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Customer value: The next source for competitive advantage

  • Marketing In the 21st Century
  • Published:
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 June 1997

Abstract

Driven by more demanding customers, global competition, and slow-growth economies and industries, many organizations search for new ways to achieve and retain a competitive advantage. Past attempts have largely looked internally within the organization for improvement, such as reflected by quality management, reengineering, downsizing, and restructuring. The next major source for competitive advantage likely will come from more outward orientation toward customers, as indicated by the many calls for organizations to compete on superior customer value delivery. Although the reasons for these calls are sound, what are the implications for managing organizations in the next decade and beyond? This article addresses this question. It presents frameworks for thinking about customer value, customer value learning, and the related skills that managers will need to create and implement superior customer value strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the University of Tennessee, USA

    Robert B. Woodruff

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  1. Robert B. Woodruff
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He has coauthored five books, the most recent one on customer value determination. He has published articles in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, andJournal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior.

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0092070397253006.

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Woodruff, R.B. Customer value: The next source for competitive advantage. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 25, 139–153 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02894350

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