Marc Wouters

2019

New technology-based firms often consist of a small group of experts with
innovative technology. The commercialization of technology is one of the
most significant challenges for those firms. Deriving products and services
from the innovation is a crucial task for identifying market offerings that are
valuable to customers. However, the knowledge for finding a valuable
application is often spread among the new firm, customers, and business
partners. This case study at a new technology-based firm explores how
customer collaboration can lead to identifying and developing a valuable
market offering. First, it is demonstrated how a customer value proposition
is crafted, quantified in monetary terms, and compared to the next best
alternative. Second, the study shows how value propositions result in a
profound understanding of the customer and generate constructive,
collaborative relationships. Third, the research contributes to the literature by
showing customer value propositions as integrating devices for knowledge
transfer between companies. The case study details practical examples of
how using a customer value proposition can support market offering change
by focussing customer collaboration.