On Value and Value Creation in Service: A Management Perspective

To develop a managerially relevant understanding of value and value creation, these phenomena must be analysed on a micro level. Seen from above, they lack a microfoundation. In the present article, value and value creation are discussed from a micro position, based on a service logic (SL) analysis of the service perspective on business and marketing. In the Grönroos-Voima value model of SL, only one value concept—value-in-use—is used, to support theoretical rigour. The customer not only determines value, but is also the value creator. By facilitating customers’ value creation, the firm provides potential value, which evolves as value-in-use during use or consumption. If the actors can establish a platform of co-creation during direct interactions, the service provider’s and the customer’s processes merge into one interactive, collaborative and dialogical process, and then the firm may co-create value with the customer. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.