Co-creative vs Orthodox Marketing: when organizational power games influence marketing practices
(A2023-112339)

AUTHORS

carole charbonnel, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3

ABSTRACT

According to its designers, the framework of value co-creation and service-dominant logic is reflected in a unique way of practising marketing: a “co-creative” marketing, which is supposed to supersede other marketing practices. Drawing on the perspective of practices, in particular on Bourdieu's praxeology, our research tempers this vision. By analyzing the discourse of marketing managers, it highlights a plurality of practices - some managers practice co-creative marketing, while others favor the orthodoxy deriving from marketing management. This plurality is rooted in organizational power games, with co-creative marketing being deployed as an implicit strategy by managers who view marketing function as dominated. These results enable to discuss the managerial aspect of value co-creation theory, and to deepen our knowledge of marketing practices, and their mechanisms.