Key account management in the business to business field: the key account's point of view
Article Abstract:
A research program was set up three years ago at the "Institut de Recherche de l'enterprise" in Lyon. This program is aimed at improving the understanding of industrial key account management. This paper presents the outcomes of one of the studies carried out within this program. It focuses on the perceptions a key account may develop according to the treatment he receives from his supplier. The purpose of this research study is to shed new light on key account management from the key account's point of view. Until now, indeed, except for a few works (see for example the recent report from McDonald, Millman and Rogers [1996]) the literature on key account management has been focused on the supplier perspective. In other words, the aim of the great majority of the studies was to discuss the characteristics, the implications, the evolutions of a supplier from the moment he decided to implement a key account management program. Today, given the maturity that researchers are beginning to acquire on the subject, it is possible to go further into the analysis by observing and discuss perceptions that firms which are key accounts have of their supplier. This research is based on in-depth interviews with twenty customers. These customers are considered to be key accounts for either their energy supply company or for their supplier of telecommunications services. The objective was to clarify what perceptions these twenty key accounts have about the key account management programs of their suppliers. Then, factors which could explain differences or similarities between these perceptions are identified and discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management
Subject: Retail industry
ISSN: 0885-3134
Year: 1997
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Salesperson race and gender and the access and legitimacy paradigm: does difference make a difference?
Article Abstract:
Prominent articles in the popular press suggest that minorities and women are sometimes "shut out of sales" (cf. Lucas 1996: Marchetti 1996). One implication is that non-minority buyers do not perceive minority and female salespeople as credible salespeople. During the initial approach of a sales call, the salesperson's race and gender are two visual cues that buyers use to establish salesperson credibility. We examine how different aspects of salesperson credibility - perceived expertise, trustworthiness, likability, and attractiveness - affect consumers' purchase intentions. Then, we investigate the influence of race and gender matches and mismatches between buyers and sellers on each dimension of salesperson credibility. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management
Subject: Retail industry
ISSN: 0885-3134
Year: 1998
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Switching costs in key account relationships
Article Abstract:
Companies are increasingly implementing key account management for their most important business customers. Relationships between key account managers and their customers are intended to be long-term strategic partnerships resulting in competitive advantage for both. Switching costs include the psychological, physical, and economic costs a customer faces in changing a supplier. The main question we seek to investigate in this study is whether customer switching costs are good or bad for both the customer account and the selling firm. Further, we examine the factors leading to switching costs so that key account managers may influence the outcomes in these relationships. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management
Subject: Retail industry
ISSN: 0885-3134
Year: 1997
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
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