Thesis (Ph. D.)--George Washington University, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-304).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Southern California, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-229).

Thesis (B.Bus.Man.(Hons.)) - University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliography.

Akademisk avhandling--Uppsala. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Bibliography: p. 265-272.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Oscar G. Mink. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1986. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [532]-550.

Market globalisation has led globalised companies and corporations to increase focus on synchronised and centralised business operations management to enjoy new and apparently boundless opportunities for growth and profit. The role of supplying companies as partners who provide globally consistent, coordinated and competitive support has been commonly recognised. However, supply base consolidation, increased bargaining power and imposed global competition have increasingly shifted power to the buyers. In order to reinforce balanced and sustainable business dyads, this thesis addresses global account management (GAM), one of the most discussed paradigms within recent sales and customer relationship management literature. Besides this fact, academics and practitioners still struggle to fully capture the dynamic and complex nature of GAM, not least due to the high degree of internal and external interdependence. Hence, the presented work followed an interdisciplinary aggregation of knowledge in the area of key account management (KAM), GAM and corporate culture. Further, best practice mixed-methods research contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of the interrelations and corresponding factors that determine suppliers’ success within global business relationships. Against this background, the case of a globally leading automotive supplier with long established and sophisticated GAM structures was analysed to gain exclusive primary research insights and add to the existing knowledge base. Thereby King’s (1998) template analysis technique found use to evaluate data from 21 semistructured interviews across operational, management and executive experts from global customer organisations (GCOs), supporting the development of a conceptual, novel and unique global account management performance model: the GPM. Moreover, to cope with the boundaries of purely qualitative research, structural equation modelling based on 199 data sets from an international online survey added to the refinement, statistical validation and generalisation of the findings. Through this process, the concept of structural, strategic and (corporate) cultural fit between global suppliers and customers have been revealed as key domains of the GPM, influencing relational and financial GAM performance outcomes. Subsequently, the contributions of the presented thesis are manifold: First, they extend the scope of current GAM performance models, as the GPM provides a more comprehensive view on structural and strategic aspects traditionally in the focus of GAM research. Second, they supplement prior account management research with empirical confirmation and complement earlier work in the field of corporate culture by illuminating the role of corporate culture for the first time in an international business context. Third, the study outcomes provide exclusive evidence for raising customer awareness of suppliers’ culture and cultural compatibility and explicitly outline cultural fit as a critical performance moderator of global account management. This study therefore offers new perspectives on performance determinants of GAM. Academics benefit from original theoretical and practical insights into the underlying mechanisms of global supplier-customer relationships and the GPM enables decision makers to build stronger relationships with a wider range of individual, multi-national and global customers.

The research problem addressed in this study is to determine the potential of selling and marketing consumer goods by Multinational Enterprises (MNE) within the African markets. The mode of entry, the timing of entry, the different modes of entry, selection of the entry mode, the political and economic risks, core competencies of the company and strategic alliance was researched. To achieve this, research was executed on the above areas of importance using relevant literature in which an understanding of the international markets and their options of modes of entry were highlighted. In this way one is able to understand the importance of the international markets and the concerns of doing business in Africa in order to select the entry mode that could best suit the company and the country or countries in Africa. The literature study was then used to develop a questionnaire to test the degree to which managers in MNE in South Africa (SA) and Central East Africa (CEA) concur with regard to the decisions, risks, procedure, modes of entry and selection of modes of entry into Africa. The empirical results obtained indicate a strong concurrence with the analysis of the modes of entry into CEA market for an MNE. The analysis of the literature study, Chapter 2 and 3, gives business a good understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the problems and opportunities associated with the entry decisions into CEA. Many other companies are entering the African markets from other parts of the world and SA has also been seen as a launching pad into Africa. The analysis will give companies the edge in seeing the problems and opportunities in African markets and the way forward when deciding to enter.