Paper info

Value propositions and market-shaping strategies: a qualitative comparative analysis

Suvi Nenonen, Kaj Storbacka , Pennie Frow and Adrian Payne

The paper was published at the 33rd IMP-conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2017.

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Viewing markets as malleable systems opens avenues for market shaping strategies. Extant literature agrees on the importance of value propositions, but does not elaborate on the characteristics of effective market-shaping value propositions. Hence, our purpose has been to investigate what types of value propositions are associated with successful market-shaping strategies. We used qualitative comparative analysis to analyse value propositions from 16 firms with market shaping strategies. Our research validates that value propositions have an important role and shows that the value propositions aimed at driving the entire market have different characteristics compared to more traditional value propositions aimed at achieving competitive advantage in a stable market system. Our research also suggests the need to adopt a wider view on value propositions that looks beyond the provider-customer dyad and considers value propositions in relation to interactions between generic actors within a market system.