Value co-creation through e-services:Driving servitisation and building relationships

Abstract: Manufacturing firms have begun to add services to their product portfolios for interacting with customers and accessing their value creation processes.Through the technological possibilities of delivering services, e-services have emerged as a new research field. So far, little is known to what extent e-services are applicable in driving servitisation and building relationships. Thus, the purpose is to identify and describe the enabling factors that link servitisation, value co-creation and e-services to facilitate the building of manufacturercustomer relationships. The answer to this purpose is found using a qualitative single case study approach. Data is collected through semi-structured interviews with employees and customers of a Swedish electronic manufacturing service(EMS) company.Results show that value co-creation interfaces occur in most of the studied departments in the manufacturer and customer organisation, yet the specific constellation of actors changes dependent on the maturity of the manufacturer-customer relationship. Employees and customers interact regarding the value co-creation activities 'diagnosing needs'. 'designing and producing services','organising resources and processes' and 'managing value conflicts'. Generally, information technology (IT) is used to facilitate the sharing of documentation and to deliver e-services, which expands the value co-creation interface. Yet, to build manufacturer-customer relationships personal interaction and dialogue areessential. Therefore, e-services should be implemented to trigger, support andcomplement personal service delivery. With these findings, this thesis contributes to theory and practice by developinga conceptual model, which can enable the identification of value co-creation interfaces and activities. These insights may be used to develop e-services that support the building of relationships between manufacturers and their customers.