Managing customers globally
Author Kaj Storbacka
Published on September 7th in categories Blog.
I was recently interviewed for the Key Account Management (KAM) Best Practice Club at Cranfield University in the UK. The KAM Best Practice Research Club, founded by Professor Malcolm McDonald, is a network of companies who are interested in implementing and/or improving KAM. The Club offers them access to research and networking possibilities with best-in-class organisations as well as leading academics and practitioners in the field. The member list is impressive and includes firms such as Astra Zeneca, BNP Paribas Real Estate, BP, BT, E-ON, Hewlett Packard, IMI, Lloyds TSB, Manchester Airports Group, Pfizer, Rolls Royce and Schenker.
A common challenge for these and other firms is how to manage their customers globally. A key trend in this process is that firms are increasingly shifting from multiple locations towards integration. Yet, in my opinion, firms first need to invest in creating platforms for both commercialisation and industrialisation processes in order for successful integration to happen. Commercialisation refers to the firm’s capability to engage in value based selling and industrialisation to the firm’s ability to achieve scalability and repeatability across its internal processes. When having these in place, firms can and should increasingly integrate across geographies, functions and customer segments.
Interested in this and other topics related to global customer management? See and hear more about it in the video interview .