TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– Customer decision‐making uncertainty (DMU) is a persistent phenomenon in business‐to‐business markets. However, there is substantial variation in the degree to which customers perceive DMU and how suppliers should react to it. The purpose of this paper is to explain variation in customer decision‐making uncertainty.Design/methodology/approach– Based on existing industrial buying typologies, this paper proposes a new classification scheme to explain variance in customer decision‐making uncertainty. Market offering complexity and co‐creation are used as defining dimensions in the construction of four archetypal types of industrial market offerings.Findings– The paper demonstrates on a theoretical level that customer decision‐making uncertainty is especially prevalent in complex offerings characterized by high degrees of co‐creation.Practical implications– This typology helps to provide a more nuanced understanding of the effects of co‐creation on customer value. Firms should adapt their selling approaches to the degree of complexity and co‐creation that they offer their customers.Originality/value– The originality of the paper rests in explaining customer decision‐making uncertainty in relation to complexity and co‐creation. Thus, it sheds light on the dark side of co‐creating market offerings.
VL  - 25
IS  - 1
SN  - 0955-534X
DO  - 10.1108/09555341311287745
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/09555341311287745
AU  - Plötner Olaf
AU  - Lakotta Jan
AU  - Jacob Frank
PY  - 2013
Y1  - 2013/01/01
TI  - Differentiating market offerings using complexity and co‐creation: Implications for customer decision‐making uncertainty
T2  - European Business Review
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 65
EP  - 85
Y2  - 2024/09/23
ER  -