Relationality in the service logic of value creation

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 463-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary FitzPatrick ◽  
Richard J. Varey ◽  
Christian Grönroos ◽  
Janet Davey

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a framework – the Relationality Framework – for elaborating relational behaviour, in response to calls to address the ontological weaknesses identified in the extant value and value creation literature. Design/methodology/approach – The social philosophical understanding of interaction as an organic mode of social organisation, upon which the Relationality Framework is based, supersedes the economistic (mechanistic) understanding of interaction as a means of connecting otherwise independent actors. In foregrounding the relationality of interaction, the authors are inspired by Grönroos and Voima’s (2013) conceptualisation of spheres of value generation to conceptualise the intersubjective dynamics and domains invoked in direct interaction. Findings – The Relationality Framework identifies distinct relational concepts that build on service logic’s specificity and conceptualisation at the level of direct interactions between service providers and customers. In particular, this paper develops the concept of “relationality” using the three domains in any interaction of I, Other and We. Originality/value – The Relationality Framework provides sound conceptual support for extending the theoretical and practical analysis of the value creation processes of the customer and of the firm and for the purposeful management of relationships to enhance value creation by both.

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Matzler ◽  
Franz Bailom ◽  
Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen ◽  
Thomas Kohler

PurposeThis article aims to examine the concept of business model innovation and to discuss the design of the key elements. Based on a detailed case study of Nespresso, it seeks to outline how business model innovation can be implemented successfully.Design/methodology/approachBased on a theoretical conceptualization of a business model, the authors conduct an in‐depth case study to draw conclusions for a successful implementation of a business model innovation.FindingsA business model innovation comprises five components: an innovative, unique positioning, a consistent product and service logic, an appropriate value creation architecture, an effective sales and marketing logic and a profit formula that works. Success is based upon a unique, innovative and coherent design of the business model's components.Originality/valueBased on Nespresso's business model, this paper illustrates what a business model innovation is, what its components are and how they should be designed to create and capture value.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 485-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilliemay Cheung ◽  
Janet R. McColl-Kennedy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a transformative service logic-based framework designed to help researchers and practitioners better understand resource integration in liminal periods. Design/methodology/approach – Using netnography, we show how consumers across four countries integrate resources, adopting different value creation practices following natural disasters. Findings – The authors’ novel framework extends current conceptualizations of social and economic exchange. Following a natural disaster, a state of ‘liminality’ occurs when the market economy is temporarily displaced by the moral economy, transitioning to a new transformative service logic. Research limitations/implications – Important implications for theory and practice are discussed. Originality/value – This research proposes an organizing framework comparing the market economy logic and moral economy logic with the new transformative service logic.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair Marshall ◽  
Udechukwu Ojiako

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to utilise Vilfredo Pareto ' s Machiavellian-realist social theory to provide a distinctive realist philosophical understanding of entrepreneurial risk-taking. By doing so, this paper seeks to stimulate debate and encourage future empirical testing that has the potential to present a richer understanding of entrepreneurial risk-taking. Design/methodology/approach – To establish that a realist perspective can help theorise entrepreneurship, the authors look through a modern day risk and uncertainty optic at the hidden mechanisms within the social world where enterprises operate. Looking from this unique standpoint, where the long established social theory is reinvigorated by contemporary risk philosophy within a shared realist paradigm, human nature equips entrepreneurs with certain “animal spirits” to muddle blindly and instinctually through their risk environments. Findings – The paper argues that this combined perspective unlocks a much richer understanding of entrepreneurial risk-taking, in particular, by capturing more of its behavioural reality and despite our strong emphasis on the inaccessibility and hiddenness of the risk environment to the entrepreneur, by exploring the entrepreneur-risk environment fit in ecological terms. Originality/value – The paper’s unique blend of the classical Italian social theory with the contemporary risk theory offers a novel ecological view of the entrepreneur’s blind (mal) adaptation to their risk environment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-471
Author(s):  
Jorge Cruz-Cárdenas ◽  
Jorge Guadalupe-Lanas ◽  
Ekaterina Zabelina ◽  
Andrés Palacio-Fierro ◽  
Margarita Velín-Fárez ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand in-depth how consumers create value in their lives using WhatsApp, the leading mobile instant messaging (MIM) application. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts the perspective of customer-dominant logic (CDL) and uses a qualitative multimethod design involving 3 focus groups and 25 subsequent in-depth interviews. The research setting was Ecuador, a Latin American country. Findings Analysis and interpretation of the participants’ stories made it possible to identify and understand the creation of four types of value: maintaining and strengthening relationships; improving role performance; emotional support; and entertainment and fun. In addition, the present study proposes a conceptual model of consumer value creation as it applies to MIM. Practical implications Understanding the way consumers create value in their lives using MIM is important not only for organizations that offer MIM applications, but also for those companies that develop other applications for mobile phones or for those who wish to use MIM as an electronic word-of-mouth vehicle. Originality/value The current study is one of the first to address the topic of consumer behavior in the use of technologies from the perspective of CDL; this perspective enables an integrated qualitative vision of value creation in which the consumer is the protagonist.


Author(s):  
Paul Ranson ◽  
Daniel Guttentag

Purpose This study aimed to investigate whether increasing the social presence within an Airbnb lodging environment could nudge guests toward altruistic cleaning behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The study was based around a theoretical framework combining the social-market versus money-market relationship model, nudge theory and social presence theory. A series of three field experiments were conducted, in which social presence was manipulated to test its impact on guest cleaning behaviors prior to departure. Findings The experimental results confirmed the underlying hypothesis that an Airbnb listing’s enhanced social presence can subtly induce guests to help clean their rental units prior to departure. Originality/value This study is the first to examine behavioral nudging in an Airbnb context. It is also one of the first field experiments involving Airbnb. The study findings offer clear theoretical and practical implications.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamini Manikam ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett

Purpose – Despite the importance of theory as a driving framework, many social marketers either fail to explicitly use theory as the basis of designing social marketing interventions or default to familiar theories which may not accurately reflect the nature of the behavioural issue. The purpose of this paper is therefore to propose and demonstrate the social marketing theory (SMT)-based approach for designing social marketing interventions, campaigns or tools. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper proposes a four-step process and illustrates this process by applying the SMT-based approach to the digital component of a social marketing intervention for preventing domestic violence. Findings – For effective social marketing interventions, the underpinning theory must reflect consumer insights and key behavioural drivers and be used explicitly in the design process. Practical implications – Social marketing practitioners do not always understand how to use theory in the design of interventions, campaigns or tools, and scholars do not always understand how to translate theories into practice. This paper outlines a process and illustrates how theory can be selected and applied. Originality/value – This paper proposes a process for theory selection and use in a social marketing context.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Selberherr

Purpose – Sustainable buildings bear enormous potential benefits for clients, service providers, and our society. To release this potential a change in business models is required. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new business model with the objective of proactively contributing to sustainable development on the societal level and thereby improving the economic position of the service providers in the construction sector. Design/methodology/approach – The modeling process comprises two steps, the formal structuring and the contextual configuration. In the formal structuring systems theory is used and two levels are analytically separated. The outside view concerns the business model’s interaction with the environment and its impact on sustainability. The inside view focusses on efficient value creation for securing sustainability. The logically deductively developed business model is subsequently theory-led substantiated with Giddens’ structuration theory. Findings – The relevant mechanisms for the development of a new service offer, which creates a perceivable surplus value to the client and contributes to sustainable development on the societal level, are identified. The requirements for an efficient value creation process with the objective of optimizing the service providers’ competitive position are outlined. Research limitations/implications – The model is developed logically deductively based on literature and embedded in a theoretical framework. It has not yet been empirically tested. Practical implications – Guidelines for the practical implementation of more sustainable business models for the provision of life cycle service offers are developed. Social implications – The construction industry’s impact requires it to contribute proactively to a more sustainable development of the society. Originality/value – This paper analyzes the role for the players in the construction sector in proactively contributing to sustainable development on the societal level. One feasible strategy is proposed with a new business model, which aims at cooperatively optimizing buildings and infrastructures and taking the responsibility for the operating phase via guarantees.


Author(s):  
Gwen Adshead

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the basic features of attachment theory, and explore how they relate to the development of the “social mind” and the work of therapeutic communities (TC). Design/methodology/approach – The author describes the essentials of attachment theory in humans; and the development of both secure and insecure states of mind. The author will set out how insecure attachment systems are associated with deficits in mentalising processes which are fundamental to the activity of the social mind. Findings – The author suggests how attachment to a TC can promote mentalising processes. The author draws on the work of other speakers in the conclusions about how to “grow” secure minds and societies. Research limitations/implications – This paper is a brief over view only and does not address attachment process to TC in any depth. Practical implications – Attachment theory could help both service users and therapists who work in TCs understand some of the difficulties people have in engaging at the start. Attachment theory also gives a guide to what a “good enough” experience in a TC might look like. Originality/value – There is little existing discussion of the application of attachment theory to TCs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline S.L. Tan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine psychological ownership (PO) experienced by followers of social media influencers toward both influencer and the product. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews that were conducted with 30 respondents and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings The study demonstrated that the PO experienced by the follower changes under different conditions resulting from perceived value, social currency and follower activity. Social currency plays a vital role in determining the target of PO, often affecting the narrative by the follower. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the transference of PO between product and influencer as experienced by the follower. It provides an understanding on PO that is experienced in different levels of intensity and changes depending on the motive of the follower; hence, transference of PO occurs and it is not a static.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Koh ◽  
Jonathan Lee

Purpose To show different ways the Singapore Variable Capital Company (“VCC”) can be employed and utilized. Design/methodology/approach Describes how the Singapore VCC can be used in master-feeder structures, umbrella structures, a “plug-and-play” model, sub-fund structures with different assets and different investors, open-ended structures, and structures that allow for tokenization of securities and the offering of VCC shares as digital securities. Findings The flexibility of the VCC allows it to be used across different fund strategies, investor classes and asset classes. Originality/value Practical analysis, guidance and market commentary from experienced investment funds lawyers.


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