Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Sales and marketing resistance to Key Account Management implementation
T2 - an ethnographic investigation
AU - Pressey, Andrew
AU - Gilchrist, Alan
AU - Lenney, Peter
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - The study of Key Account Management (KAM) is ubiquitous in business-to-business marketing research. Despite its importance within B2B research, however, few authors have questioned why actors may actually resist its adoption. In a novel 18-month longitudinal ethnographic study following one organization’s endeavours to implement KAM (Fitcorp), we examine the approaches adopted by organizational members to resist KAM implementation. Our understanding of how and why actors might resist KAM implementation reveals a continuum of resistance strategies that vary in severity (spanning disengagement to hostility). Further, we find a number of explanations actors draw on to justify their resistance to KAM implementation. These findings are discussed and implications for theory and practice are offered.
AB - The study of Key Account Management (KAM) is ubiquitous in business-to-business marketing research. Despite its importance within B2B research, however, few authors have questioned why actors may actually resist its adoption. In a novel 18-month longitudinal ethnographic study following one organization’s endeavours to implement KAM (Fitcorp), we examine the approaches adopted by organizational members to resist KAM implementation. Our understanding of how and why actors might resist KAM implementation reveals a continuum of resistance strategies that vary in severity (spanning disengagement to hostility). Further, we find a number of explanations actors draw on to justify their resistance to KAM implementation. These findings are discussed and implications for theory and practice are offered.
KW - Key Account Management Implementation and Effectiveness
KW - Resistance
KW - Ethnography
U2 - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2014.06.005
DO - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2014.06.005
M3 - Journal article
VL - 43
SP - 1157
EP - 1171
JO - Industrial Marketing Management
JF - Industrial Marketing Management
SN - 0019-8501
IS - 7
ER -