Transformative Times for Key Account Management: Disruptive events, digitisation, and sustainability. Special issue editorial.

Key Account Management (KAM) is recognised as a powerful relationship marketing tool for establishing and maintaining long-term business relationships with important customers (Brehmer & Rehme, 2009; Ivens & Pardo, 2007; Homburg et al., 2002). KAM involves carrying out additional activities for key accounts that are not necessarily performed for 'average' customers, such as providing customised products and services (Tzempelikos & Gounaris, 2015; Workman, Homburg & Jensen, 2003). It could be argued that KAM lies at the intersection of marketing, strategy and organisational design. Initially conceived as a coordination mechanism for serving large, complex customers, it has evolved into a multifaceted management philosophy (Homburg et al., 2002; Brehmer & Rehme, 2009). At its core lies the recognition that value is co-created, rather than merely exchanged, between interdependent firms (Guenzi, Pardo & Georges, 2007; Pardo, 1999). This transformation reflects the idea that business relationships are shifting from transactional exchanges to relational governance, where strategic alignment and joint innovation are key to achieving long-term competitive advantage (Anderson & Narus, 1991; Ford et al., 2011). Conceptually, KAM goes beyond managing 'key customers'. Rather, it is a deliberate organisational design that translates the importance of customers into structure, processes and leadership (Brehmer & Rehme, 2009; Workman et al., 2003). The KAM function brings together cross-functional and inter-organisational teams, integrates marketing and operations, and establishes a culture of relational learning (Guenzi & Storbacka, 2015; Pardo, Ivens & Wilson, 2006). As firms transition from products to solutions and from markets to ecosystems, KAM emerges as the platform through which strategic intent is realised in customer relationships (Storbacka, 2011). As organisational boundaries become more fluid, KAM is focusing more and more on managing interfaces between business models, technologies and organisational cultures. Consequently, KAM can be seen as a dynamic capability that combines strategic sensemaking, coordination and value appropriation within complex networks (Storbacka et al., 2009; Pardo, 2013). A 'key account' is therefore not just a large customer, but also a focal point for collaboration, learning and transformation across organisational ecosystems (Håkansson & Ford, 2002; Brehmer & Rehme, 2009). In recent years, business-to-business (B2B) companies have faced significant disruption from geopolitical, technological, ecological, and social forces with the potential to reshape current and future business practices within and across firms (e.g. Dubey et al., 2021; Rusthollkarhu et al., 2022; Endres et al., 2024). These forces present B2B marketing managers with new challenges, including new opportunities and threats such as new markets, more efficient customer relationship practices, resilience strategies, changes to business models and networks, and the development of industrial innovation (Tzempelikos, 2021; Heikinheimo et al., 2023). These deep transformations influence the way organisations design, perform and monitor many of their activities, including product management, sales, digital marketing, information and knowledge management, business models and business ethics (e.g. Kumar, 2018; Feliciano-Cestero et al., 2023; Bouwman et al., 2018). (Kumar, 2018; Feliciano-Cestero et al., 2023; Bouwman et al., 2018). As they sit at the fulcrum of the business-to-business relationship, key account managers (KAMs) are necessarily involved in implementing and adapting to these transformations (Cuevas, 2018). Key account managers participate in intra- and inter-organisational network structures (Gupta et al., 2019; La Rocca et al., 2016), and can develop their role to align with the evolving business landscape. They participate in a wide range of communication activities with key customers, making plans and decisions that affect the buyer–seller network. Although KAM has been established as an important discipline within B2B relationship marketing, the integration of emerging changes in the business environment into the KAM research agenda is still in its infancy. This special issue of Industrial Marketing Management focuses on KAM transformation, with the aim of advancing the theoretical understanding of, and informed use of, this relevant concept. The special issue editorial consists of two parts. The first part considers the current state of research into changes that could affect KAM relationships, focusing particularly on the roles of technology, sustainability, and disruptive events. We also propose future research directions around these themes to improve our conceptual understanding of, and practical application for, KAM transformation. The second part of the editorial provides an overview of the five original research articles included in the special issue, which deepen and broaden our conceptual understanding of the various facets of KAM transformation by providing empirical evidence of its performance implications.