VALUE-CREATION-AND-VALUE-CAPTURE-A-MULTILEVEL-PERS

INTRODUCTIONTOSPECIALTOPICFORUMVALUECREATIONANDVALUECAPTURE:AMULTILEVELPERSPECTIVEDAVIDP.LEPAKRutgers,TheStateUniversityofNewJerseyKENG.SMITHM.SUSANTAYLORUniversityofMarylandAsanintroductiontothespecialissuetopicofvaluecreation,wedefinevaluecreationintermsofusevalueandexchangevalueanddiscusssomeofthekeyissuesrelatedtoitsstudy,includingthetopicofvaluecapture.Althoughthedefinitionofvaluecreationiscommonacrosslevelsofanalysis,theprocessofvaluecreationwilldifferbasedonwhethervalueiscreatedbyanindividual,anorganization,orsociety.Weusetheconceptsofcompetitionandisolatingmechanismstoexplainhowvaluecanbecapturedatdifferentlevelsofanalysis.Valuecreationisacentralconceptintheman-agementandorganizationliteratureforbothmi-crolevel(individual,group)andmacrolevel(or-ganizationtheory,strategicmanagement)research.Yetthereislittleconsensusonwhatvaluecreationisoronhowitcanbeachieved.OurexperiencesinservingasguesteditorsforthisSpecialTopicForumonValueCreationtaughtusagreatdeal,whilesimultaneouslyunderscoringhowmuchmoreworkisneededbeforewecanfullyunderstandthisimportantconcept.IntheinitialcallforpapersforthisSTF,wearguedthattheconceptofvaluecreationwas“notwellunderstood.”Wenowseethatouropeningstatement,whileaccurate,alsosignifi-cantlyunderestimatesmanyoftheconceptualissuesinvolvedinstudyingvaluecreation.Moredirectly,whileonewouldbehardpressedtofindamanagementscholarwhowoulddisagreethatvaluecreationisimportant,onealsowouldfinditequallydifficulttofindagreementamongsuchscholarsregarding(1)whatvaluecreationis,(2)theprocessbywhichvalueiscreated,and(3)themechanismsthatallowthecreatorofvaluetocapturethevalue.Withtheluxuryofhindsight,wenowviewthislackofagreementaboutvaluecreationamongorganizationalscholarsasoneofthemostimportantconclu-sionsfromthisSTF,andwebrieflyexplorewhatweconsidertobethreeofthemostimportantreasonsfortheconfusion.First,themultidisciplinarynatureofthefieldofmanagementintroducessignificantvarianceinthepartiesortargetsforwhichnewvalueiscreatedandinthepotentialsourcesorcreatorsofvalue.Toillustrate,scholarsinstrategicman-agement,strategichumanresourcemanage-ment(HRM),marketing,orentrepreneurship,forexample,mayemphasizethecreationofvalueforbusinessowners(Porter,1985;Sirmon,Hitt,&Ireland,thisissue),stakeholders(Post,Preston,&Sachs,2002),orcustomers(Kang,Morris,&Snell,thisissue;Priem,thisissue).Conversely,researchersemphasizingHRMororganizationalbehaviormayemphasizevaluecreationthattargetsindividualemployees,employeegroupsorteams,andorganizations(March&Simon,1958).Scholarsfromsociologicaloreconomicdisciplinesmayfocusonvaluecreationintermsofsociety(Lee,Peng,&Barney,thisissue)ornations(Porter,1990).Whilenotexhaustive,thislistdoeshighlightthedifferencesintargetsorusersforwhomvaluecanbecreated.Weappreciatethehelpfulsupportofthereviewersandtheauthorswhocontributedtheirtimeandinsightsintothisspecialtopicform,aswellasthetremendoussupportofArtBrief,formereditor,andSusanPauli,formermanagingedi-tor.WealsothankQingCao,SabaColakoglu,NiclasEr-hardt,MikePfarrer,andAntoanetaPetkovafortheircom-mentsonanearlierdraftofthismanuscript.
AcademyofManagementReview2007,Vol.32,No.1,180–194.180Similarly,researchers’formativedisciplinecausesthemtofocusondifferentsourcesofvaluecreation.Forexample,psychology,orga-nizationalbehavior,andmanyHRscholarsfo-cusonthebehaviorofindividualsorgroups.Incontrast,organizationaltheorists,strategicmanagementresearchers,strategicHRMschol-ars,andentrepreneurshipscholarsoftenem-phasizetheorganizationlevel;further,someeconomists,organizationaltheorists,andsociol-ogistsexaminetheindustryorsocietallevelofanalysis.Overall,theexistenceofthispluralityinboththetargetsandsourcesofvaluecreationintroducesahostofchallengestoscholars,in-cludingthedevelopmentofacommondefinitionfortheterm.Asecondsourceofdifficultyregardingvaluecreationisthatvaluecreationrefersbothtothecontentandprocessofnewvaluecreation.Onthecontentside,questionsregardingwhatisvalue/valuable,whovalueswhat,andwherevalueresideshighlightthecomplexityofunder-standingvaluecreation.Thefactthatvaluecre-ationisusedjustasfrequentlytorefertotheunderlyingprocessofcreation,howvalueisgenerated,andtherole,ifany,ofmanagementinthisprocessunderscoresthisconfusion.Finally,theprocessofvaluecreationisoftenconfusedorconfoundedwiththeprocessofvaluecaptureorvalueretention.However,wearguethatvaluecreationandvaluecaptureshouldbeviewedasdistinctprocesses,sincethesourcethatcreatesavalueincrementmayormaynotbeabletocaptureorretainthevalueinthelongrun.Rather,valuecreatedbyonesourceoratonelevelofanalysismaybecap-turedatanother—aprocesswecall,inthispa-per,“valueslippage.”Forexample,althoughanindividualmaycreatevaluebydevelopinganewwaytoperformaparticulartaskintheworkplace,otherparties,suchasorganizationsorevensocieties,maybenefitmorefromthevaluethatiscreatedthandoestheindividualcreator.Similarly,valuecreatedbyorganiza-tions,possiblythroughtheintroductionofanewproductorprocess,maynotbewhollycapturedbythembut,instead,mayspilloverintosocietyasawhole.Thus,wearguethatthetendencyforscholarstocombinevalue