Global Account Management (PDF)

If you buy a new BMW you may be surprised as much by the owner's
manual as by the car itself. Thin, personalized, and containing
information only on the features you have selected in the language
you speak, it is the result of a year's collaboration with Xerox
that has radically improved the product and decimated costs. It is
just one example of the new organizational structures and processes
being developed at leading companies to serve the global
marketplace. As firms realize that dealing with global customers is
not simply an extension of key account management, their most
common response is to launch a formal global account management
initiative. Done well this is powerful and effective; however
without proper planning it can spell disaster. Drawing on widely
accepted 'key success factors' for global account management as
well as new elements revealed by their research, David Hennessy and
Jean-Pierre Jeannet redefine the process global account management
around the premise that sustainable value springs only from an
expert understanding of the customer's industry, its structure and
its strategy. The book covers all critical aspects of the topic
(the planning process, account selection, team building, executive
support, global IT requirements, compensation structures and more)
and draws on interviews with top global account managers at leading
companies including IBM, Cable and Wireless, Siemens, HP, Guinness,
Cisco, and Procter & Gamble.