This research contrasts the academic literature on key account management (KAM) with the topics in this subject that are most critical to practitioners. Sixty four academic articles published in 17 journals, and ninety practitioners' articles appearing in the Velocity Magazine — published by the Strategic Account Management Association — were content analyzed and classified under ten ‘topic’ categories. Similarities and differences in the results for academics and practitioners are discussed. In addition, two specific topics were identified as being extremely important to managers but still under-researched by academics: the role of senior management in KAM, and the importance of internal alignment in determining KAM success.
Buyer–supplier relationships have evolved tremendously during the past decade and a half, due to increased competition, globalization, account concentration, a reduction in the number of suppliers, and a stronger procurement function (Capon, 2001). Consequently, key account management (KAM) has gained relevance to supplier companies. A very powerful sign of KAM importance to practitioners is the existence of the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA), dedicated to “the professional development of the individuals and companies involved in the process of managing national, global and strategic customer relationships,” as mentioned in SAMA's mission statement. Their focus is global, and they currently have over 3000 members, who benefit from a series of knowledge resources on KAM, such as articles, cases, and presentations.
Likewise, academics have been interested in key account management since the late seventies and early eighties, when Stevenson and Page, 1979, Stevenson, 1980 and Shapiro and Moriarty, 1982, investigated issues related to the adoption and implementation of what they called “national” account management. After those seminal pieces of research, dozens of articles on key account management have been published, mainly in journals with a focus on business and industrial marketing, and selling. But then the question becomes: Is academic research on KAM really responding to the problems that managers face to deal with their most important customers? This question motivates this research, and the belief that academics and practitioners must work together to advance the knowledge of marketing and sales.
The purpose of this research is to contrast the KAM topics being investigated by academicians with those that are most relevant to practitioners, to contribute to building the bridge between these two worlds and identifying fruitful areas for future research in key account management. To that end, we content analyze articles on key account management written by scholars and by practitioners.
The rest of the article is organized as follows. First, we explain the procedure and present the findings from the content analysis of academic articles. Next, we classify the topics that have been addressed by KAM practitioners, and contrast them with those being investigated by academics. We conclude by identifying two specific topics that, being critical to practitioners; have received little attention in the academic literature.
Key account management is a very important topic, for both academics and practitioners. There is a growing body of research on KAM that has evolved by the virtues of being published in several different journals, having focused on an ample range of topics, and applying more sophisticated research methods. Likewise, practitioners have contributed to the knowledge and practice of KAM through seminars, publications and other resources. The Strategic Account Management Association is a good example of this, representing adequately the issues and challenges managers face in KAM.
This research provides, through a content analysis, a picture of the evolution and sate of academic research in key account management, in terms of topics, research design, methodologies, and settings. It also provides a view of the KAM topics that are most relevant to practitioners involved in key account management, and how they relate to those being investigated by academics.
Finally, we propose and elaborate briefly on two specific topics that, in our view, and based on the content analysis, constitute an interesting and hopefully fruitful area for future research. These topics are senior management involvement in KAM, and internal alignment.
This study has some limitations that the reader should consider. First, we used the SAMA articles to deduce the practitioners' perspective on the key topics. This approach could be complemented with some other sources (sales associations or publications), or by conducting interviews with executives involved in KAM. Second, the categories for the articles' topics could be defined under different criteria.
