Key Account Management and Planning
Chapter One: The Rationale for Key Account Management
On August 21, 1998, it was announced that telecommunications supplier Ciena would not be receiving an expected $100 million worth of business from key account AT&T. As a direct result of this news, Ciena's stock price plunged 45%, from $56.78 to $31.25. On August 28, a planned merger between Ciena and Tellabs based on a one-for-one stock swap that valued Ciena at $7.3 billion was being renegotiated at $4.7 billion. Shortly afterwards, Ciena announced the loss of a $25 million sale to key account Digital Teleport. On September 14, the merger was abandoned with Ciena's share price at $13.19.
On January 4, 2000, General Motors announced that it was ceasing participation in B2B auctions managed by Freemarkets Inc. Freemarkets' share price dropped from a high of $370 that week to $164, two weeks later.
In August 2000, AT&T's stock price hit a fifty-two-week low. An article in The Wall Street Journal attributed the decline to problems in the Business Services Group, responsible for over half of AT&T's 1999 revenues and profits. Among the causes: lack of ... read full excerpt from: Key Account Management and Planning: The Comprehensive Handbook for Managing Your Company's Most Important Strategic Asset ebook
