Browsing by Author "Rogers, B"

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    Holding up the mirror: The impact of strategic procurement practices on account management
    (Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z) Ryals, Lynette; Rogers, B
    Procurement has grown up. It is now a strategic business function that increasingly recognizes the importance of strategic supplier relationships, a reflection of key account management. It is time to assess the impact of this shift on the profession and practice of account management. This paper examines customer adoption of strategic procurement and then discusses the implications this has for account managers at the suppliers serving these customers. New techniques are emerging in these special relationships, including the use of psychological contracts and co-measurement and monitoring. Perceived fairness will also have a major impact on the customer's view of their suppliers. Account managers must recognize these changes or fall victim to supplier delusion: the belief that they are performing better than they really are.
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    Key Account Planning: Benefits, Barriers and Best Practice.
    (Taylor & Francis, 2007-05-01T00:00:00Z) Ryals, Lynette; Rogers, B
    Although strategic planning has been part of the management function for as long as anyone can remember, the emergence of key account plans as a critical subset of the marketing plan in business-to-business markets has not attracted much analysis. This gap needs to be addressed, as key account plans have their own unique complexities. Moreover, the importance of key account plans is increasing. There is a need for a more widespread understanding of the benefits of key account planning, encompassing processes and outputs. Based on a four- phase research project in 78 international companies, this paper describes current best practice in key account planning and plans. The research demonstrates the benefits of key account planning and sets out a framework for implementing key account planning as a business process. The paper goes on to describe the contents of a key account plan and to note some common defects found in such plans.
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    Using Repertory Grid to access the underlying realities in key account relationships.
    (2007-01-01T00:00:00Z) Rogers, B; Ryals, Lynette
    This paper examines a variety of examples of repertory grid research to assess how and why the technique is used. In particular, the authors focus on the strengths and weaknesses of using repertory grid to explore the nature of close business-to-business relationships. Compared to the more frequently used technique of qualitative depth interviews, differences were found which suggest that further research is needed to identify what really drives supplier-buyer interdependence. The research indicates the value of repertory grid in exploring topics that are not well defined and to identify the way that business decision- makers are making sense of their work environment.