Two important areas in the key account management (KAM) literature deal with different KAM frameworks and KAM performance drivers. In particular, scholars have derived taxonomies of KAM configurations and identified organizational determinants of KAM effectiveness and performance in the market. The present paper contributes to the KAM literature with a quasi-replication and extension of two seminal papers providing an update of different KAM configurations along with the determinants of KAM effectiveness and performance in the market. Using recently collected survey data from a sample of 411 managers, and considering KAM capabilities and KAM communication, we find evidence of five unique KAM configurations that differ from the findings of Homburg et al. (2002), thereby doubtless reflecting a professionalization of the KAM domain. Furthermore, updating Workman et al. (2003), we find that KAM capabilities are important determinants of KAM effectiveness and performance in the market, and that social media communication increases KAM effectiveness. These insights contribute to building a cumulative up-to-date body of knowledge about KAM and provide guidance for managers to improve their KAM.

The research over the past decade that has contributed to the understanding of market shaping has not sufficiently taken into consideration the negative consequences - voluntary or otherwise - of such actions on non-focal actors especially in terms of exclusion. This paper attempts first of all to address this state of affairs by building on certain key components of the notion of exclusion as theorized by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. 'Cold case' data is subsequently analyzed to investigate how, why, by whom and with what exclusionary outcomes markets are shaped. This leads to a proposal of a typology of actor responses in exclusionary market situations. This typology highlights the relative inexistence of total exclusion thus tempering nonetheless the claim of dark side in market shaping, in favour of that of downside.

Purpose Solutions are here approached from the focal net point of view i.e. the collaborative arrangements through which firms combine their individual offerings into a coherent, customer-facing solution. Focal nets are seen as an effective way to organize for value-system and solution development. However, a precise understanding as to how inter-firm dynamics support the morphing of a focal net to develop a customer's solution is still not clear. This paper aims to provide an improved understanding of the dynamics at play between firms for providing a solution. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative and exploratory research approach is adopted, exploring the relationships at play within a focal net dedicated to providing a solution in the aerospace industry: a total of four triads are selected and analyzed, all of them involving the same buyer (the aircraft manufacturer) the same buyer's customer (the airline) and a different service provider. Interviews with top managers in each company forming the triads have been carried out, with subsequent analysis, on the relational dynamics at play at the level of each triad and in-between triads within the focal net. Findings The study shows the handling by a solution provider of the transition from a program focal net to a customer-specific solution focal net. The four triads presented, taken individually, highlight four different component devices each of which contributes toward handling this transition. The four triads taken together along with their interactions (inter-triad) denote the capability of the solution provider to manage the morphing of the focal net. Originality/value The paper mobilizes a focal net perspective for the understanding of solution provision while combining this with a triadic perspective to demonstrate the inter-firm dynamics at play.

This paper examines concerned market innovations i.e. new market configurations which integrate non-economic values and collective concerns. We focus on a specific example of concerned market innovation: the evolution over a ten-year period of a cell phone take-back scheme in a single European country. Adopting a practical constructivist perspective, we note that in the case of concerned market innovation, market configurations are shaped by non-economic values and collective concerns and that, in turn, non-economic values and collective concerns are shaped by market configurations. The analysis of market practices integrating, and at the same time, performing values and concerns, leads us to the conceptualization of a theoretical model which shows that one of the difficulties of realizing concerned market innovations resides in the distinction between market and society.

Purpose The evolution of the business-to-business (BtoB) realm toward solution business calls for a better understanding of how relationships develop over time in such a renewed context. This paper aims to propose a phase model for solution relationship development, considering triadic relationships in complex engineering solutions. Design/methodology/approach To depict how relationships develop in solution business, the authors adopt a qualitative approach which allows to detail the episodes of interactions between the actors. A case study approach in an extreme sector – the aerospace industry – allows highlighting certain key traits. Extending conventional dyadic analysis, this empirical study focuses on the aerospace industry, using a case study approach to analyze relationship developments between a worldwide leading aircraft manufacturer, one of its customer and four providers of products and services. The authors adopt a triadic perspective in the selection of cases, considering a total of four manufacturer-provider-customer triads. Findings Four dynamic phases which track solution provision dynamics and involving dyadic and triadic relationship evolution are identified: matching; combining; mixing; and sharing. Each phase calls, from a management perspective, for specific competencies and resources of the actors in interaction. Originality/value This paper contributes to the gap about solution relationship development in a changing BtoB landscape. Considering the lens of a triadic approach, the paper also helps to fill the as-yet unattended to gap between dyads and triads in the literature.

The process of servitization for manufacturing firms has been studied to help improve understanding as to how manufacturing firms can combine products and services in order to provide business solutions for their customers. Several proposals as to a typology for business solutions have been made. Typologies proposed are static in nature rather than dynamic. The aim of this paper is to propose a typology of the dynamic solution process, taking the aerospace industry as an appropriate context of analysis. A qualitative and exploratory research is adopted, using a case study approach. A triadic approach is applied in the selection of cases in order to capture the multi-actor base element of the network and solution dynamics. The data reveals four different time-based categories of business solution: 1) solutions before manufacturing; 2) solutions for manufacturing; 3) solutions for product performance and 4) solutions for innovation. This paper has theoretical and managerial contributions by presenting a typology for business solutions as a variable combination of products, services and developments over time.

This paper endeavours to track the underlying scientific process driving research activities and output. It takes research in the business-to-business field as the empirical setting and puts the works of the IMP Group into focus, using bibliometric analyses and historical vistas as background evidence. We argue that what may appear at first sight as a limited development should rather, in fact, be interpreted as “normal science,” i.e. based on the robustness of the core models and conceptual framework, with fine adjustments of these taking place over time. Indeed, the BtoB realm—and in particular the activities and production of the IMP Group and associated researchers—would seem to contrast rather radically with the broader area of marketing in that it benefits from a resistant conceptual framework which seems to have weathered the test of time, and which can be used as a building block for research development and is less sensitive to managerial trends and fashion.

This article explores the effect of network structure on the carbon performance of firms in emerging economies at an ego network level. Building on the theoretical framework of social networks, we posit that an ego firm's network position, structural embeddedness, and structural constraint affect carbon performance. We examine the research hypotheses using a panel data set made up of 44 Indian firms that entered into alliances under the Clean Development Mechanism over the 2005-2009 period. Our main results show that the central position of the focal firm in the network and its degree of network embeddedness exert a positive effect on its carbon performance. This article contributes to the literature on climate strategy by exploring the influence of the structural characteristics of the firm's ego network in the carbon market on its environmental performance.

This article explores how sustainable-oriented changes in food consumption are intertwined in dispersed movements of material and immaterial entities in both markets and society. The adoption of the notion of agencement offers the potential to consider the complexity of consumption from a market perspective: turning away from the simple, traditional production-consumers opposition approach and highlighting the performative character of the links between elements at play. Consequently, consumption becomes a market-wide issue rather than one relating to neither consumers alone nor just supplier-consumer exchange. Our analysis, with the focus on the attempts by various players in the market to configure and reconfigure a sustainable form of (non-)palm oil consumption, brings us to reflect on the development of arrangements over time and movement in consumption. This leads in conclusion, in order to appropriately capture the above-mentioned phenomena, to the proposal of the notion of multiplex consumption.

This article provides empirical evidence and contributes to theory building concerning business model fit and dynamics in the area of solutions business. Business models are seen in this context as going beyond considerations such as offerings and internal processes or even relationships, and as including network and market considerations. Indeed the paper highlights the fact that a business model is not firm-focused, nor dyad-focused, but rather network-, and even market-focused, demonstrating that a business model is not static, but dynamic. Manufacturer and customer continuously shift form and content of their respective business models to adapt both to the needs of the counterpart and to market context. A qualitative case study approach is adopted, with subsequent content analysis. The case study relates to the aerospace industry with focus on a complex engineering firm, one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world, its customer — a national airline — and their network partners of various kinds. The data were collected through multiple face-to-face interviews with managers in both companies, as a part and parcel of a network of actors that influences and is influenced by the supplier–buyer relationship. Relationships over time between these firms and network partners are described, highlighting the interplay of products and services related to the provision of solutions. Findings highlight the dynamic nature of business models over the relationship lifecycle between supplier and customer in a complex engineering environment, and the need for reciprocal adjustment of models.

Attempts at explaining firm’s responsible behavior as a consequence of contextual and internal contingent factors lacks theoretical underpinnings as to the analytical duality of social influencing mechanism and instrumentally driven firm behavior. This paper argues that social reality is stratified, and analytical duality of relational structure and the agency cannot be reduced to consideration of constituting components alone, due to their emergent causal properties. Thus dynamic interaction and interplay of actors´ relational structure and their behavior, must undergo conjoint analysis for substantive theorizing. This is explained via relational realist approach. For empirical demonstration, actor-based stochastic modeling is applied to a network of 307 carbon market actors. The results of the co-evolution model, as estimated with RSIENA, suggest carbon market actors´ rational behavior shapes their relational network. Evidence highlights strength of instrumental mechanism at play in the carbon market, and supports utilitarian´s ethical normative principles. Article concludes by presenting limitations, contributions, and future research directions.

This paper presents a user driven redesign of the domestic network infrastructure that draws upon a series of ethnographic studies of home networks. We present an infrastructure based around a purpose built access point that has modified the handling of protocols and services to reflect the interactive needs of the home. The developed infrastructure offers a novel measurement framework that allows a broad range of infrastructure information to be easily captured and made available to interactive applications. This is complemented by a diverse set of novel interactive control mechanisms and interfaces for the underlying infrastructure. We also briefly reflect on the technical and user issues arising from deployments.

This article provides a conceptual overview of theoretical approaches to the study of markets from across social science disciplines. These approaches are arranged according to the dimensions of socialization and materialization. While necessarily simplistic and non-exhaustive, such arrangement drives out some of the strengths and weaknesses of the frameworks considered. Particular attention is given to the emerging markets-as-practice approach, which loosely unites the contributions to this special issue. While the markets-as-practice framework has received considerable attention in the recent decade, much remains to be studied in and around markets. Some of the issues highlighted in this article, and explored across the five contributions in this issue, are multiplicity in markets, market changes and dynamics, the possibility of "managing" markets, and values, morals, and power in markets.

This article explores the effect of network structure on the carbon performance of organizations in developing countries at ego network level. It is hypothesized that the alliance network structure affects the carbon performance of focal actors. We focus on alliances between organizations to reduce emissions under the Clean Development Mechanism, and propose that asymmetric partnership between ego and its counterparts affect the ego’s carbon performance positively. Common third party ties between carbon alliance members, however, moderate the negative side-effects of position asymmetry. Theoretical frameworks of embeddedness and social capital underscore improved understanding of these relationships.

This paper addresses the pitfalls of dyad-centric approaches to solution marketing and, via the case findings and analysis, the interest to be had in adopting a market-centric approach. It provides, on the one hand, an improved understanding of business-to-business (B2B) solution approaches, whilst at the same time contributing to Service-Dominant (S-D) logic thinking via market-shaping theory. On the other hand, it contributes towards market-shaping conceptualisation. The research is based on case study materials and methods originally collected and implemented in the B2B relationships area. The materials have subsequently been subject to re-examination with focus on data on the 'outskirts' of the case. Findings reveal, first, that solution offering considerations span from dyadic through to market-wide phenomena. This pleads accordingly for a market-centric approach from an S-D logic stance, as contrasted with present-day firm and customer-centric tendencies. Moreover, as regards market-shaping theory, multiple versions or forms of markets can be seen to exist. In the case at hand, a bipolarisation of the market is generated.

Sustainable procurement is increasingly on the agenda for purchasing and supply managers seeking to demonstrate corporate social responsibility in their supply chains. In this paper, we identify trends in the literature and establish that this is a burgeoning field. We identify methodological challenges and research gaps to guide future research. We propose a sustainable procurement framework to help structure future research across supply chains. Finally, we introduce each of the papers in the special issue, and identify what makes them stand out as making a novel contribution to research in the field.

With this article we draw up a panorama of proposed conceptualisations lying between dyad and network. We strive to summarize as far as possible the major dimensions, found in the academic management literature, which have been used to characterise networks. These dimensions are then used to interpret the above conceptualisations. This allows us, to round off, to propose a potential roadmap allowing researchers and practitioners alike the possibility of situating and positioning themselves in the myriad field that could loosely be termed network research.