Strategic Account Management: Conceptualizing, Integrating, and extending the Domain From Fluid to Dedicated accounts

Abstract

This paper proposes a conceptualization of strategic account management that integrates and builds upon several related literatures (e.g., key account management, national account management, major account management, large account management). It proposes that the extant literature is myopic in defining strategic accounts—almost exclusively emphasizing account teams with dedicated members (i.e., “dedicated” teams). However, in practice, there are several examples of strategic account teams that are formed with dynamic membership. This paper refers to such teams as “fluid accounts” and proposes that dedicated and fluid accounts can be viewed as a continuum. Two dominant factors driving the success of such accounts are proposed—the nature of the account’s needs and the pattern of economic returns—to serve as a simple heuristic to help advance scholarship in the area. Finally, this research provides general guidelines on how to evaluate the performance of strategic account teams.