A case study of hybrid strategies to create value for a contracting business in the education sector in England and Wales

Successful hybrid strategies adopt service marketing principles although the adoption of those principles by construction marketers is not apparent. Through an interpretive inquiry approach attempting to capture multiple views in a case of successful strategic programmes for the primary school market, various value co-creation elements of the programmes are assessed according to four axioms of service-dominant (S-D) logic. The strategic programmes were found to create value by (1) developing new skills and knowledge, building relationships to leverage skills and close the knowledge gaps; (2) enhancing interactions through customer engagement, dialogue creation and enrichment, the use of BIM technologies and social networks; (3) strengthening many-to-many relationships through supply chain integration; and (4) assisting individual customers to define their value propositions and to evaluate them through free self-service systems, and products and services inquiries. Further research is needed to assess how customers value the various co-creation elements identified in the paperevidence for applying the generic value co-creation principles to marketing in construction.

[1]  S. Mouzas,et al.  FROM CONTRACT TO UMBRELLA AGREEMENT , 2008 .

[2]  Weisheng Lu,et al.  Competitiveness in construction: a critical review of research , 2007 .

[3]  Grönroos Christian,et al.  What Can A Service Logic Offer Marketing Theory , 2005 .

[4]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Institutions and axioms: an extension and update of service-dominant logic , 2016 .

[5]  Richard Pettinger Construction Marketing: Strategies for Success , 1998 .

[6]  Helen Simons,et al.  Case Study Research , 2017 .

[7]  Martin Skitmore,et al.  Pricing construction work: a marketing viewpoint , 2007 .

[8]  Frank T. Piller,et al.  Mass Customization: Reflections on the State of the Concept , 2004 .

[9]  K. Narasimhan Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy , 2004 .

[10]  P. Ghauri,et al.  Project Marketing: Beyond Competitive Bidding , 2002 .

[11]  J. Wind,et al.  Customerization: The next revolution in mass customization , 2001 .

[12]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  From goods to service(s): Divergences and convergences of logics , 2008 .

[13]  James R. Brown,et al.  The Industrial/Consumer Marketing Dichotomy: A Case of Insufficient Justification , 1984 .

[14]  G. Thomas A Typology for the Case Study in Social Science Following a Review of Definition, Discourse, and Structure , 2011 .

[15]  Evert Gummesson,et al.  Total Relationship Marketing , 1999 .

[16]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Service-Dominant Logic: Premises, Perspectives, Possibilities , 2014 .

[17]  Amjad Hadjikhani,et al.  Project marketing and the management of discontinuity , 1996 .

[18]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing , 2004 .

[19]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  On value and value co-creation: A service systems and service logic perspective , 2008 .

[20]  Shahid A. Zia,et al.  Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries & Competitors , 2013 .

[21]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Marketing Strategies and Organizational Structures for Service Firms , 1981 .

[22]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Service-dominant logic , 2010, The Routledge Handbook of Service Research Insights and Ideas.

[23]  P. Kotler,et al.  Marketing in the Network Economy , 1999 .

[24]  C. Gronroos A Service‐Orientated Approach to Marketing of Services , 1978 .

[25]  E. Palaneeswaran,et al.  Benchmarking contractor selection practices in public‐sector construction—a proposed model , 2000 .

[26]  J. Sheth,et al.  Relationship marketing in consumer markets: Antecedents and consequences , 1995 .

[27]  Patricia M. Hillebrandt,et al.  The Modern Construction Firm , 1990 .

[28]  David Arditi,et al.  Competitive positioning in United States construction industry , 2002 .

[29]  Evert Gummesson,et al.  Many-to-Many Marketing as Grand Theory: A Nordic School Contribution , 2006 .

[30]  H. Smyth,et al.  Relationship management in the management of PFI/PPP projects in the UK , 2007 .

[31]  R. M. Skitmore,et al.  Competitiveness in bidding: a consultant's perspective , 1992 .

[32]  Hedley Smyth,et al.  Market Management and Project Business Development , 2014 .

[33]  Raimar Richers Basic marketing, a managerial approach , 1961 .

[34]  Martin Skitmore,et al.  The effect of contract type and size on competitiveness in bidding , 1997 .

[35]  G. Ofori,et al.  Strategic planning for competitive advantage in construction , 1992 .

[36]  S. Kotha Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition , 1992 .

[37]  Andreas M. Kaplan,et al.  Toward a Parsimonious Definition of Traditional and Electronic Mass Customization , 2006 .

[38]  George S. Day,et al.  Charting New Directions for Marketing , 1999 .