1 CO-CREATION: A TYPOLOGY AND CONCEPTUAL ... - ANZMAC

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4 appropriate than others, but their identification highlights potential opportunities for designing value enhancements through collaboration. As noted earlier, the 12 forms of co-creation include two broad categories. The ten forms of co-creation depicted horizontally in Figure 1 are more discrete in nature. The two forms of co-creation depicted vertically, co-meaning creation and coexperience, are more aggregative and cumulative in nature and may be impacted other forms of co-creation. The arrows in the central section of Figure 1 represent the iterative and recursive nature of collaborative co-creation activities, with the focal firm and particular actors influencing each other in an ongoing interactive process of resource integration. Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for Co-Creation Design The left section in Figure 1 represents the focal actor (firm) and its business model. When a focal actor designs co-creative activities, it seeks to achieve mutual benefit for itself and the other resource integrating actors. A business model can be understood as “the design or architecture of the value creation, delivery and capture mechanisms” (Teece 2010, p. 191). Business models are typically governed by overriding design themes (Zott and Amit 2010) that define the main design principles, how resources are configured and how capabilities are utilized. Co-creation can be viewed as a design theme around which business model elements are organized. A firm wishing to engage in co-creation needs to design an „open‟ business model that permits customers and other actors to interact with and influence design elements. Here, we utilize Nenonen and Storbacka‟s (2010) representation of business models and their interrelated elements of design principles, resources, and capabilities. On the right hand section of Figure 1 we identify categories of external actors, or „actor groups‟ that have potential for engaging in co-creative activity. Because a firm may be concerned with identifying relevant actors beyond the domain of its customers and exploring co-creation opportunities with them, we reviewed different stakeholder models that provide guidance on actor identification. Following a review of several relationship marketing stakeholder frameworks, we integrate here key elements from the Ross and Robertson (2007) and Christopher, Payne and Ballantyne (1991) models. While much of the discussion on co-creation
5 focuses on the focal actor (firm) and another actor (usually the customer), each of the forms of co-creation can also occur within and between actors, even without the direct involvement of the focal actor. This is reflected in Figure 1 with the black arrows on the right side of the actor groups indicating potential inter-actor co-creation and short grey arrows on the left side of each actor group indicating the potential for intra-actor co-creation (e.g., co-conception or co-design activities within a customer brand community). The focal firm may design its business model to support collaboration, but this alone does not ensure successful engagement. To support co-creation, a focal firm should consider development of an engagement platform (shown in the lower section of Figure 1), or gain access to a platform provided through a third party, with the purpose of attracting actors to become involved in relevant form(s) of co-creation. Engagement platforms are where knowledge is stored, categorized and shared through interaction between and within actors (Sawhney, Verona and Prandelli 2005; Ramaswamy and Gouillart 2010). The inter-actor and intra-actor learning processes, shown in the lower section of Figure 1, represent a key element in co-creation. A focal actor wishing to engage in design co-creation needs to influence other actors involving inter-actor learning so that their views regarding the benefits of co-creation become a shared construction. Intra-actor learning occurs within actor groups such as customer brand communities. Where multiple actors are involved, a number of factors impact on this learning including trust, commitment and how coordination is facilitated. Although each actor within a marketing system may be involved in a range of collaborations, a sustained involvement is likely only when the outcome is beneficial to those actors. A focal firm will typically utilize a planned design approach in seeking co-creation opportunities. However, not all value co-creation opportunities can be planned. Some may emerge more organically as new combinations of resources are found to create new value-enhancing opportunities. Discussion The conceptual framework shown in Figure 1 aims at enabling a focal actor (firm) to more purposely design its co-creation activities. By engaging in more purposeful and focused cocreation activities the focal actor is more likely to engage in value enhancing co-creation. Our work represents a further step towards understanding co-creation. However, much research remains to be done in exploration of the multifaceted field of co-creation. Our work also has limitations that also point to specific opportunities for further research. First, empirical work and detailed case study research will provide additional insights relevant to applying our framework in diverse contexts, including both business and consumer markets. Such empirical work could also include understanding customers‟ interest in engaging in different forms of co-creation in different product contexts and how this may vary across different customer segments. Second, other forms of co-creative activity may emerge through further investigation. Third, the extent of the broader actor involvement in co-creation, beyond the customer-supplier actor dyad, needs fuller exploration. Fourth, we suggest investigation of the process of co-creation in specific contexts, as some forms of co-creation are commonly used whilst other forms are relatively unexplored. Exploring firms in different industry sectors and contexts and identifying the opportunity for adopting less-developed forms of co-creation offers a further topic for
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1 CO-CREATION: A TYPOLOGY AND CONCEPTUAL ... - ANZMAC

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