Journals Proceedings

Abstract

Marketing science always looks forward to the emergence of methods and models which improve the profitability of enterprises, principally through the acquisition and/or maintenance of customers. Typical approaches to marketing, however, have contradicted this outcome because the consumer has only been considered at the end of the marketing process. To overcome this problem, the customer must be made the central focus of any marketing planning. Marketing theory has expressed the need for this paradigm shift for many decades; lesser developments have occurred (for example, the emergence of relationship marketing) but more complex methods are lacking. Service-dominant logic (SD logic) is designed to fill this gap. However, the progress of the practical implementation of this approach is far behind what was originally expected. This paper is designed to highlight the roots and novelty of SD logic in marketing theory. The main value of SD logic is not found to be SD’s innovative nature but rather the novelty of its emphasis, such as how it provides a service view of marketing and transposes the consumer from alpha to omega in the process. Customers are not incorporated only as ‘results’ and ‘consequences’ of the planning process but rather as actors. Moreover, following an SD logic can create value by increasing and improving the resources which are available, especially as regards the capabilities of multiple customers.