Value creation is the main objective of any business. Historically, value has been created inside the firm and then distributed to the market. This firm-centric perspective has established the role of the firm as the creator of value and separated the market from the value creation process. With the rapid pace of technological innovation, the scope of value creation has expanded to include a broader range of activities with other business entities. In other words, value is created in a collaborative network where various stakeholders can share their knowledge and experience in the design and development of new products/services. This network-centric perspective is called value co-creation. For example, UPS and Toshiba have agreed on a new laptop repair process in which UPS picks up broken Toshiba laptops, fixes them in its own facilities and returns them to their owners within four days. Another good example is the BMW Group’s Co-Creation Lab, a website for consumers who want to share their thoughts on BMW products/services. Those consumers can access a variety of projects directly from the website and contribute their suggestions. Clearly, the co-creation view has become central in the development of new products/services.
The concept of value co-creation has been an object of interest in various academic disciplines. The marketing literature delineates the dynamics of value co-creation under service-dominant (SD) logic. SD logic suggests that consumers engage in a dialogue and exchange of value with their suppliers from the early stage of product/service development. The field of information systems examines how innovative uses of new technologies create new value co-creating opportunities for individuals, firms, industries, societies. Strategic management pays attention to the concept of open innovation to explain how various internal and external resources are combined in a platform to create new organisational values.
The purpose of this special issue is to present a collection of up-to-date understanding on value co-creation. The role of consumers and suppliers in creating value, the corporate strategies of value co-creation, and the impacts of value co-creation on firm performance are all of interest in this special issue. Papers that primarily highlight the features of new value co-creating technologies are also welcomed, but the focus should be more on the uses of new technologies.
Possible topics for this special issue include, but are not limited to:
- Strategies for co-creation
- Industry convergence and co-creation
- Consumers and co-creation
- Co-creation in virtual worlds
- Co-creation in manufacturing and servicing
- IT-enabled co-creation
- Open innovation
- Crowdsourcing
Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 1 May, 2014
Notification to authors: 1 June, 2014
Revisions by authors: 1 July, 2014
Final acceptance: 1 August, 2014
Final versions due: 1 September, 2014
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