scholarly journals Management processes and management’s role in customer value creation

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Åslund ◽  
Ingela Bäckström

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study management processes within successful societal entrepreneurship to further understand the role of management in customer value creation. Design/methodology/approach Management in three successful societal entrepreneurship initiatives has been studied. Data have been collected through interviews, direct observation, participant observation and documentation. Management tasks, activities and behaviours have been identified and analysed from a system view. Findings The result presents essential management processes important for societal customer value creation, their input, output and main focus. Some management processes are inter-related and are sometimes part of another management process. The management seems driven by “need”, “opportunity”, “interest” and “demand”, when creating societal customer value. From a system perspective, management has an indirect role in societal customer value creation and is important for possibilities to create societal customer value. Both the initiative and the surroundings have been found to be of importance to the management’s scope for contributing to societal customer value creation. Originality/value The study provides the possibility to understand and learn from management, the management processes and their role in societal customer value creation. Thereby, it describes how to successfully provide customer value to society and work with societal, environmental and sustainability issues.

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Heinonen ◽  
Tore Strandvik ◽  
Päivi Voima

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend current discussions of value creation and propose a customer dominant value perspective. The point of origin in a customer‐dominant marketing logic (C‐D logic) is the customer, rather than the service provider, interaction or the system. The focus is shifted from the company's service processes involving the customer, to the customer's multi‐contextual value formation, involving the company.Design/methodology/approachValue formation is contrasted to earlier views on the company's role in value creation in a conceptual analysis focusing on five central aspects. Implications of the proposed characteristics of value formation compared to earlier approaches are put forward.FindingsThe paper highlights earlier hidden aspects on the role of a service for the customer. It is proposed that value is not always an active process of creation; instead, value is embedded and formed in the highly dynamic and multi‐contextual reality and life of the customer. This leads to a need to look beyond the line of visibility focused on visible customer‐company interactions, to the invisible and mental life of the customer. From this follows a need to extend the temporal scope, from exchange and use even further to accumulated experiences in the customer's life and ecosystem.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is conceptual. It discusses and presents a customer‐dominant value perspective and suggests implications for empirical research and practice.Practical implicationsAwareness of the mechanism of the customer value formation process provides companies with new insight on the service strategy, service design and new service innovations.Originality/valueThe paper contributes by extending the value construct through a new customer dominant value perspective, recognizing value as multi‐contextual and dynamic based on customers' life and ecosystem. The findings mark out new avenues for future research.


Author(s):  
Tero Rantala ◽  
Juhani Ukko ◽  
Minna Saunila ◽  
Hanna Puolakoski ◽  
Hannu Rantanen

Purpose Because the global economy is increasingly driven by digital businesses, and digitalization affects the businesses of traditional industrial organizations, the need exists for a theory, and empirical understanding, that elucidates the actual value-creating elements. By focusing on traditional industrial organizations that are facing changes and transformation caused by the increase in digitalization, the purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the characteristics of creating sustainable customer value through digitality. Design/methodology/approach To increase the understanding of creating sustainable customer value through digitality among traditional industrial organizations, quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were utilized in the study. Findings The results suggest that value creation through service process- and product-related elements constitutes improved company performance, whereas cost-related elements do not. In addition, when it comes to the role of digitality in value creation, results show that to generate benefits, digitality must be implemented in the company’s strategy and in an existing business model. Originality/value Despite the increasing amount of literature on value creation in the digitalized world, theory and empirical understanding that reflect the complexity and dynamism of the delivery of value to customers through digitality are still lacking. This study contributes to this research gap, by presenting the characteristics of sustainable customer value that contribute to value creation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 529-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannu Saarijärvi ◽  
Christian Grönroos ◽  
Hannu Kuusela

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the implications of reverse use of customer data for service-based business models. In their quest for competitive advantage, firms traditionally use customer data as resources to redesign and develop new products and services or identify the most profitable customers. However, in the shift from a goods-dominant logic toward customer value creation, the potential of customer data for the benefit of the customer, not just the firm, is an emerging, underexplored area of research. Design/methodology/approach – Business model criteria and three service examples combine to uncover the implications of reverse use of customer data for service-based business models. Findings – Implications of reverse use of customer data for service-based business models are identified and explored. Through reverse use of customer data, a firm can provide customers with additional resources and support customers’ value-creating processes. Accordingly, the firm can move beyond traditional exchanges, take a broader role in supporting customers’ value creation and diversify the value created by the customer through resource integration. The attention shifts from internal to external customer data usage; customer data transform from the firm’s resource to the customer’s, which facilitates the firm’s shift from selling goods to supporting customers’ value creation. Originality/value – Reverse use of customer data represent a new emerging research phenomenon; their implications for service-based business models have not been explored.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Denning

Purpose Despite today’s profusion of customer-centric rhetoric, most business people still believe that the primary purpose of business is profits. But the most resilient and sustainably successful firms consistently select one primary purpose: enrich the lives of their customers. 10; Design\methodology\approach The article maps how the most valuable and fastest growing firms are paving the way for an era of customer-driven capitalism. Findings In the current digital age, an obsession with delivering value to customers is proving to be the key driving force for success. Practical\implications The goal of customer-value primacy is not a threat to other stakeholders. Originality\value Customer-driven leadership is a hallmark of successful management in the current context. Top management must institute and continuously support a value creation process that works backwards from the future. 10;


VINE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Giuliani

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to observe Intellectual Capital (IC) dynamics “in practice” through a temporal lens by considering IC as an on-going process, and thus taking into consideration its life cycle and how it changes over time. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal case study has been investigated by adopting a participant observation approach to understand how the dynamics of IC are understood in practice. Findings – This study spotlights three main conceptions of IC dynamics (value creation, IC activities and organizational change) which, although generally proposed in literature as separable concepts, do co-exist and interact, in practice as is reflected in the related managerial tools. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations of this study are twofold. The first is related to the methodology adopted and in particular, to the participant observation approach. The second is related to the specifics of the case study undertaken. This paper contributes to the literature on “Intellectual Capital in action” and “Intellectual Capital in practice” by enriching the understanding of IC dynamics. Originality/value – By comparison to the extant literature in which the IC dynamics concepts are considered separately, this study combines the three different concepts and examines them in vivo, adopting a longitudinal perspective.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 752-769
Author(s):  
Jan M. Myszewski

Purpose Quality management (QM) principles define the values of the organizational culture that makes people focus on quality assurance and improvement. However, the formulation of the principles of the ISO 9000 standard published in 2000–2015 is more like a list of things to remember that result from the development of QM methodologies, rather than systematic guidelines to follow. Their ambiguity does not facilitate understanding and can lead to activities that do not bring benefits to the organization. The purpose of this paper is to formulate such a system of directives that when implemented allows achieving the desired level of effectiveness of the organization’s processes with increased efficiency, and some measures can be assigned that show the progress of implementation. Design/methodology/approach The resource capacity reserve was adopted as the main factor ensuring the effectiveness of the planned tasks. A systemic analysis of relationships between the QM principles and the categories of Deming’s system of profound knowledge was carried out. Some factors referred to in the principles have been distinguished. The conditions necessary to achieve their positive impact on the capacity of organization’s resources have been formulated in terms of some directives for management processes. The interaction of the components of variability in organization processes with the factors was discussed. Findings Eight directives for effectiveness management (EM) have been established. They define independent dimensions in the management tactics for the development of the organization’s resources necessary to ensure and increase the effectiveness of the organization’s processes. The implementation of the tactics defined by EM directives, assuming randomness in processes, consists in the demonstration of care for trust within the organization, organization development and confidence in the organization of external partners. Originality/value Two key QM functions, quality assurance and improvement, are implemented in management processes in order to provide a balance between available capacity and tasks allocated to the organization’s processes, and increase the available capacity by eliminating gaps in knowledge used to control resources in the processes. The EM directives show the role of the organization’s knowledge and stakeholder commitment in providing the necessary complement to the capacity available in the organization. The confidence in the organization is shown as a key premise for access to the commitment of stakeholders. They also show that QM functions would be unnecessary or trivial if one could eliminate random variation from processes in the organization.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Davey ◽  
Judith Herbst ◽  
Raechel Johns ◽  
Joy Parkinson ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett ◽  
...  

Purpose Despite the availability and accessibility of standardized screening services, such as preventative health services, many individuals avoid participation. The extant health literature has indicated that health locus of control (HLOC) influences engagement and uptake of health services. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the microfoundation, HLOC, contributes to value co-creation via service-generated and self-generated activities in standardized screening services. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative study of 25 consumers who have experienced one of the three standardized screening services in Australia was undertaken, followed by thematic analysis of the data. Findings Service-generated activities elicit reactive responses from consumers – compliance and relinquishing control – but when customers lead co-creation activities, their active responses emphasize protecting self and others, understanding relationship needs and gaining control. Consumers with high internal HLOC are more likely to take initiative for their health, take active control of the process and feel empowered through participating. Consumers with low internal HLOC, in contrast, require more motivation for participation, including encouragement from powerful others through promotion or interpersonal dialogue. Social implications These findings can be used by policymakers and providers of preventative health services for the betterment of citizen health. Originality/value The integration of the DART framework, customer value co-creation activities, and the delineation of self-generated and service-generated activities provides a holistic framework to understand the influence of HLOC on the co-creation of value in standardized screening services.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Ng ◽  
Zack Wood

Purpose This paper aims to problematise critiques raised against customer accounting’s numeric focus, which risks controlling and simplifying customers rather than facilitating closer engagement. This analysis suggests ways to better account for what it is that customers buy, why they do so and how to better serve them. Design/methodology/approach Service-dominant logic (SDL) is a marketing ideology that recognises the active role of customers in value creation. Seven customer accounting techniques are appraised against SDL principles to identify strengths and shortfalls in logic and application. Findings Customer accounting techniques align with SDL’s beneficiary-oriented and relational view of customers. Weaker alignment is found regarding a focus on outputs rather than outcomes, silence about the customer’s role in co-creating value and failure to recognise contextual circumstances. Research limitations/implications The analysis uses prototypical descriptions of customer accounting techniques. Actual applications could offset weaknesses or raise other shortfalls. Practical implications For each area of SDL, the authors suggest avenues for integrating SDL into customer accounting using related literature and building on concepts within customer accounting techniques. Originality/value SDL contrasts with the traditional, goods-dominant logic that underscores much of accounting. SDL is used to critically and constructively evaluate customer accounting techniques.


2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 1521-1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Närvänen ◽  
Christina Goulding

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to build a sociocultural perspective of brand revitalization. Maintaining brands and bringing them back to life in the market has received much less interest than their creation. Moreover, the existing literature is dominated by the marketing management paradigm where the company’s role is emphasized. This paper addresses the phenomenon of brand revitalization from a sociocultural perspective and examines the role of consumer collectives in the process. Design/methodology/approach Using a data-driven approach, the study builds on the case of a consumer brand of footwear that has risen to unprecedented popularity without traditional marketing campaigns. Data were generated using an inductive theory building approach utilizing multiple methods, including interviews, participant observation and cultural materials. Findings The paper presents a conceptual model of cultural brand revitalization that has four stages: sleeping brand, spontaneous appropriation, diffusion and convergence. Practical implications Implications for companies in consumer markets are discussed, suggesting ways to facilitate the process of sociocultural brand revitalization. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature first by offering a sociocultural brand revitalization scenario that highlights the interplay between the actions of consumers and the company, second, by examining the interaction between the symbolic meanings associated with the brand and the practices used by consumers and, third, by offering insights into the relevance of national identity in creating brand meaning.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norma D’Annunzio-Green

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a conclusion to the theme issue question “Is talent management a strategic priority in the hospitality sector?” Design/methodology/approach The issues and debates relevant to the strategic question are summarised. Significant themes that have arisen across a number of papers are presented. This provides a clear indication of current issues in strategic talent management which are of relevance to hospitality practitioners and academics. Findings Five recurring themes are identified as being particularly relevant to hospitality organisations when considering a strategic approach to talent management. These are: the role of line mangers in employee development and well-being, talent management being used as a lever for culture change, the importance of contextualising approaches to talent management, the need for new and innovative ways of working to achieve a strategic approach to talent management and barriers for the development of a strategic approach caused by economic and day-to-day operational pressures. Practical implications The paper suggests a number of practical actions which could be taken to develop a more strategic approach to talent management. Originality/value The paper illustrates that hospitality operators understand the importance of a strategic approach to talent management and are using a range of talent management processes to drive business success but that new solutions to long-standing challenges are required.


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