Shoes of Prey: Problems and Strategic Solutions
BACKGROUND
This case provides an opportunity to examine the concept of value co-creation; specifically, a situation where co-creation strategy was not successful. Does that mean that value co-creation can never work in mass markets? Let’s dive in and find out.
This is an individual assignment that is worth 20% of your final grade in this course. You, and only YOU, are responsible for completing this assignment on your own.
INSTRUCTIONS
Please organize your written report using the following headings and sub-headings (where applicable):
1. Title Page
a. Include name of the assignment, course name and code, your first and last name, student ID, and date.
2. Table of Contents
a. Use the Word automated Table of Contents feature to format your Table of Contents – if you don’t know how to do this – there are lots of YouTube videos that will show you how.
3. Current Situation and Challenges
a. Using your own words, describe in a concise paragraph what is happening in this case (i.e., current situation) and what are the key challenges/problems/issues facing SOP. (5 marks)
4. Analysis & Assessment
a. Value Proposition: using only the information from the case, develop a value proposition statement for SOP. Use the framework from class (Week 6). (6 marks)
b. Discuss how SOP could have built a co-creation culture while scaling its business to mass markets? Please refer to the five core co-creation behaviours identified within the following reading to help frame your discussion : Sharma, S., & Conduit, J. (2016). Cocreation Culture in Health Care
Organizations. Journal of Service Research: JSR, 19(4), 438–457. (15 marks)
5. Inspiration
a. It’s time to go shopping! Visit a local mall (e.g., Eaton Centre is right next door) and observe a variety of stores and shoppers. Answer the following:
i. Name the mall that you visited, including the date and time (duration of visit). (2 marks)
ii. List and describe two of the physical stores you visited. Include the name of each store, a photo of each exterior (place photos in an Appendix), description of where it’s located in the mall, the type of products and/or services they sell, a description of who is shopping in this store (from your observations), your impressions of the store atmosphere, quality of products and services and your perception of the overall value this retailer delivers to their customers. (8 marks)
iii. Identify, describe and assess 3 different examples of co-creation you observed during your mall visit. Include the following: name of retailer, brief description of the personalization, customization and/or co-creation example, and assessment of each example. Assess each example according to the following criteria: 1) What type of customer does this strategy appeal to? 2) Do you believe this a differentiating strategy for this retailer? Why or why not? (15 marks)
6. Recommendations
a. Value Proposition: assume SOP is looking to rejuvenate/reboot their business. Given this assumption, use the framework from class (Week 6), and develop a new value proposition statement for SOP. Should be different from the one in Section 4. (6 marks)
b. New Market Research Strategy: The marketing research conducted by SOP showed variations between the actual and predicted behaviours of mass market consumers in response to co-creation. Assuming your new value proposition, suggest a new market research strategy you believe would enable SOP to gain the necessary insights to successfully rejuvenate their business. Please describe the method and approach you would recommend, including specifics about who would participate in this research, examples of the types of questions the participants would be asked, and where/how the research would be conducted etc. Please refer to the following article when developing your response to this question: Fisher, D., & Smith, S. (2011). Cocreation is chaotic: What it means for marketing when no one has control. Marketing Theory, 11(3), 325 350. (20 marks) ASSIGNMENT DELIVERABLES, FORMATTING & ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Your write-up should be approximately 2,000-3,000 words excluding the Title page, Appendices, and references. Please note: store photos should be placed in an Appendix, properly labelled and referred to within the body of the report.
Please format your document as follows: 12-point font, normal margins, double-spaced, page numbers. Title page should include the name of the assignment, course name and code, your first and last name, student ID, and date.
Your report must follow APA 7th Edition (2019) formatting – this includes properly formatted in text citations and list of references.
Please ensure that you give proper credit to the ideas within your report. For example, if it’s purely your own idea, no citations are required. However, if you’ve paraphrased an idea from the case study or an article or anywhere else, you must properly cite and reference where it came from. If you directly quote someone, you must properly cite and reference where it came from. Document your responses with credible references and data that you find through research. Avoid material on the internet which is not well-researched.
Shoes of Prey
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Professor's Name
Due Date
Table of Contents
Introduction. 3
Current Situation and Challenges. 3
Analysis and Assessment 4
Value Proposition Evolution. 4
Promoting Co-Creation. 5
Inspiration. 7
Jo Malone London. 7
Prairies & Petals. 7
Retail Perspectives on Co-Creation. 8
Aveda. 8
Christmas Tree. 9
Danish Pastry House. 9
Recommendations. 10
Value Proposition. 10
New Market Research Strategy. 11
Conclusion. 12
References. 13
Appendices. 15
Introduction
Value co-creation is both an innovation and a trap in modern business. Shoes of Prey (SOP) was a brand that tried to harness its customers' collaboration but got caught up in the evil side of value co-creation. Current business practices emphasize customer involvement, where customers are active players in value creation rather than end-users. SOP's story illustrates the difficulties a company facing co-creation can face. SOP faces a changing customer landscape, from misaligned value propositions to expanding co-creation culture. This paper evaluates SOP's problems and proposes a strategic solution: a renewed value proposition and a nuanced market research method. It aims to reveal the route forward by examining value co-creation in mass marketplaces and its possible successes and failures.
Current Situation and Challenges
SOP is facing a complicated commercial landscape due to its value co-creation philosophy. The story describes how SOP struggled to manage the dark side of value co-creation (Roy & Singh, 2020). The company first sought to involve customers in custom shoe design to boost innovation, customer satisfaction, and competitiveness. However, SOP's many struggles revealed the dark side of value co-creation. The collaborative co-creation approach complicated supply chain management, production efficiency, and cost control. Customization added value but increased manufacturing lead times and operational problems. Such affected SOP's ability to meet client expectations quickly and raised issues about the co-creation model's mass market scalability. SOP failed to reconcile customization and operational efficiency. The endeavor to incorporate clients intimately in the design process resulted in many possibilities, which caused decision fatigue and overwhelmed them.
Analysis and Assessment
Value Proposition Evolution
The heart of SOP is its ambitious value proposition—a promise to consumers that goes beyond conventional footwear purchases. SOP's value co-creation initiative hinges on the idea that letting customers custom-design their shoes creates a unique and personal relationship between the brand and its customers. This voyage into the unfamiliar region of value co-creation is not without hurdles and complications. SOP offers the promise of individuality and self-expression. SOP wanted to turn shoe shopping into an artistic experience by inviting people to participate in the creative process. In a mass production and uniformity business, SOP's main differentiator was the appeal of making custom shoes to one's taste and style. Logistical difficulties, supply chain issues, and the delicate balance needed to combine client expectations with operational reality shadow SOP's value proposition. SOP has obstacles beyond consumer empowerment (Roy & Singh, 2020). In a world of customization and individuality, supply chain management is complicated and threatens SOP's value proposition.
Due to customization's complex design and production process, lead times