Customer Intimacy and Key Account Management : building the foundation for B2B Customer Experience
Haltia, Lisa (2021)
Haltia, Lisa
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021051730221
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021051730221
Tiivistelmä
Customer experience management keeps intriguing both scholars and practitioners as it provides a foundation for long-term customer relationships. Despite B2B organizations focus on long-term customer relationships, past research has overlooked the area and focused on consumer markets, which has resulted in a lack of understanding of how B2B organizations utilize efficient customer experience strategies.
This thesis aims to explore how the customer experience should be managed in B2B markets and whether key account management and customer intimacy can be perceived as building foundations of customer experience management. Based on previous research customer intimacy and key account management have received recognition in scholars, but rather as separate topics, instead of variables influencing each other. The research is prepared as an assignment for a multinational corporation. A qualitative research method was utilized, with nine semi-structural interviews conducted with professionals of the case company.
The results show that a shared vision can be observed, with a mutual aim to improve the selling companys’ competitive advantage in the long-term. The findings imply that key account management, customer intimacy, and customer experience share mutual value drivers, such as trust and consistency. The results elaborate that customer intimacy and key account management can be perceived as building the foundations for B2B customer experience management. Yet, customer insight is perceived to deliver the foundations for customer intimacy and key account management.
In conclusion, this thesis introduces a theoretical framework that presents customer experience management as an ongoing and dynamic process with elements influencing each other.
This thesis aims to explore how the customer experience should be managed in B2B markets and whether key account management and customer intimacy can be perceived as building foundations of customer experience management. Based on previous research customer intimacy and key account management have received recognition in scholars, but rather as separate topics, instead of variables influencing each other. The research is prepared as an assignment for a multinational corporation. A qualitative research method was utilized, with nine semi-structural interviews conducted with professionals of the case company.
The results show that a shared vision can be observed, with a mutual aim to improve the selling companys’ competitive advantage in the long-term. The findings imply that key account management, customer intimacy, and customer experience share mutual value drivers, such as trust and consistency. The results elaborate that customer intimacy and key account management can be perceived as building the foundations for B2B customer experience management. Yet, customer insight is perceived to deliver the foundations for customer intimacy and key account management.
In conclusion, this thesis introduces a theoretical framework that presents customer experience management as an ongoing and dynamic process with elements influencing each other.
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