Self-sufficient value creation

Abstract

This paper suggests a new theory for value creation: that consumers can create value for them-selves with few exchanges with other economic actors. This form of value creation, that this pa-per conceptualizes as self-sufficient value creation, challenges service-dominant logic in which value is always understood to be co-created among many economic actors. In so doing, self-sufficient value creation adds a fourth regime to Arnould’s three regimes of value: gift exchange, systems of barter and market exchange.

Grönroos and Voima have conceptualized independent value creation in which customers cre-ate value independently from service providers. Self-sufficient value creation distinguishes itself from independent value creation by stressing that consumers have some generally possessed resources, like social, physical and mental skills, which they utilize for their own benefit. This contrasts with independent value creation, which implicitly presupposes that resources are al-ways obtained from service providers for a specific use.

The paper discusses the theoretical background of service-dominant logic and lays out six foundational premises of self-sufficient value creation. Finally, service-dominant logic is criti-cized for its overt emphasis on managerial implications, which is argued to hamper its abilities to explain value creation in various contexts.