The Service Ecosystem Nature of a Logistic Network for Value Co-Creation
Event Title
proceedings of 16th EBES Conference
Year (definitive publication)
2015
Language
English
Country
Turkey
More Information
Abstract
In a business to business context the service for service perspective could be explored by understanding the interaction occurring within and between the service systems where they belong to. Exploring the nature and dynamic of the interactions that exist in the system is of utmost importance to get a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of value co-creation process in a service network. In doing so, it was possible to find answers to the research question “How can an actor act as a network resource integrator supporting the formulation of a customer’s business problem?” posed.
Considering the scope of this research Service Science theory was used as a framework as it is its intent to understand how service systems interact for co-creating value. The SD Logic was also important in this research as a theoretical framework as it incorporates a collaborative and experiential nature as well as a system based view of value co-creation. Given the nature of the phenomena under the scope of this study a qualitative research approach was chosen.
The research findings allowed obtaining a deeper understanding not only on the relationship dynamics between the provider and its customer but also between the former and the other actors of the network with which the provider is able to integrate resources. The results suggest that the higher the integration between actors, in terms of processes, technology and people, the easier it will be for the provider to be able to influence the process output and therefore to co-create more value with its customer. Furthermore, the provider’s ability to understand the context and use this knowledge to formulate the customer’s problem and eventually continue offering a solution that maximizes the value-in-social-context realized by the customer is subjacent to a change in the supplier’s role. This change is fundamental to maintain a fruitful relationship with its customers by becoming a value co-creator and to obtain a competitive advantage in the market.
Acknowledgements
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Keywords
service-dominant logic, service exchange, value co-creation, solutions business, service system