About Managing Global Accounts

Managing Global Accounts is a book written for global account managers and directors of global account programs. Managing Global Accounts combines both an academic viewpoint (Capon) and practical experience with leading global account programs from IBM (Schindler) and Xerox (Potter). As multinational firms increasingly demand to be treated on a global basis, many firms are investing in global account programs. Managing Global Accounts is a must-read for responsible executives contemplating and executing global account programs, and for those charged with developing, managing, and growing  global account relationships.

Managing Global Accounts is available as a printed book, PDF download, and audio book. The price for Managing Global Accounts is $29.70 for the printed book, $24.70 for the downloadable PDF, and $29.70 for the audio book.

For a top-flight educational experience on how to develop, manage, and grow global account relationships, see the Global Account Manager Certification Program jointly offered by Columbia Business School and St. Gallen University at Executive Education Programs at Columbia Business School under the Professor Capon tab on this website.

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Chapter 1

What Reviewers Are Saying

Review by Jennifer Cuthbertson

Managing a company’s global accounts is not the same as managing national accounts, and any business that tries to move from national to global accounts without careful consideration and planning is doomed to fail. Managing Global Accounts presents a planning process and nine critical factors that any company must consider as it moves into the global marketplace. From how to change an organization’s structure, to how to determine what accounts to accept, to how to hire the right Global Account Manager (GAM), this book provides a blueprint for any company contemplating making the leap into the global economy.

Capon, Potter, and Schindler focus on achieving corporate success and organizational survival by focusing on developing and sustaining beneficial relationships with global customers. Today, many companies are finding that they are getting a higher portion of their revenue and profits from fewer customers. In fact, these customers can be considered to be core assets.

As a result many companies have developed strategic or key account programs as an organizational approach to revenue and profit concentration. These strategies have brought many companies great success, when they develop the appropriate strategies, line organizations, systems and processes, and human resources to serve them. But, many of the companies find they are not set up to handle a customer’s request to place a single global order, to purchase similarly.

The authors contend that the domestic strategic account management model does not work for this scenario, because the supplier does not have a framework, strategy, organization, or process to negotiate an arrangement with the global customer. As they put it, The multi-domestic (or multinational) supplier cannot satisfy the customer’s need for conducting business globally, even though the supplier itself may operate in many countries around the world.

Successful global account management may call for reformulating the line organization and accepting the inherent personnel dislocations. It will also mean changing systems and processes designed to serve domestic customers with ones that will work globally, and the human resources implications are enormous. Globalization is one of the key catalysts for change in today’s business world, and one of the biggest challenges is that most companies will still need to meet the needs of their domestic customers, while determining how to adapt for current and potential global customers.

The authors have outlined several hurdles that companies must clear before setting up a global account management system. They also lay out the rewards and risks in global account management and caution that, while it is very tempting to skip the extensive planning, it is not recommended. Indeed the benefits of “getting it right the first time are very substantial. If you are able to improve your relationships with a few global accounts, the rewards in additional revenues and profits should by far exceed your investment in the global program.

A successful global account program can mean increased profits through global coordination; development of global partnerships; better competitive positioning, and greater global dependency by customers, because customers also benefit. They receive better products and services that meet their needs, and they could gain process efficiencies and solve global supply chain issues.

But, as has been pointed out already, global account management is not risk-free. It is possible to create expectations, both with the internal sales force and the external customer, that are hard to meet. A company may experience additional price pressures from customers, and a company may need to invest in improvements to service in remote areas. Corporate culture may also interfere with the transformation to a global account management system.

Business Book Review™ Vol. 23, No. 17 - Copyright ©2006 Business Book Review, LLC. - All Rights Reserved

Rolf Dobelli (Luzern Switzerland)

Noel Capon, Dave Potter and Fred Schindler claim that how corporations manage their global accounts will determine nothing less than their "success and organizational survival in the 21st century." The authors present in reasonably clear (though not always grammatical) language the essentials of global account management. Stories at the beginnings of the chapters demonstrate the importance of the issues, and helpful summaries at the ends recapitulate the authors' main points. This is a practitioner's guide, straightforward and detailed. getAbstract recommends it to global account managers as well as to managers of sales and marketing units who are considering instituting a global account management program.

Testimonials for Managing Global Accounts

"I've seen it from both sides of the desk. Increasingly all firms impacted by globalization. Key account management is tough enough -- managing global accounts even tougher. Capon, Potter and Schindler lay out a comprehensive roadmap for managing global accounts. Nine critical success factors (CSFs) are key to managing the global account process. Done right, global account management provides value to supplier and to global customer. The authors show how to do it."
-- Ron Boire, Executive Vice President/General Merchandise Manager, Best Buy, Inc., formerly, President Consumer Sales Company, Sony Electronics

"Managing global customers is becoming a critical issue for corporations around the world. Customers are dramatically evolving their procurement practices, and an effective global account management approach will be an increasingly important competitive advantage for the customer-focused firm. Capon and his coauthors lay out a roadmap to develop a superior global account management approach. This book is a must read if you want to be world class in global account management."
-- Jean-Claude Larre´che´, The Alfred H. Heineken Chaired Professor of Marketing, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France

"This is a great 'triptik' for the journey to developing a 'World Class' Global Customer Program."
--Tom Muccio, Former President Global Customer Teams, Procter & Gamble

"Successful global account management can be the most difficult sales and marketing initiative undertaken by any firm. The authors of this book truly understand the complexities involved and they provide a thorough overview of the required critical success factors."
-- Tom VanHootegem, Vice President Strategic Segment Sales, OfficeMax Contract

"Managing world-spanning accounts is central to every global firm's success. Yet the task forces organizations into new molds, making it a daunting effort. This important book embraces every facet of the undertaking, weaving them all into one coherent framework -- a rare accomplishment for any business text. That, plus its conversational style will make Managing Global Accounts an important and readily-used tool for years to come."
-- Jordan D. Lewis, author, Trusted Partners: How Companies Build Mutual Trust and Win Together

"If you are looking to start or revitalize your global account management program, this book is a must read. Generally there is a lack of understanding in the senior ranks of large organizations when starting a global account program that often leads to costly false starts and client upset. This book takes away the mystery and sets forth valid concepts and steps that will make these programs viable. It eliminates the blind alleys and guess work. It provides an experienced path to follow that will support any company developing their global account program. You will discover ideas and thoughts that usually come to a sales executive well into the development of such a program. The authors approach the subject from experience and leave the theory to others. It is written in plain language including realistic examples that only someone who has been there can know. These authors deserve a standing ovation from Sales Leaders charged with developing global account programs.
-- James J. Brown, Executive Director, Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales, Christos Cotsakis College of Business, William Paterson University of New Jersey

"Implementing global account management is not easy. At IBM it took us several years and many iterations to build the current program that today puts the right senior level focus on our top global accounts -- and we're not finished yet. Fred Schindler was part of that struggle and Managing Global Accounts in part recounts its history. However, IBM is only a small part of this book. In a unique partnership of the business world with academe, Capon, Potter and Schindler lay out a comprehensive roadmap for developing a global account program. If you are trying to support your global customers, I recommend you read and use this book. Your will save yourselves time and many missteps as you learn from the myriad of insights the authors provide."
-- Rosemary H Campbell, Director, International Sales & Operations, Worldwide, IBM

"This book addresses a very important topic in customer management and will undoubtedly become an essential component of every global account manager's tool-kit. The world today is littered with failure stories as vendors react to the ever-increasing demands of their global customers. The authors offer a clear step by step guide on how managers can proactively conceive, design and implement effective and profitable global account management programs. Starting with the importance of defining the scope of the program and gaining management buy-in, the authors provide a clear and detailed process flow to selecting the right type of global accounts, designing the GAM organization, finding the right GAM talent. The authors also offer a number of valuable insights into implementation issues in terms of designing and executing the right type of account plans and, at the end of the day, demonstrating the value of the GAM initiative to both the firm and the customer. As they move through the various stages of formulating and implementing mutually beneficial global account relationships, the authors do a very thorough job in highlighting the pitfalls at each stage and providing the reader with a series of simple, yet powerful guidelines that will ensure the success of their GAM initiatives."
-- Das Narayandas, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA.

"The authors have done an excellent job of integrating the technical and social aspects of the global account management process. In a very accessible book they look at the essential aspects that a global account manager needs to master."
-- Fons Tropenaars, THT Consulting, Amsterdam, Netherlands

"An indispensable how-to book for CEO's who lead global companies and, even more importantly, for those who aspire."
-- Jerome A. Chazen, Cofounder and Chairman Emeritus, Liz Claiborne, Inc.

"As a VP managing global account managers in a global Fortune 300 company, I learned more from reading this book's first few chapters then I have in my last five business books. The authors have done a great job pulling together all the logistics from starting, hiring, training, supporting, and sustaining a successful program. If anyone every wanted a book on how to CORRECTLY build a global account program, using best practices, this is IT!!!! I liked this book's easy going interface played out by the 'almost believable' reality interactions between four main characters set up in the first chapters. You have a CEO, a consultant, a global account director and a global account manager, all struggling with their time commitments on one hand and their desire to make this work in their heads. They all learn a lot from each other on a flight delay (very real to any global account manager) and subsequent travel/trip. This helps the reader by following the questions and answers of both parties. Three cheers to Capon, Schindler and Potter for a great narrative of technical training and business savvy all in one tight package. I am confident that the careful reading, comprehension and implementation of this books tenet's will save many firms tens of thousands of dollars in consultant fees. This is the real McCoy!"
-- Chris Morrison, Divisional Vice President, Nalco Global Accounts

"This well-organized book is a very useful source of practical ideas for companies that want to unlock the full value of global supplier-customer collaboration. It belongs on any managers' bookshelf who want to get their future approach towards global account management right."
-- Christoph Senn, Senior Lecturer, University of St.Gallen (HSG), Switzerland

Managing Global Accounts addresses this important sales management topic thoroughly and insightfully. There is exceptional treatment of many issues that global account executives wrestle with... from understanding the forces that drive the need for effective global coverage, to aligning programs and power structures that enable global account program success. It is great reading for those interested in assessing their on-going global account coverage efforts. It is equally compelling for those who are in the process of building a global account organization.
-- Gary S. Tubridy, Sr. Vice President, The Alexander Group, Inc.

"Finally a book which can help corporations transform the art of selling into the science of growth. Companies now have the chance to impact their customer assets in the same way they have optimized their supply chains. It is all here and the winners will know how to use it."
-- David Macaulay, Sr. Vice President, Siemens AG