Key Account Management in Business-to-Business Markets - An Assessment of Its Economic Value

Foreword

Preface

Contents

Figures

Abbreviations

1 Introduction

1.1 Key account management - a seemingly evolutionary phenomenon

1.2 The efficiency of key account management

1.3 Objective and structure of the thesis

2 State-of-the-art of key account management in academia and science

2.1 Relationship marketing and the concept of key account management

2.2 The conception of key account management

2.3 Research and empirical evidence on key account management

3 Key account management controlling

3.1 Defining the task and objectives of key account management controlling

3.2 Tools in key account management controlling

3.3 Requirements of an implementation decision model

3.4 The theoretical foundation of the decision model

4 Analyzing key account management from the perspective of transaction cost economics

4.1 The fundamentals of transaction cost economics

4.2 Applying the framework of transaction cost economics

4.3 Bilateral governance and the relevance of the marketing organization

5 Challenging the organization: the implementation of key account management

5.1 The relevance of implementing key account management in marketing management

5.2 The implementation of key account management as a strategic marketing management decision

5.3 The (institutional) environment in transaction cost economics

5.4 Institutional and organizational change in transaction cost economics

5.5 The necessity of a comparative institutional analysis as a sound basis for deciding on the appropriate key account management program

6 Determining the economic value of key account management in business relationships

6.1 Design alternatives of the key account management programs

6.2 Defining the transaction cost relevant determinants

6.3 The decision model

7 Management implications

7.1 Implementing key account management

7.2 Application of the decision model

7.3 Assumptions and limitations of the decision model

8 Conclusion

9 Bibliography