Managing Value Co-Creation Through Interfaces with Suppliers

Abstract

The growing specialization of firms and the reinforcement of vertical disintegration have led to an increasing reliance on purchasing and supply management. This means that an increasing proportion of value is created outside the boundaries of the firm, namely by suppliers. In this context, the paper aims to relate the configuration of the bonds companies establish with their suppliers to the process of value creation. On the basis of a case study approach, the paper furthers our understanding of buyer-supplier relationships as mechanisms for the coordination and development of capabilities on both sides of the dyad. Evidence was found that relationships affect not only the access and exploration of suppliers' resources, but also the perception the buying firm has about their capabilities which is likely to condition the potential for joint value creation. The main contribution of the paper is that co-creating value with suppliers is not a recipe. It is not the 'right' solution in all instances. Rather, value co-creation involving suppliers must be regarded as a strategic option which depends on several conditions. This research puts in evidence two of these conditions: suppliers' capabilities and the way the buyer-seller relationships are configured.

Building industrial brand equity by leveraging firm capabilities and co-creating value with customers

“…Saarijärvi (2012) explore the strategic implications of value cocreation by investigating the possibilities of different value co-creation mechanisms from the perspectives of economic, functional, emotional, and symbolic customer value propositions. Roseira and Brito (2014) find that joint value creation must be regarded as a strategic option, which depends on two conditions: suppliers' capabilities and the way the buyer-seller relationships are configured.…”

Is co-created value the only legitimate value? An institutional-theory perspective on business interaction in B2B-marketing systems

“…Numerous examples of co-creation experiences in B2B marketing highlight the role that combined customer-supplier resources and capabilities play in co-creating legitimate value through interaction, relationships, partnerships and alliances (Ulaga, 2001;Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola, 2012;O'Cass and Ngo, 2012;Roseira and Brito, 2014) or the role that buyerseller co-creation and integration of sustainability awareness play in business-network value co-creation (Lacoste, 2016). Heinonen et al (2010Heinonen et al ( , 2013 point out that value co-creation can occur beyond the visible providercustomer interactions.…”

Trust-building mechanisms in a coopetition relationship: a case study design

“…The coopetition phenomenon has been studied for more than two decades (Bengtsson and Kock, 2014) and from various perspectives, for example, as a strategy to co-create value; in more productive relationships (Roseira and Brito, 2014); in processes of innovation and knowledge-sharing (Ritala and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, 2013); in research into the benefits and risks of coopetition (Ilvonen and Vuori, 2013); and in studies about the tensions in coopetition (Raza-Ullah et al , 2014; Tidström, 2014).…”