Differentiating market offerings using complexity and co‐creation

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Customer decision-making uncertainty (DMU) is a persistent phenomenon in business-to-business markets. However, there is substantial variation in the degree to which customers perceive DMU and how suppliers should react to it. The purpose of this paper is to explain variation in customer decision-making uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach -Based on existing industrial buying typologies, this paper proposes a new classification scheme to explain variance in customer decision-making uncertainty. Market offering complexity and co-creation are used as defining dimensions in the construction of four archetypal types of industrial market offerings. Findings -The paper demonstrates on a theoretical level that customer decision-making uncertainty is especially prevalent in complex offerings characterized by high degrees of co-creation. Practical implications -This typology helps to provide a more nuanced understanding of the effects of co-creation on customer value. Firms should adapt their selling approaches to the degree of complexity and co-creation that they offer their customers. Originality/value -The originality of the paper rests in explaining customer decision-making uncertainty in relation to complexity and co-creation. Thus, it sheds light on the dark side of co-creating market offerings.

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

“…In this way, both internal and external stakeholders are committed to supporting the organization's ceremonial conformity and display high degrees of confidence in the organization. This is evident in the work of Plötner et al (2013), who suggest that in the context of complex offerings, high degrees of value co-creation exist whereby customers exhibit decision-making uncertainty (and by inference, have faith and confidence in the seller).…”