Building on Workman et al. (2003), strategic account management effectiveness is defined as the extent to which account performance improves. The underlying assumption is that relationship goals such as development of trust, increased information sharing, reduction of conflicts, commitment to maintain the relationship, lead to positions of advantage (Day, 1994) and this in turn leads to improved performance in the market; such as revenue growth, market share, customer satisfaction, and retention of customers.
Account performance is defined as the total value formed during the interaction between firm and customer over time.
According to Storbacka and Nenonen (2009), an essential managerial aspect of account performance is to define how the value is shared between the firm (value capture) and the customer (value creation). Blois and Ramirez (2006) argues that although firms exist to help customers and organizations to create value they only do so in order to capture part of that value for themselves. However, it is important to note that long-term value capture is not possible if the customer does not perceive that the relationship creates value to the customer. Value creation is hence a pre-requisite for value capture (e.g. Gosselin and Bauwen, 2006).