Global Account Management: Creating Value

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.

Dr. H. David Hennessey is currently an Associate Professor of Marketing and International Business at Babson College, Wellesley, MA. USA. He is an Associate of Ashridge, UK, and has taught at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland
.Prior to this he was the Director of Marketing at Interpace Corporation and worked as the Market Analyst at American Can Company. He previously consulted for AT&T, ICI, Jardine Matheson, Compaq, Philips, DSM, and Ansell Edmont.
His previous publications include: Global Marketing: Strategy and Cases, 5th Edition (2001), and How to Write a Marketing Plan, 3rd Edition (1998).

Dr. Jeane-Pierre Jeannet is currently the F.W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business and Director of the William F. Glavin Center for Global Management at Babson College, Wellesley, MA, USA. He also has a dual appointment as Professor of Global Marketing and Strategy also at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.
He previously worked in banking in Switzerland and New York and has been an active consultant with many international firms such as AVEBE, Coutts, Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu, DSM, Huntsman Chemicals, ICI, Lego, Nokia, Polaroid, Serono, Siemens, Swatch and Zeneca.
His previous work includes Managing with a Global Mindset and co-authored titles including: Marketing Problems, Cases in International Marketing, Global Marketing: Strategies and Cases, and Cases in Marketing Management.