What is Value Creation?
Value Creation is more complex than only being the implementation of a project. Value Creation incorporates the definition (i.e., what is value), identification (i.e., concrete value creation opportunity), specification (i.e., translation of the idea or opportunity into a formal project), and realization (i.e., the orchestration of the implementation of the project) of value.
Three Customer Asset Management Perspectives
The Sales Perspective (Low Asset Management): Customer managers who apply a sales perspective consider the customer as a sales generator. They typically attempt to sell more of the same items while protecting their prices and margins. Their approach is unilateral, short-term, and arm’s-length, as well as strictly professional. The customer manager’s main activities include analyzing the customer buying organization, exploring and meeting the customer’s needs, and enhancing stakeholder relationships. These activities aim to build credibility and trust over time, obtain a greater share of the customer’s business wallet, and ensure partnership continuity through higher switching. Overall, the sales perspective offers low customer asset management, because its value and risk focus are limited, and activities related to the creation of value and reduction of risk are supplier-centric and short-term oriented.
The Relationship Perspective (Medium Asset Management): Customer managers who adopt a relationship perspective put the business relationship first. They acknowledge the importance of deep partnerships built on mutual trust to do continued business. A consequence of considering the customer as a partner is that value is seen and defined through the customer’s lenses as well. Compared with the sales perspective, the relationship perspective is a deeper customer asset management approach, in the sense it adopts a dyadic view of value and accounts for longer-term risks that may undermine the business...