Sales and marketing resistance to Key Account Management implementation: An ethnographic investigation

Pressey, Andrew D.; Gilchrist, Alan; Lenney, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2014.06.005

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Third, despite the importance of R&D project implementation work, most studies focus on marketing strategy implementation at an organizational or individual level of business exchanges. Building on calls to extend the firm as a unit of analysis (Pressey, Gilchrist, & Lenney, 2015;Yang & Su, 2014), our paper extends the industrial marketing literature in relation to an institutional understanding of R&D project implementation gaps (Blomquist & Wilson, 2007;Cova & Salle, 2007;Mele, 2011;Canhoto, Quinton, Jackson, & Dibb, 2016). As such we extends the industrial cartel research on symbolic policy adoption gaps (Pressey & Vanharanta, 2016;Pressey et al, 2014;Pressey & Ashton, 2009) as well as Newton, Ewing, and Collier's (2014) research on loose coupling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Institutional means-ends decoupling work in industrial R&D project implementation

Jabbouri¹,

Truong²,

Schneckenberg³

et al. 2019

Industrial Marketing Management

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Managing goals is a key network management function and is critical in the implementation of industrial R&D projects. In this paper, we explore the implementation of an industrial R&D project, focusing in particular upon the role of means-ends decoupling work to understand how the goals are managed. We combine several data sources in our case research to explore project implementation through an understanding of means-ends decoupling work. We collected indepth interviews, archival records and field observations within the R&D research setting of an industrial R&D project in the period of 2015 to 2017. Our findings identify three types of means-ends decoupling work in R&D project implementation: 'work on' causal complexity, 'work at' behavioural invisibility, and 'work with' practice multiplicity. In addition, we uncover six dynamic micro-mechanisms that collectively influence the making and nature of meansends decoupling work and therefore serve to allow for the fluid switching of work as the institutional conditions permit. Overall, our findings have significant implications for understanding means-ends decoupling as a highly skilled network competence for managing R&D project implementation goals.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Institutional means-ends decoupling work in industrial R&D project implementation

Jabbouri¹,

Truong²,

Schneckenberg³

et al. 2019

Industrial Marketing Management

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“…This dissemination is executed by KA managers (who have better access to the lower hierarchical levels). This finding contributes by indicating how TMs create better conditions for the use of customer knowledge (Hakanen, 2014 (Davies and Ryals, 2013;Salojärvi et al, 2010), to remove internal resistance to KA new demands or projects (Guesalaga, 2014;Marcos-Cuevas et al, 2014;Pressey et al, 2014;Wilson and Woodburn, 2014), or to mitigate the short-term orientation presented by some KA managers (Davies and Ryals, 2013).…”

Section: Research Contributionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Top managers’ role in key account management

Pereira

Tzempelikos

Trento³

et al. 2019

JBIM

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore top managers’ role in key account management. Design/methodology/approach The possible actions that could be performed by a top manager were investigated in 12 case studies. These actions were grouped into key account managers and teams, culture, engagement and knowledge, organizational structure/conditions and customers and markets. Findings Top managers (TMs) informally evaluate teams and key account (KA) managers, stimulate a culture that favors the information’s prospection, persuade managers to reduce their resistance and improve organizational structure/conditions by inducing internal and external questioning. They also contact key customers’ top managers to check on the changes required or to persuade them to change requirements, accept a higher price or redirect an unattractive order to competitors. They approve revisions on the key customers list, discuss with the key account manager how to redirect an unattractive opportunity to competitors and try to improve gains even in attractive orders. Research limitations/implications Additional research beyond the provided exploratory study is needed to generalize the results. The findings contribute to improving the understanding of how TMs get involved in key account management, buyer–supplier relationship improvement and increasing company profitability. They also unveil top managers’ role in internal culture creation and team engagement. Originality/value When managing their KAs, TMs seem to be sceptical, curious and pragmatic with their subordinates, as well as with the customers or competitors.

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“…Our analytical process has similarities with an applied business ethnography since we draw on our subjective interpretations of qualitative data to describe the behaviors of FLEs in social settings by analyzing their communicative practices (Atkinson and Hammersley, 1995;Fetterman, 2010;Kalou and Sadler-Smith, 2015). Ethnography has become a popular means to understand phenomena in business markets (Pressey, Gilchrist, and Lenney, 2014). Consistent with both single case methods and ethnography, we combine interview data, field notes of meeting observations and content analyses of key documents to induce and triangulate our findings (Atkinson and Hammersley, 1995;Fetterman, 2010;Yin, 2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensemaking, sensegiving and absorptive capacity in complex procurements

Prior

Keränen

Koskela

2018

Journal of Business Research

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This study explores and describes i) the nature of knowledge exchange processes at the frontline employee (FLE) level and ii) how FLE sensemaking processes affect buyer firm knowledge management practices in complex procurement contexts. The study utilizes an indepth case analysis in the mining industry to identify a taxonomy of four buyer sensemaking investment/ supplier collaboration profiles, to describe three sensegiving supplier roles ('confidence builders', 'competent collaborators', and 'problem-solvers') and to explore how these evolve during complex procurement implementation. The study concludes with a conceptual model of the apparent linkages between sensemaking, sensegiving and buyer firm absorptive capacity in complex procurements. This study shows how micro-level (FLE) interactions influence macro-level knowledge integration (absorptive capacity) in the buyer firm. For managers, the study shows how the allocation of time and resources affects FLElevel knowledge exchange, with ultimate effect on buyer firm absorptive capacity.

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Sales and marketing resistance to Key Account Management implementation: An ethnographic investigation

Cited by 20 publications

References 80 publications

Institutional means-ends decoupling work in industrial R&D project implementation

Institutional means-ends decoupling work in industrial R&D project implementation

Top managers’ role in key account management

Sensemaking, sensegiving and absorptive capacity in complex procurements

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