Pages: 31-51
Introduction. Anywhere in the world and in any market, the firms are facing more and more a major challenge to meet growing customer demand towards addressing specific business or operational needs of their customers. In a globalization era, a firm’s customers are more oriented on how to create value for their own customers and such they are looking for an approach shift from their providers. Nowadays, the customers are expecting from their providers to better understand the value creation process in their organization.
Aim of the study. Through knowledge combination, the provider and the customer are acting like partners in the co-production of a customer solution to solve a specific customer business requirement. The expected approach is for the provider to create value not for the customer but together with the customer. Even though a number of driving forces requires the shift of a firm’s focus towards taking the perspective of the customers of that firm, it is not an easy task for any firm no matter the market it is operating in or the geographical area the firm is covering. But this shift could represent one effective and efficient way for the firm to differentiate in the market and to be rewarded with achieving a competitive advantage to be sustained over a longer period of time.
Keywords: value creation, sustainable competitive advantage, customer solutions.
JEL Classification: L10, D40, M10
