Authors: Beth Rogers
Just as strategic procurement has rarely been outsourced (Fernández and Kekäle, 2007), the literature on the outsourcing of the sales function (Anderson, 1985: Krafft et al, 2004) suggests that complex selling roles are most likely to be kept in-house. What could be a more critical core competence within a supplier than managing the creation of value for a powerful customer (Georges and Eggert, 2003: Georges, 2006: Guenzi et al, 2009)? In the literature on key account management, there is much discussion about the skills required to be a successful key account manager ( McDonald et al, 1997: Millman and Wilson, 1995 Abratt and Kelly 2002: Homburg et al, 2002: Yip, 2008: Guenzi et al, 2009), and it has been specifically acknowledged that a key account manager needs to be influential within their own organisation (Wilson and Millman, 2003). From a number of theoretical lenses, the logic of employing a key account manager is undeniable.Nevertheless, there are examples of companies that have outsourced key account management, and while they may be “exceptions that prove the rule”, there is value in appreciating such exceptions. The cases identified are medium-sized companies, which looks like a fit for the generally accepted model of companies using contract sales organisations until they are large enough to bring sales resources in-house (Ross et al, 2005: Zoltners et al, 2006). However, the most celebrated case of a company outsourcing key account management in the UK involved a “radical shift” from employed salespeople into a new sales model deploying “regional account directors” managed via a contractor (pharmatimes, 2011, p30). This paper explores the contexts which explain these exceptions from the lens of competing theories about the boundaries of organisations.Main contributionThis paper makes a contribution to the literature on key account management by examining alternatives to permanent employment for companies trying to access highly skilled key account managers.
Journal: n.a. (n.a. – n.a.)
Web Address: n.a.
Publish Year: 2012
Conference: Rome, Italy (2012)