Titel: Key Account Management process Nivå: C-uppsats inom ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Rafal Mahdi & Sofia Nilsson Handledare: Akmal Hyder & Zahra Ahmadi Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur en KAM-process kan skilja sig mellan stora och små företag inom B2B marknad. Datum: 2015-06-03 Metod: Studien bygger på en abduktiv ansats. Vi utför en multipelfallstudie med en kvalitativ forskningsdesign. Kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomförs och utformas med hjälp av en operationalisering som grundar sig i den vetenskapliga teorin. Intervjuerna har spelats in och noga transkriberats för att sedan lyfta fram den mest väsentliga informationen de bidrog till, i förhållande till studiens syfte. Informationen har analyserats och diskuterats för att därefter presentera en slutsats som besvarar studiens frågeställningar och syfte. Resultat & Slutsats: Studien visar att den presenterade KAM processen tillämpas av samtliga fallföretag i studien. Vi fann dock att det förekommer märkbara skillnader i hur fallföretagen arbetar för att identifiera och analysera nyckelkunder, uppnå engagemang, förtroende och tillfredställelse till sina nyckelkunder i den presenterade KAM processen. Förslag till vidare forskning: Vidare forskning kan göras utifrån de begränsningar som vi fann i denna studie. Den första begränsningen är antalet företag som deltog i studien och därmed kan vidare forskning utföra en liknande studie med fler fallföretag. Den andra begräsningen är att endast en teoretisk modell av KAM processen studeras i denna studie. Vidare forskning kan därmed utföra en studie där fler modeller av KAM processen jämförs. I vår KAM process har vi använt ett begränsat antal faktorer, denna begränsning skulle kunna överträffas genom att inkludera fler faktorer som är viktiga för att tillämpa och förstå KAM processen. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studien visar om samma KAM process kan tillämpas i både stora och små företag samt vilka eventuella skillnader som kan uppstå däremellan.

The thesis compounds three views on the Key Account Management (KAM). Firstly, KAM is defined from a theoretical perspective. Secondly, a practical example of KAM is described within the international organization AIESEC; including feedback from a client. Finally, there are suggestions in order to improve KAM in terms of soft skills of Account Managers.

Esta tese de doutorado estuda a implantação e gestão do modelo de Gerência de Contas Especiais, em instituições financeiras no Brasil. O aumento da competitividade de mercado, fez com que os bancos tivessem que buscar novas formas de interação com seus clientes, como forma de garantir sua posição competitiva de mercado. A aplicação do modelo se inicia como uma forma diferenciada de atendimento de vendas aos principais clientes que são segmentados, em um primeiro momento, pelo volume de faturamento. A partir da evolução da implantação do modelo se identifica a necessidade de mudar o foco de vendas para o foco de marketing de relacionamento, o que exige a aplicação de instrumentos de gestão diferentes e uma mudança no foco da organização. Os instrumentos que devem ser desenvolvidos são : -a base de dados individual dos clientes, que além de transacional passa a ser gerencial e contemplar informações quantitativas e qualitativas dos clientes -o plano de negócios por cliente. O objetivo final é conseguir mudar o foco de obter resultados pelo volume de vendas de produtos aos clientes para o objetivo de obter rentabilidade no cliente pelo desenvolvimento do relacionamento. / This thesis studies the Key Account Management model implementation in financial institutions in Brazil. The growth of market competition, direct the banks to look for new forms of interaction with their clients, as a way to garantee the competitive position in the market. The model implementation starts as a different way of sales calls to major clients, that are segmented at the first moment, per turnover value. With the evolution of the implementation of this model, it is possible to identify the need to change the focus from sales to relationship marketing, what demands the application of different management tools and the change of organization focus. The tools to be developed are : -The database of individual clients, has to be focussed not only in transactional aspects but should also contemplate the quantitative and qualitative managerial data from each client. -The client Business Plan The final objective is to manage the change in focus, from products sales volume to clients to the objective to obtain rentability on the client by the relationship development with clients.

Bakgrund: Logiken bakom Key Account Management (KAM) bygger på att en liten andel av ett företags kunder står för den största delen av dess intäkter. Vid KAM väljer företag ut dessa strategiskt mest viktiga kunder, kallade nyckelkunder och tillägnar dessa mer resurser och uppmärksamhet jämfört med de ordinarie. Dock har litteraturen om KAM inte i någon större utsträckning berört vilket värde som skapas till följd av KAM eller hur detta värde kan mätas. Därav ligger examensarbetets huvudfokus inom detta forskningsområde inom detta område och fokus ligger framförallt på det säljande företagets perspektiv. Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka, analysera och beskriva vilket värde samt hur detta skapas för det säljande företaget genom användningen av KAM. Genomförande: En egen definition av KAM har skapats i detta examensarbete med hjälp av existerande litteratur inom området. Denna definition har sedan tillsammans med examensarbetets syfte legat till grund för den analysmodell som har tagits fram. Analysmodellen har använts för att underlätta empiriinsamlingen och analysen som leder fram till examensarbetets slutsatser. Empiriinsamlingen har skett genom intervjuer med respondenter från de tre fallföretagen Toyota Material Handling, Ericsson AB och Scania CV AB. Slutsats: Som fördelar av KAM har bland annat förbättrade relationer, nöjdare kunder, ökad absolut försäljning och ökad marknadsandel hittats. Potentiella problem och nackdelar med KAM som uppkommit i litteraturen och under intervjuerna är till exempel organisatorisk komplexitet, ökat beroende till nyckelkunderna, att det kräver mycket personal och att interna konflikter kan uppstå. Att mäta dessa typer av fördelar och nackdelar, visar både referensramen och empirin är något som inte görs helt enkelt och intuition och känsla är vanligt vid en utvärdering av det värde som skapas av KAM. Den sammanlagda uppfattningen är att bedömningen av KAM och dess lämplighet, görs på känsla vilket enligt författarna till examensarbetet är otillräckligt. / Background: The logic behind Key Account Management (KAM) lies in the fact that a small part of the customers represents the biggest part of a company’s revenues. Through the work with KAM, companies choose its strategically most important customers; its so called key accounts and dedicate these more resources than compared to others. However, the literature in KAM, have not enough raised the question, which value that is created through this way of working nor how this value can be measured. Therefore, the main focus of this study is within this field of study and it is pursued through the eyes of the selling company. Aim: The aim of this study is to explore, analyze and describe which value and how this is created for the selling company through the work with KAM and furthermore how this can be measured. Completion: Through the use of already existing literature, within the field, an own definition has been created. This definition has together with the aim set the framework for the model for analyses that has been created. The model has been used to facilitate the data collection and leads to the conclusions of this study. The empirical work of this study contains of interviews from three companies; Toyota Material Handling Sweden, Ericsson AB and Scania CV AB. Conclusion: Among others, benefit in terms of improved relationships, more satisfied customers, increased sales and increased market share have been seen. Potential problems have been seen in the literature as well as during the interviews in terms of for example an organizational complexity, increased dependence on the key accounts and internal conflicts that may arise.  Measuring these types of benefits and disadvantages is not done easily and intuition is commonly used assessing the value that is created through the work with KAM. The total judgment is that KAM and its appropriateness is made by a feeling which is not enough according to the authors.

Esta tese de doutorado estuda a implantação e gestão do modelo de Gerência de Contas Especiais, em instituições financeiras no Brasil. O aumento da competitividade de mercado, fez com que os bancos tivessem que buscar novas formas de interação com seus clientes, como forma de garantir sua posição competitiva de mercado. A aplicação do modelo se inicia como uma forma diferenciada de atendimento de vendas aos principais clientes que são segmentados, em um primeiro momento, pelo volume de faturamento. A partir da evolução da implantação do modelo se identifica a necessidade de mudar o foco de vendas para o foco de marketing de relacionamento, o que exige a aplicação de instrumentos de gestão diferentes e uma mudança no foco da organização. Os instrumentos que devem ser desenvolvidos são : -a base de dados individual dos clientes, que além de transacional passa a ser gerencial e contemplar informações quantitativas e qualitativas dos clientes -o plano de negócios por cliente. O objetivo final é conseguir mudar o foco de obter resultados pelo volume de vendas de produtos aos clientes para o objetivo de obter rentabilidade no cliente pelo desenvolvimento do relacionamento. / This thesis studies the Key Account Management model implementation in financial institutions in Brazil. The growth of market competition, direct the banks to look for new forms of interaction with their clients, as a way to garantee the competitive position in the market. The model implementation starts as a different way of sales calls to major clients, that are segmented at the first moment, per turnover value. With the evolution of the implementation of this model, it is possible to identify the need to change the focus from sales to relationship marketing, what demands the application of different management tools and the change of organization focus. The tools to be developed are : -The database of individual clients, has to be focussed not only in transactional aspects but should also contemplate the quantitative and qualitative managerial data from each client. -The client Business Plan The final objective is to manage the change in focus, from products sales volume to clients to the objective to obtain rentability on the client by the relationship development with clients.

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

One of the main tasks of key account management (KAM) practice is the creation of customized value propositions for a business-to-business organization's most important customers, which often requires the support of multiple internal departments. Thus, making internal alignment central in KAM in order to exchange value and serve the key accounts (KA) long-term. This study will, therefore, explore internal alignment in KAM and aims to identify what contributes to internal alignment and how misalignment could emerge in KAM teams, in order to understand the significance of internal alignment and identify possible reasons for misalignment in KAM. The theory was framed by 7 elements of internal alignment including shared values, style, skills, staff, strategy, structure and systems. The empirical data was collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews with KA managers. The findings suggest that internal alignment is of importance in KAM and that the elements of internal alignment studied in the thesis are dependent on each other. Furthermore, it was found that misalignment is most commonly caused by personal disputes, however, all elements studied were found as contributing factors to misalignment. The findings led to the conclusion that internal alignment is not a target state, it is rather a measure of progress and that all aspects that do contribute to internal alignment also entail causes for misalignment.

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

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

Att skapa starka och långsiktiga relationer till sina kunder har för företag blivit en nödvändighet i den industriella marknadsföringen, där relationerna i sig själva kan ses som den viktigaste tillgången för verksamheten. Från området inom relationsmarknadsföring har Key Account Management vuxit fram och blivit ett populärt begrepp, där en koncentrerad mängd av företagets kunder prioriteras högre än övriga. Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva och konkretisera det potentiella värde, sett som mellanskillnaden mellan fördelar och nackdelar, som skapas för det säljande tjänsteföretaget i användningen av KAM. Uppsatsen utgår från en kvalitativ ansats där en komparativ studie har genomförts genom att undersöka företag som uttalat använder Key Account Management mot företag som ej använder KAM, samt kundföretag. För att få tillgång till empririn har sex stycken intervjuer med företag genomförts. Två som har KAM, två som inte har KAM. Dessutom har intervjuer utförts med kund till ett KAM-företag, samt en kund till ett företag som inte använder KAM. Genom att ha en stödjande organisation, fyra centrala delar i sitt KAM, kompetenta Key Account Managers, samt aktiva kunder är mjuka värden såsom förbättrad relation och kundförståelse givet. Dessa kan i sin tur leda till andra mjuka och hårda värden och därför ökad lönsamhet. KAM är däremot en investering som tar mycket resurser, samtidigt som flertalet potentiella nackdelar är tänkbara. Värdet har i denna studie identifierats som skillnaden mellan tänkbara fördelar och nackdelar, men detta skiljer sig åt från företag till företag vilket gör att det faktiska värdet varierar. / To build strong and long-lasting customer relationships has become a necessity in industrial marketing, whereat the relationships in itself can be viewed as the most important asset for the company. Key Account Management has its roots in relationship marketing and has grown in popularity the past decades. By selecting and focusing primarily on a few key customers, which the company deems to be the most important, Key Account Management is purposed to generate and locate value. The purpose of this paper is to describe and substantiate the potential value, seen as the difference between advantages and disadvantages, that Key Account Management may provide for the selling company. The study has a qualitative approach consisting of six interviews. Two companies with Key Account Management, two companies without KAM and two customer companies were interviewed in a comparative design. One of the customers had a relationship to one of the companies with KAM, whilst the other one did not. By having a supporting organization, four critical aspects to the companies KAM, a qualified Key Account Manager, and active customers, soft values as improved relationships and customer understanding are guaranteed. These can in turn enable access to other soft and hard values that leads to higher profit. KAM is however an investment which occupies a lot of resources, alongside with creating potential disadvantages. The value has in this study been identified as the difference between potential advantages and disadvantages, but these differ from company to company which in turn makes the actual value from KAM various.