In January 2019, Florian vom Bruch was brought in as the first external CEO to lead the privately-held luxury watch winder and safe company, BUBEN&ZORWEG. The founders, Harald Buben and Christian Zörweg, driven by a passion for adventure, a keen ear for market needs and a canny eye for seeing and seizing opportunities, had successfully brought the company so far. However, they wanted BUBEN&ZORWEG to go to the next level of growth and had brought in Florian to help them double turnover by 2025. Florian's first mandate: to create and execute a growth strategy for the company. What was at the heart of the firm's distinctive advantage? In which segments and markets should BUBEN&ZORWEG expand?

Late 2015. E-commerce was changing the face of retailing, and ALDO, a Canadian shoe retailer with a global presence, was not immune. The effects of e-commerce were felt not just in the sales channels, but in the whole customer experience and the customer journey. To successfully execute a compelling online and overseas strategy, there were a few things that ALDO needed to consider: 1) How could it build its online presence overseas given its historical expansion via a franchise model? 2) Given the rise of e-commerce, should ALDO reconsider its internationalization business model? 3) What does a truly omnichannel business look like for ALDO, and what does the company need to do to make it succeed?

There is a strong current trend toward globalization of the sales function, driven by increasing customer power, initiatives in customer relationship management, and the design of customer-centric organizations. This article questions the wisdom of rapid adoption of global account management by vendor companies. Drawing on field and survey research among global account managers, the authors highlight a number of ways in which vendors can fail to reap the benefits of global customer relationships and, instead, suffer falling prices. A number of managerial guidelines are suggested for a strategic approach toward global customer management and an effective implementation of global account management programs.