Co-creating the Voice of the Customer

In a recent Journal of Marketing article, Stephen L. Vargo and Robert F. Lusch present a strong case for rethinking the nature of marketing. They argue that an emerging paradigm shift moves us toward a service-dominant logic (S-D) as the foundation for marketing thought and practice. Marketing literature frequently refers to customer value. Often, these references take a seller&s;s perspective, such as in discussing their need to create and deliver value to targeted customers. Relationship partners might need new metrics to assess the overall value of the relationship shared by the partners, including both economic and non-economic aspects. Marketing relies on market sensing to bring market and customer knowledge into an organization&s;s decisions. In particular, this skill should enable managers to understand key aspects of their customers&s; valuation processes. Many market research techniques are available for this purpose, along with many highly skilled professional research people who know how to use them.