Abstract
The concept of value and, more specifically, customer value is of increasing interest to both academics and practitioners. Many see it as the next source of competitive advantage. Like other regions of the country, the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan has a presence of SMEs in many sectors. A major one amongst these is the marble sector; characterized by two sub-sectors, marble mining and marble processing. A review of various studies in the marble sector reveals that about 70 percent of marble reserves in Pakistan are being wasted due to poor mining and processing techniques. The situation is further aggravated by a lack of sound marketing strategies that are focused on value creation that enable these SMEs to enhance competitiveness and achieve greater profitability especially in the international markets. This paper, which is part of the preliminary work for PhD research being carried out by the author at the University of Southampton, UK, tries to examine some of the issues and perspectives regarding customer value creation and relates these concepts to the marble sector of N WF.P. The literature reviewed for this purpose lays emphasis on the concept of value from the dimension of employees and processes. It also highlights some of the drivers and barriers to value creation. By identifying some of the issues and perspectives to customer value creation, this paper would be a first step towards enhancing the competitiveness of Pakistan's marble industry especially in the international market.
Highlights
The purpose of any business is to create value for customers, employees, and investors, as the interests of these three groups are inextricably linked
A careful review of the projects and studies carried out for the uplift of the Marble Industry in Pakistan reveals a lack of developing sound marketing strategies that are focused on value creation and enable a firm to enhance competitiveness and achieve greater profitability, The issues of how value can be created from the dimension of employees and processes; identification of the drivers and barriers of value in the marble sector; and determination of the impact of these factors on the industry need to be further explored
MacDonald and Ryall (2001) provide a definition for value creation, competition, and value appropriation, and in their research they show that (1) there is a minimal level of value creation that is required if competition is to allow a firm to appropriate value; (2) there is a higher level of value creation guaranteeing that competition will result in value appropriation; (3) there is a measure of scarcity, which we call minimum value, with the feature that competition implies a firm surely appropriates value if and only if the firm's minimum value is positive; and (4) if an agent is to appropriate value, a particular structure of competition is required
Summary
The purpose of any business is to create value for customers, employees, and investors, as the interests of these three groups are inextricably linked. Keepingin view the strategies adopted by countries of the region like China, Malaysiaand South Korea, it is quite obvious that a major cause of their sustained developmenthas been introduction of an entrepreneurial culture at the grass roots level,and development of a feasible environment for establishment of Small and Medium-sizedEnterprises (SMEs). A careful review of the projects and studies carried out for the uplift of the Marble Industry in Pakistan reveals a lack of developing sound marketing strategies that are focused on value creation and enable a firm to enhance competitiveness and achieve greater profitability, The issues of how value can be created from the dimension of employees and processes; identification of the drivers and barriers of value in the marble sector; and determination of the impact of these factors on the industry need to be further explored
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