Service in a Complex, Value-Creating Network Society

This paper addresses the issue of quality emerging not just from one source, the supplier, but from a network of sources, among them the customers. Quality and customer satisfaction are brought together into the concept of

value

. According to

the service-dominant logic

(Grönroos 2007; Gummesson 2007a; Lusch/Vargo 2006; Vargo/Lusch 2004a) suppliers and customers are co-creators of service or value. Instead of producing two distinct types of output — goods or services — a company creates

a value proposition

, which is increasingly dependent on input from customers. Customers create the

value actualization

, sometimes in contact with suppliers but often on their own and in individual ways. There are many more angles to the new logic and to value (see Korkman 2006), but these will not be treated in depth here. We should also note that critical voices have been raised against the service-dominant logic (Achrol/Kotler 2006; Shembri 2006; Stauss 2005).