Guest Editors:
Stephen L. Vargo, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and Birud Sindhav, University of Nebraska at Omaha
The Journal of Marketing Channels is pleased to announce and invite submissions for a Special Issue on “Service-Dominant Logic and Marketing Channels/Supply Chain Management”. The deadline for manuscript submission is December 31, 2015 with publication of accepted papers planned during late 2016 or early 2017.
Special Issue Background Information
Traditional marketing thought is based on a manufacturing-based, goods-dominant (G-D) logic (Vargo & Lusch, 2004) and implies that the purpose of the firm is to make and sell units of output (e.g., goods). In this view, marketing channels and supply chains primarily support movement of goods from the suppliers to the manufacturers to the “consumers” who then destroy the utility embedded in goods during the manufacturing process (value-in-exchange) in the process of consumption.
Service-dominant (S-D) logic (Lusch & Vargo, 2014; Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2008) provides an alternative perspective by suggesting that actors exchange service (applied competences) for service. Instead of a linear marketing channel or supply chain, value-constellations integrate resources and make co-created value propositions. Value, in turn, is co-created with, and determined by, beneficial actors, rather than produced and delivered, and is understood as “value-in-use,” or, more generally, as “value-in-context.”
This alternative point of view, though evolutionary in nature, has profound implications for academics, practitioners, and policymakers. The original proponents of this view maintain that S-D logic is a meta-thought and that mid-range theories are necessary to flesh out full, managerial implications of its foundational premises. In the ten years since this meta-idea was proposed, a significant body of work has emerged around it, much of this work supporting and augmenting S-D logic, but some of it skeptical or even critical. Notably, this development and debate has extended beyond marketing and even business disciplines.
In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the publication of the Vargo and Lusch seminal work on SD-logic in 2004, we invite scholars worldwide from both the marketing channels and supply chain management areas to contribute to the proposed special issue. We seek manuscripts addressing the following topics and beyond. Of course, this list is only for illustration of suitable topics and is not intended to be comprehensive or exclusive.
The Sharing Economy and S-D Logic:
- Actor-to-actor exchanges, such as those being identified with “the sharing economy” (e.g., Airbnb, Lyft, RelayRides, etc.) have received a lot of attention in the business press recently. How does S-D logic help us deepen our understanding of these exchanges?
Institutional Theory, Channels, and S-D Logic:
- The current literature seems to increasingly focus on institutional theory to understand how channels evolve and change. How does S-D logic deal with this focus particularly in light of the special role of institutions and resources in the S-D logic framework?
Emerging Economies, Channels, and S-D Logic:
- Most emerging economies are characterized by a gradual opening up of their markets. How do existing channels cope with the associated dramatic shift in the environment?
- How do new forms of marketing channels evolve as a response to the emerging opportunities and challenges of the liberalization of an economy?
- What implications does S-D logic have for understanding the evolution of marketing channels in emerging economies?
Marketing Channels and S-D Logic:
- How are different “flows” in marketing channels recast in S-D logic? What benefits accrue to practitioners and academics by doing so?
- While the political economy framework has fallen somewhat out of favor among scholars, realities like power imbalance in channel relationships cannot simply be wished away. How does S-D logic help or hinder understanding of the attendant constructs such as power, dependence, conflict, cooperation, opportunism, and satisfaction in channels (including franchising)?
- Internet-based channels have impacted productivity and created fertile ground for vertical and horizontal conflicts. How does S-D logic account for these?
Supply Chain Management and S-D Logic:
- What new ground can be covered in studies dealing with the antecedents, covariates, and consequences of relationships and contracting (including franchising) in supply chains?
- How does S-D logic help us understand the impact of technological innovations on supply chain productivity and other outcomes?
- How do we tackle the broad topic of sustainability when applying S-D logic to supply chains and reverse logistics?
References:
Lusch, R. F., & Vargo, S. L. (2014). Service-dominant logic: Premises, perspectives, possibilities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1–17.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2008). Service-dominant logic: Continuing the evolution. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), 1–10
Submission Information
- Submitted manuscripts should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.
- All manuscripts will be double-blind refereed. Manuscripts must be submitted electronically in Word format, and must be consistent with the author submission guidelines of the Journal of Marketing Channels which can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/WJMC. Click on the “Authors and Submissions” Tab. Manuscripts should be in APA style, and normally should be no longer than 30 pages in length.
- Manuscripts should be received no later than December 31, 2015 with accepted papers published in late 2016 or early 2017. Please submit to bsindhav@unomaha.edu through email as a Microsoft Word attached document.
Stephen L. Vargo
Professor of Marketing
Shidler College Distinguished Professor
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
Shidler College of Business
2404 Maile Way
Honolulu, HI 96822 USA Birud G. Sindhav
Associate Professor of Marketing
College of Business Administration, #303
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE 68182 USA
Phone: 402-554-3335
E-mail: bsindhav@unomaha.edu
