A compilation of the established knowledge in strategic account management

While companies and academics expend tremendous effort on mass marketing, they often overlook their immediate customers (which are critical in both senses) and hence the importance of strategic account management (SAM). This handbook is a compilation of papers that present researched knowledge of SAM across the academic community which fills a void in the existing academic literature.Handbook of Strategic Account Management identifies drivers of the SAM approach, key issues and success factors, operational needs and areas still awaiting exploration. Each paper includes an overall referenced summary of the tenets of SAM relevant to the area it reports, and together with the combined list of references, it creates an indispensable resource for academic readers, students, and researchers.

Handbook of Strategic Account Management is written by over 40 knowledgeable experts with substantial experience of SAM from teaching, researching, writing and advising companies on why and how it works, spread widely across Europe and the US. It represents the balanced, researched body of knowledge in SAM and will be an invaluable resource to anyone exploring the approach, whether for a student thesis, for original research or for answers on how to approach SAM as a company initiative.

"Todays strategic, key and global account management professionals owe thanks to a small community of academic researchers who, over the past three decades have been pioneers in identifying, cataloguing and analyzing the selling and business management practices of an emerging profession we now call strategic account management.  This Handbook is an important milestone to mark SAMs still evolving impact on corporate business strategies and its ever-increasing relevance as a proven engine for growth in business-to-business strategic customer relationships."

Bernard Quancard,President& CEO of SAMA (US-based Strategic Account Management Association with over 3,000 members worldwide)

Yana Atanasova                Bjorn Ivens                         Toni Mikkola                    Ivan Snehota
Audrey Bink                      Ove Jensen                         Stefanos Mouzas             Kaj Storbacka
Per-Olof Brehmer              Robert Krapfel                     Peter Naudé                    Olavi Uusitalo
Noel Capon                       Antonella La Rocca              Jukka Ojasalo                  Tom Vanderbiesen
Simon Croom                    Sylvie Lacoste                    Catherine Pardo                Stefan Wengler
Osman Gök                       Nikala Lane                        Nigel Piercy                       Kevin Wilson
Paolo Guenzi                     Régis Lemmens                  Michael Pusateri                Diana Woodburn
Stephan Henneburg           Tommi Mahlamäki               Jakob Rehme                    John Workman
Sue Holt                           Malcolm McDonald               Sanjiy Sengupta               George Yip
Christian Homburg             Florin Mihoc                       Christoph Senn                 Judy Zolkiewski

Diana Woodburn researches, writes, teaches and consults in Key/Strategic Account Management. She started exploring the subject in 1997, and in 1998 she set up Cranfields KAM Best Practice Club with Professor Malcolm McDonald, with whom she wroteKey Account Management: The Definitive Guide (3rd edition 2011). She has taught thousands of key account managers and directors about KSAM and developed much of the teaching material used in the subject. Her prior career in marketing covered a wide range of sectors and continents.

Kevin Wilson is a Professor of Marketing at Kedge Business School in Bordeaux where he holds the Chair of Selling and Client Relationships. He is a researcher, writer and presenter of over twenty years standing in the field of strategic account management, a past board member of the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) and a founder of the Sales Research Trust. He has published over 70 academic and practitioner articles and two books on the subject,Harnessing Global Potential for SAMA (2000) andSuccessful Global Account Management Wiley, (2002).

Contributors: Yana Atanasova, Audrey Bink, Per-Olof Brehmer, Noel Capon, Simon Croom, Osman Gök, Paulo Guenzi, Stephen Henneburg, Sue Holt, Christian Homburg, Björn Ivens, Ove Jensen, Robert Krapfel, Antonella La Rocca, Sylvie Lacoste, Nikala Lane, Régis Lemmens, Tommi Mahlamaki, Malcolm McDonald, Florin Mihoc, Toni Mikkola, Stefanos Mouzas, Peter Naudç, Jukka Ojasalo, Catherine Pardo, Nigel Piercy, Michael Pusateri, Jakob Rehme, Sanjit Sengupta, Christoph Senn, Ivan Snehota, Kaj Storbacka, Olavi Uusitalo, Tom Vanderbiesen, Stefan Wengler, Kevin Wilson, Diana Woodburn, John Workman, George Yip, Judy Zolkwieski

Acknowledgements vii

The editors ix

About this book xi

Key strategic account management: where are we now? 1
Editors Woodburn and Wilson

Section 1: Strategic dimensions of KSAM 35

Making the case for managing strategic accounts 37
Capon and Mihoc

Drivers for key account management programmes 53
Brehmer and Rehme

KSAM as an organizational change: making the transition 77
Woodburn

Switching costs in key account relationships 103
Sengupta, Krapfel and Pusateri

The strategic buyer: how emerging procurement strategies may support KAM/SAM relationships 115
Croom

Social and ethical concerns in strategic account management: emerging opportunities and new threats 141
Piercy and Lane

Section 2: Value creation through KSAM 169

Value in strategic account management 171
La Rocca and Snehota

Value dimensions and relationship postures in dyadic key relationship programmes 191
Henneberg, Pardo, Mouzas and Naudé

Vertical coopetition: the key account perspective 205
Lacoste

Key account management in business markets: an empirical test of common assumptions 227
Ivens and Pardo

Strategic account plans: their crucial role in strategic account management 245
McDonald and Woodburn

Using customer profitability and customer lifetime value to manage strategic accounts 267
Lemmens and Vanderbiesen

Section 3: Developing KSAM programmes 287

A configurational approach to strategic account management effectiveness 289
Homburg, Workman and Jensen

The appropriateness of the key account management organization 317
Wengler

Organizational structures in global account management 337
Yip and Bink

Strategic account management programmes: alignment of design elements and management practices 355
Storbacka

Global customer team design: dimensions, determinants and performance outcomes 379
Atanasova and Senn

Key accountization at Bosch Automotive Aftermarket Italy: managing and implementing a strategic change 405
Guenzi

Section 4: Operationalizing KSAM 419

Recent developments in relationship portfolios: a review of current knowledge 421
Zolkiewski

Account portfolio management: optimizing the customer portfolio of the firm 441
Gök

Strategic account management processes at corporate, relationship and annual level 461
Ojasalo

Developing strategic key account relationships in business-to-business markets 495
Wilson

The role of the key/strategic account manager 515
Wilson and Holt

The influence of personality on the job performance of strategic account managers 539
Mahlamäki, Uusitalo and Mikkola

References 555

Author profiles 605

Index 615