Towards a service-led relationship in project-based firms

Project-based firms increasingly apply practices that are in line with relationship marketing (RM), which is a shift from individuality to mutuality, and service-dominant logic (SDL), which is a shift from a focus on goods exchange to an emphasis on service exchange. These firms also adopt value co-creation processes, benefiting from both RM and SDL views. However, their overall transition towards RM, SDL and/or both is not clearly understood. Therefore, the research aim is to explain how and why project-based firms have moved away from transitional marketing. A retrospective action research between 2002 and 2009 provides process data on how a single main contractor adapted their marketing approach over five publicly funded projects within the oil, gas and petrochemical industries. The findings show that the uniqueness and dynamics of projects necessitate the adoption of both SDL and RM, a view that is entitled the service-led relationship here. This transition occurs through services expansion, multi-level distributed interactions and process-oriented performance management in projects. The firm enabled the transition through the evolution of both institutional mechanisms such as contracts and organizational structure, and people attributes such as capabilities and culture

Managing value co-creation/destruction: a longitudinal education capital programme/project case study

Drawing on a longitudinal empirical study of an education capital programme/project, this paper investigates value interactions at the interface between programme customers, project stakeholders and construction providers. It provides empirical evidence that value formation is not only associated with value co-creation, but also with value co-destruction. The case study showed that a mature and synergistic network relationship (that successfully aligned the expectations of a strong key account management team (KAM team), multi-headed customer and wider project stakeholders) could, if not well managed, turn into incongruent relationships, relationship uncoupling and resource withdrawal. These findings suggest that project managers must drive strong KAM team relationships, so that they can align and adapt to customer requirements, and control the response to often changing wider stakeholder expectations

When Service Ecosystems Collapse: Understanding the Demise of the UK Green Deal

The concept of the service ecosystem is increasingly being drawn upon to explain the drivers, occurrences and consequences of socio-economic actors’ service exchanges towards value creation. Existing research has proposed how service ecosystems may successfully transform, but no work to our knowledge has examined how transformations may fail. To address this gap, this paper examines how a service ecosystem fails to transform and survive by developing a conceptual framework based on the concept of entropy from systems theory. A series of propositions are formulated, linking inadequate management of entropy to a service ecosystem’s subsequent state of disorder and collapse. The conceptual framework is illustrated through a unique case: the introduction and demise of the Green Deal in the UK. We propose that entropy is intrinsically embedded in systems’ trajectories and can be understood as the tendency towards loss of value co-creation. The viability of a service ecosystem depends on its capacity to reduce entropy, which requires continuous action to import resources from the environment, achieve heteropathic resource integration and/or re-institutionalise. Where systemic actors and networks of actors within the system fail to manage increasing entropy, resources from the system are dissipated back to the environment and institutional arrangements collapse

The effect of overconfidence and underconfidence on consumer value

Although the effect of knowledge miscalibration (i.e., the inaccuracy in subjective knowledge relative to objective knowledge) on consumer purchase decisions has been investigated, its effect in the usage stage of consumption is little understood. This paper examines the effect of knowledge miscalibration in terms of both overconfidence (i.e., when subjective knowledge is inflated) and underconfidence (i.e., when subjective knowledge is deflated) on the dimensions of consumer value (i.e., efficiency, excellence, play and aesthetics). We make the case that overconfidence and underconfidence should be treated separately as they trigger different consumption consequences. Several hypotheses are tested through two studies: a co-variance based study (Study 1) and an experimental study (Study 2). In Study 1, overconfidence and underconfidence are measured, while in Study 2 they are experimentally manipulated. Findings of both studies show that underconfidence negatively influences efficiency, excellence and aesthetics, and overconfidence negatively influences play. Also, Study 1 finds a negative effect of underconfidence on play and Study 2 finds a negative effect of overconfidence on excellence and aesthetics. Findings reveal that knowledge miscalibration negatively impacts consumers’ usage experiences. This implies that in designing product or service experiences, suppliers benefit from ensuring that consumers achieve a reduced level of knowledge miscalibration

Innovation and the co-creation of value in construction

Construction businesses balance market and project risks in resourcing innovation and value creation. Technical, technological and management innovation are considered using the marketing lens of the service-dominant logic. The co-creation of value is a primary concept, which is largely unexplored in construction, especially related to innovation. Co-created by main contractors and clients is defined as value generated in context and use. The paper is part of a programme of work, applying an interpretative qualitative approach. The method for data collection was semi-structured interviews, derived from six major international main contractors. Thirty-nine interviews were conducted with a range of senior management, functional heads and project managers responsible for identifying innovation and value creation opportunities. The overall findings fall into three main areas. First, management perceived construction to be suppliers of technical expertise. Second, projects are perceived in terms of expert inputs. Third, associated tasks are conducted to meet programme schedules and requirements. Opportunities to co-create value are largely pursued reactively and opportunities to innovate through top down or project induced capabilities are largely overlooked. Where innovation occurred it was largely initiated through a combination of co-creation drivers supported by management pull factors rather than innovation drivers and a technology push

Multiplex value cocreation in unique service exchanges

While the temporal nature of value cocreation (i.e., the interdependencies between/among past, present, and future value cocreation) is acknowledged in the literature, the processes and mechanisms through which these interdependencies are deliberately managed (i.e., multiplex value cocreation) are not examined. Our study aims to unravel the “black box” of multiplex value cocreation by investigating the processes and mechanisms through which actors manage the temporal nature of value cocreation in unique service exchanges. The research design is a multiple case study comprising four firms engaged in the definition, design, and delivery of mega-infrastructure projects. Our results showed that multiplex value cocreation involves two core processes of institutional work and resource reconfiguration that are reciprocally interrelated, driven by actor motives and conflicts and facilitated by interaction mechanisms. We further propose that emerged institutions and existing previous similar service exchanges may eliminate the need for multiplex value cocreation in routine service exchanges

How value co-creation and co-destruction unfolds: a longitudinal perspective on dialogic engagement in health services interactions

Complex services, such as healthcare, struggle to realize the benefits of value co-creation due to the substantial challenges of managing such services over the long-term. Key to overcoming these challenges to value co-creation is a profound understanding of dialogue (i.e., ‘quality of discourse’ facilitating shared meaning) during service interactions. Contributing to an emerging literature, we undertake a longitudinal, ethnographic study to assess dialogue between professionals and patients through the lens of dialogic engagement (i.e., iterative mutual learning processes that bring about action through dialogue). We develop and empirically support six dialogic co-creation and co-destruction mechanisms that impact on the resolution of tensions and integration of knowledge resources between service providers and consumers. We reveal the multidimensional and dynamic nature of value created or destroyed through these mechanisms in dialogue over time. Taking healthcare as an exemplar, we offer a research agenda for developing our understanding of DE in complex services

Value Co-creation through Early Warning Signs in a Project Setting

Value co-creation as a joint process between actors to extract benefits is becoming established as one the most significant shifts in contemporary business thinking. Value co-creation provides an opportunity for a balanced and enriched realisation of value amongst stakeholders such as clients, contractors and end users in complex projects. The success of complex projects, due to the large number of stakeholders and high uncertainty level, is highly dependent on the joint processes among clients and suppliers as the key creators of value. In particular, the management of communication, associated learning and conflict management are the main determinants of value co-creation. Although research studies have been conducted extensively to investigate ways to enhance performance of projects, little emphasis has been put on the importance of the value co-creation process for realising project benefits and impact. There has been scant attention paid to weak signals in theory and practice to defend value creation and encourage the conditions for co-creation early in the project lifecycle. Based on the theory of "weak signals", challenging situations and discontinuities do not emerge without warning. With hindsight, the most likely factors leading to undesired events are often signalled. The identification, evaluation and utilisation of these signals potentially improve learning and communication in the value co-creation process. This research aims to conceptually define weak signals of potential challenges in value co-creation processes, address the way they are identified and evaluated, and examine their use in improving value co-creation. In particular, we look at the processes jointly owned by contractors and clients in complex projects