Last Sunday I went with my son to a regular sport activity for parents and kids.
While we were waiting to start I overheard two fathers talking. One of them
asked the other about his activity tracking wristband, what do you have there? How
does it work? Do you like it? What can it do for you? Basically he was curious
if the other father had gain any value with this product.
The other father answered, it is suppose to measure all my acitivity and other stuff that I
don´t know. I got this for Christmas from my wife but I honestly don´t
know how to use it and what information I can get from it. I just keep it on my
arm because it makes my wife happy.
After reading Skålen et al. (2015) I started to think about this situation
and the importance of co-creation. For this father his very expensive wristband
had no value what so ever for him. Apparently it had some value for his wife. In
order to gain value for him a direct interaction with the firm would be
necessary.
So this got me thinking about the Service-Dominant logic perspective.
Is it possible to say that one service or product can be an innovation for one
person but not for another one?
Hi Maria! I would probably argue that the wristband has value for him. It is just not the value that the company intended. His value is, that it keeps his wife happy. From a husband perspective a very concrete and important goal. It probably had another value for him. It was a conversation starter and the other father got interested. Probably makes the wristband wearer feel good that he has something new and fancy.
SvaraRaderaThe problem for the wrist band producer is, that as soon as the wristband wearer finds another thing that makes his wife happy and another fancy tool that he can impress with, he will replace the wristband with that new thing.
Think a bus would be a similar example wich for two neighbours could mean nothing for one and be the main way of transportation for the other ?
SvaraRaderaregarding the wristband, I'd have to say I'd not be wearing it unless I saw a clear benefit for myself as it likely can track your position. Funny if that is why the wife gave it to him :D
Think a bus would be a similar example wich for two neighbours could mean nothing for one and be the main way of transportation for the other ?
SvaraRaderaregarding the wristband, I'd have to say I'd not be wearing it unless I saw a clear benefit for myself as it likely can track your position. Funny if that is why the wife gave it to him :D
Perhaps he had a very smart wife😉
RaderaMy reflection is that many techy service innovations seems to deliver (surprise) a strong technological solution to a questionable user need. But, as even a blind hen can find a grain, a few of those many innovations will strike gold. Innovations with heavy user involvements are in my experience normally low-tech or non-tech, but will more often succeed. The techy more far-fetched ones however attracts news media, while the user-centric ones lingers in the media shadows.
SvaraRaderaAnother reflection is that there are enough people out there who are totally ignorant of the integrity risks with sharing personal data to justify a lot of business activity in the area. It's clearly very profitable and there is practically no way to stop this development.