Managing Key Business-to-Business Relationships

Key account management (KAM) is a rapidly growing area of interest in business-to-business marketing. However, unnoticed by marketing, a quiet revolution hastaken place in supply chain management (SCM), where the traditional emphasis onleast-cost transactions has given way to a focus on long-term relationships witha few key suppliers. It is thus apparent that the two disciplines areconverging. This article uses a cross-disciplinary approach to explore whetherthese developments from the field of SCM provide insights into key business-to-business relationships. A detailed case study of a long-term relationshipbetween a business-to-business services provider and a key customer in theconstruction industry suggests there is a definable overlap. The supply chainmodel illuminates five important elements of KAM and offers a promising methodfor the evaluation of such relationships. As a result of the research, bothsupplier and customer companies implemented actions to improve and strengthenthis important relationship.