Identifying potential sources of value in a packaging value chain

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a process approach for identifying potential sources of customer value of a package in a packaging value chain and illustrate the approach through interview data.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed process approach is a synthesis of customer value theories presented in marketing literature and packaging functions presented in packaging-related literature. Packaging value chain members were interviewed to illustrate the critical packaging-related processes among their business processes and to reveal value in the level of packaging attributes and packaging functions/consequences in use situations.

Findings

Interviews with packaging experts operating at different levels of a packaging value chain provide support for the proposed approach. The data provide a snapshot of value creation throughout the value chain. While the value of a package is perceived at all levels of the value chain, the value-creating attributes and their consequences, along with the value creation processes, take diverse forms.

Practical implications

The proposed process approach includes the first two steps of a customer value assessment in a packaging value chain, namely: identification of customers' packaging-related processes and the critical points in those processes; and generation of a list of value-affecting attributes and their consequences in each packaging-related process.

Originality/value

The paper provides a means to improve understanding of value creation in the business-to-business context. In particular, the authors' focus on the packaging value chain illustrates the multiple ways in which value is perceived by a group of interconnected firms.

Citation

Niemelä-Nyrhinen, J. and Uusitalo, O. (2013), "Identifying potential sources of value in a packaging value chain", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 76-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/08858621311295227