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Die Rolle der Kunden im Category Management – Ein Einblick in die mentalen Denkstrukturen von Category Managern

  • Original Empirical Research
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Zusammenfassung

Wissenschaft und Praxis messen dem Category Management (CM) ein enormes Potenzial zur Steigerung der Unternehmensperformance bei. Dennoch bestehen Zweifel, ob CM den Wert für die Kunden tatsächlich steigern kann. Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht mit Hilfe von 16 Mind-Mapping-Interviews, wie stark der Kunde und seine Bedürfnisse in den mentalen Denkstrukturen der Category Manager verankert sind. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung zeigen, dass das Kundenwissen von Category Managern lediglich befriedigend und individuell sehr unterschiedlich entwickelt ist. Ausprägung, Bedeutung und Rolle des Kundenwissens hängen darüber hinaus vom Geschäftsmodell eines Handelsunternehmens ab. Für das Management ergeben sich daraus wichtige Implikationen zur Förderung von individuellem und organisationalem Kundenwissen.

Abstract

Academic researchers as well as practitioners attribute significant growth in sales and profit to the implementation of category management (CM). However, there is doubt if CM can ultimately enhance customer value. By conducting 16 mind-mapping-interviews, the article investigates how customers and their needs are integrated in the knowledge structures of category managers. The results show that category managers' customer knowledge is moderately developed, yet improvable. Nevertheless, there are substantial individual differences. Moreover, the richness, relative importance and role of customer knowledge in the category managers' field of activities depend on the business model of the retailer. The results have important management implications for stimulating the development of a well-founded individual and organizational customer knowledge.

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Notes

  1. Im vorliegenden Artikel werden die Begriffe Category und Warengruppe synonym verwendet.

  2. Generell ist davon auszugehen, dass Handelsunternehmen marktorientiert agieren und somit kundenorientierte Ziele verfolgen. Etablierte Definitionen des Begriffs Marktorientierung in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur bestätigen, dass Kundenorientierung der primäre Aspekt von Marktorientierungskonzepten ist (vgl. z. B. Kohli u. Jaworski 1990; Narver u. Slater 1990; Day 1998).

  3. Jick (1979) unterscheidet zwischen Within-Method-Triangulation, welche die gleichen Methoden in unterschiedliche Stichproben zur Validierung verwendet und der „Across-Method-Triangulation“, welche unterschiedliche Methoden zur Validierung einsetzt.

  4. Der Markt spiegelt die Menge der Kunden wider. Manager, welche sich z. B. an Marktanteilen orientieren, müssen daher auch als kundenorientiert betrachtet werden.

  5. Singh und Blattberg (2001) konnten im Verantwortungsbereich eines Category Managers mehr als 30 Aufgaben identifizieren.

  6. Zentrale Erkenntnisse zur begrenzten individuellen Informationsverarbeitungskapazität basieren auf Miller (1956), McGregor (1987) und Smith (1992).

  7. Diamantopoulos und Siguaw (2002) formulieren diesen Sachverhalt in Anlehnung an Hogarth u. Makridakis (1981) als „Gesetz der kleinen Zahl“. Dementsprechend sind die Eigenschaften sehr kleiner Stichproben nur für die untersuchte Population repräsentativ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forschungszentrum für Handelsmanagement, Universität St. Gallen, Dufourstrasse 40a, 9000, St. Gallen, Schweiz

    Thomas Rudolph,  Johannes Bauer &  Liane Nagengast

  2. F. Porsche AG, Porschestrasse 15–19, 71634, Ludwigsburg, Deutschland

    Martin Einhorn

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  1. Thomas Rudolph
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  2. Johannes Bauer
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  3. Liane Nagengast
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  4. Martin Einhorn
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Correspondence to Liane Nagengast.

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Rudolph, T., Bauer, J., Nagengast, L. et al. Die Rolle der Kunden im Category Management – Ein Einblick in die mentalen Denkstrukturen von Category Managern. markt 49, 69–82 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12642-010-0027-6

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