| dc.description.abstract | This paper analyzes how product manufacturers and technology service providers identify, evaluate, and manage value-added opportunities. The study looks into ten product manufacturers and technology service providers. The findings indicate that the identification of opportunities requires that the suppliers develop customer relationships and contacts at different levels. The purpose of such relationships is to identify value-added opportunities, remove barriers to buying, make price offers, improve business propositions, and get to know the competitors’ moves and innovation initiatives. Past technical and business issues may adversely influence the future identification of opportunities of co-creation of value between the parties. The suppliers evaluate the feasibility of exploring a value-added opportunity with their customers by means of a joint consideration of technical, operational, marketing (internal and external) and strategic aspects. The suppliers make their final decision whether or not to explore value-added opportunities based on a strategic analysis of the opportunity. The analysis defines whether the supplier will develop innovative solutions that are less sensitive to the price wars to increase their margins, improve the existing solutions in order to enhance their competitiveness, or leave the opportunity to their competitors. The management of value-added opportunities requires that the companies identify the benefits that the solution adds to the customer. Those benefits are quantified so as to subsidize the definition of proposed values that will then be presented to the customers. | en |
