Creating novel consumer value vs. capturing value: Strategic emphases and financial performance implications

Business researchers have a growing interest in value creation perspectives to firm strategy. The present article provides a novel examination of the financial performance implications of strategic emphases on creating novel consumer value vs. capturing value, by taking a configuration approach to strategy. The empirical study examines the strategic orientations and financial performances of a sample of firms, from a survey of over 500 companies. The results indicate that a strategic emphasis on neither novel consumer value creation nor value capture has independent linear influence on profitable firm growth. Yet, the results also reveal that certain strategic configurations are more feasible than others, in terms of profitable growth. Among both large and small firms, firms with high emphasis on novel consumer value creation and low on value capture exhibited above-average profitable growth. A high emphasis on both novel consumer value creation and value capture, in turn, appears to be a feasible configuration for large firms but less feasible for small firms. The authors also examine the moderating effects of environmental turbulence. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.