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Purpose – The aim is to introduce a sociological perspective on resource integration and value co-creation into service research using a service systems approach.

Methodology/approach – Conceptual and a case study of the service system a Telecom Equipment and Service Provider is embedded in is reported.

Findings – The service practice of the service system is framed by social structures of signification, legitimation, and domination. However, the practice is also independent of the structures since it is embedded in and shapes the structural realm.

Research implications and limitations – Drawing on structuration and practice theory, the chapter offers a new framework describing how social and service structures and practices can inform and reveal mechanisms of service system dynamics. Based on the framework, three propositions are developed focusing on the mechanisms of resource integration and value co-creation. The implications need to be generalized in future research by studying other empirical contexts.

Practical implications – The chapter provides some tentative guidelines on how organizations can design service systems that enable and support customers and other actors in their resource integration and value co-creation processes by paying attention to social structures and forces and not only resources as such.

Originality – The chapter explicates how social structures have implications for value co-creation and resource integration in service system. It makes systematic use of structuration and practice theory to understand the social dimensions of service systems. A distinction between intended and realized resource integration is made.

In this introduction we clarify the nature and scope of value in service-dominant (S-D) logic, as well as briefly discuss how the essays in this volume relate to this framework. We also share some thoughts on the need for, and S-D logic's role in, the further theory development about value and value cocreation, in general, and marketing, in particular.

While prior studies have examined how loyal customers create value for preferred manufacturers, this study aims to focus on the supply chain and captures the indirect economic and relational benefits and costs of customer value creation on channel intermediaries.

Service-dominant logic is used to explain the rationale behind consumer contributions and supply chain connectedness in an interactive online world. Drawing from the relevant literature, a conceptual model supported by propositions is presented.

As manufacturers utilize consumer contributions, affiliated intermediaries will report having less informational power, providing less value to the channel, greater benefit-based and cost-based dependence, heightened efforts to create channel value, an enhanced reputation and greater sales, and greater collaboration with customers.

This conceptual paper is the beginning of an investigation into the pragmatic function of a service-dominant view as it pertains to a marketing channel. As this avenue for research is further developed, it is important that the propositions included in this study first be examined.

Awareness of the underlying logic and the resulting impacts should aid channel intermediaries in realizing their own contributions throughout the manufacturer ' s value chain and recognizing changes to their positions of power. As a result, channel intermediaries should be better positioned to assess the health and future prospects of the relationship.

This work is the first study to examine potential impacts on the intermediary operating in a channel in which the manufacturer is significantly influenced by consumer contributions.

This paper aims to apply service-dominant logic thinking to the field of supply chain management (SCM) in order to classify, structure, and analyze different types of supply chain services (SCS) collected from interdisciplinary literature. The authors investigate how value is co-created between supply chain actors and develop research propositions regarding the influence of service type on value co-creation.

Content analysis is employed to research SCS across 218 articles from 28 journals of logistics and SCM, service, finance and accounting, and information systems research.

The occurrence of SCS within the literature is rising, and most SCS mentioned have a relieving as opposed to an enabling function. Also, SCS related to material and information flows dominate the field, whereas finances-flow-related services receive less attention. Finally, the paper provides evidence that different types of SCS require different management approaches.

Analyzing the literature and integrating different streams of research are only a first step towards building new theory. To test the developed propositions, further empirical research is encouraged.

The paper offers implications for the management of different types of SCS from both the service provider ' s and service customer ' s perspective.

The paper provides an interdisciplinary overview of the value proposed by different types of SCS. Furthermore, six service-dominant logic-based research propositions regarding the impact of service type on value co-creation are developed.

A conceptual model was developed of distribution channel members′ manifest conflicts and their satisfaction. From this model, hypotheses are generated, aimed at untangling the causal relationship between these two constructs. Both a meta‐analysis of previous research and this first longitudinal study of distribution channel behaviour in the aircraft industry in North America of distribution channel behaviour uncovered a negative, contemporaneous relationship between satisfaction and conflict. Empirical study in the channel for an industrial product found the effect of channel member satisfaction over time to be mediated by the extent of manifest conflict. The impact of manifest conflict was found to be mediated by the degree of channel member satisfaction. In other words, channel member satisfaction and manifest conflict within the channel were both antecedents and consequences of each other.

Purpose – This chapter proposes three main objectives in relation to understanding customer involvement in business networks. First, to identify important aspects of the network structure and environment and how the actions of the customer and other network participants create and maintain these. Second, to identify and explore the mechanisms and processes of resource integration in the network. Third, to identify the capabilities and competencies that customers bring to the network, and to understand how these are enhanced and developed.

Methodology/approach – Conceptual.

Research implications – We recognize that aspects of the resources themselves are important and that the characteristics of the resource and the way in which partners align them were key components of resource analysis.

Practical implications – We note that the interaction of different operant and operand resource combinations opens new doors to customer knowledgeability and involvement, where power over either authoritative or allocative resources in itself will not guarantee value creation.

Social implications – We support the call for the development of more sociologically enriched and complex models of interagent resource exchange. In particular, we would advise the need for a better understanding of how different network structures and environments are created and maintained through domination, legitimation, and signification processes.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter addresses the gap in our understanding of how customer involvement in business-to-business networks may influence learning, value cocreation, and innovation. This chapter makes an important contribution to research in the field in that it investigates how the inclusion of the customer in business networks alters current assumptions and practices.

This paper aims to adopt service-dominant logic (SDL) to empirically explore network configurations resulting from the provision of goods, goods and services, and solutions.

This paper uses a single, in-depth, exploratory case study in a truck manufacturer and its supply network. An abductive approach is adopted. In total, 54 semi-structured interviews were conducted.

Three value propositions are clearly discernible within the truck provider. These range from a truck to a “solution”. These propositions have different supply network configurations: dyadic, triadic and tetradic. The extent to which different network actors contribute to value co-creation varies across the offerings.

This paper is based on a single, in-depth case study developed in one industrial context. Whilst this represents an appropriate approach given the exploratory nature of the study, further empirical investigation is needed across different industries.

This paper is one of the first to empirically examine supply networks using SDL. A rich understanding of the challenges faced by a truck manufacturer in providing different value propositions and the resulting network configurations are discussed. In so doing, evidence is provided of a more complex, tetradic network configuration for solutions, with varying degrees of interplay between actors in the flow of operand and operant resources to create value.

This study empirically explores one of the important channel issues – the relationship between various channel support given to channel partners and the perceived (by managers) goal‐orientation of a firm. Results from an emerging market, India, indicate that perceived orientation towards both profitability and market share is not associated with any of the channel support considered. Growth orientation however is strongly associated with most of the channel support activities – both business (e.g., business advice, pricing and ordering assistance, and personnel training) as well as marketing (advertising support, sales promotional material, and inventory management assistance) oriented activities. In contrast, perceived sales volume orientation is only associated with advertising support and business advice, however, the relationship is negative. These findings have interesting implications for channel management and channel motivation.