An empirical investigation into value co-creation in B-to-B service networks

The paper reports a study investigating the value perceptions of companies that are engaged in cocreating business-to-business services in a network. Our case study provides insights into the value that is perceived by supplier companies involved in offering collaborative service concepts, and their customers. Furthermore, we study the role of each party in value-creation. By integrating the conceptual discussion on value co-creation with practical experiences in two cases, we suggest that a network can assume the role of a value facilitator or value co-creator in their customers' value-creating processes. Our results suggest that a network service concept provides possibilities to enhance customer's value-creating processes particularly through combining versatile competences and through reducing sacrifices related to managing service procurement. The study also indicates that the customer may determine which role the service suppliers are able to assume in co-operation. The paper contributes to current value cocreation discussion by first, providing empirical insights into value co-creation which has currently been discussed predominantly on a theoretical level, and second, by extending the perspective to encompass multiple actors in a business-to-business service network.