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Special Issue: Value to the Customer: The Cornerstone of Marketing?

 “Customer value is the fundamental basis for all marketing activity.“ (Holbrook 1994, 22)

Customer value is a concept of fundamental concern to marketing scholars and practitioners alike. Customer value is one of the most powerful forces in today’s marketplace and an underlying source of competitive advantage. The importance of the concept is recognized by the ÂÜÀòÉç¹ÙÍø which has integrated “customer value” into the definition of marketing. Moreover, the Marketing Science Institute named customer value as one of the most important research priorities for 2010-2012 (see also Katsikeas et al. 2004). Against this background, the issue at stake is not whether an organization should compete on customer value, but rather how to do it.

The importance of the customer value concept as a major antecedent to intentional post-consumption concepts (e.g. loyalty) as well as actual retention has generated a plethora of research centered around its composition, sound measurement and relationship with other constructs (e.g. satisfaction). To date, however, research remains fragmented with a dispersed and inconclusive base of theoretical and empirical knowledge. For example, while customer value has traditionally been conceptualized as a cognitive trade-off, focusing on functional aspects (e.g. price and utility), recent studies underline its multidimensionality emphasizing the relevance of social or hedonic perspectives (e.g. enjoyment). Hence, different points of view are advocated, and there seems to be no widely accepted way of pulling views together.

Taking into consideration the thought-provoking challenges surrounding this field, scholars increasingly call for a reappraisal of customer value in terms of its conceptualization, measurement and management. The aim of this special issue is to provide innovative insights into the existing knowledge on the customer value construct. Rigorous and thoughtful empirical, conceptual and theoretical papers as well as literature reviews, practice papers and case studies are encouraged. Diverse methodologies and approaches are welcomed. A wide range of topics are suitable for this special issue and include (but are not limited to) the following:

– Customer value conceptualization
– Customer value in different industries
– Customer value based segmentation
– Cross-cultural issues of customer value
– Measuring and modeling customer value
– Customer value co-creation
– Creating and sharing customer value
– Communicating customer value
– Delivering customer value
– Antecedents of customer value
– Customer value over time
– Delivering value through enhanced media and channels
– Marketing mix and value creation
– Sustainable customer value
– Customer value – behavioral intentions link
– Managing customer value for different stakeholders
– Customer value and qualitative methods
…

Papers in other areas will also be considered by the editors. All manuscripts submitted must strictly follow the guidelines for der markt – International Journal of Marketing. These are available at

ÂÜÀòÉç¹ÙÍøt “der markt – Journal für Marketing”

der markt – International Journal of Marketing is one of the leading scientific marketing journals in German-speaking Europe. However, it extends well beyond Austria, Germany and Switzerland being distributed in many countries in Eastern as well as Western Europe. The journal has a long tradition (the first issue dates back to the 1960s), and is published by one of the most prestigious scientific publishers, Springer. Leading scholars of the European scientific marketing community serve on the newly established editorial board, ensuring a rigorous double-blind review process. Articles are published either in English or in German. The journal is not restricted to established methods, theories and approaches to research in marketing. der markt particularly encourages alternative, unconventional and innovative thinking as regards methodology and approaches. While papers have to adhere to rigorous academic standards, published manuscripts should also stimulate the transfer of scientific research to corporate practice.

Guidelines for Submission:

All papers will be subject to double blind peer review.
English and German manuscripts will be selected for publication.
Author guidelines are available at
Submit your manuscript via the online-submission system available at
Submission deadline: March 31, 2011
Date of Publication: Autumn (October) 2011

Special Issue Editors:

Prof. Dr. Andreas Eggert
Universität Paderborn
Faculty of Business and Economics
Marketing Department
Warburger Straße 100
33098 Paderborn
Germany
Phone: +49-5251-60-2085
e-mail: andreas.eggert@notes.upb.de

Univ.Ass. Dr. Arne Floh
WU Vienna
Institute for Marketing-Management
Department of Marketing
Augasse 2–6
1090 Vienna
Austria
Phone: +43-1-31336-4626
e-mail: arne.floh@wu.ac.at

Univ.Ass. Mag. Alexander Zauner, M.A.
WU Vienna
Institute for Marketing-Management
Department of Marketing
Augasse 2–6
1090 Vienna
Austria
Phone: +43-1-31336-4098
e-mail: alexander.zauner@wu.ac.at