Search results
1 – 10 of over 35000An important task following international acquisitions is to coordinate customer relationships; that is, to organise customer interfaces and possibly establish new relationships…
Abstract
Purpose
An important task following international acquisitions is to coordinate customer relationships; that is, to organise customer interfaces and possibly establish new relationships between customers and the acquirer/the acquired party. Yet, such coordination may prove to be problematic, not the least since customers react to acquisitions. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss customer relationship coordination challenges following international acquisitions. Focus is placed on business-to-business customers in the country of the acquired party.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on three case studies representing overlapping customers, customers of an acquired party new to the acquirer, and customers new to the acquired party. Non-standardised, face-to-face interviews were the main data source, and were complemented with secondary data such as newspaper items and annual reports.
Findings
Three main challenges are identified: internal competition and cannibalisation; customers not being interested in the new party; and the acquired party demonstrating its independence through customers.
Practical implications
Managerially, any coordination of customer relationships needs to be weighted towards risks for customer losses. It is important to maintain ties to customers – sales and maintenance staff, the product/service, etc. – if customers are to continue with the firm. It is also important that sales and maintenance staff see the benefits of the acquisition.
Originality/value
While international acquisitions are a frequent means to reach new markets and customers, the problems of coordinating customer relationships following them have not been previously researched. Theoretically, the paper contributes to research through categorising and contextually explaining customer relationship coordination challenges in international acquisitions.
Details
Keywords
Eva Ka Yee Kan and Mahmood Bagheri
This paper aims to explain the importance of the international cooperation and coordination among supervisory authorities of different countries in event of banking crises. It…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explain the importance of the international cooperation and coordination among supervisory authorities of different countries in event of banking crises. It also suggests that the harmonious relationship has to be attained in the adoption of ex ante financial regulatory measures and ex post compensation schemes. In other words, the paper highlights the linkage between ex ante preventive regulatory measures and ex post compensation schemes, on the one hand, and cooperation among national regulatory and supervisory authorities in globalized financial markets. Although the paper is relevant to most developed and emerging financial markets, it chooses Hong Kong as a context to examine this proposal. In the current literature, there are no similar approach linking these two paradigms and examining them in an integrated context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a conceptual framework after the 2008 global financial crisis and takes Hong Kong, an international financial centre in which numerous branches or subsidiaries of foreign financial institutions locate, as an example to examine how the coordination with foreign supervisory authorities are being conducted and to analyse whether the present regulatory framework in Hong Kong is effective and sufficient against banking crises. Through the review of the literature, the important link between ex ante regulatory measures and ex post compensation schemes is found to be significant in adopting proper solutions.
Findings
Through analysing the Hong Kong financial regulators’ reports on the collapse of Lehman Brother, the paper finds out that even though there is some weakness in the cooperation and coordination between regulators after the 2008 financial crisis, Hong Kong is still in the progress of proposing bank special resolution regime. Although there has been some awareness on the issue of coordination between home and host states regulatory measures, there is still a lack of awareness of the connection between regulatory measures and compensation schemes.
Research limitations/implications
Conflict of interests could hardly be prevented in the course of cooperation and coordination among home and host regulatory authorities, and the coordination of the important link between ex ante regulatory measures and ex post compensation scheme which involves legal and economic analyses is a challenging task.
Practical implications
The paper’s findings show that there are practical implications for the recent rapid development of special resolution regime for global systematically important financial institutions against future banking crises and for managing the balance between the adoption of financial supervisory laws and special resolution measures.
Originality/value
This paper suggests that the harmonious coordination between ex ante regulatory measures and ex post compensation schemes has to be achieved through international context to avoid the absurd situations. This conceptual integrated framework presented in the current paper is not touched upon by the existing literature. This important concept is valuable for future research, and it is significant to financial regulators, legislators and the government in adjusting policy against banking crises in both developed and developing countries.
Details
Keywords
This article reviews the history of international coordination in the supervision of financial institutions noting why cooperation developed first and has been most extensive in…
Abstract
Purpose
This article reviews the history of international coordination in the supervision of financial institutions noting why cooperation developed first and has been most extensive in oversight of banks relative to securities firms and insurance companies. It also poses the question of whether the extent of international coordination can be sustained or may even diminish.
Design/methodology/approach
The history of international coordination is used to illustrate the hypotheses that cooperation is more likely: the broader the international consensus on policy objectives and the potential gains from cooperation, the wider the international consensus on policy objectives and the potential gains from cooperation, the deeper the international agreement on the probable consequences of policy alternatives, the stronger the international institutional infrastructure for decision-making and the greater the domestic influence of experts who share a common understanding of a problem and its solutions.
Findings
All five of these factors that have enabled deepening and broadening of international cooperation have diminished in strength so that international cooperation is not likely to expand and may even be in retreat.
Originality/value
This article clarifies the factors that facilitate international cooperation and highlights the key obstacles to sustaining international cooperation.
Details
Keywords
Jakob Rehme, Christian Kowalkowski and Daniel Nordigården
The existing literature on key account management (KAM) has focused more on sales forces and management levels than on their evolution. The purpose of this paper is to explore how…
Abstract
Purpose
The existing literature on key account management (KAM) has focused more on sales forces and management levels than on their evolution. The purpose of this paper is to explore how sales activities can be coordinated to accommodate national and international KAM programs.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a longitudinal study of the industrial conglomerate ABB, 1996‐2008.
Findings
The diversity associated with geography and product complexity creates demands for a more flexible organization that can provide a more complete offering portfolio across national boundaries and still handle the demands of local organizations. In addition to internal organizational contingencies, the key factors and driving forces for the development of KAM programs are the marketing and purchasing strategies that buyer and seller firms perceive and encounter.
Research limitations/implications
The data are limited to one corporation and some of its key customers in different industries. Although the internal and construct validity of the findings are strong, the external validity cannot be assessed precisely.
Originality/value
The 12‐year study brings valuable insights to the development of KAM programs in multinational corporations and addresses coordination issues related to geographical and product complexity.
Details
Keywords
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some…
Abstract
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.
Details
Keywords
The author attempts to examine the existence and pattern of coalitions in international relations across countries, and investigates whether international relations of coalition…
Abstract
Purpose
The author attempts to examine the existence and pattern of coalitions in international relations across countries, and investigates whether international relations of coalition partners influence a country's enaction of agricultural non-tariff measures (NTMs).
Design/methodology/approach
The author adopts a machine learning technique to identify international relation coalition partnerships and use network analysis to characterize the clustering pattern of coalitions with high-frequent records of global event data. The author then constructs a monthly dataset of agricultural NTMs against China and international relations with China of each importer and its coalition partners, and designs a panel structural vector autoregressive (PSVAR) model to estimate impulse response functions of agricultural NTMs with regard to international relation shocks.
Findings
The author finds countries to establish coalition partnerships. Two major clusters of coalitions are noted, with one composed of coalitions primarily among “North” countries and the other of coalitions among “South” countries. The United States is found to play a pivotal role by connecting the two clusters. The PSVAR estimation reveals reductions of NTMs against China following improved international relations with China of both the importer and its coalition partners. NTM responses are more substantial for measures that are trade restrictive. These results confirm that coalitions in international relations lead to coordination of agricultural NTMs.
Originality/value
The author provides international political insights into agricultural trade policymaking by showing interactions of NTM enaction across countries in the same coalition of international relations. These insights offer useful policy implications to predict and cope with hidden barriers to agricultural trade.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is room for a stabilising fiscal policy, through an analysis of the supporters of the new classical economics and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is room for a stabilising fiscal policy, through an analysis of the supporters of the new classical economics and the supporters of the new Keynesian economics. There are no reliable results on the Keynesian and non-Keynesian effects of fiscal policies. As such, the policy-mix becomes a problem of theoretical approach, in the sense of a strategic game between monetary authorities and tax authorities (among them). This points to the problem of coordination between budgetary authorities as being the central debate within the Eurozone. The end-result is that without fiscal policy coordination, Eurozone member states are working on a series of non-cooperative games that are inefficient, because no player can improve its position by unilaterally changing its strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis starts from the experience of three countries in the 1980s, these are Denmark, Ireland and Sweden. In all three cases the adoption of restrictive budget policies has provoked a strong, rapid and enduring resizing of public debt, and growth did not weaken, moreover it accelerated. In all three cases the logic behind the policy-mix actions allowed the individualisation of the respective roles of fiscal and monetary policies. Fiscal policies were joining with fiscal instruments and reduction in public spending and furthermore monetary policy was accommodated in respect of the budget contraction.
Findings
First, the authors were not able to identify an analytical method that can ensure the success of a fiscal policy. Second, analysing fiscal policies within the Eurozone implies also that the authors reflect on the need for a coordination of these policies. In fact, the authors have shown how the possible coordination of economic policies in the Eurozone would result in major benefits for all member countries.
Originality/value
In the absence of fiscal policy coordination, member states are engaged in a series of non-cooperative games that prove inefficient, when no player is able to improve its position by unilaterally changing its fiscal policy. The coordination of national fiscal policies generates a collective advantage, bringing each state to consistently change its strategies.
Details
Keywords
Andrea H. Tapia, Edgar Maldonado, Louis‐Marie Ngamassi Tchouakeu and Carleen F. Maitland
This paper seeks to examine two humanitarian information coordination bodies. The goals of both coordination bodies are the same, to find mechanisms for multiple organizations…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine two humanitarian information coordination bodies. The goals of both coordination bodies are the same, to find mechanisms for multiple organizations, engaged in humanitarian relief, to coordinate efforts around information technology and management. Despite the similarity in goals, each coordination body has taken a different path, one toward defining the problem and solution in a more technical sense and the other as defining the problem and solution as more organizational in nature.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops case studies of two coordinating bodies using qualitative methodologies.
Findings
The data suggest that coordination bodies which pursue problems requiring low levels of organizational change are more likely to have visible successes. Coordination bodies that pursue a more challenging agenda, one that aims for information management or management of information technology in ways that require organizational change, are likely to face greater challenges and experience more failures.
Research limitations/implications
The paper only examines two coordination bodies at one point in time thus claims can not be made about all coordination bodies and all information coordination efforts.
Originality/value
In a time where coordination bodies are seen as an answer to the problem of information sharing during disasters, it is essential to gain understanding concerning the success of these efforts.
Details
Keywords
Per‐Olof Brehmer and Jakob Rehme
Key account management (KAM) programmes are a way for companies to develop existing relationships and increase sales, thus being proactive and searching for opportunities (which…
Abstract
Purpose
Key account management (KAM) programmes are a way for companies to develop existing relationships and increase sales, thus being proactive and searching for opportunities (which is often expected of KAM). It is also a way to meet changing customer demands arising from changes in purchasing strategy, buyers' mergers and acquisitions and the search for synergies in order to reduce costs. The purpose of this article is to analyse different key account management programmes on how they manage the sales process complexity and customer expectations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on qualitative data collected during a field study of ABB and six of their major customers, based on annual or biannual interviews with 50 individuals within ABB from 1996 to 2006 and three to ten individuals from each of the customers. Interviewees included corporate managers, key account managers and sales personnel/project managers. The customers involved in the study belonged to mining, automotive, process equipment manufacture, building technology, energy production and telecommunication sectors.
Findings
In this study three different programmes are identified and analysed: the proactive programme – which is driven by sales opportunity; the reactive programme – which is driven by customer demands; and the organisation‐based programme – which is driven by the belief in customer‐centric organisational units.
Practical implications
The paper identifies sales aspects (complexities) of KAM programmes that are handled in different ways by different types of programmes.
Originality/value
With an empirical base the paper provides a basis for understanding the reasons behind the establishment of several KAM programmes in the same corporation.
Details
Keywords
Douglas M. Sanford and Lynda Maddox
Examines similarities and differences in account management, the use of formal account reviews, and the role of interpersonal relationships in domestic and international accounts…
Abstract
Examines similarities and differences in account management, the use of formal account reviews, and the role of interpersonal relationships in domestic and international accounts. Significant findings include: formal account reviews are important for both domestic and international accounts, but are used more for domestic; professional interpersonal relationships are important for both, but social interpersonal relationships are more important for international accounts; international accounts require better coordination between multiple agency offices than domestic. Implications of these findings for agency management and account executives include: select managers for international accounts with different skill sets than for domestic; train international account managers to succeed in multiple environments, both managerially and socially; encourage and facilitate formal account reviews for international and domestic accounts; and provide support for social interaction for managers of international accounts.
Details