The effect of teams on customer knowledge processing, esprit de corps and account performance in international key account management

Abstract

Purpose -This study aims to examine what the role of key account teams is in the management of international key account customers in terms of customer knowledge processing behaviours of the supplier, esprit de corps of employees and supplier's key account performance. Design/methodology/approach -Survey data from large industrial firms in Finland are used to compare the differences between supplier firms having a team and those not having a team for managing the key account customer. Findings -The results reveal a higher perceived level of customer-knowledge acquisition, dissemination and utilisation, and of suppliers' key account performance, in the group representing team-based key account management compared with the non-team group. Originality/value -The article is one of the first studies in which the role of teams in the management of international key account customers is examined based on empirical, quantitative data.

Government, company, and dyadic factors affecting key account management performance in China: Propositions to provoke research

“…There is also the need for integrating KAM and providing cross-functional support (Shapiro & Moriarty, 1984a, 1984b, as well as determining roles and activities (Platzer, 1984) and staffing and skills requirements (Boles, Barksdale, & Johnson, 1996;Colletti & Tubridy, 1987;Sengupta, Krapfel, & Pusateri, 2000;Wotruba & Castleberry, 1993). Further, numerous studies attest to the value of teams (Homburg et al, 2000;Jones, Dixon, Chonko, & Cannon, 2005;Salojärvi & Saarenketo, 2013). With so many dynamic activities required for successful KAM, a critical success factor for KAM is an internal culture supportive of KAM (Wang & Brennan, 2014).…”

Linking key account management practices to performance outcomes

“…Moreover, esprit de corps is likely to increase cohesion and a feeling of togetherness among people in the firm (Geiger & Turley, 2005). As such, establishing esprit de corps supports the building of a cross-functional expertise related to sales, production and technical needs of the KA (Salojärvi & Saarenketo, 2013) and thereby contributes to the achievement of relational outcomes from the relationship (Workman et al, 2003). Thus, we hypothesize that:…”

“…Not surprisingly, recent empirical research demonstrates the benefit of having the top management involved with the KAM program at the strategic level (Guesalaga, forthcoming 2014) as, in addition to all the above, KA managers very often lack authority over the other departments of the firm (Homburg et al, 2002). Hence the more the top management gets involved at this higher, strategic level the easier it becomes to achieve cross-functional coordination (Salojärvi & Saarenketo, 2013).…”

“…Establishing a "KAM esprit de corps", defined as the effort to get people (from different departments) involved in (responding to) the management of the KA and feeling obligated to the common goals and to each other (Workman et al 2003, p. 10), is a necessary quality of the supplier's organizational configuration. A strong sense of KAM esprit de corps thus reflects the actions taken at the organizational level to ensure managers and employees are willing to cooperate in serving the KA beyond the boundaries of departmental responsibility or departmental tribalism (Salojärvi & Saarenketo, 2013;Guesalaga & Johnston, 2010).…”

“…A single KA manager is unlikely to hold the necessary expertise and capacity to manage the KA alone (Salojärvi et al, 2010). In contrast, a team allows the supplier to draw upon a set of diverse skills (Salojärvi & Saarenketo, 2013) while at the same time enabling the coordination of a complex value-generation process that cuts across the supplier's different product categories and functional units (Moon & Armstrong, 1994). Consequently, a consistent customer experience can be delivered (Harvey, Novisevic, Hench & Myers, 2003).…”