Strategic account management programs: A study of the variables that impact their effectiveness

Organizations are placing increasing focus on designing and implementing strategic account management programs to partner with their most critical customers because of the potential impact on their financial and strategic position in the marketplace. Strategic accounts are often those which are most critical to the success of organizations because of the revenue they generate and the importance of their association to the vendor's organization. This research analyzed survey data from strategic account managers regarding the criteria utilized to select and coordinate strategic account management programs to determine which are associated with the success of such programs. Six hypotheses were tested which resulted in significant determinations regarding criteria associated with the success of strategic account management programs. Quantitative methodology was applied utilizing multivariate regression analysis utilized to analyze multiple dependent variables and independent variables for each hypothesis. At a confidence level of 95%, the null hypotheses were rejected if the R2 and adjusted R2 values greater less than 0.500, indicating a significant association between the groups of measured independent and dependent variables.