One of the proxies for the success of a corporate strategy is firm performance. This is because “performance is a surrogate for the alignment between an organization’s internal processes (strategy, structure, etc) and the external environment.”1 Business excellence therefore hangs together with the attainment of such an alignment. It is two of the processes that support such an alignment between customer and supplier that are the subject of this paper. The processes in question are so called “Key Account Management” (KAM) and competitive intelligence (CI). [... aus der Einleitung] 1 Subramanian R., IsHak S., Competitor Analysis Practices of US Companies, 1998, S.13

Titel: Investera i dina kunder med hjälp av Key Account Management Bakgrund: För företag på dagens högt konkurrerande och ständigt föränderliga marknad krävs en väl strukturerad planläggning och nya metoder för långsiktig överlevnad. Den traditionella marknadsföringen flyttar fokus och introducerar Key Account Management utifrån det faktum att kundfokus och relationsmarknadsföring blivit allt viktigare, inte minst på den industriella marknaden. Key Account Management utgör leverantörsföretagets aktiviteter för att identifiera och analysera deras nyckelkunder, välja lämpliga strategier och utveckla operationell förmåga att bygga, vidareutveckla och underhålla lönsamma och långsiktiga relationer med dem. Konceptet handlar om att utveckla relationer, skapa förtroende och kunskap om kunden och att använda kunskapen för att leverera värde. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att genom en operationalisering av teori utforma en analysmodell vilken genom test-analyser hos valda fallföretag ämnar besvara vilket värde, uppdelat i för- och nackdelar, som skapas för det säljande företaget till följd av Key Account Management. Genomförande: Denna studies syfte och frågeställningar kommer att besvaras genom en kvalitativ forskningsmetod bestående av intervjuer hos de tre valda fallföretagen; Gunnar Dafgård AB, Findus Sverige AB och Orkla Foods Sverige AB. Studien kommer att belysa värdeskapande till följd av Key Account Management med fokus på det säljande företaget. Slutsats: Det värde som, enligt litteraturen och intervjuer med de tre fallföretagen, skapas för det säljande företaget till följd av Key Account Management har redovisats utifrån de för- och nackdelar det kan medföra. De främsta fördelarna med KAM som analyserats fram är förbättrade relationer och förbättrad kommunikation samt starkare integration med kunderna, ökad kundnöjdhet, bättre kundservice, bättre lojalitet, långsiktiga relationer, ökad absolut försäljning, ökad vinst och marknadsandel, tillväxt, riskminskning och minskade kostnader, information kring kundernas marknadssituation och trender på marknaden samt en djupare relation som blir svårare att bryta för bägge parter vilket skapar en konkurrensfördel för leverantören. De potentiella problem och nackdelar som uppstår till följd av KAM utgörs av ett framförallt ökat beroende till nyckelkunderna och att företaget går miste om nya möjligheter då det lägger fokus på existerande nyckelkunder framför att leta efter nya kunder, att det är tidskrävande och kräver mycket personal, att det uppstår en organisatorisk komplexitet och att interna konflikter kan uppstå samt att kunden får en ökad makt över leverantören. Nyckelord: Key Account Management, KAM, Account Management, Nyckelkundsbearbetning, Relationsmarknadsföring, Marknadsföring, Kundrelationer, Kommunikation, Business to business relations / Title: Invest in your customers by using Key Account Management Background: For companies in today’s highly competitive and ever-changing market demand a well structured planning and new approaches to long-term survival is required.  Traditional marketing moves its focus, introducing Key Account Management from the fact that customer focus and relationship marketing has become increasingly important, especially in the industrial market. Key Account Management represents the supplier companies’ activities to identify and analyze their key accounts, select appropriate strategies and develop operational ability to build, develop and maintain profitable and long-term relationships with them. The concept lies in developing relationships; build trust and customer knowledge and using that knowledge to deliver value. Purpose: The purpose of this study is, that through an operationalization of theory, design an analytical model by which test-analysis of selected case companies intend to respond to the value creation, divided into pros and cons, for the supplier companies as a result of Key Account Management. Procedure: The studies purpose and questions will be answered through a qualitative research consisting of interviews with the three selected case companies; Gunnar Dafgård AB, Findus Sweden AB and Orkla Foods Sweden AB. The study will highlight the value creation due to Key Account Management focusing on the supplier company. Conclusion: The value that, according to the literature and interviews with the three case companies, creates for the supplier company as a result of Key Account Management has been presented based on the advantages and disadvantages it can cause. The main benefits of Key Account Management analyzed forward is improved relationships and improved communication and stronger interaction with customers, increased customer satisfaction, better customer service, improved loyalty, long-term relationships, increased absolute sales, increased profits and market share, growth, risk reduction and cost reduction, information about the customers market situation and trends on the market as well as a deeper relationship that becomes more difficult to break for both parts which creates a competitive advantage for the supplier. The potential problems and disadvantages caused by Key Account Management consist of an increased dependence on Key Accounts and the loss of new opportunities as a fall out for focusing on existing customers rather than to look for new potential customers, it is time consuming and requires a lof of staff, the emergence of organizational complexity and internal conflicts may arise. The customer may also gain an increased power over the supplier.  Keywords: Key Account Management, KAM, key account management, Account Management, Relationship Marketing, Marketing, Customer Relations, Business to business relations

During the past decades, since the phenomenal event of globalization, more businesses have expanded abroad as they continue to grow as an MNE. Which has led to them growing larger and with more people and relationships to manage, bringing us to the founding of the KAM system. A system with the purpose of guiding companies in how to manage both its internal and external relationships, though mainly those who are key accounts. As the system grows more popular amongst companies it has been found that the structure of it does differentiate between them. This has been in terms of how formalized it is. This brings the question of whether or not the level of formalization has an affect on how effective the system is in fulfilling its purpose in the company. Thus, that is what this research paper aims to examine in a few MNEs. By studying what level of formalization their system has, how it impacts their KA relationship management, and how effective the system is perceived to be by them in achieving this. By combining these three aspects a logical conclusion could be drawn. To achieve this, the study has been designed with an abductive and qualitative research approach, more specifically with case studies to allow for a more in-depth investigation on the topic. This would allow for a deeper understanding for how the system has functioned for and in the company, whilst considering its purpose. Thereafter, the findings are discussed in relation to relevant theories, concepts and framework. While the concepts have provided themes to the analysis, the findings have been used to validate or challenge the theories and frameworks. The discussion finally concludes that the level of formalization in a KAM system does have an impact on its effectiveness in fulfilling its purpose at the company.

Nas últimas décadas, a maturidade de alguns mercados, a globalização e o crescente poder de barganha dos clientes aumentam ainda mais a necessidade das empresas em manterem e desenvolverem de forma eficaz seus clientes mais importantes. Neste contexto, ganham relevância os programas de Key Account Management (KAM), iniciativas corporativas que tratam de forma especial os clientes mais importantes do fornecedor. Para obter o desempenho financeiro superior, o programa de KAM precisa criar valor para o cliente para posterior apropriação de valor pelo fornecedor. Contudo, a maioria dos estudos enfatiza a apropriação de valor pelo fornecedor, porém poucas pesquisas investigam a criação de valor para o cliente em programas de KAM. Além disso, a maioria das pesquisas em marketing de relacionamento ainda foca muito nos impactos positivos do relacionamento. Dessa forma, é importante analisar empiricamente como é a implementação da criação de valor para o cliente em programas de KAM, identificando as principais dimensões e os fatores críticos. O objetivo do presente estudo é analisar o processo de criação de valor para o cliente em programas de Key Account Management (KAM) e propor um modelo de criação de valor para o cliente segundo a perspectiva da empresa fornecedora. As análises e o modelo são elaborados a partir de um processo de investigação abdutiva, ou seja, a combinação entre a fundamentação teórica sobre o conceito de valor e programas de KAM e a análise de conteúdo de 22 entrevistas em profundidade com especialistas em programas de KAM, profissionais de marketing/vendas que trabalham por pelo menos cinco anos com programas de KAM em grandes empresas no Brasil. O modelo proposto explica de forma integrada e sistemática como é a criação de valor para o cliente em programas de KAM segundo cinco dimensões (Desenvolvimento de relacionamentos; Entendimento dos direcionadores de valor; Desenvolvimento da proposta de valor; Comunicação da proposta de valor; e mensuração de valor), quatro moderadores (Orientação relacional do cliente; Formalização do programa de KAM para o cliente; Abordagem do fornecedor: \"orientada ao cliente\" vs. \"orientar o cliente\"; e Fit estratégico entre o fornecedor e o cliente) e três riscos (Não entrega do valor básico para o cliente; Rotatividade do Key Account Manager; e Sentimento de injustiça do cliente). Contribui-se com a teoria sobre o tema, ao incluir uma dimensão específica no modelo para desenvolvimento de relacionamentos do nível da díade (organização-organização) e indivíduo (funcionário-funcionário), e ao abordar não somente aspectos positivos do relacionamento, mas também os aspectos negativos (ou riscos da criação de valor para o cliente). Contribui-se também para a prática, ao prover uma visão mais ampla, sistemática e integradora dos diversos elementos da criação de valor para o cliente aos executivos das empresas que possuem programas de KAM, e ao recomendar práticas organizacionais que servem como guias para a tomada de decisão dos gestores de programas de KAM. Ademais, como a parte empírica do estudo é baseada no contexto brasileiro, amplia-se o conhecimento sobre KAM no Brasil. Por fim, apresentam-se as limitações do estudo com a agenda de pesquisas futuras / In recent decades, with the maturity of some markets, globalization and increasing power of the customers is becoming more important for the companies to maintain and develop effectively their most important customers. In this context, increases the relevance of Key Account Management (KAM) programs, a corporate initiative that performs special treatment to the most important supplier\'s customers. To obtain the superior financial performance, the KAM program improves the customer value creation for the value appropriation by the supplier. However, the majority of studies emphasize the value appropriation by the supplier, but few researches investigate the customer valuer creation on KAM programs. In addition, most of relationship marketing research still focuses much on the positive impacts of the relationship. Thus, it is important to empirically analyze how the implementation of customer value creation on KAM programs, identifying the main dimensions and the critical factors. The aim of this study is to analyze the customer value creation process on Key Account Management programs (KAM) and to propose a model of customer value creation from the supplier perspective. The analysis and the model are made through an abductive research process that combines the theoretical framework of the value concept and KAM programs, and content analysis of 22 in-depth interviews with experts on KAM programs, marketing or sales professionals who work for at least five years with KAM programs in large companies in Brazil. The proposed model explains in an integrated and systematic way the customer value creation on KAM programs according to five dimensions (Relationships development; Value drivers understanding; Value proposition development; Value proposition communication; and Value measurement), four moderators (Customer relational orientation; Formalization of the KAM program for the customer; Supplier approach: \"customer driven\" vs. \"customer driving\"; and strategic fit between the supplier and the customer) and three risks ( Not delivering the basic customer value; the Key Account Manager turnover; and Perceived injustice by the customer). The study contributes to the KAM theory through the inclusion of a specific dimension for the development of dyad relationships (organization-organization) and individual relationships (employee-employee) in the model, and through not only addressing the positive aspects of the relationship, but also the negatives (or customer value creation risks). It contributes also to the practice by providing a broader, systematic and integrating view of the several elements of customer value creation to executives of companies that have KAM programs, and recommending organizational practices that can be drivers for the decision making of KAM programs managers. Moreover, as the empirical part of the study is based in the Brazilian context, it broadens the knowledge of KAM in Brazil. Finally, we present study limitations with the future research agenda

The purpose of the diploma thesis is to identify main activities and responsibilities of key account managers - based on example of Imperial Tobacco CR, s.r.o. company. The theoretical part describes the development of the Czech Retail market from 1989 till 2007. It is focused on international retail chains and it's entrance in the Czech market. Also main trends and possible future development are identified. The practical part provide with detailed characteristics of the Czech tobacco market as well as Imperial Tobacco CR, s.r.o. company - a representative of suppliers. Crucial part is the analysys of activities and responsibilities of Imperial Tobacco's key account managers. The authenticity is guaranteed by real business examples, situations and relationships.

Nas últimas décadas, a maturidade de alguns mercados, a globalização e o crescente poder de barganha dos clientes aumentam ainda mais a necessidade das empresas em manterem e desenvolverem de forma eficaz seus clientes mais importantes. Neste contexto, ganham relevância os programas de Key Account Management (KAM), iniciativas corporativas que tratam de forma especial os clientes mais importantes do fornecedor. Para obter o desempenho financeiro superior, o programa de KAM precisa criar valor para o cliente para posterior apropriação de valor pelo fornecedor. Contudo, a maioria dos estudos enfatiza a apropriação de valor pelo fornecedor, porém poucas pesquisas investigam a criação de valor para o cliente em programas de KAM. Além disso, a maioria das pesquisas em marketing de relacionamento ainda foca muito nos impactos positivos do relacionamento. Dessa forma, é importante analisar empiricamente como é a implementação da criação de valor para o cliente em programas de KAM, identificando as principais dimensões e os fatores críticos. O objetivo do presente estudo é analisar o processo de criação de valor para o cliente em programas de Key Account Management (KAM) e propor um modelo de criação de valor para o cliente segundo a perspectiva da empresa fornecedora. As análises e o modelo são elaborados a partir de um processo de investigação abdutiva, ou seja, a combinação entre a fundamentação teórica sobre o conceito de valor e programas de KAM e a análise de conteúdo de 22 entrevistas em profundidade com especialistas em programas de KAM, profissionais de marketing/vendas que trabalham por pelo menos cinco anos com programas de KAM em grandes empresas no Brasil. O modelo proposto explica de forma integrada e sistemática como é a criação de valor para o cliente em programas de KAM segundo cinco dimensões (Desenvolvimento de relacionamentos; Entendimento dos direcionadores de valor; Desenvolvimento da proposta de valor; Comunicação da proposta de valor; e mensuração de valor), quatro moderadores (Orientação relacional do cliente; Formalização do programa de KAM para o cliente; Abordagem do fornecedor: \"orientada ao cliente\" vs. \"orientar o cliente\"; e Fit estratégico entre o fornecedor e o cliente) e três riscos (Não entrega do valor básico para o cliente; Rotatividade do Key Account Manager; e Sentimento de injustiça do cliente). Contribui-se com a teoria sobre o tema, ao incluir uma dimensão específica no modelo para desenvolvimento de relacionamentos do nível da díade (organização-organização) e indivíduo (funcionário-funcionário), e ao abordar não somente aspectos positivos do relacionamento, mas também os aspectos negativos (ou riscos da criação de valor para o cliente). Contribui-se também para a prática, ao prover uma visão mais ampla, sistemática e integradora dos diversos elementos da criação de valor para o cliente aos executivos das empresas que possuem programas de KAM, e ao recomendar práticas organizacionais que servem como guias para a tomada de decisão dos gestores de programas de KAM. Ademais, como a parte empírica do estudo é baseada no contexto brasileiro, amplia-se o conhecimento sobre KAM no Brasil. Por fim, apresentam-se as limitações do estudo com a agenda de pesquisas futuras / In recent decades, with the maturity of some markets, globalization and increasing power of the customers is becoming more important for the companies to maintain and develop effectively their most important customers. In this context, increases the relevance of Key Account Management (KAM) programs, a corporate initiative that performs special treatment to the most important supplier\'s customers. To obtain the superior financial performance, the KAM program improves the customer value creation for the value appropriation by the supplier. However, the majority of studies emphasize the value appropriation by the supplier, but few researches investigate the customer valuer creation on KAM programs. In addition, most of relationship marketing research still focuses much on the positive impacts of the relationship. Thus, it is important to empirically analyze how the implementation of customer value creation on KAM programs, identifying the main dimensions and the critical factors. The aim of this study is to analyze the customer value creation process on Key Account Management programs (KAM) and to propose a model of customer value creation from the supplier perspective. The analysis and the model are made through an abductive research process that combines the theoretical framework of the value concept and KAM programs, and content analysis of 22 in-depth interviews with experts on KAM programs, marketing or sales professionals who work for at least five years with KAM programs in large companies in Brazil. The proposed model explains in an integrated and systematic way the customer value creation on KAM programs according to five dimensions (Relationships development; Value drivers understanding; Value proposition development; Value proposition communication; and Value measurement), four moderators (Customer relational orientation; Formalization of the KAM program for the customer; Supplier approach: \"customer driven\" vs. \"customer driving\"; and strategic fit between the supplier and the customer) and three risks ( Not delivering the basic customer value; the Key Account Manager turnover; and Perceived injustice by the customer). The study contributes to the KAM theory through the inclusion of a specific dimension for the development of dyad relationships (organization-organization) and individual relationships (employee-employee) in the model, and through not only addressing the positive aspects of the relationship, but also the negatives (or customer value creation risks). It contributes also to the practice by providing a broader, systematic and integrating view of the several elements of customer value creation to executives of companies that have KAM programs, and recommending organizational practices that can be drivers for the decision making of KAM programs managers. Moreover, as the empirical part of the study is based in the Brazilian context, it broadens the knowledge of KAM in Brazil. Finally, we present study limitations with the future research agenda

One of the proxies for the success of a corporate strategy is firm performance. This is because “performance is a surrogate for the alignment between an organization’s internal processes (strategy, structure, etc) and the external environment.”1 Business excellence therefore hangs together with the attainment of such an alignment. It is two of the processes that support such an alignment between customer and supplier that are the subject of this paper. The processes in question are so called “Key Account Management” (KAM) and competitive intelligence (CI). [... aus der Einleitung] 1 Subramanian R., IsHak S., Competitor Analysis Practices of US Companies, 1998, S.13

Sales management control and sales force performance has received substantial attention by researchers in the past decades. Researchers have been investigating the construct of sales control, its antecedents and its consequences on both the individual sales person and on sales force performance. This research project analyses how and why the sales control systems are implemented the way they are. The basis for this approach is drawn from the organisational or management control literature which treats behaviour and outcome approaches as dimensions rather than categories. Organisational control also treats the control system as a process which consists of a set of stages or sub processes being objective setting, planning, monitoring, feedback and correcting. With the growing importance of relationship selling and key account management it can no longer be assumed that all the sales people will operate at the same hierarchical level within an organisation nor that they will be subject to one and the same control system. Therefore an in depth analysis of how sales force control processes are implemented for different types of sales functions, ranging from customer acquisition, small to medium account management to strategic and global account management, is needed. The research project included 17 preliminary interviews across different organisations, from which one organisation was selected on the basis that it contains a large international sales force of about 2.500 people consisting of a very wide range of sales functions. The analysis of this organisation included 100 plus interviews of 66 sales managers and sales people across all types of sales functions over a two year period. The findings show that the inability to measure certain inputs and outputs does not deter a sales organisation to adopt their sales control strategy within a functional sales team. When some measures are not available or are unreliable, sales managers find other ways to measure them being it through some locally developed tools or through more qualitative approaches. The method used to obtain certain measures does impact the level of the sophistication of the actual control process or strategy. When there is a need to control sales people who operate as a team of employees from different departments the sales managers can no longer individually develop some local tools to measure inputs and outputs. The findings show that team based selling requires accurate data but also globally agreed rules and procedures in order to operate successfully. This enables us to conclude that the inability to measure certain inputs and outputs is a determining variable for the implementation of client sales teams. With regard to sales force control strategies the research uncovered that within the category of the hybrid sales control approach there are four types of sales control sub approaches. The choice of which control to use is dependent on the size of the customers or opportunities the sales people work with and the selling approach which is either hunting or farming. This shows that while farming can be relabelled as key account management, hunting remains a major sales activity requiring not only different selling approaches it also requires different types of sales control processes than for farming. All of these findings indicate that several types of sales control systems can operate across one single organisation and that the main determining variables are the sales approach and the type of accounts the sales person is managing. This challenges current beliefs or assumptions that all sales people operate at the same hierarchical level within an organisation and that they all operate under one single sales control approach. Future research on sales force control will need to take these findings into account when designing their approach to study control systems within organisations.

Cultivating profitable, long-lasting customer-supplier partnerships is a significant task for today's companies. These relationships bring value-adding benefits, including cost and risk reductions, and bring joint business opportunities (Ravald & Grönroos, 1996; McDonald, et al. 1997). Key account management deals with developing customersupplier partnerships within the business-to-business context. Key account managers are responsible for delivering customised products/services, and defining possible business opportunities for both parties, after carefully selecting buying companies according to their strategic importance for the supplier. However, key account management may be complicated for suppliers to manage especially if the selling companies do not know how to implement a key account management programme appropriately. There have been a number of studies attempting to identify approaches to successful key account management programmes (Millman & Wilson, 1995, Napolitano, 1997, Homburg et al., 2002). Abratt & Kelly (2002) were the first to investigate both buyers' and sellers' perceptions of success factors of a key account management programme. They found that both buyers and sellers hold similar points of view on what a successful key account management programme should contain.This thesis is a replication of Abratt & Kelly (2002), which refined their scale to obtain better reliability assessments and generalisability. Only some of the findings of the original study could be replicated. Six factors were extracted while only three of them were reliable. Some of the items loaded onto the same dimension in the replication as Abratt & Kelly (2002), whereas others did not. The discussion section of the thesis suggests reasons for the difference in findings and suggests future research areas based on this discussion.

Capon在2001年的著作中提到，傳統業務制度即將面臨各項挑戰，而為了滿足可能面臨的各種內部與外部壓力，組織必須做出流程與制度上的變革。然而，在有限的資源下，企業必定無法滿足所有客戶的各種要求，因此，透過「關鍵顧客管理計畫」篩選出關鍵客戶，並且對不同的客戶施以差別資源的分配與服務，讓組織在有限資源的狀況下，能夠產生最佳的市場表現與組織績效，這一套方法便被視為能有效提昇企業服務品質與顧客滿意度的良藥。本研究藉由深度訪談，了解個案公司在經營關鍵顧客的三個面向（關鍵顧客管理流程、關鍵顧客管理制度、以及關鍵顧客所需價值的滿足程度），據此評估個案公司關鍵顧客管理計畫的完整程度，並且在最後對該公司提出幾項需改進的部分的與建議，分別是：關鍵顧客分級制度不明確、預算分配制度不明確、上下游資訊系統彼此沒有連線、信用額度管理審核過程不夠透明、風險管理的不足與文件規範化不足導致資訊的存取困難‧‧‧等六項建議 / As Capon mentioned in his publication at 2001, Traditional Business architecture is facing some new different challenges, which organization has to improve their system and procedure to deal with. Nevertheless, company will not be able to satisfy all the needs from customer under the limited resources. Therefore, filtering “Key Accounts” (a.k.a. KA) by Key Account Management (a.k.a. KAM) planning and serving KA with customized service level can help company improve their service quality and increase KA’s satisfaction efficiently. This research reveals P Company’s progress toward three dimensions (including procedure of KAM, system of KAM and customer satisfaction toward P Company’s KAM planning) by depth interview, to analyze P Company’s KAM completion, and point out the weakness of P Company’s KAM plan(including 1.Classification system of KAM is not clear 2. Budget allocation system is not clear 3.Information system of all supply chain are not connected and synchronized 4. Review mechanism of distributor' credit lines are not complete 5. Risk management system are not complete 6. Internal document are not formatted and stored properly) for P Company’s senior Manager as a reference to improve their KAM plan, also competitiveness in market and KA’s satisfaction.