Le choix du mode de développement est aujourd’hui au coeur de la réflexion stratégique des groupes hôteliers. Plusieurs options s’offrent aux décideurs : la pleine propriété des actifs immobiliers, la franchise, les mandats de gestion, ou les contrats de « sale and leaseback ». La question centrale de la thèse proposée est de savoir si la cession des actifs immobiliers (asset light) couplée à un mode de développement ayant une moindre intensité capitalistique est créatrice de valeur pour les actionnaires, en comparaison de la stratégie asset heavy qui regroupe la propriété et la gestion des unités hôtelières. La revue de littérature envisagée reposera sur un triple ancrage théorique : les théories de la firme (théorie des coûts de transaction, théorie des droits de propriété, théorie de l’agence et le modèle des compétences et des ressources), la théorie financière et la théorie immobilière. Une analyse des différents modes de gestion sera effectuée à la lumière de ces théories. Le mode de collecte de données reposera sur une logique expérimentale qui permettra de réaliser des simulations de l’impact de variables environnementales et sectorielles sur la performance et la création de valeur. Le travail sera réalisé sur le marché américain et le segment upper upscale. Les exercices de simulations seront complétés par des études statistiques qui permettront d’identifier les environnements favorisant l’une ou l’autre des méthodes et potentiellement d’arbitrer entre les modes light et heavy en fonction du couple risque/rentabilité. Ce premier travail sur la performance sera complété par la mesure de la création de valeur des différents modes de développement choisis. / The choice for hotel development modes is at the core of the current preoccupations of international hotel groups. They have few options to choose from: full ownership, franchise contracts, management contracts, or sale and leaseback contracts. The problematic raised in this dissertation is twofold: first, it wants to determine if asset light strategies, the less capital intensive development mode, create value for shareholders; second, it tries to compare and arbitrage between asset light and asset heavy strategies. The literature review is anchored on three theoretical pillars: the theory of the firm (transaction costs theory, property rights theory, agency theory, and model of resources and competencies), the financial theory, and the real estate theory. An analysis of the different development modes is conducted in the light of those theoretical inputs. The empirical analysis uses an experimental approach through a number of simulations that estimate the impact of both the macroeconomic and the sectoral environments on hotels’ performance and value creation processes. This analysis is performed using data from the US market and the upper upscale hotel segment. Simulations are supplemented with a statistical analysis aimed at, first, identifying the environments most likely to favor one or the other mode; and, second, at providing the grounds for a sound arbitrage between asset light and asset heavy strategies in conjunction with a risk/reward analysis. Measures of performance resulting from that study are completed with a thorough analysis of the value creation potential stemming from the two different hotel development modes.

Le management loyal des affaires repose sur des pratiques éthiques, responsables et transparentes. Le contexte de la globalisation a généré des comportements organisationnels déviants conduisant à la vulnérabilité des entreprises. La thèse porte sur l’apport de la gouvernance à la réduction des abus. Le développement conceptuel a mis en relation deux axes la gouvernance et les abus avec leurs items correspondants. La gouvernance comprend le pouvoir, le revenu ou la création de valeur, l’éthique et l’implication des acteurs. Les abus sont d’ordre financier, économique, managérial et commercial. L’étude empirique a révélé l’existence d’une relation positive entre l’exercice de la gouvernance et la réduction des abus à niveaux d’importances variables selon les items et les contextes français et tunisien. La concrétisation de la gouvernance à travers les deux axes la gouvernance liée au pouvoir et la gouvernance liée à l’éthique a permis d’avoir un effet de réduction des abus et de moralisation de la vie des affaires avec des niveaux différents selon le contexte. / The fair management business is based on ethical, accountable and transparent practices.The context of globalization has generated organizational deviant behavior leading to the vulnerability of companies. The thesis focuses on the contribution of governance to reduce abuse. The conceptual development has linked two axes, governance and abuse, with their corresponding items. Governance includes the power, income or value creation, ethics and stakeholder involvement. Abuses occur in financial, economic, managerial and commercial field.The empirical study revealed the existence of a positive relationship between the exercise of governance and reducing abuse with varying levels depending on the items and the French and Tunisian contexts.The implementation of governance through the two axes “governance related to power” and “governance linked to ethics” allowed an effect of reducing abuse and morality in business life with different levels depending on the context. / إن نزاهة إدارة الأعمال ترتكز علي تصرفات أخلاقية مسؤولة و شفافة .إن إطار العولمة أفرز سلوكا تنضيميا منحرفا أفضي الى تجاوزات أدت الى عرقلة تواصل حياة المؤسسات الإقتصادية .تتناول الأطروحة مدى تأثير الحوكمة على الحد من التجاوزات و الإخلالات .الإعداد النظري مكن من توضيح العلاقة بين العنصرين في البحث : الحوكمة و الإخلالات أو التجاوزات مع العناصر المناسبة . الحوكمة تتمثل في النفوذ و الدخل أو خلق القيمة و الإخلاقيات و إشراك أصحاب المصلحة. بينما تكون الإخلالات و التجاوزات من عدة ميادين : مالية , إقتصادية , إدارة أعمال و تجارية.مكنت الدراسة الميدانية من الكشف على وجود علاقة إيجابية بين ممارسة الحوكمة و الحد من الإخلالات و التجاوزات بمدى متغير حسب العناصر و إطار البحث في كل من فرنسا و تونس .إن تجسيم الحوكمة عبر العناصر المستندة الى النفوذ و الأخلاقيات أفضت الى الحد من الإخلالات و التجاوزات و تنزيه التصرف في إدارة الأعمال بمستويات مختلفة حسب أطر البحث

Many entrepreneurs pursue the IT-industry, which is characterized by opportunities and international growth. However, due to failures in sales, marketing and operations, many IT-startups never reach profitability and sustainable performance.  On behalf of the IT-startup Realbridge, the authors have been asked to investigate how their sales process can be made more efficient. By identifying elements in the sales process, the authors can provide suggestions supported by theories and qualitative data on how Realbridge and similar companies can redesign and improve their sales process. The study further investigates the role of sales in the business model and how a changed sales process impact value delivery and innovate the business model. Consequently, the thesis aims to answer the following research questions: How does a firm’s sales process impact value delivery in the business model? How can small IT-companies similar to Realbridge and their product improve their sales process efficiency? This degree project has several purposes. Firstly, it aims to further investigate the role of sales in value delivery in the business model. This will extend knowledge and research on value delivery and sales, and will further investigate the relationship between components of the business model. Secondly, it will serve as a guide for managers in IT-firms on how they can improve the sales process. Thirdly, it will create an understanding of how IT-firms similar to Realbridge can develop or innovate their business model in terms of changed value delivery, key activities and sales process. As the aim of this study is to extend knowledge in the business model and sales literature, as well as analyze Realbridge’s sales process and culminate in recommendations on how IT-startups can increase their sales efficiency, this degree project takes form as a qualitative case study. Interviews have been conducted with interviewees in four different organizations with three different perspectives: Realbridge’s perspective, customer in the car dealership industry’s perspective and non-customer in the car dealership industry’s perspective. The data has been processed in accordance to thematic analysis. The analysis has led the authors to the conclusion that a changed sales process impact value delivery and consequently innovate the business model. It is also found that the sales process impact value creation and capture. Moreover, in order to effectively design a sales process, Realbridge and similar companies must effectively segment the market, focus on fewer segments initially and target them according to their expected financial contribution. They should state and communicate a specific value proposition related to the approached segment’s main needs. Furthermore, customer preferences have to be accounted for in terms of sales channels and type of relationships, and it can be seen as a financial risk to maximize value creation and value delivery for all customers.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of social marketing within a collaboration between non-profit organisations (NPOs) and business organisations as well as whether this collaboration facilitates the process of social marketing for the NPOs. For this purpose, Austin and Seitanidi´s (2012a, 2012b, 2014) Collaborative Value Creation (CVC) framework was applied to social marketing as value outcome by combining it with Andreasen and Kotler´s (2003) model of the social marketing process in NPOs. Method: A qualitative study was conducted based on secondary and primary data. Hereby, primary data was gathered from a total of seven NPOs and twelve respondents across Sweden by the use of face-to-face and phone interviews. Result & Conclusions: Two main findings were identified in this study. Firstly, within the process of social marketing in a corporate-NPO collaboration the NPOs predominantly plan and design the campaigns independently. Hereby, it is shown that the NPO´s organisational model of operation influences the collaboration structure. Secondly, it is demonstrated that the corporate-NPO collaboration facilitates the NPOs social marketing process. Suggestions for future research: Further investigations of NPOs could be undertaken by distinguishing between their organisational model and area of operation in order to complement the presented theoretical model of the social marketing process in the corporate-NPO collaboration. Additionally, the perspective of business organisations could be considered. Contribution of the thesis: The present study contributes to literature by providing a theoretical model based of the social marketing process in the corporate-NPO collaboration. It demonstrates that this collaboration facilitates the social marketing process of the NPOs.

In light of a stronger recognition of the need for sustainable business practices as “business as usual” no longer presents itself as a viable option, this study aims to cast light on the current work of Swedish SMEs with integrative sustainability. Within the academic field of sustainability in business, the latest years have seen the emergence of multiple frameworks that promote a holistic sustainability approach to conducting business. The single firm becomes a connecting member of an extensive stakeholder network and by operating in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable manner, the business seeks to create value for a variety of stakeholder groups, rather than focusing on monetary objectives set by shareholders. These new integrative frameworks shift the understanding of a firm from a profit-maximiser to that of a value-creator that acts sustainably to cater to the needs of all its stakeholders. However, as the models have only recently featured across academia, their real-life applicability and viability are contested, and in some ways, remains under-researched, particularly in the context of SMEs. With Sweden as a leading example in sustainability implementation, this study attempts to provide insight into how SMEs work with the elements of these frameworks and which opportunities and challenges they encounter during implementation. Through conducting detailed, qualitative and personal semi-structured interviews with the CEOs of six sustainability-minded Swedish SMEs of different industrial backgrounds, this research gauges the current organisational efforts being made in terms of sustainability and relates them to the integrative value-creating frameworks to identify congruences, divergences and room for improvement in line with latest theories. The main conclusions drawn as part of this process include the continued, at least partial, unfamiliarity of businesses with the frameworks, despite a large degree of compatibility of current practical efforts and existing academic theory. Value creation is moving closer to being included in the core of the business model, yet while absolute profit maximisation receives less attention, hesitation towards implementing sustainability more integratively is driven by concerns of losing grounds for profitability. The establishment of clusters and strong relationships leading to mutual synergies is found as a potential way to provide firms with the structural support to shift fully towards value-creation as envisioned by the investigated frameworks.

This thesis in Industrial Engineering and Management examines which the critical success factors are for implementing blockchain technology in the context of trade finance. Blockchain is an up-and-coming technology that has yet not been implemented in many organizations. By examining which the success factors are for implementing the technology, a foundation can be provided for future implementation efforts with the hope of achieving a successful result. Furthermore, to assess if an implementation of blockchain has been successful or not, the value of it has been assessed. Through a qualitative study with interviewees from both companies acting in the trade finance industry and experts on the subject of blockchain, information could be gathered in order to confirm the theoretical framework as well asprovide for new findings. The conclusion was that the most important success factors for implementing blockchain, found in the theoretical framework were: "Managing and involving stakeholders (for instance customers and suppliers)", "Clear management support/commitment/involvement of the implementation",and "Understanding of the organization in which the implementation is to take place (its strengths, needs,etc.)". The least important factors proved to be "An in depth understanding of the technology that is to be implemented; what it is and how it works", "Keeping the change communicable and transparent within the organization", and "Extensive project definition and planning". Unexpected findings were that almost all interviewees mentioned that there has to be a real need for the technology in order for it to be successfully implemented. Also, as the very nature of blockchain requires cooperation; it is important to realize that blockchain will require a higher degree of working over organizational boundaries. Another aspect that proved to be important to take into consideration is that the trade finance industry holds legacyand therefore is prone to be resistance to change, especially to a technology of such a highly disruptive character. Lastly, it is of importance to mention that the context also has to be taken into consideration;every organization is different and require different approaches when it comes to implementing blockchain technology. When it comes to how blockchain technology generates value from an organizational perspective, the most common answers were that it enhances collaboration and trust. Many identify value in the problem-solving and more decentralized mindset that blockchain brings. An unexpected finding was that the mere use of the word blockchain will create value, as this enables collaboration and investment. Other reasons given were security, transparency, automation, traceability,and decentralization. Further analysis examined the reasons behind the importance and connection of these answers. / Det här examensarbetet i industriell ekonomi undersöker vilka de kritiska framgångsfaktorerna är för implementering av blockkedjeteknologi inom området trade finance. En blockkedja är en teknologi med stora möjligheter som ännu inte har implementerats inom många företag. Genom att undersöka vilka framgångsfaktorerna är för att implementera teknologin, så kan en grund för framtida implementeringsförsök läggas med hopp om att uppnå ett framgångsrikt resultat. Vidare, för att utvärdera om en implementering har varit lyckad eller ej, måste värdet i implementeringen utvärderas. Genom en kvalitativ studie med intervjuer av personer både inom företag som ägnar sig åt trade finance och med experter på blockkedjor, kunde information tas fram för att bekräfta det teoretiska ramverket likväl bidra med nya resultat. Slutsatsen blev att de viktigaste framgångsfaktorerna för implementering av blockkedjor, som hittats i det teoretiska ramverket, var: "Tydligt stöd/engagemang/medverkan avmanagement i implementeringen", "Hantering och involvering av olika intressenter (till exempel kunderoch leverantörer)", "Förståelse för organisationen som implementationen sker i (dess styrkor, behovetc.)". De minst viktiga framgångsfaktorerna visade sig vara: "En djup förståelse för teknologin som skall implementeras; vad det är och hur den fungerar", "Förändringen sker på ett transparent sätt och med tydlig kommunikation", "Omfattande projektdefinition och planering". Oväntade resultat var att nästan alla de intervjuade personerna nämnde att det måste finnas ett riktigt behov för teknologin för att det ska kunna implementeras framgångsrikt. Likväl, en fundamental egenskap av blockkedjan är att teknologin kräver samarbete; det är viktigt att inse att blockkedjan kräver en högre grad av samarbete över organisatoriska gränser. Ytterligare en aspekt som visade sig vara viktig att ta hänsyn till är att tradefinance industrin har varit oföränderlig under låg tid och därmed är benägen att kännetecknas av motstånd till förändring, särskilt mot en teknologi som är av en sådan disruptiv karaktär. Slutligen är det av vikt att nämna att kontexten också behöver tas hänsyn till; alla organisationer är olika och kräver olika tillvägagångssätt när det kommer till att implementera blockkedjeteknologi. Gällande hur blockkedjeteknologi genererar värde från en organisatorisk synvinkel, är det vanligaste svaret att det förbättrar och ökar samarbete och förtroende. Många identifierar värde i den problemlösning och det mer decentraliserade tankesättet som blockkedjor möjliggör. Ett oväntat resultat var att bara användandet av ordet blockkedja kommer att skapa värde, eftersom det möjliggör samarbete och investeringar. Andra faktorer som gavs var säkerhet, transparens, automatisering, spårbarhet och decentralisering. Vidare analys undersökte de bakomliggande anledningarna till dessa faktorers betydande och kopplingen mellan dessa svar.

Throughout the last years, the service encounter has gone through drastic changes due to rapid technological developments. The research area of service marketing is therefore putting a stronger focus on the academic field of technology-infused service encounters. Marketers have moreover also started to implement self-service technology (SST) within their service encounters, in order enhance their service delivery. This phenomenon has also been visible within the hospitality industry, whereby the hotel industry has experienced an increasing adoption of SST encounters. Consequently, hotels’ implementation of SST kiosks has enhanced the hotel guests’ participation level within the service encounter. Therefore, this thesis aims to gather insights on the emerging SST customer roles, by investigating the guests’ attitude towards the SST encounter. This leads to the investigation of distinctive SST customer roles within hotels’ self-check-ins.   The choice of the research topic was driven by the fact that existing research about SST implementation in the service encounter, lacks an investigation of the customers’ perspective. Thereby, a research gap was identified that outlays the customers’ enhanced participation as service co-producers. Previous research has focused on investigating customers’ technology acceptance, rather than their own identification as co-producers. Thereof, this thesis will put an emphasis on hotel guests’ attitude towards SST, as a specific aspect of the technology acceptance process. Moreover, this thesis will focus its investigation on self-check-ins within hotels that do not incorporate a human interaction point for their guests. Consequently, in order to investigate the SST customer roles more thoroughly, this thesis will also consider the viewpoint of the hotel. Therefore, qualitative interviews among nineteen hotel guests and one hotel representative were conducted.   The findings of this thesis revealed that SST customer roles cannot be predetermined within a hotel self-check-in. Instead, the hotel guests define their own SST customer roles through a reflection upon their purpose of the hotel stay, expectations of the check-in encounter, arising special needs and perceived benefits of the self-check-in. This determines their individual ‘role file card’, which can be utilized into the proposed SST customer roles archetypes of: technology enthusiast, beneficiary, traditionalist and contradictor. In regard to that, it has been identified that the information provided prior to the hotel guests’ stay, influences the reflection upon their SST customer roles. Moreover, it was discovered that with their increased responsibility over the check-in process, the hotel guests identified themselves as co-producers. Therefore, the findings outlined that the guests would want the price of the hotel stay to reflect their increased involvement in the service delivery.   From a theoretical perspective this thesis bridged the identified research gap of investigating hotel guests’ attitude towards SST, in order to classify the different customer roles that arise within a hotel’s self-check-in. Moreover, the findings revealed practical implications for hotel managers in regards of the need to provide their guests with more information about the SST encounter. Thereby, hotel managers will be enabled to increase their guests’ satisfaction with the SST encounter, as the guests’ expectations would be coherent with the hotel’s offerings.

The purpose of the study is to obtain a preferable understanding of how a company in the retail trade and its store staff achieves and provides service quality through self-service and how the co-creation and value creation is preserved when the majority of the personal contact is supplemented by technology. / Syftet med studien är att få en större förståelse för hur ett företag inom detaljhandeln och dess butikspersonal åstadkommer och tillhandahåller servicekvalitet genom självbetjäning och hur sam- och värdeskapandet bevaras när majoriteten av den personliga kontakten byts ut mot teknik.

Digitalization initiates and drives significant changes to the process level, organization level, and business level of software-intensive product development (SIPD) companies and their customers. Digitalization creates new opportunities through digital transformation strategies of the business environment. Digitalization also significantly reduces the turnaround-time on a transaction, driving new challenges for the alignment of business and technology changes. For a successful business model realization, a company must understand what capabilities the organization has (in staff and products), what is required, and more importantly, how to turn these capabilities into good-enough abilities without disturbing the effectiveness and efficiency of the daily operations. Integrating the product and service development and the value delivery with a learning organization is critical for efficient business model change (BMCh). This thesis seeks to develop conceptual models for how BMCh is linked to value, learning organization design, and the transformation of capabilities into abilities derived from business model activities and actor interactions. Such conceptual models facilitate to investigate and identify critical mechanisms and capabilities needed to effectively and efficiently manage BMCh at full scale for SIPD companies, allowing them to exploit the on-going digitalization, may it be through (disruptive) business model innovation, technology innovation, or by continuously adapting and evolving the business operations.   I use the SIPD company as the unit of analysis, with the dual-lens of value and knowledge, set in the context of a business model and how the value creation and capture are influenced by the interaction between two actors performing a business model activity. I build on the business model literature and infuse theories for knowledge creation, learning organizations, and contractual promises to create value. Conducting a cross-disciplinary literature review, followed by a synthesis of related literature, industry best-practices, and an associated design science study, my propositions were validated in a longitudinal case study exploring a service industrialization program in the telecommunication industry. I have produced five conceptual models and seven propositions as a start to be able to support the design of a governance mechanism, as the critical engine for both the learning organization and effective and efficient BMCh. The industry now explores the models found during the case study. My synthesis shows a need for further research into BMCh regarding early detection and measurements of gaps in value, gaps in knowledge, ambiguity, equivocality, and abilities. Flexible role-based governance views present the measurements, as part of the governance mechanisms for full-scale, effective, and efficient BMCh. Further, I also aim to implement such governance mechanisms in software, by using the associated research in intent-driven systems. In the meantime, I propose industry to build knowledge and experience related to the seven propositions.

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