Relationships with other value frameworks

As reviewed in the rational chapter, Payne and Holt (Payne and Holt, 2001) developed a framework of relationship value management that links the value process with stakeholders including clients, employees and external

stakeholders. The value process involves four sequential value-based activities: value determination, value creation, value delivery, and value assessment. For clients, this translates into three key value activities: client attraction, measuring client satisfaction and client retention. The value framework of account management emerged from the data in this thesis focuses on the value creation of well embedded account management for the professional service relationship and does not specify clients value activities nor focuses on the four sequential value-based activities. The current

framework emerged from data collected in the audit, tax and management consultancy industry, whereas the external environment of this industry was an integral part of the framework.

Ghosh and John (1999) extended the “transaction-cost analysis” and treated value creation as the increase in profits that follows from the supplier’s efforts at cost reduction and/or benefit enhancement. Hammervoll (2009) criticises this “governance value analysis”, which assesses the value creation in supply chain relationships as mentioned by Ghosh and John, because the

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operative value-creating activities among the suplly-chain members. The value framework of account management in this thesis can cope with the critique of Hammervoll because it is based on a value-in-use service provision.

The emerged value framework is also in line with research of Howden and Pressey (Howden and Pressey, 2008), which identified that from the client’s point of view, six dimensions create value: agent’s know-how, trust, personal interaction, service fulfilment, location and direct/ indirect costs. From the service provider’s perspective, all these dimensions except the agent’s know- how are beyond the core knowledge service. The relationship manager has a critical role in the creation and delivery of value through the five non-core dimensions.

6.5 Summary

This chapter 6 has discussed the results of what the perceived value of account management is in professional services relationships. The perceived value contains value on strategic, tactical and operational level as well as on professional and client level.

The conceptualised value framework consists of five themes, of which

“account management” is de core theme, because it is the heart of the value framework. Account management creates value on strategic level because it is the glue between the individual engagements and it creates a competitive advantage for the firm. On individual level, the account manager creates a sounding board for the client and embedded formal account management creates for the dedicated account manager a career path, which was not there before.

Account management on tactical level creates value due to a more efficient co-operation between client and professional, but also on individual

professional level, because the professional gets value from account management due to the fact that he can focus more on his passion of the profession and technical competences.

On operational level, account management created value due to having a clear single-point of contact for issues and questions and more efficiency in

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daily work due to single point of contact and smooth – contracting and invoicing - processing.

The conceptualised value framework consists of the themes: external

environment of the professional service firm; organisation of the professional service firm; relationship between client and professional; account

management; and the perceived value of account management in service provision. The emerged value framework has been explained in more detail and compared with other value frameworks.

The next chapter contains the discussion and conclusion of the research. Furthermore, that chapter will also describe the contribution to the

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7 Discussion and conclusion

7.1 Introduction

The research issue of this research is about understanding account management in professional services relationships in the audit, tax, and management consultancy industry. The driver for this thesis was my

experiences working as an independent financial auditor and management consultant for an international professional service firm and my observations that professional service firms struggle how to embed account management in their dominantly technically oriented delivery roles. During the DBA

program, three assignments (Van Bon, 2011, Van Bon, 2010, Van Bon, 2009), of which one pilot study, were performed which were based on qualitative research in the audit, tax and management consultancy industry. The results of the pilot study were promising and submitted in an unpublished article (Van Bon and Wright, 2012). This doctoral thesis was built on these first insights and aimed to extend the understanding of account management in professional services relationships.

Limited literature review was performed during the assignments. Extensive literature review was undertaking after the contructs were emerged out of the data analysis and the literature was used to compare the results of the

analyses, which is in line with grounded theory methodology. In this thesis, literature informed the results of the research by using it in the comparitive analysis against the results of the analysis of the interviews. Especially, literature in the field of professional services relationships, account management and value-in-use as discussed by Vargo and Lusch (2004), informed this research.

The following paragraphs discuss the results of this research and integrate this with literature, which has been reviewed in chapter 2. Furthermore, the conclusion was stipulated, the contribution to the development of theory even as the contribution to the practice of management.

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