Value Co-Creation in Industrial Buyer-Seller Partnerships ... - Doria

Critical events during the process of the development of the relationship between theinteracting companies from the early 1970’ s until 2004 will be highlighted and discussedduring the telling of the story, events that are considered important in the process of creatinga partnership and in the value co-creation discussion.2.4.4 Thematic analysisIn the analysis the quest for value was in focus. I use thematic analysis (Eskola & Suoranta1998) of the interviews in order to categorise and identify what was perceived as value inthe relationship, focusing on the benefits and sacrifices perceived by the interviewees. Valuewas categorized into remarks on the value of buyer-seller partnerships in general, perceivedvalue of involvement in the focal relationship, and the value co-created in the relationship.Value co-creation was further analysed according to the different value creating processespresented in theoretical framework.2.5 A presentation of the intervieweesI conducted a total of 24 interviews for the study, 15 interviews at the Buyer and 9 at theSeller. Mr SR1&2, who was the initiator of the study, chose the initial interviewees.Additional interviewees were identified during the course of the interviews, until a state ofsaturation was achieved. The interviews and the quotes that have been used in the text arenumbered in order to secure the privacy of the interviewees is secured. The interviews havebeen carried out in four different languages, according to the preference of the interviewee.Consequently there are quotes throughout the text that are translated into English. Theorganisational positions of the respondents of each interview are found in Appendix 1.2.6 Critical remarksSeveral different perspectives on carrying out a study on a relationship and value cocreationwould have been possible. Qualitative methods that could have been applied are forinstance narrative analysis, discourse analysis or cultural analysis, to name a few. I havechosen a single, exploratory case study because I have gained good access and proximity tothe studied phenomena, which gives the opportunity to interpret and gain understanding.The fact that the study rests on pre understanding that has been gained through over 10043