Toni Hilton

Value propositions: A service ecosystems perspective

Despite significant interest in value propositions, there is limited agreement about their nature and role. Moreover, there is little understanding of their application to today’s increasingly interconnected and networked world. The purpose of this article is to explore the nature of value propositions, extending prior conceptualisations by taking a service ecosystem perspective. Following a critical review of the extant literature in service science on value propositions, value co-creation, service-dominant logic and networks and drawing on six metaphors that provide insights into the nature of value propositions, we develop a new conceptualisation. The role of value propositions is then explored in terms of resource offerings between actors within micro, meso and macro levels of service ecosystems. We illustrate these perspectives with two real-world exemplars. We describe the role of value propositions in an ecosystem as a shaper of resource offerings. Finally, we provide five key premises and outline a research agenda.

Service co-creation and value realisation

Abstract The notion of value co-creation is central to the discourse of Service-Dominant Logic (S-D logic) yet there remains little agreement among academics seeking to explain or research the value co-creation process. We distinguish service co-creation from the S-D logic notion of value co-creation, and conceptualise service co-creation as a process comprising value potential, resource integration, and resource modification. Value, being a personal evaluative judgement, cannot be co-created; rather it is realised by actors as an outcome of service co-creation. We define service co-creation as planned resource integration behaviours by actors intended to realise a value proposition. We provide guidance to assist practitioners seeking to enhance the value their customers might realise.

Marketing bequest club membership : An exploratory study of legacy pledgers

Although bequest income accounts for 9% of overall giving in the United States many nonprofits continue to focus their solicitation efforts on the very wealthy, ignoring the bulk of the fund-raising database. In this study the authors work with three large nonprofits operating bequest societies and using direct marketing to solicit gifts from across their fund-raising database. They compare the profiles of their bequest pledgers with nonpledgers to determine whether individuals willing to offer a bequest may be demographically or attitudinally distinct. Developing a discriminant function they correctly classify 77.1% of 624 respondents to a postal survey of 3,000 donors and/or pledgers. Legacy pledgers appear significantly more likely to be seeking a means of reciprocation, are more concerned that the organization be performing well, and are more concerned with the quality of communications they receive. The fund-raising implications of their analysis are explored.

Co-production and self-service: The application of Service-Dominant Logic

Abstract Service-Dominant Logic (S-D logic) theory and related literature is reviewed to demonstrate S-D logics potential to provide new insights for understanding an important contemporary issue in service delivery: the application of self-service technology (SST) to customer service. S-D logic considers operant resources to be the key to gaining a competitive advantage. Consequently, the most important aspect of the application of SST is the requirement for the customer to provide the operant resource at the point of transaction. It is argued that the implementation of SST could be improved by encompassing an understanding of the resources available to the customer and the value (or lack of value) experienced by the customer in using SST. Gaps in existing knowledge are identified, particularly in relation to the application of SST in business-to-business (B2B) contexts. An agenda for further research is outlined and a range of management implications are discussed.

Leveraging operant resources of consumers: improving customer experiences or productivity?

This article explores the application of Service-Dominant logic to the provision of services and the implications for the consumer experience of services. In particular this paper considers the potential for the principles of S-D logic to undermine the consumer experience of services. The particular context examined here is that of the rapidly growing provision of self-service. Service organisations that rely upon the operant resources of customers to co-produce, rather than co-create, the service are cautioned to consider the customer experience. When service organisations concentrate on the operant resources of their customers there is a danger that the focus will be on improving customer productivity, to gain a competitive advantage through reduced servicing costs, which may result in lowering the perceived quality of the consumer experience. There is a need to distinguish between the co-production, or task-performance aspects, and the value co-creation process, or value-attributing aspects of the consumer service experience.

Does the marketing curriculum reflect the importance of services marketing for practitioners

Given the growth of the service sector and the increased importance of service marketing thinking for practitioners we are interested in learning how far this development is reflected within the marketing curriculum delivered within UK universities. Our qualitative research explores the subject with expert respondents who have an overview of the marketing curriculum within a number of UK universities. Of particular interest is our finding of great variation in the degree to which services marketing is considered sufficiently important to integrate within the core marketing curriculum. Equally worthy of note is the suggestion that the degree to which services marketing thinking is successfully integrated within core marketing curricula will vary greatly depending on who is responsible for curriculum design and delivery. Given the rising importance of service industries we suggest that our students, who will be the marketing practitioners of the future, will benefit from greater integration of services marketing theory within the core marketing curriculum.

Why clients need, rather than want, lawyers

This article presents, and discusses, factors that create client dependency upon lawyers and considers whether commercial and private client relationships are subject to the same influences. Lawyers, among other professionals, have proved themselves to be reluctant converts to the need to adopt market-oriented, or customer-facing, strategies with many still paying lip service to the need to adapt to the newly competitive environment. Many lawyers still equate marketing with advertising, or public relations, and do not appreciate the extent to which a marketing philosophy can provide law firms with strategies for developing their business. In fairness, manymarketing practitioners focus on advertising and PR too, but these activities are more appropriate to the manufacture of branded goods than the provision of services. The rise in importance of service industries led marketing practitioners to extend the principles of marketing, developed within the context of mass manufacturing branded products, to that of delivering, or performing, services. Within this context the emphasis moves away from building powerful global brands towards building profitable relationships with individual customers. This is referred to as relationship marketing and is the business philosophy which “refocuses marketing strategy away from products and their life cycles towards customer relationship life cycles” (Palmer, 1996, p. 19). Following Levitt’s suggestion (1983) that effective relationship marketing can have “spectacular” (p. 92) results for an organisation, the emphasis within marketing shifted away from gaining customers towards keeping customers. The prevailing view is that loyal/committed customers provide organisations with greater market share, cash flow and profits; cost less to service; spread positive word-of-mouth; buy more; buy more frequently; and are less price sensitive (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990; Schelsinger & Heskett, 1991; Reichheld, 1993; Heskett et al., 1994; Dick & Basu, 1994; Reichheld, 1996). These are compelling reasons for lawyers to adopt relationship marketing strategies. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION, VOL. 12, NO. 1, MARCH 2005

Client defection in the design industry: a study of the causes, process and context of switching agencies

This paper explores the factors that cause client defection in the graphic design industry within the context of the business relationship in which it takes place. The paper examines the literature pertaining to defection and relationship dynamics. It highlights studies that demonstrate the financial benefits of customer retention while bemoaning the fact that few organizations seem to understand the importance of developing long-term relationships. A qualitative approach was adopted for the primary research. The findings show that the most common reasons for switching are dissatisfaction with either pricing or design quality. A new model of switching behaviour is proposed, together with a set of practical measures that design agencies can instigate to reduce the likelihood of defection. The implications of this study suggest that design agencies should encourage more active and cooperative participation in the relationship by clients.

Managing customer perceptions of the business environment for competitive advantage

How customer perceptions of the business environment influence customer behaviours is an under-researched area. We conceptualise customer behaviour as a response to perceptions of the business environment and categorise these as either functional or dysfunctional depending upon the potential impact on the organisation. Bendapudi and Berry (1997) propose a framework that links specific customer behaviours to either the presence of trust or perceived dependence. However, we argue that some business environments may be more likely to result in functional or dysfunctional customer behaviours as a result of greater perceived dependency, irrespective of whether customers trust their service providers, or business partners. The findings of a qualitative study of legal service clients are used to propose the need to contextualise the Bendapudi and Berry framework to enhance its applicability to practice. We posit practical steps for managing customer perceptions to reduce the negative impact of customer behaviours associated with dependence on provider organisations.

The link between perceptions of power and client behaviours

This article considers the influence that client perceptions of power may have on client behaviours and proposes that lawyers have much to gain from the effective management of client perceptions. The premise of the paper is that in a competitive marketplace lawyers can gain an advantage if they are able to encourage more clients to exhibit behaviours that have a positive, rather than negative, outcome for their firm. This article extends the understanding of factors that create dependency upon lawyers beyond those identified by Hilton and Migdal (2005) and confirms the importance of trust within the lawyer-client relationship. Individuals maintain relationships either because they genuinely want to or because they believe they have no other option (Johnson, 1982). However, the influence that these motives might have on client behaviours has received little attention, particularly within the professional services context. Bendapudi and Berry (1997) hypothesize that the two motives result in different client behaviours because they either create perceptions of dependence or trust. They associate the ‘want to stay’ motive with the presence of trust and link this to behaviours that have a positive impact on the organisation positing that less positive behaviours arise as a result of client perceived dependence. If some client behaviours have a greater positive impact on organisations than other behaviours then organisations able to encourage ‘good’ behaviours while minimising the ‘bad’ behaviours will gain an advantage within a competitive marketplace. If positive impact behaviours rely on the presence of trust while negative impact behaviours arise from the perception of dependence, then it becomes important to explore how legal relationships are perceived by clients, in terms of relational power. It is within this context that this paper addresses the following questions: what, if any, role does the perception of power play and is there a link between client perception of power and client behaviours within client-lawyer relationships? INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION, VOL. 14, NO. 1, MARCH 2007