Hannu Saarijärvi

Value co‐creation: theoretical approaches and practical implications

Purpose – Existing research suggests a multitude of approaches to value co‐creation that bring with them a range of different ideas on what constitutes the concept. The purpose of this paper is to identify the sources of the differing approaches, and so reduce the complexity of the concept and develop a business‐oriented analytical framework for assessing the opportunities presented by value co‐creation.Design/methodology/approach – Through exploration of the different theoretical approaches to value co‐creation the sources of friction are identified. Addressing the conceptual complexity provides a sound basis for the development of a business‐oriented analytical framework.Findings – The multifaceted nature of value co‐creation arises owing to the differing approaches to what determines the value, the co‐, and the creation elements of the concept. The study concludes that both scholars and practitioners should focus more on identifying and understanding what kind of value is co‐created for whom, using wha...

Reverse use of customer data: implications for service-based business models

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...

Customer relationship management: the evolving role of customer data

Purpose – Customer relationship management (CRM) developed a separate identity as a result of companies utilising customer data in managing customer relationships. In this evolution, CRM became a heavily company-oriented construct: customer data were used instrumentally to serve companies’ purposes. However, as companies increasingly shift attention from selling products to serving customers, traditional CRM activities, such as segmentation and cross-selling, may prove inappropriate owing to their inherent orientation towards selling more products to customers. The perspective on customer data usage needs to better address the strategic goal of serving customers. Consequently, the purpose of the paper is to reconfigure the role of customer data within the CRM framework. Design/methodology/approach – CRM literature is briefly reviewed and a case study is conducted to empirically illustrate how customer data can be used also for the benefit of the customer. Findings – As a result, four CRM waves are identif...

Extending customer relationship management: from empowering firms to empowering customers

Purpose – The focus of customer relationship management (CRM) literature has been predominantly on the firm perspective and on IT, not on customer or service orientation and value co‐creation. This paper seeks to explore and analyse contemporary CRM frameworks and suggests future research directions. To achieve this, a thorough literature review on CRM is conducted focusing on recent advances within CRM. This provides a good basis for critically analysing the current status of both CRM theory and practice.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews CRM literature published 2003‐2011. Based on the literature review, it introduces a conceptual framework of the changing role of customer data in the CRM framework.Findings – Literature has not adequately addressed the role of the emerging service orientation, value co‐creation and the opportunities provided by new technology and communication channels. Drawing on a thorough CRM literature review, we argue that a fundamental change in CRM thinking is needed...

Disentangling customer orientation – executive perspective

Purpose – Despite the fact that customer orientation is increasingly used as a strategic guideline to ensure companies’ long-term success, it is too often left at conceptual level without any managerial or executive translation. To address this practical gap, the purpose of the paper is to build an executive perspective on customer orientation through the mechanism of customer value dimensions. Design/methodology/approach – An intensive case study from a successful retail service business is used to illustrate how customer orientation is applied in actual strategic decision making at the executive level. The case business is a multi-sector service business that took a strategic turn toward customer orientation in the 2000s. As a result, the company has been able to increase their market share to become the market leader as well as stay ahead of the competition and increase customer loyalty. Findings – The study provides a practical tool of disentangling customer orientation into four customer value dimens...

Customer perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty: the role of willingness to share information

Abstract This study proposes and tests an integrative model to examine the relationships among customers’ willingness to share information, satisfaction, perceived value, and loyalty in a retailing context. This study extends research on customers’ willingness to share information from trust and privacy concerns toward key outcome measures such as perceived value, customer satisfaction, and loyalty, and is thus among the first to model customers’ willingness to share information with companies in robust theoretical retailing frameworks. The proposed relationships were tested using data from two retailing contexts – groceries (N = 429) and do-it-yourself (DIY) (N = 895). Findings from the two samples suggest that both perceived value and satisfaction are significant determinants of customers’ willingness to share information with a company. Although some differences emerge in the two studies, structural modeling largely supports the hypothesized framework and positions customers’ willingness to share information as an important antecedent of their loyalty intentions and behavior. This study provides practitioners with preliminary insight into the relationship between willingness to share information and perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. This study advances retailing research, as it is one of the few empirical studies investigating the role of customers’ willingness to share information in driving loyalty and its relationship with perceived value and satisfaction in a retailing context.

Challenges for B2B research relevance: a top executive perspective

Purpose – The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze the challenges of business-to-business (B2B) research relevance from the point of view of top executives. Design/methodology/approach – Ten in-depth interviews with top executives from different B2B industries were conducted and analyzed by using Arndt’s (1985) elements of a healthy discipline, i.e. knowledge, problems and instruments. Findings – The findings reveal 12 challenges that characterize contemporary B2B research relevance from a top executive perspective. Research limitations/implications – The research offers genuine top executive insight. More research from different perspectives is needed to broaden the understanding of B2B research relevance. Originality/value – Reflecting B2B research with the identified challenges can contribute to better research designs, narrowing the gap between B2B scholars and practitioners. Altogether, it contributes to the health of the B2B discipline. The study also introduces a new approach to analyz...

Unlocking the transformative potential of customer data in retailing

Abstract Retailers collect, process, and use large amounts of data about customers: what they buy, how they buy, when they buy – and when customer loyalty cards are used – who buys the product or service. The use of customer data within the customer relationship management (CRM) framework has largely remained one sided. The potential of customer data for the benefit of the customer’s well-being still needs to be addressed. Reverse use of customer data, i.e. the process of firms converting customer data into information that is meaningful for the customers, extends attention toward using customer data for the benefit of the customer. In addition, selling goods to customers retailers can revise customer data into relevant and meaningful information that can support their well-being. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to identify and illustrate the transformative potential of the reverse use of customer data in retailing. This is achieved by reviewing literature on CRM, S-D logic, and transformative consumer research, and conducting a case study of a food retailer using point-of-sale data to provide customers with information about the healthfulness of their food purchases. Anonymous customer feedback data is collected and analyzed, and as a result, the transformative potential of customer data is reflected through five themes: self-monitoring, enhanced diet, food literacy, peace of mind, and beyond food healthfulness. These themes illustrate customers’ well-being outcomes resulting from reverse use of customer data.

Omni-channel retailing: propositions, examples and solutions

Abstract Customers are not passive agents, but intrinsic to the value creation process. Because retailers are the customer’s link to the marketplace they are uniquely placed to develop value co-creation opportunities that give themselves a strategic advantage. Omni-channel retailing is a means to create an advantage by forging deeper customer relationships and potentially developing new markets. Omni-channel retailing can appeal to the heterogeneity in customers’ shopping orientations with the aim of providing a seamless cross-channel experience. However, without a clear strategic purpose, omni-channel initiatives can easily result in unbeneficial – or worse, counterproductive – investments. To address this, the purpose of this paper is to formulate guiding principles to facilitate decision-making with respect to developing an omni-channel marketing strategy. Consequently, two complementary research streams are presented. The first pertains to strategic considerations regarding omni-channel retailing; the second pertains to value co-creation as seen through a service-dominant logic lens. These research streams are then linked to derive five propositions– along with examples and solutions – to assist retailing decision-makers when developing an omni-channel marketing strategy. These propositions underline the importance of viewing channels as value-facilitating resources that should be aligned with the customer’s decision journey.

Customer Value in the Sharing Economy Platform: The Airbnb Case

The sharing economy is a platform-based business model in which users are directly connected for creation, sharing, and exchange of goods or services that draw on underused resources. While this emerging phenomenon has been studied from several perspectives, including the technical, social, and economic, limited investigation has been conducted from the customer perspective. A study was carried out to narrow this research gap by applying the customer viewpoint to explore and analyse how the sharing economy reconfigures value creation. To reach the goal for this research, an interpretive approach was taken to the case of Airbnb. Customers’ experiences of using the sharing economy were examined to disentangle the economic, functional, emotional, and symbolic benefits and sacrifices that together capture the diversity of customer-perceived value of the sharing economy. Customer value is discussed as an important conceptual tool to identify and pinpoint the distinguishing characteristics of the sharing economy and to explore how conventional businesses and emerging sharing-economy platforms can recognise and capitalise on their competitive advantages. While the sharing economy gives customers alternatives that involve easier consumption methods at lower cost, it also provides a unique, personal, and socially integrated experience. This can contribute to values that extend beyond traditional hospitality management and thus imbue sharing-economy platforms with a unique and sustainable competitive advantage.