Skip to search boxSkip to navigationSkip to main content

Environmental factors influencing the management of key accounts in an Arab Middle Eastern context

  • Fawaz ALHussan
    ,
  • Faten Baddar-Alhusan
    ,
  • Chavi C-Y. Fletcher-Chen
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Abstract

Within the sales and marketing literature, it is recognised that a range of external factors can influence how companies in the business-to-business field manage business relationships within national and across international borders. However, there have been very few studies that explore the influence of the external environment on key account relationships, especially within the context of emerging economies. This study draws on the network approach and contingency theory to identify and highlight the influence of external environmental factors on the management of inter-organisational relationships with key customers in emerging economies in the Arab Middle East region. It is based on an extensive qualitative enquiry that utilises 50 in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in Jordan with endogenous and Western firms. It concludes that key account practices within an Arab context are shaped by a number of contingencies that are embedded in broader institutional contexts and the business environment, which may challenge the adoption of company-wide universal key account management policies across borders. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 592-602

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Industrial Marketing Management (Volume 43, Issue 4)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 11/12/2013
  • Published - 20/02/2014

Publication status

Published - 20/02/2014

ISSN

0019-8501

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/623886
  • Scopus: 84901617699

Access to documents

Publication metrics