The Customer's Process of Value Creation

The purpose of this paper is to analyse value creation from the customer’s perspective with an aim to learn how value emerges for the customer. The author provides empirical findings on customer value and value creation and adds to the present knowledge on value and value creation. The findings show that value for the customer emerges in a variety of activities related to use and ownership, but that use and ownership are not equivalent to value creation as value does not always emerge. Based on the findings from empirical and theoretical sources, the author concludes that value could be defined as a positive emotional response and it is proposed that market offerings and relations to service providers do not contribute to the customer’s process of value creation until a personal meaning has been ascribed to them by the customer.