Why top managements must change their fundamental assumptions

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;

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irshad Ali ◽  
Sumit Lodhia ◽  
Anil K. Narayan

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the use of legitimacy strategies via the usage of photographic disclosures in sustainability reporting as an attempt towards creating value. Design/methodology/approach This study used visual content analysis to identify disclosure trends and value creation themes from sustainability-related photographs in the annual and sustainability reports of Fonterra Co-operative Group over a ten-year period. The findings were interpreted using legitimacy theory. Findings The findings show a significant increase in the usage of photographs to legitimise and reinforce the organisation’s sustainability messages. The photographs are dominated by images signalling to stakeholders’ positive sustainability messages, as a systematic method for managing stakeholder expectations to maintain, gain and even repair legitimacy. A majority of photographs have supporting textual narrative, which could be construed as an attempt by the company to make their sustainability messages explicit and provide greater legitimacy of activities and performance with the ultimate aim of enhancing organisational value. Research limitations/implications This study contributes towards an in-depth understanding of attempts at seeking legitimacy and creating organisational value through the systematic usage of photographic disclosures in sustainability reporting. Practical implications This study has the potential to inform stakeholders on linkages between sustainability photographs, value creation and legitimacy. It can help inform and assist report preparers, designers and users on the potential of photographs as a substantive medium to manage legitimacy in sustainability reporting. Originality/value This paper adds to the scant literature on the growing use of photographs as a value adding apparatus in sustainability reporting. This paper also extends the applicability of legitimacy theory to visual disclosure and suggests that legitimacy can be systematically sought to create value.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica De Santis ◽  
Claudia Presti

PurposeThis paper aims to give an integrated framework for analysing the main opportunities and threats related to the exploitation of Big Data (BD) technologies within intellectual capital (IC) management.Design/methodology/approachBy means of a structured literature review (SLR) of the extant literature on BD and IC, the study identified distinctive opportunities and challenges of BD technologies and related them to the traditional dimensions of IC.FindingsThe advent of BD has not radically changed the risks and opportunities of IC management already highlighted in previous literature. However, it has significantly amplified their magnitude and the speed with which they manifest themselves. Thus, a revision of the traditional managerial solutions needed to face them is required.Research limitations/implicationsThe developed framework can contribute to academic discourse on BD and IC as a starting point to understanding how BD can be turned into intangible assets from a value creation perspective.Practical implicationsThe framework can also represent a useful decision-making tool for practitioners in identifying and evaluating the main opportunities and threats of an investment in BD technologies for IC management.Originality/valueThe paper responds to the call for more research on the integration of BD discourse in the fourth stage of IC research. It intends to improve this understanding of how BD technologies can be exploited to create value from an IC perspective, focussing not only on the potential of BD for creating value but also on the challenges that it poses to organizations.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Leavy

Purpose In his new book Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance, Felix Oberholzer-Gee offers business leaders and strategists guidance on a basic idea: unless an initiative creates value for customers, employees or suppliers, it is a waste of time and resources. Design/methodology/approach In this interview with S&L contributing editor Brian Leavy, Prof. Felix Oberholzer-Gee explains: “All you need to ask is, ‘Can my organization create differentiated value, can we raise customer willingness-to-pay (WTP) or lower employee and supplier willingness-to-sell (WTS)?’”. Findings Value-based strategy is “back-to-basics” in the sense that the approach insists on value creation as the foundation for every activity in the business. Practical/implications A comprehensive understanding of employees’ work lives is likely to reveal many chances to create value. Originality/value The interview explains why and how firms should seek to exceed expectations where it counts, and sustain excellence by diverting resources from lower-ranked value drivers.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Brege ◽  
Daniel Kindström

Purpose To successfully create customer value, firms must use coherent market strategies and perform value-creating activities that enable them to develop solutions to customers’ needs. However, as firms exhibit differences in how they approach value creation, their market strategies will also differ. These differences among market strategies can be described through different combinations of proactivity and responsiveness, representing each firm’s value-creation logic. This study aims to increase understanding of how firms can improve the effectiveness of their market strategies by considering their associated value-creation logics. Design/methodology/approach The authors conceptualize market strategies as coherent sets of value-creating activities. While the types of activities within a market strategy are driven by a firm’s strategic orientations, how these activities are performed is influenced by its value-creation logic. With this as the foundation, the authors develop a conceptual typology of archetypal market strategies based on the different value-creation logics that influence them. Findings The authors propose four distinct market strategies – habitual, visionary, adaptive and ambidextrous – representing unique ways in which value-creation logics influence the formation of market strategies. Furthermore, the authors highlight the need for activities to reflect consistent value-creation logics to create coherent market strategies and the authors provide an exploration of the activities that enable firms to implement different types of market strategies. Originality/value The typology expands the concept of market strategy, introducing the idea of a value-creation logic of proactivity and responsiveness, and thus demonstrating the need for more in-depth consideration of the value-creating activities that constitute market strategies to better understand how firms can create superior customer value.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Grossi ◽  
Jarmo Vakkuri ◽  
Massimo Sargiacomo

PurposeDrawing upon theoretical insights on value creation perspectives, the authors aim to advance the understanding of performance and accountability in different hybrid organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conceptualise common theoretical origins of hybrid organisations and how they create and enact value, by reflecting on the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ) special issue articles. Furthermore, the authors propose an agenda for future research into accounting, performance and accountability for hybrid organisations.FindingsHybrid organisations can be conceptualised through their approaches to value creation (mixing, compromising and legitimising). This article provides a more detailed understanding of accounting, performance and accountability changes in hybrid organisations.Practical implicationsThis contribution also has relevant practical implications for actors, such as politicians, managers, professionals, auditors, controllers and accountants, encased in various hybrid organisations, policy contexts and multi-faceted interfaces between public, private and civil society.Originality/valueHybridity lenses reveal novel connections between different types of hybrid organisations and how they create and enact multiple values.


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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 36-38

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings It is said that Latin America is one of the hardest places in which to do business, and within Latin America as well as considering the differing challenges that Argentina or Columbia may present, Brazil is perhaps the most difficult place to go to in order to develop trade and commercial agreements. In addition to the different language as compared to the rest of the region, there is a very specific culture and life view that will be wholly alien to many business people, whether they are from developed or developing countries around the world. Practical implications The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin C. Read ◽  
Andrew Carswell

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of real estate executives to assess the extent to which property management is viewed as a commodity or as a value-added professional service contributing positively to investment performance and property value maximization.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative analysis draws on the result of 93 semi-structured interviews conducted with executives employed by some of the largest real estate investment management and service firms across the USA.FindingsThe findings suggest that significant perceptual cleavages exist in the real estate industry, with some executives believing property managers are incredibly important to the value creation process and others believing they play a much more modest role.Practical implicationsThe results highlight the need for the property management industry as whole to continue its efforts to gain recognition as a value-added professional service and for individual property management companies to actively take steps to differentiate themselves from competitors if they hope to avoid commodification and fee compression.Originality/valueThe study is the first to the authors’ knowledge to examine real estate executives’ perspectives about the roles property managers play in the value creation process, as well as their views about whether property managers have the skills and autonomy required to make value accretive decisions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 868-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Brozovic ◽  
Fredrik Nordin ◽  
Daniel Kindström

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the subject-specific literature on service and flexibility and derive a conceptualization of the linkages between provider flexibility and customers’ value creation. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze existing perspectives on service and flexibility and propose linkages between provider flexibility and customer value creation. Findings Drawing on the service logic literature, and utilizing real-world examples, this paper advances propositions and a conceptual model of how flexibility can contribute to value creation. Research limitations/implications This paper establishes the basis for a practical and applicable flexibility perspective on value creation. It is particularly important for service-oriented providers and other firms operating in dynamic contexts. Practical implications The propositions and conceptual model offer suggestions on the manner in which provider flexibility contributes to customer value creation. Contextual influences that moderate provider flexibility in value creation are also included. Originality/value This paper contributes a novel perspective on service, which may serve as the starting point for the development of a more formal flexibility perspective on value creation.


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