Manufacturing companies are increasingly serving customers through valuebased offers by adding and integrating more services in their businesses. Although, manufacturers mainly still use cost-based pricing, many are reconsidering their pricing strategies to capture a fair share of the value they create through value-based offers. Therefore, adopting to value-based pricing (VBP) becomes a necessity when competing value-driven. This study explores the barriers to VBP among servitising industrial manufacturers. Related concepts to VBP, such as value-based selling (VBS) and service-dominant logic (SDL) are also discussed in this thesis. The study implemented a qualitative multiple-case study. The case companies provided insights to their VBP journey and the barriers they face, where contextual factors are an important aspect to consider. In the findings, the discovered barriers are divided into internal and external barriers. It is evident that companies should work with SDL and VBS as means for overcoming barriers as they affect the outcome of VBP. Hence, this thesis contributes to the emerging research on VBP, and provides guidance to companies that are on their VBP journey.

Den digitala transformationen som genomsyrar många delar i samhället idag har inte bearbetatsi energibranschen i samma grad. Energibranschen står inför stora förändringar med mål av attvara fossilfria fram till 2040. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur ett kommunaltenergibolag arbetar med digitalisering för en marknadsstyrd energiförsörjning analyseratgenom tjänstedominant logiken. Referensramen till studien grundar sig i digital transformationsom ramas ner till den tjänstedominanta logiken. Studien genomfördes utifrån en kvalitativundersökning med semistrukturerade intervjuer av ett energibolag och ett IT-konsultbolag.Utifrån intervjuerna återfinns data som analyserades genom den tjänstedominanta logiken.Undersökningen bidrar med nya perspektiv genom tjänstedominant logik som energibranschenhar nytta av och som kan möjliggöra nya sätt att möta kunder. I resultatet blir det tydligt hurenergibolaget arbetar med en digitalisering men att kundinvolvering inte är där. En ökaddigitalisering och tjänstefiering i energisektorn driver fram kreativa lösningar för branschenskunder där decentraliserade och demokratiserade styrsätt möjliggörs. / The digital transformation that undergoes changes in many parts of society has not been asprocessed in the energy industry at the same degree. The energy industry is facing majorchanges with the goal of being fossil-free by 2040. The purpose of the study was to investigatehow a municipal energy company works with digitization for a market-driven energy supplyanalyzed through service-dominant logic. The theoretical framework of the study is based ondigital transformation which then narrows down to the service dominant logic. The study isconducted based on qualitative research through semi-structured interviews of an energy utilitycompany and an IT consulting firm. The research provides insights into a service-dominantperspective for the energy industry in enabling new ways to approach their customers. Theresult makes it clear how the energy company works with digitalization, but that customerinvolvement is not there. An increased digitalization and servitization in the energy sectorfacilitate new creative solutions for the industry's customers, where decentralized anddemocratized governance are made possible.

In recent years, AI has received increased attention in the field of marketing and is believed to grow even more in the future. It seems that the use of AI in marketing has a significant impact on consumer value creation. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how consumers experience the role of AI-marketing within the scope of the online customer journey, including how both positive and negative aspects of AI-based decision aids influence their value co-creation. Based on previous research, a conceptual model was created to determine whether consumers co-create or co-destroy value in the interactions with AI-based decision aids, as well as which types of values that are the outcomes. Three focus groups were used as a qualitative method to collect empirical data. Findings resulted in two main insights. Firstly, consumers experience the role of AI-based decision aids positively and can co-create values regarding economic and efficiency benefits, facilitation of information search, and more inspiring, personal and relevant experiences. Secondly, AI-based decision aids are also perceived negatively and contribute to co-destruction of value as well. Consumers experienced negative aspects regarding manipulation, limitations and loss of integrity and autonomy, as well as risks of overspending, being misled and distracted, and having irrelevant experiences. This thesis contributes with new insights into the consumer perspective of AI-marketing. Marketers can use these results to understand consumers’ value creation and avoid the negative aspects to achieve the best possible AI-marketing strategies.

Today's retail consumer market is characterized by global, intense competition. In times of intense competition, long-term customer relationships are described as the key to both profitability and survival, which is achieved by creating value together with customers through mutual dialogue. For e-commerce companies, the opportunities for human contacts and dialogue with customers are very few and are about to be completely absent due to the prevailing trend to implement technical elements in customer service. At the same time, a lot of research points to the fact that there are great values in offering human resources in customer service, but we know quite little about these values in an online context. We also do not know if these values are so important that companies should take them into account in their strategic decisions. Therefore, our study aims to investigate the importance of interpersonal encounters online. The purpose is fulfilled by studying and analyzing interactions in customer service to create an understanding of what values arise and what impact these have on customer relationships. This is done through a qualitative research design, with an exploratory case study of 92 email conversations between customer and customer service online, which have been processed through text analysis and coding according to social resource theory. The results show that customer service encourages different social exchanges with customers, depending on the goal of the interaction. Social exchanges of concrete resources such as money, goods and information are actions that give customers increased convenience and financial value, which strengthens the relationships if the customer is satisfied. Social exchanges of particular resources such as love, status and service form actions that give customers personal experiences and social and emotional value, which provides increased customer satisfaction but also strengthens relationships with customers even more. The exchange that takes place in interpersonal meetings online can be understood as important for developing customer relationships and competitive advantages. This study can be used to guide research in the field of research regarding service encounters and help retailers create sustainable business models and strategies. / Dagens konsumentmarknad och detaljhandel kännetecknas idag av en global, intensiv konkurrens. I tider med intensiv konkurrens beskrivs långsiktiga kundrelationer vara nyckeln till både lönsamhet och överlevnad, vilket uppnås genom att skapa värde tillsammans med kunderna genom ömsesidig dialog. För e-handelsföretag är möjligheterna till mänskliga kontakter och dialog med kunder idag väldigt få och på väg att utebli helt på grund av en rådande trend att implementera tekniska inslag i kundtjänst. Samtidigt pekar mycket forskning mot att det finns stora värden i att erbjuda mänskliga resurser i sin kundtjänst, men vi vet ganska lite om dessa värden i en online-kontext. Vi vet heller inte om dessa värden är så viktiga så att företag borde ta hänsyn till dem i sina strategiska beslut. Därför syftar vår studie till att undersöka betydelsen av mellanmänskliga möten online. Syftet uppfylls genom att studera och analysera interaktioner i kundtjänst för att skapa en förståelse för vilka värden som uppkommer och vilken påverkan dessa kan ha på kundrelationerna. Detta har gjorts genom en kvalitativ forskningsdesign, med en explorativ fallstudie av 92 mejlkonversationer mellan kund och kundtjänst online, vilka behandlats genom textanalys och kodning utefter social resursteori. Resultaten visar att kundtjänst uppmuntrar olika sociala utbyten med kunderna, beroende på typ av ärende. Sociala utbyten av konkreta resurser såsom pengar, varor och information utgör handlingar som ger kunderna ökad bekvämlighet och ekonomiskt värde, vilket stärker relationerna med dem om kunden är nöjd. Sociala utbyten av partikulära resurser såsom kärlek, status och service bildar handlingar som ger kunderna personliga upplevelser och socialt- och emotionellt värde, vilket ger en ökad kundtillfredsställelse men också stärker relationerna med kunderna ännu mer. Utbytet som sker i mellanmänskliga möten online kan förstås som betydelsefullt för att utveckla kundrelationer och konkurrensfördelar. Denna studie kan användas för att vägleda forskning inom forskningsfältet beträffande servicemöten och hjälpa detaljhandlare att skapa hållbara affärsmodeller och strategier.

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Den ökade närvaron på digitala plattformar har gett konsumenter möjligheten till ökat inflytande och påverkan längs hela värdekedjan. Genom att konsumera, bidra och skapa innehåll på digitala plattformar är User Generated Content (UGC) ett verktyg för användare att vara delaktiga i värdeskapandeprocessen. Genom teorier som den tjänstedominanta logiken med samskapande av värde som central del, upplevt värde, konsumtion, bidragande och skapande har tre hypoteser utformats. Utformningen gjordes för att mäta och undersöka hur upplevt värde vid konsumtion av UGC i form av funktionellt, socialt och emotionellt värde, påverkar användares tendenser att ytterligare konsumera, bidra och skapa UGC. Hypoteserna undersöktes genom korrelations- och regressionsanalyser med data från en enkätundersökning bestående av 95 respondenter. Resultatet av studien tyder på positiva samband mellan upplevt värde av UGC och ytterligare konsumtion, bidragande och skapande av UGC med undantag från upplevt funktionellt värde i relation till bidragande och skapande. / The increased presence on digital platforms has given consumers the opportunity for more significant influence and impact along the entire value chain. By consuming, contributing, and creating content on digital platforms, User Generated Content (UGC) is a tool for users to be involved in the value-creation process. Through theories such as the service-dominant logic with co-creation of value as a central element, perceived value, consumption, contribution, and creation, three hypotheses have been formulated. The design was made to measure and investigate how perceived value when consuming UGC in terms of functional, social, and emotional value, influences users' tendencies to further consume, contribute and create UGC. The hypotheses were investigated through correlation and regression analyses using data from a survey of 95 respondents. The results of the study suggest positive correlations between the perceived value of UGC and further consumption, contribution, and creation of UGC with the exception of perceived functional value in relation to contribution and creation.