Implementing the Agile Scrum Framework to Improve Business Relationships with Key Accounts in Business-to-Business : A systematic review and conceptual approach

Abstract

Effective customer relationship management has been identified to help suppliers in business-to-business (B2B) benefit from few but profitable customers under the aegis of key account management (KAM). To ensure KAM's effectiveness, managers and practitioners have implemented various practices and programs to lock in these strategic customers in long-term relationships as they can contribute to huge losses and profits over time. Despite these programs, cross-cultural issues are a key area in KAM that require innovation or intervention for effective KAM transformation. In view of this, this research provides an approach in which agility could be introduced and used to improve the cultural aspect of KAM.

This thesis uses a systematic literature review approach to extract relevant data from a study of KAM and agile-Scrum (in the non-software contexts) articles and further answers the designed research questions with the synthesized data. Furthermore, results from the reviewed agile-Scrum articles revealed the flexible and adaptable nature of the Scrum framework when utilized outside of software projects where it was originally designed. The successful utilization of the Scrum framework in non-software contexts prompted the researcher to investigate how the framework could benefit or improve cross-cultural management in KAM.

Based on the extant literature considered for this thesis, the cross-cultural aspect of KAM could be improved in an organization intending to lock in a profitable customer by introducing agility to its management process. This could be possible if the conceptualized KAM agile culture derived from the reviewed articles together with the agile Scrum principles and practices are meticulously replicated or followed.