Global Account Management and Its Challenges
Kaikkonen, Emmi (2018)
Haaga-Helia ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201802282901
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201802282901
Tiivistelmä
This thesis goes further into account management and especially, global account management and its challenges. The objectives for this thesis are to find out what global account management is, what are challenges global account managers face in their jobs and what are the most common type of challenges. In addition, the thesis wants to find out how global account managers overcome the challenges they face and are there any similarities between the theory and real life.
The theory consists of account management, key account management and global account management. The reason for this is that global account management is an account management model, like key account management, and it is important to understand the relationship of those three. Account management is a way of categorizing customers in certain groups and determining which way offer solutions to them.
Key account management goes further from this, because the goal for these customers is to become a key supplier whenever they need something. It is also important to know, that always the biggest customers are not necessarily key accounts. It all comes to cost efficiency and strategy. Global account management is very much like key account management, it is just done in a larger and more complex scale, globally.
On top of the theory, a qualitative research was made for the thesis. The research focused on the challenges that Finnish global account managers face and how they overcome the mentioned challenges. The research was done by interviewing five global account managers that have experience working in Finland with global accounts abroad. The research methods were defined by the criteria for qualitative research and the persons who were interviewed had to have experience in global account management.
The main content for the results was about the challenges that global account managers face in their work and possible underlying reasons for this, solutions how global account managers overcome the challenges that the managers were mentioning during the interviews. Overall, global account management is complex and challenging environment to work in and it requires effective communication throughout the company and a well – functioning team to support the account manager.
The thesis was made between August 2017 and February 2018. If the planning for the subject of the thesis, writing process, research and final touch – ups, the process took approximately seven months.
The theory consists of account management, key account management and global account management. The reason for this is that global account management is an account management model, like key account management, and it is important to understand the relationship of those three. Account management is a way of categorizing customers in certain groups and determining which way offer solutions to them.
Key account management goes further from this, because the goal for these customers is to become a key supplier whenever they need something. It is also important to know, that always the biggest customers are not necessarily key accounts. It all comes to cost efficiency and strategy. Global account management is very much like key account management, it is just done in a larger and more complex scale, globally.
On top of the theory, a qualitative research was made for the thesis. The research focused on the challenges that Finnish global account managers face and how they overcome the mentioned challenges. The research was done by interviewing five global account managers that have experience working in Finland with global accounts abroad. The research methods were defined by the criteria for qualitative research and the persons who were interviewed had to have experience in global account management.
The main content for the results was about the challenges that global account managers face in their work and possible underlying reasons for this, solutions how global account managers overcome the challenges that the managers were mentioning during the interviews. Overall, global account management is complex and challenging environment to work in and it requires effective communication throughout the company and a well – functioning team to support the account manager.
The thesis was made between August 2017 and February 2018. If the planning for the subject of the thesis, writing process, research and final touch – ups, the process took approximately seven months.