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.
Relationship marketing (Berry, 2002 and Sheth & Parvatiyar, 1995) has gained widespread acceptance in marketing management literature (Grönroos, 1994, Jackson, 1985 and Weitz & Jap, 1995). Yet, marketing managers and researchers are still trying to understand which marketing concept, i.e. transactional or relational marketing, drives marketing performance in specific contexts best (Sharma & Pillai, 2003). Recent research has moved attention to certain moderating factors which favor the performance of specific relationship marketing approaches (Reinartz, Krafft, & Hoyer, 2004), as nearly every company uses some kind of relationship marketing, in order to adapt to its business environment (Coviello, Brodie, Danaher, & Johnston, 2002). Key Account Management is one of these relationship marketing approaches. Though the Key Account Management concept is well-established in theory and practice, managers as well as researchers have considerable difficulties deciding when and how to implement Key Account Management (Kempeners & Hart, 1999 and Sengupta et al., 1997).
In this exploratory study, we investigate the conditions and circumstances motivating companies to apply a Key Account Management approach. As we analyze the current state of adopting Key Account Management in business-to-business markets and try to explore differences between business relationships with and without Key Account Management, we aim to contribute to the research material on relationship management by suggesting the decisive factors favoring the implementation of Key Account Management programs. In addition, we evaluate the key account managers' perception of the Key Account Management implementation process, to derive critical aspects for setting up Key Account Management. As empirical research on the implementation issue has been of minor interest thus far, we try to fill this gap in Key Account Management research.
Our exploratory research encompasses a sample of 91 companies, which we investigated with regard to their Key Account Management, business relationship management as well as to their Key Account Management implementation activities. We primarily assessed contextual factors favoring the implementation of Key Account Management as well as the policies and measures taken by companies with regard to the implementation of Key Account Management programs.
In the following we will give an account of the Key Account Management concept before presenting the design and the results of our study. Finally we present managerial implications and areas for further research.
