A Global Company is not just a Multinational Company, but on top it has
developed an organizational structure, an overall governance and a set of operational decision making processes which allow running a significant percentage of business processes as a unique body across borders. Successful Global Companies have a clear setup and governance of local versus centralized decision making processes, as well as budget ownership. Corporations focused on global opportunities need to re-think their customer approach, namely in terms of set up of their sales force, and more specifically planning, a transformation from national based to international managed sales organization for those specific customers.Globalisation; Market-Driven Management; Global Companies; Multinational Companies; Vision; Global Account Management; Sales Organization; Management of Change; Corporate Culture; Corporate Responsibility

Tino Canegrati

English

Research Papers in Economics

© SYMPHONYA Emerging Issues in Management, n. 1, 2002 
www.unimib.it/symphonya 
 
 
 
 
Edited by: ISTEI - University of Milan-Bicocca  ISSN: 1593-0319 
Brondoni Silvio M., Ouverture de ‘Market-Space Management’, Symphonya. Emerging Issues in 
Management (www.unimib.it/symphonya), n. 1, 2002, pp. 1-6 
http://dx.doi.org/10.4468/2002.1.01ouverture 
     1 
Ouverture de  
‘Market-Space Management’ 
 
 
Silvio M. Brondoni
* 
 
 
 
Abstract 
In global markets, corporations compete according to the new rules of market-
space competition, that is within competition boundaries in which space is not a 
known, stable element in the decision-making process. It is, instead, a competitive 
factor, shaped and modified by the actions and the reactions of corporations and 
governments 
Global networks operating in enlarged competition spaces (thus exploiting the 
value of intangible assets such as brand equity, information systems and corporate 
culture)  have  market  information  at  their  disposal  which  is  often  sufficiently 
extensive and sophisticated to put them in a position to compete with governments 
in establishing the guidelines for local development. 
The over-supply condition that characterizes the richest markets today pushes 
companies into a neo-liberalism spiral. Over-supply conditions, moreover, often 
induce short-term results to be given too much importance, with a focus on the 
resources invested and the elimination of costs related to local social development. 
 
Keywords:  Market-Space  Management;  Global  Markets;  Market-Space 
Competition; Market-Driven Management; Over-Supply; Intangible Assets; Brand 
Equity; Information Systems; Corporate Culture 
 
 
 
1. Overture 
 
With the globalisation of markets all borders disappear, the intangible becomes 
more important than the tangible, time becomes a critical aspect of business, and 
mobility  (people,  goods,  knowledge  and  ideas)  manifests  new  relationship 
systems
1. 
Globalisation thus determines profound changes in economic and social bonds, 
and the progressive transformation of these bonds from territorial to functional
2. 
Indeed, in the most evolved realities, social and economic relationships are related 
to an array of functions (knowledge, information, cultural climate, ability to adapt 
to diversity, action and reaction times, mobility) that go beyond the bounds of fixed 
physical  space  (geographical  area,  nation,  ethnic  settlement,  administrative 
                                                 
* Editor-in-Chief Symphonya. Emerging Issues in Management (silvio.brondoni@unimib.it) © SYMPHONYA Emerging Issues in Management, n. 1, 2002 
www.unimib.it/symphonya 
 
 
 
 
Edited by: ISTEI - University of Milan-Bicocca  ISSN: 1593-0319 
 
     2 
precinct, etc.) based on the preservation of well defined, exclusive local rights and 
duties. 
In global markets, businesses thus compete according to the new rules of market-
space  competition,  that  is  within  competition  boundaries  in  which  space  is  no 
longer a given, i.e. a known, stable element in the decision-making process. It is, 
instead, a competition factor with a profile that is shaped and modified by the 
actions and the reactions of businesses and governments
3. 
 
□  ‘In  the  marketplace,  content,  context  and  infrastructure  can  be 
disaggregated  to  create  new  ways  of  adding  value,  lowering  costs, 
forging  relationships  with  non-traditional  partners  and  rethinking 
‘ownership’  issues.  In  the  new  arena  of  the  market-space,  content, 
context and infrastructure are easily separated. Information technology 
adds  or  alters  content,  changes  the  context  of  the  interaction  and 
enables the delivery of varied content and a variety of contexts over 
different infrastructures’
4. 
 
In short, corporate strategies based on an ‘enlarged’ competition space, that is 
without material and administrative constraints or limiting factors (market-space 
management), call for overcoming the usual direct control and proximity limits that 
characterize physical aspects of the business (immutability of the goods produced, 
production volumes achieved through direct control, a finite number of customers 
and suppliers, fixed manufacturing plant locations, etc.). Instead, they give priority 
to operational contexts characterized by: intangible assets dominance, competition 
adaptability and managerial flexibility. 
The global economy, in effect, radically modifies the traditional basic principles of 
industrial  production:  the  coordinated  interaction  of  workers,  technology  and 
materials,  with  a  high  level  of  standardization  in  the  time-space  sequence.  In  a 
nutshell, traditional production is characterized by: efficient production of the largest 
possible quantity of standardized goods, organisations based on the rigid division of 
tasks, and the presence of workers at manufacturing sites. 
On the contrary, in global markets the strategic levers within organizations are 
not to be found in goods but in knowledge. Information systems (both inter- and 
intra-organizational) become a crucial factor in company development, business 
co-working is set up through the implementation of specific information channels 
and flows, and finally, processes that are organized sequentially are transformed 
into relationships developed within ‘project-oriented networks’ all the way to the 
virtual company. 
New, flexible forms of organization thus arise, calling for divisions organised in 
terms of space, time and the functions performed. First of all, in terms of space, the 
production of certain goods is not necessarily located permanently at a given place. 
Production  processes  are  routinely  divided  amongst  separate  companies  and  no 
longer  require  spatial  proximity  because  the  production  generating  information 
flows can be transferred anywhere in the world, directly from individual units and 
without time constraints. 
In terms of time, market-space management influences production and supply 
chain  time-efficiency  for  specific  goods.  Various  localized  networks  replace 
sequential production and processes so that production-to-delivery time shapes the © SYMPHONYA Emerging Issues in Management, n. 1, 2002 
www.unimib.it/symphonya 
 
 
 
 
Edited by: ISTEI - University of Milan-Bicocca  ISSN: 1593-0319 
 
     3 
production and logistic requirements system for the operational units belonging to 
the network. 
Finally,  in  terms  of  functions  performed,  market-space  management  tends  to 
mean a fundamental change in the working relationship with customers, partners 
and  co-makers  -  into  one  that  goes  beyond  the  typical  limits  of  interface 
cooperation and instead moves toward tighter, more selective interaction between 
cross-corporate teams. 
 
□ IBM has set up a new team of experts specifically for the on demand 
era. It is called IBM Business Consulting Services and is made up of 
60,000  business  specialists  with  specific  skills  in  consulting  and 
processes  in  23  different  industries.  These  people  have  a  deep 
corporate culture and know how to face challenges with strategies and 
business  processes.  To  face  the  pressure  of  increased  competition, 
today’s businesses must undergo a process of horizontal integration: 
interconnecting data systems, legacy systems and applications which 
are distributed within the organization and across partners, suppliers 
and customers. (IBM Corporate Advertising, Italy, January 2003). 
 
 
2. Global Markets, Over-Supply and Market-Space Competition 
 
Corporate development based on market-space management - precisely because 
of  the  expansionary  nature  of  market-space  competition  -  generates  mega-
organizations,  with  very  strong  top  management  power,  that  sometimes  even 
creates ethical problems at the international level (as in the case of Enron). 
Global networks operating in enlarged competition spaces (thus exploiting the 
value of intangible assets such as brand equity, information systems and corporate 
culture)  have  market  information  at  their  disposal  which  is  often  sufficiently 
extensive and sophisticated to put them in a position to compete with governments 
in establishing the guidelines for local development. However, it is precisely in 
their market strength (which can lead the strongest networks to global oligopoly) 
and  geographic  spread  (which  must  get  ever  broader)  that  global  network 
organizations manifest a conspicuous Achilles heel: stable local-market supremacy. 
This  comes  about  from  the  mistrust  and  critical  attitude  of  opinion-makers 
(consumers, shareholders, employees, suppliers, media, etc.) who are getting more 
and more interconnected, informed and de-localized with respect to the production 
and consumption of goods. 
Indeed, corporate market globalisation strategies give rise to widespread criticism 
regarding economic growth concentrated in countries with very substantial R&D, 
targeted scientific research, limited attention to genetic transparency, environment, 
food  safety  and  social  marginalisation.  Criticism  is  characterized  by  a  wide 
consensus that also derives from the twenty-first century's global media which is 
no longer unidirectional from the producer to the receiver)
5. 
However, the global market, businesses and market-space management strategies 
do not appear to be the paradigms that should be put under scrutiny for social 
growth and international welfare. On the contrary, long-term corporate goals and 
international development policies deserve serious in-depth investigation. © SYMPHONYA Emerging Issues in Management, n. 1, 2002 
www.unimib.it/symphonya 
 
 
 
 
Edited by: ISTEI - University of Milan-Bicocca  ISSN: 1593-0319 
 
     4 
The over-supply condition that characterizes the richest markets today pushes 
companies  into  a  neo-liberalism  spiral,  that  is,  a  profound  search  for  market 
opportunities  that  can  be  satisfied  at  minimal  production  and  marketing  cost 
through the intensive, irrational and often socially disadvantageous exploitation of 
the  basic  production  factors  (capital,  human  and  natural  resources).  Such 
exploitation within a global competition system influenced by simplified, lower 
values,  unavoidably  provokes  competitive  fractures  between  organizations 
operating at different levels (corporations at the trans-national level; governments 
locally; organizations for the control of international competition, such as Antitrust 
Authorities,  central  banks,  etc.).  Hence  this  can  give  rise  to  large-scale  social 
tension that must be neutralised through the search for modern corporate social 
responsibility. 
Over-supply conditions, moreover, often induce short-term results to be given too 
much importance, with a focus on the resources invested and the elimination of 
costs related to local social development (in contrast with what has been done by 
some large corporations, such as IBM, P&G, GE, Coke and Philips, that have a 
high profile international vision). 
 
□  Recently  Coca-Cola  announced  its  intention  to  no  longer  make 
public profit per share forecasts (annual and quarterly). According to 
top management at Coca-Cola, short-term estimates are a distraction 
from the main long-term goals. 
 
Corporate policies centred on market-space management do not, of themselves, 
limit the profiles of excellence mission in corporate culture. On the contrary, long-
term corporate development in the third millennium cannot forget to consider the 
achievement of a new kind of well-being, which can be pursued through: 
-  the expansion of competitive boundaries (market-space competition) and the 
adoption  of  corporate  policies  based  on  the  ‘harmonic  globalisation’  of 
production and consumption (market-space management), thus abandoning 
performance  based  on  local  competitive  imbalances  (which  typically 
maximize profits if exploited in the very short term when, at the same time, 
no local development costs are sustained); 
-  the creation of new industries (protection of bio-development, development 
of  mass  and  selective  nutritional  assets,  climate  preservation,  energy  and 
waste management policies), in agreement with the new transversal needs 
determined by markets with global production and consumption; 
-  the  focusing  of  managerial  economics  on  non-elementary  key  factors 
(technology,  communications,  intangible  assets),  for  which  value  is  not 
determined in terms of the degree of exploitation, but in terms of the degree 
of sharing for a given resource with external organizations. 
 
 
3. Market-Space Management and Dominant Market Position 
 
The sharing of intangible assets pursued by corporate market-space management 
policies  usually  takes  place  between  different  organisations  within  the  same 
network,  but  can  also  concern  other  organizations  through  alliances  and  joint 
ventures.  In  any  case,  corporate  management  can  extend  into  the  intangible © SYMPHONYA Emerging Issues in Management, n. 1, 2002 
www.unimib.it/symphonya 
 
 
 
 
Edited by: ISTEI - University of Milan-Bicocca  ISSN: 1593-0319 
 
     5 
domain, and thus set up complex systemic inter-corporate relationships where the 
bonding agents are corporate culture, information systems and brand equity. These 
in turn can give rise to competitive situations – concerning supply, transformation 
and  sales  –  for  which  the  boundaries  are  transient,  unstable  and  based  on  a 
potentially  highly  changeable  matrix  of  goods  and  businesses.  This  is  well 
exemplified by the modern ‘parable of bread’, that is, a very traditional product 
apparently very far from market-space competition. 
 
□ At the international level, ’fresh bread’ today is a complex product 
that is not always easy to classify from the point of view of product 
analysis.  For  consumers  all  over  the  world,  ‘fresh  bread’  is  the 
fragrant,  warm  bread  bought  at  a  neighbourhood  store.  In  many 
countries, however, its competitive space tends to be circumscribed, due 
to the needs of local businesses – industrial and local – involved in 
bread  production  and  distribution.  Actually,  ‘fresh  bread’  is  often 
frozen  industrial  bread,  sometimes  pre-cooked  or  even  completely 
cooked  (hence  with  raw  materials  and  manufacturing  phases  taking 
part in the production cycle without any time and space constraints), 
subject to the free circulation of goods and transported from production 
sites to the points of sale where it is offered to consumers after very 
short final baking. Hence bread ‘right out of the oven’ can be available 
24 hours a day. This implies an extreme dilation of the competition 
boundaries in terms of production, sale and consumption. 
 
In other words, firms today tend to be a complex dynamic system, competition 
driven, with managerial perspectives going beyond the traditional space and time 
dimensions (i.e. referred to a finite environment, thus allowing the measurement, at 
a certain time t, of performance and competitive position – and thus the potential 
for a dominant position – of a certain elementary combination of business-product-
market). 
In  reality,  market-space  competition  gives  rise  to  sophisticated  competitive 
boundaries of  an international character, in which space  and time contribute to 
shaping  and  altering  the  established  competitive  context,  in  particular  making 
traditional performance and position-based index evaluation of possible dominant 
market positions very difficult. 
The  competitive  space  generated  by  market-space  management  policies  is 
therefore  difficult  to  classify  into  business  sectors,  and  more  properly  refers  to 
systems of intangible assets (brand equity, information systems, corporate culture) 
temporarily contributing to the competitive profile of each individual company. 
 
 
                                                 
Notes 
 
1  See  Silvio  M.  Brondoni,  Jean-Jacques  Lambin,  Ouverture  de  ‘Brand  Equity’,  Symphonya, 
Emerging Issues in Management (www.unimib.it/symphonya), n. 1, 2000-2001. 
2 The Milan Stock Exchange represents an interesting example of transformation of the socio-
economic relationships, from territorial to functional, resulting from globalisation. On 14 April 1994 
the  dealing  system  changed  from  floor  dealing  to  continuous  dealing,  in  which  authorized 
intermediaries execute orders by entering buy and sell bids into the Stock Exchange ITC system. © SYMPHONYA Emerging Issues in Management, n. 1, 2002 
www.unimib.it/symphonya 
 
 
 
 
Edited by: ISTEI - University of Milan-Bicocca  ISSN: 1593-0319 
 
     6 
                                                                                                                                        
Sellers and buyers thus complete their transactions without meeting physically, without talking and 
without knowing each other. On the other hand, all players can put many sell or buy bids into the 
ITC system at the same time and for any financial instrument. 
3 In August 2003 in anticipation of the enlargement of the EU to 25 countries, the US Congress 
approved  free  exchange  agreements  with  Chile  and  Singapore,  thus  expanding  the  previous 
agreements with Canada and Mexico (NAFTA-North American Free Trade Association) and setting 
up the foundations for a free trade area comprising the whole Western Hemisphere. 
4 See Jeffrey F. Raiport, John J. Sviokla, 1994, Managing in the Marketspace, Harvard Business 
Review, November-December, p. 145. 
5 See Silvio M. Brondoni, Comunicazione, risorse invisibili e strategia competitiva d’impresa, 
Sinergie, n. 43-44, 1997. 

Global Account Management for Sales Organization in Multinational Companies

http://webdepot.gsi.unimib.it/symphonya/RePec/pdf/symjournl16.pdf

Global Account Management for Sales Organization in Multinational Companies

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Research Papers in Economics