Customer experience in business-to-business service systems

Today in business-to-business (B2B) context product and service functionalities and cost are still having major implications in buying decisions. However, research has indicated that functional and economic value determinants are not enough to fulfill customer expectations in competitive business environment. Emotional and symbolic value determinants have an increasing effect on decision making and in entire customer experience. This paper identifies and analyzes how customer value is created in B2B service systems, and which customer value determinants are meaningful for creating unique customer experience. New kind of value propositions requires innovative and service-oriented business models for suppliers. The findings in this paper are based on the review of available literature and on the empirical evidence from six B2B case studies in Finland.