Other approaches

In addition to S-D logic, service logic, and Service Science, some other approaches have been introduced to bring additional insight and perspectives into the subject field of value co-creation. These include, for example, many-to-many marketing, new service development, and postmodern marketing that are here briefly reviewed to illustrate the variety and the diverse nature of the discussion around value co-creation.

Many-to-many marketing employs a network orientation by emphasizing the role of customer networks and identifying the importance of the multitude of actors such as intermediaries, employees, neighbors, and society in general in the co-creation of value. According to Gummesson (2007; see also 2008a; 2008c; for a more recent elaboration, see Gummesson, 2011), it is not enough to focus only on the dyadic relationship, for the variety of different actors involved in the value creation should be recognized as well. Thus, the nodes, links, relationships and interactions between these actors form the basis for the co-creation of value.

During the last couple of years, the co-creation framework has received a great amount of contributions from the new service development stream of literature – a research field that has to a large extent evolved independently and aside from the evolution of S-D logic or other service-related approaches to value co-creation.

Following the widely acknowledged shift toward more active customers, firms are

increasingly engaging customers in their new product/service development processes. When developing new products and services, firms have traditionally engaged in various forms of marketing research (O’Hern & Rindfleish, 2009).

However, to uncover the latent and hidden needs of customers, traditional survey methods may prove to be inadequate in obtaining a deep understanding of the customer preferences. The risk of a mismatch between the product and the customers may be realized as the information about customer needs and wants does not transmit correctly. Thus, firms are more motivated to engage customers in new service development processes to uncover the true needs and wants of the customers and to provide better service for them. Partly due to the recent technological advancements and the rise of the Internet the active utilization of customer resources has gained added momentum, which has been of interest to the researchers as well (see e.g. Magnusson, Matthing, & Kristensson, 2003; Matthing et al., 2006;

Kristensson, Matthing, & Johansson, 2008; Kristensson, Gustafsson, & Archer, 2004).

A postmodern approach to value co-creation is depicted, for example, in the writings of Bendapudi and Leone (2003) who have identified that the interpretive marketing literature provides a broader perspective on the co-creation framework (see also Humphreys & Grayson, 2008). Other researchers such as Firat, Dholakia and Venkatesh (1995, 42; see also Firat &Venkatesh, 1995; 1993) have suggested that one of the characteristics of the postmodern era is the reversal of production and consumption:

The reversal in production and consumption arise from production losing its privileged status in culture and consumption becoming the means through which individuals define their self-images for themselves as well as to others; marketing, of course, being the primary institution which reinforces this trend.

The postmodern approach also acknowledges the shift toward more tailored goods and services offered to the consumer, “who takes elements of market offerings and crafts a customized consumption experience out of these” (Firat, Dholakia, &

Venkatesh, 1995, 50). Customers demand a more active role in production; to fulfill this emerging need and allow consumers’ active participation marketers are forced to open up more of their processes (Firat &Venkatesh, 1995; see also Bendapudi&

Leone, 2003). The consumer has gained the privileged status that was previously accorded to the producer (Bendapudi &Leone, 2003). However, as consumption is increasingly viewed as a production process “it can no longer be performed instinctively, naturally, without development of special skills” (Firat, Dholakia, &

Venkatesh, 1995, 52). The postmodern perspective to value co-creation acknowledges that the product can not be regarded as a “finished” object. On the contrary, it should be considered as a process “into which the ‘customer’ can immerse oneself and provide inputs” (Firat, Dholakia, & Venkatesh, 1995, 51; see also Auh et al., 2007).

More recently, Edvardsson, Tronvoll and Gruber (2011) have proposed a social contructionist approach to value co-creation. On the basis of combining principles of S-D logic and social construction theories they offer propositions for expanding the understanding of service exchange and value co-creation. They emphasize value as a social construction, as value-in-social-context; i.e. value co-creation is considered as firmly placed in a social context.

The collective effort among scholars to develop S-D logic and the value co-creation concept has to a large extent been consistent. There are, however, few exceptions that challenge the superiority of the contemporary approaches. Zwick, Bonsu and Darmody (2008) have focused on exploring the ideological aspects of value co-creation. They target their critique at how customers are being used as an autonomous, unpaid, and creative workforce. By critically reviewing the role of marketing as facilitating recent developments they argue that marketing focuses on drawing consumers completely not only into the production process, but into the innovation process as well. By engaging customers into these processes, companies not only exploit consumers as workforce but also reduce the risk of consumer behavior evolving in ways other than prescribed by the firm (De Certeau, 1984;

Lury, 2004). By using examples such as Youtube, Second Life and Build-a-Bear Workshop, Zwick, Bonsu and Darmody (2008, 184) argue the following:

Co-creation represents more than merely a further push towards customization, the mantra of traditional marketing. Co-creation, as a set of organization strategies and discursive procedures aimed at reconfiguring social relations of production, works through the freedom of the consumer subject with the objective of encouraging and capturing the know-how of this creative common.

To a large extent, there is thus a disconnection between academic discourse on co-creation and the reality of highly rationalized and dehumanized service production and distribution (Ritzer, 2004).

To conclude, reviewing these distinct approaches to value co-creation illustrates the diverse nature of the concept and the fact that the discussion is not limited within the service research framework.