Service logic revisited: who
creates value? And who
co-creates?
Christian Gro
¨
nroos
Hanken Swedish School of Economics Finland, Helsinki, Finland
Abstract
Purpose – In the discussion on service-dominant logic and its consequences for value creation and
marketing the inner meaning of the value-in-use notion and the nature of service marketing have not
been considered thoroughly. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the meaning of a service logic as a
logic for consumption and provision, respectively, and explore the consequences for value creation and
marketing.
Design/methodology/approach – Being a research-based paper, the topic is approached by
theoretical analysis and conceptual development.
Findings – Discussing the differences between value-in-exchange and value-in-use, the paper
concludes that value-in-exchange in essence concerns resources used as a value foundation which are
aimed at facilitating customers’ fulfilment of value-in-use. When accepting value-in-use as a
foundational value creation concept customers are the value creators. Adopting a service logic makes
it possible for firms to get involved with their customers’ value-generating processes, and the market
offering is expanded to including firm-customer interactions. In this way, the supplier can become a
co-creator of value with its customers. Drawing on the analysis, ten concluding service logic
propositions are put forward.
Research limitations/implications – The analysis provides a foundation for further development
of a service logic for customers and suppliers, respectively, (“service logic” is preferred over the
normally used “service-dominant logic”) as well for further analysis of the marketing consequences of
adopting such a business and marketing logic.
Practical implications – Marketing practitioners will find new ways of understanding customers’
value creation and of developing marketing strategies with an aim to engage suppliers with their
customers’ consumption processes in order to enhance customer satisfaction.
Originality/value – For a scholarly audience, the paper provides a more truly service-centric
understanding of value creation and of its marketing consequences. For a practitioner audience, it
offers service-based means of further developing marketing practices.
Keywords Services marketing, Marketing theory, Value analysis
Paper type Research paper
The article on service-dominant logic by Vargo and Lusch (2004) immediately gave rise to
an international discussion of what a service perspective on business can offer marketing
in general. In the following year, a survey was published of the observations of a number of
leading international scholars in the service field on service and service marketing
(Edvardsson et al., 2005). The key finding was that service was indeed more generally
considered to be a perspective than merely an activity: “Service is a perspective on value
creation rather than a category of market offerings” (Edvardsson et al., 2005, p. 118).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0955-534X.htm
The author would like to thank his colleagues Annika Ravald and Tore Strandvik for their
insights and suggestions for developing this paper.
EBR
20,4
298
European Business Review
Vol. 20 No. 4, 2008
pp. 298-314
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0955-534X
DOI 10.1108/09555340810886585
@Phil_Robichaud
@deepthiw
@JoseServera