Engaging in co-production activities - motives and benefits

Abstract

As customer participation in production of goods and services has relevantly increased in the later years, co-production has become a trending topic in marketing literature. The main purpose of this article is to examine which are the motives that lead customers to engage in co-production and which are the benefits that they obtain for such a relationship. This means answering “Why do they participate? and “What do they get from participating?”, as well as “Under which circumstances does co-production achieve better results?”. The findings show that, in addition to produce economic benefits on both customer and company, co-production also generates social and psychological benefits on customers, such as gaining social status and increasing self-esteem. Learning new skills, feeling competent, obtaining rewards and perceiving a sense of control are also customer’s motives and benefits from co-production that have been analysed. Acquiring a better market knowledge and being more efficient are the ones for companies. IKEA, NikeID and Threadless are companies that have fruitful implemented co-production.