Assignment 1 (MKT2013) Digital Marketing and Branding By Fahad Shabbir (U1074015) Value Co-Creation is premised on the notion that the firm is no longer the sole arbiter of value as consumers take increasingly active roles in the creation of their own value. So, to what extent is this ability to co-create value dependent on Digital Technologies and a Service-Dominant logic? To a somewhat highly extent the ability to co-create value is dependent on Digital Technologies and a Service-Dominant logic. In this essay, there will be arguments about why it is highly dependent on Digital technologies and a Service-Dominant logic to co-create value. It will also discuss why the consumer is becoming the largest part in creating value and why the companies/firms need to work with consumers to create value for each other. Lastly, how the service provider makes opportunities together with the consumers to co-create value. This essay will also refer to the publications given in the study desk, to prove the argument points. To better understand co-creation, it is essential to analyse consumer’s roles as co-creators. The customers take active roles in the creation of their own value, but sometimes that is through Digital technologies and a Service-dominant logic. To co-create a great value for both the firm and consumers, the use of digital technologies is handy. The use of phone and internet may be new to this world but it has helped us a lot to co-create this value. For consumers to interact with firms, it is always helpful to have digital technologies by your side. (Education.vic.gov.au, 2017) Through the digital technologies the consumers can easily reach out to the companies/firms to settle a deal that means great value to them, by accepting the deal a company has shown that they are interested in the deal the customer has made and the deal is therefore accepted. This shows how both the consumer and company co-create value for themselves through digital technologies. Similarly, if a company has something to offer to the consumer, they will reach out to the consumer by multiple ways like email, calls, texts or social media. Customers will find interest in the products and accept the deal. This again shows how both parties are co-creating value for each other through digital technologies. A lot of new technologies exist today to help marketers in reaching and researching existing and prospective customers. Newer technologies, social media and smart phone applications, are becoming increasingly important. (Boundless, 2017) However digital technologies is not the only method to co-create value. Service-Dominant logic sometimes must take place between both parties. Service-Dominant is still a fantastic principle for marketing a product. It is useful because it helps a company market its products to consumers more effectively, which therefore creates value for the consumer. Before the dawn of social media, companies would market to their customers. However nowadays, companies prefer to market with the customers. Service-Dominant Logic promotes marketing with customers as it extends the communication, allowing companies to better understand their market. (Williams, 2017) The foundational proposition of Service-Dominant logic is that organisations, markets, and society are fundamentally concerned with the exchange of service for the benefit of the party. Instead of firms being informed to market to the customers, they are instructed to market with the customer, as well as other value-creation partners in the firm’s value network. (Service-Dominant Logic, 2017) This brings us back to co-creating value. Just like digital technologies, the service-dominant logic is also a great way to co-create that value, and nowadays it is very common. A good example would be EA Origin Access, where electronic arts offers a monthly subscription of $6.99 to its consumers for playing some of their games on console or pc. Instead of paying $10 or more for each game, it works out to be cheaper this way. By doing this, EA has created a great exchange for their customer and customers as well are benefiting from this exchange, therefore it is co-creating value. (Origin.com, 2017) co-creating values will always be a benefit for both parties. Enabled by the internet-web compound, co-creation of value by consumers has emerged as a major force in marketplace. Without consumers co-creating value is not possible. (Tandfonline.com, 2017) Recent research suggests that consumers collectively co-create value through consumption practices. For example, we focus on a co-consuming group: an online gaming fan community. Results show that co-consuming groups are platforms for value creation. Demonstrating the dynamic roles played by consumers in the value co-creation. (Journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au, 2017) High quality interactions that enable an individual customer to co-create unique experiences with the company are the key to unlocking new sources of competitive advantage. Value will always have to be jointly created by both the firm and the consumer. This again comes back to the use of service-dominant logic and digital technologies, because those are the main ways a consumer and firm would interact and co-create values. We have all had high quality interactions that enable us as customers to co-create unique experiences with the company. For example, I recently went to a mechanic shop to get my car repaired and ended up getting a discount on the repairs. We have both agreed on a deal that means value to both of us using the service-dominant logic. (Web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au, 2017) Major business trends such as deregulation, globalization, technological convergence, and the rapid revolution of the internet have transformed the roles that companies play in their dealings with other companies. Business practitioners and scholars talk about alliances, networks, and collaboration among companies. But managers and researches have largely ignored the agent that is most dramatically transforming the industrial system as we know it, and that is the consumer. Companies must recognize that the customer is becoming a partner in creating value. Value is created mostly through the customer. It is customers that decides what means a great deal to them and if they should settle for it or not. At a minimum, managers must come to terms with four fundamental realities in co-opting customer competence: they must engage their customer in an active, explicit, and ongoing dialogue; mobilize communities of customers; manage customer diversity; and engage customers in co-creating personalized experiences. (Web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au, 2017) This should help companies in better dealing with their consumers and making better value for not only customers but themselves as well. Value co-creation easily becomes a concept without substance. It is observed that the unique contribution of a service perspective on business is not that customers always are co-creators of value, but rather that under certain circumstances the service provider gets opportunities to co-create value together with its customers. Different business and firms like to co-create value with their customers, even if it’s a new customer. It’s this method that will keep a good bond between the customer and the company. (Journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au, 2017) For example, when you go to a new restaurant for the first time, they may give you a loyalty card that would earn you points on each time you dine with the restaurant and once you reach certain number of points you may be eligible for a free diner. They might even offer you to create an account and sign you up to their newsletter as well to keep you updated with all the latest products or offers they have. This is creating value for the customer and the customer will feel valued and this is how service providers co-create value with their customer. If service-providers did not co-create value with their customers, none of the parties would have any benefit. We have learnt that the ability to co create value is highly dependent on digital technologies and a service dominant logic. The use of web based technologies, phone and multimedia is important to co create value and a service dominant logic helps create better value for the consumer. The consumer and companies work together nowadays to co create value because companies have realised the importance and need of consumers in this modern world. Therefore, the companies work together with the consumer to co create value, and that is through using digital technologies and a service dominant logic. We need to realize that it is highly dependent on digital technologies and a service dominant logic to co create value. References Boundless. (2017). Use of New Technologies in Marketing and Research. [online] Available at: https://www.boundless.com/marketing/textbooks/boundless-marketing-textbook/the-marketing-environment-3/technology-32/use-of-new-technologies-in-marketing-and-research-171-4044/ [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017]. Education.vic.gov.au. (2017). Teaching with Digital Technologies. 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