producing value for their business customers. First, a value typology, clarifying the complex character of value, is constructed, together with suggestions on how the question of value creation can be framed. In order to understand and manage supplier-customer relationships, it essential to comprehend how both customers and suppliers perceive value and their roles in value creation. The matching of customers' and suppliers' perspectives is discussed by developing a framework depicting the business-to-business marketing types. Then the competences needed for creating value for customers and suppliers alike are examined by identifying what kind of competences are required in each marketing type.     

Linking account portfolio management to customer information: Using customer satisfaction metrics for portfolio analysis

When appropriate variables are used, account portfolio analyses engender a convenient framework for the relationship composition of companies and allow management to reconsider which customers and relationship dimensions need attention. Based on an industrial company's key account relationships, the portfolio approach considered in this study employs Customer Satisfaction (CS) metrics as a portfolio dimension and suggests a new and more customer oriented approach to account portfolio analysis. Proposed portfolio matrices provide insights into the strength and stability of customer relationships. Furthermore, the matrices force managers to adopt a future perspective on customer relationships by evaluating the business potential of customers along with CS information and allow prioritization with respect to resource allocation. The study attempts to put forward customer heterogeneity in industrial markets and offers a managerial guideline embracing customer specific marketing actions. In addition, the paper proposes a new use for CS information in strategic decision making.     

Determinants of economic and social satisfaction in manufacturer-distributor relationships

The aim of this work is to examine the dimensions of satisfaction in manufacturer-distributor relationships as well as identifying the antecedents of both the economic and the non-economic dimensions of satisfaction. A literature review about satisfaction in marketing channels is followed by quantitative research into how this interchange process is perceived by food product distributors in their relationships with manufacturers. The results provide strong support for the impact of communication, trust and commitment on satisfaction, as well as the interrelationships among the economic and the non-economic dimensions of satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications are extracted from these findings.     

Towards a framework of customer value assessment in B2B markets: An exploratory study

This paper examines the key processes and activities of customer value assessment in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Given that an increasing number of B2B firms are providing combinations of products and services, or integrated solutions, the present study examines customer value assessment from the solution supplier's perspective. Specifically, based on an exploratory field study and in-depth interviews with 18 managers in three different firms, the present study identifies five key processes (i.e., value potential identification, baseline assessment, performance evaluation, long-term value realization, and systematic data management) and 11 related activities involved in customer value assessment in B2B markets, and integrates them into a managerially grounded framework. The findings from this study contribute to the literature on customer value and solution research, and provide useful insights for managers on how to assess the value delivered by their offerings to customers.     

Reciprocity as a key stabilizing norm of interpersonal marketing relationships: Scale development and validation

This study outlines the development and validation of a measure of reciprocity. The definition used to develop the measure extends traditional quid pro quo interpretations to include behavior designed to stabilize relationships in times of exchange breakdown. This includes resisting and not returning harm and making reparation for harm done. Reciprocity is positioned as an important interpersonal norm of stable marketing relationships given recent findings that relationships develop most strongly at the individual level. It is suggested that reciprocity leads to personal well-being; thus providing an additional motivation, over and above economic incentives, to develop and maintain relationships. Results of the scale development tests indicated a valid, two dimensional measure which correlated with key relational variables such as trust, commitment, satisfaction, self-esteem and reduced conflict.     

Marketing of competence-based solutions to buyers in exploratory relationships: Perspective of OEM suppliers

In face of mounting challenges from delocalized production, commoditized products, and escalated demand from professional buyers, providing solutions rather than selling products has been put forward in the normative literature as a promising business model for creating high-value differentiated offerings. Nonetheless, empirical survey research into the processes whereby traditional suppliers of “basic products, spare parts and services” migrate towards marketing of “integrated solutions” is still sparse. Grounded in a competence-based marketing view, the current research addressed the research problem of how OEM suppliers upgrade their value offerings via competence-based solutions. The research model was tested by a sample of 403 contract/OEM manufacturers located in China. This resultant findings revealed the processes undertaken by OEM suppliers during the development of competence-based solutions, found out the internal coordination and innovation capabilities required to support competence-based solutions, and uncovered the external communication/disclosure of competence needed to strengthen the link between competence-based solutions and upgraded relationship value.     

A service perspective on business relationships: The value creation, interaction and marketing interface

Adopting a service perspective or logic on business directs suppliers' focus in business relationships towards engaging with their customers' business processes. The purpose of this article is to analyze implications for value creation and marketing of adopting a service logic in business relationships. In the article it is demonstrated that a service perspective is multi-dimensional, enabling the mutual creation of value, with service as a mediating factor in that process. It is argued that value creation, purchasing, usage and marketing are intertwined processes. Here supplier-customer interactions are in a focal position. This perspective enables marketers to better understand how to develop and extend service offerings through assistance to customers' processes relevant to their businesses. Therefore, the underpinning logic of industrial interactions is analyzed in detail, extending marketing's conventional boundaries.     

The antecedents and consequences of organizational and personal commitment in business service relationships

This paper explores the potential for business service customers to form separate bonds of commitment with the service firm and the service representative. It examines the role of the individual and identifies six potential antecedents to each type of commitment. It also proposes that both types of commitment will influence the degree of relational exchange between the customer and the service firm. The hypotheses are tested using multiple regression and data from a survey of marketing research managers. The results support the majority of the hypotheses.     

Towards a better understanding of partnership attributes: An exploratory analysis of relationship type classification

In recent years the creation of partnerships has been espoused by academics and practitioners but despite extensive writing in the area of characterizing partnerships the nature and attributes of partnerships are still only poorly understood. This is due to a lack of empirical testing of the factors that distinguish partnerships from other relational forms and a limited research focus on characteristics that distinguish between polar relationship types. Using a framework developed from the political economy literature this exploratory study draws on an empirical base of 155 supplier questionnaires and uses multiple discriminant analysis to identify attributes of buyer-supplier relationships that most effectively discriminate between relationships classified by suppliers as having limited coordination, being highly coordinated or best described as a partnership. The results indicate that 8 of the 10 attributes of buyer-supplier relationships included in the framework differ significantly across relationship type.