Co-creating Value Through Corporate Blogs: A Proposed Research
Framework
Adeline P. H., Chua
Department of Marketing,
School of Business
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
adeline.chua@otago.ac.nz
Mathew, Parackal
Department of Marketing,
School of Business
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
mathew.parackal@otago.ac.nz
Abstract 1. Introduction
The new Internet, dubbed as web 2.0, has been
hailed as the next wave of technology, Marketing and communication strategies
introducing a plethora of social media tools such have evolved considerably since the classic one-
as blogs, social networking, media-sharing, to-many distribution ideology, moving towards a
collaborative tagging and wikis. These web 2.0- more dyadic approach via the adoption of
driven technologies are significantly advancing information communication technology (ICT).
the business world from the 20th century of one- The web 2.0 technological platform is altering
to-many, top-down mass communications model many practices of collaborative and knowledge
towards a 21st century communications model activities - making it more customer-centric,
that is more open, interactive, multidimensional user-generated, interactive and dynamic, while
and participatory. As a result, web 2.0 has fostering community participation and building
carved out a more competitive environment, on collective community intelligence in a
forcing businesses to perform at a faster, formalized and dynamic information creation
cheaper and smarter level to create new business and sharing environment [1], [2], [3].
opportunities. Focusing on an increasingly
competitive web 2.0 tool – blogging, this paper With web 2.0 steadily proving to be a more
introduces the concept of corporate blogs as a powerful marketing tool than any traditional
dialogical platform between company and media, perhaps the single most influential issue
customers. Positing blogs as engaging facing marketers today is its emergence as a
“experience environments”, we then discuss how preferred source of information among
meaningful value can be co-created through the consumers [4]. Along with being more informed
exchange of knowledge between a company and online and even more connected with each other
its customers via a proposed framework as a than ever before, marketers are witnessing a shift
further call for research. in power from brands to the hands of consumers
[5]. This trend is changing the marketing
Keyword: Corporate blogs, web 2.0, co-creation landscape by decreasing the cost of delivering,
of value, customer knowledge management, accessing and spreading information,
online marketing consequently impacting a change in consumer
behaviour. An evident observation of this change
is the growing online interactions among
communities of consumers and between

companies, permanently replacing the traditional 2. Web 2.0: Corporate Blogs as a
marketing monologue [4]. Dialogical Platform
Confirming Searls and Weinberger’s notion What web 2.0 media tool can companies use
of “markets as conversations” [6] in the to engage customers through a dialogical
Cluetrain Manifesto, there seems to be a stronger platform, which would also lead to an increased
propensity for consumers to talk to other sense of co-created value between the two
consumers than generated consumer-mass media parties? To answer that question, this paper
from companies, as consumers are executing explores the potential of corporate blogs as an
these activities more effectively than marketers effective web 2.0 medium of exchange in an
can spread their own message through attempt to bridge the communication gap
advertising. It is evident that there is a shift of between companies and their customers. A
control from the company to the consumer. The “blog” is the irreverent contraction of “web log”
increasing ways of ‘voicing’, ‘self expression’ [10], implying a webpage maintained using some
and communication with other consumers via specialized program which allows the blogger to
emails, instant messaging systems, online review post a new entry (with an automatically stamped
sites, SMSs, blogs with RSS feeds and other web date and time) and displaying only the most
2.0 social media are enabling individuals to learn recent postings while transferring the older ones
about others’ experiences with products and to archive pages. The blog interface is usually
services much more rapidly [5]. automatically created; choosing a template from
an array of existing selections or creating a new
It has always been a general belief that template altogether.
companies regard the ability to communicate
with customers important [7]. Hence, with the Blogs are not exactly new, as they became
Internet offering a window to understand the increasingly mainstream in 2004 due to their use
overall market perception and consumer in political debates surrounding President Bush's
preference towards a brand, customers are now 2004 re-election [11]. It was about a year later
allowed to say exactly what they think of that business or corporate blogs began to pick up
products, brands and companies whilst offering in numbers as it attracted interest from
insights into how improvements may be made companies wishing to further explore online
[4]. Hence, an enormous pressure is now being marketing tools. So how different is a corporate
placed on companies to re-imagine, re-invent and blog from a regular blog then? In short, corporate
re-architect their marketing and communication blogs are easily defined by three criteria. Firstly,
strategies to match the customer’s expectations they are usually maintained by individuals who
in the new economy [8], [9]. The need to be post in an official or semi-official capacity at a
favorably distinguished from competitors is even company; the blog content is endorsed explicitly
more paramount now, and has led many or implicitly by that company and lastly, entries
companies to look at additional functions such as are posted by a person perceived by publics to be
blogs to gain competitive advantage while clearly affiliated with the company [12].
remaining close to their customers. [2] strongly
points out that this inevitably means involving The uptake of corporate blogging is fast and
customers in the creation, delivery and rising. A collaborative open source project called
dissemination of the brand message in an Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki1 recently
interactive experiential environment. found that 12 percent (approximately 60
companies) of the Fortune 500 companies have
adopted corporate blogs since the start of
1
Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki,
http://www.socialtext.net/bizblogs/index.cgi

February 2009. This is a visible improvement to co-create value with their customers online by
from the 3.6 percent of Fortune 500 companies primarily gaining a better understanding of their
as quoted in [13]’s research – considered one of customers first and how they perceive value [16].
the pioneering scholarly studies on corporate To achieve this, companies and customers need
blogs, indicating a growing realization that to constantly interact to obtain deeper and
corporate blogs are being integrated as part of a timelier information from each other. In a day
company’s advertising, marketing and public and age where it is increasingly difficult to retain
relations initiatives. customers swimming in an ocean of abundant
information, there needs to be a change in the
Corporate blogs may benefit companies companies’ philosophy of thinking about their
wishing to take a step closer to their customers as customers. This is crucial, as customers are now
it functions as an inexpensive dialogue-based more knowledgeable than expected and therefore
medium injected with personal character, is the company’s most important partner in a
overcoming the customers’ resistance to value creation process [5].
traditional media. The employment of corporate
blogs would be an effective way of obtaining Bearing in mind that customers are at the
quick, direct access to a specific target group and very heart of the co-creation experience and
effectively monitor the response generated, while whose existing knowledge should never be
keeping true to its overarching objective - underestimated, this presents companies with an
interaction between the company and customer. even more challenging task of accessing,
Such a medium would serve as a useful platform understanding and managing this knowledge
especially for smaller companies to communicate already inherent in their customers. This also
with their online audience, especially if they lack requires a shift in the company’s mindset to
the marketing muscle of bigger brands. In fact, become knowledge partners with their customers
[2] suggest that corporate blogs are particularly instead of knowledge hoarders [5]; the old tempo
valuable to any companies who are concerned and tradition that companies have been used to
about their customers’ reactions, regardless of all this while.
the company’s size or nature of industry.
3.1. Knowledge as Source of Value
3. Value-seeking Customers
A nascent research area that involves the
Customers are now yearning to obtain more gaining, sharing and expanding of knowledge
satisfactory value from companies; they are already present in customers [17], [18] and how
looking for a relationship based on trust, companies can effectively handle that exchange
credibility and transparency in an attempt to through interaction of the customers with the
further validate their decision-making activities company is customer knowledge management.
online [14], [15]. These customers are now In a sense, knowledge is being socially
seeking to co-create and be part of a valuable constructed through the interaction of the
experiential online relationship with companies, customers with the company [18]. However, it
especially in the area of services marketing. should be pointed out that customer knowledge
management is very distinctive from the area of
A huge task lies before companies, as they knowledge management as it focuses on
are forced to take a step back and re-evaluate obtaining knowledge directly from the customer,
their existing online communication channels compared to the underleveraged knowledge
with a growingly demanding customer base. management concept which obtains knowledge
Companies would have to figure out how to about the customer via huge customer
improve communications to foster valuable relationship management databases [19], [20].
online relationships with their customers. In Customer knowledge management’s distinctive
other words, companies should be finding ways point is that it lifts the focus from merely

collecting information about customers to 4. Harnessing Valuable Knowledge via
learning with and alongside them, contributing to Corporate Blogs
areas such as innovation and growth in the
company [17], [15]. The usage of the Internet by companies
places them at a competitive advantage when it
In this paper, we argue that existing comes to engaging in customer knowledge
knowledge management approaches management, due to its cost-effective and user-
predominantly focus on supporting knowledge friendly nature for knowledge sharing. With the
creation and sharing activities; often failing to Internet acting as an infrastructure for interaction
take into account how existing customer between companies and customers, it also creates
knowledge impacts the different experiential a variety of quality experiences, thus realising
exchanges that takes place between the company the concept of innovative and flexible
and its customer, especially in an online context ‘experience environments and networks’ [15]. In
such as corporate blogs. Hence, a way of this view, blogs become the strategic enabler of
managing this experiential exchange is to build experiential co-creation processes as it goes
relationships with customers by introducing beyond typical product and service offerings,
corporate blogging as a platform to facilitate a focusing instead on individual-centric
dialogical environment between the company interactions with the company’s products,
and its customers. These unique experiential processes, people as well as customer
exchanges hold possible potential for co-creation communities. Hence, this potentially impacts and
of value constructs [21], [22]; thus positing influences potential relationship value between
corporate blogging as a communicative tool to companies and customers. This indicates that
foster mutually satisfying relationships between corporate blogs have the capacity to build a
the company and its customers online. trusting and mutually satisfying relationship with
the customer by engaging them in the co-
So by seeing knowledge as a source of value, creation, delivery and dissemination of
we suggest that the online communications gap marketing-related information.
would most certainly be narrowed if corporate
blogs are perceived as boundary spanners in This new business logic of including
managing this informational exchange between customers in the knowledge sharing process
the company and the customer. Unfortunately, presupposes a very much longer relationship
most companies are still apprehensive about this between both parties, along with highly refined
medium as they struggle to find a balance distribution of roles. Thus, value is created in
between autonomous sharing of new knowledge many ways, and it is particularly assumed that
with customers and managing the existing the deeper relationship will create opportunities
knowledge inherent in the customer. Few realise for acquiring more knowledge, making the
that along with the presence of the Internet, no company more flexible in adapting to the
knowledge is sacred or secret anymore and that customer to provide higher quality. So is it
even bigger companies such as Microsoft, posited that the deeper the interaction between
General Motors and IBM are opening doors to the company and its customers, the better the
company-customer communications and level of creativity on both sides, the higher the
exchanges via corporate blogs. Hence, utilizing probability that new ideas and ways of doing
corporate blogs as a channel of communication business would be born. To state it simply, co-
to co-create valuable online experiences for both production in this context can also be regarded as
the company and customer indubitably holds a a way of acquiring generative knowledge [23].
promising and profitable company-customer
relationship in the future. Along with a greater level of knowledge
shared by both parties, [5] asserts that the co-
creation process also accords the customers with

a stronger degree of self-esteem and a fortified medium existing in a public space. The brands’
sense of emotional bonding with both the performance, mutually satisfying goal
product and company. This is surely an outcome convergence, the need to reduce costs and effort
of value to the customers. By managing along with expected equity of return from both
knowledge of customers, [17] assert that sides are also some additional challenges
companies may even be able to foresee emerging associated with the concept of co-creating value
market trends and opportunities ahead of online [24].
competition, rapidly creating economic value for
the company, its stakeholders and not forgetting The question of what constitutes value in
the customers. blogging should also be further explored. From a
service-dominant logic of marketing perspective,
In a blogging context, [14] makes it clear that [25] suggests that valuation might coincide with
in order for blogging to be effective as a creator processes where customers and companies are
of value for both the company and customer, actively engaged, but very little is known about
both parties have a dual responsibility to the actual role that customers play and the nature
participate in the dynamic conversational facility of the co-production of value itself [16]. These
that blogs provide. Picking up the DART concerns are echoed by [17] as they highlight
approach (Dialogue; Access; Risk Assessment; cultural challenges in lieu of redefining the
Transparency) introduced by [15], blogs present customer’s role and how this impacts the
itself to be the perfect tool for engaging both the employees’ mindset within the company. In
company and the customer in a shared learning addition to that, the company’s level of
and communicative environment (Dialogue); competency in terms of the required skills and
providing the information, platform, and tools processes that need to be in place in order to take
needed for a dialog (Access); responsibly full advantage of such participative techniques
informing customers of any potential personal should also be further investigated [23].
and societal risk(s) present by adhering to a
sensible and discerning blogging policy and From our literature review of the subject
guidelines (Risk assessment); and lastly, dealing areas involved, we propose a research framework
with increasingly accessible information about a (as depicted in Figure 1) and an accompanying
company’s products, technologies and business exploratory research question that might inform
systems (Transparency) the research direction better:-
The future belongs to those who can Research Question: How do corporate blogs
successfully co-create unique experiences with function as a dialogical platform for knowledge
customers. Hence at the end of the day, the exchanges between companies and customers?
experience is the brand. As such, the brand is co-
created and evolves with experiences [22]. We recommend that a qualitative research
method via in-depth interviews be observed, as it
5. Further Research provides richer findings exploring how
companies and customers perceive, think about
It should be cautioned that co-creating value and engage in value co-creation processes [16].
in the online economy is not as easy as it looks, To illustrate the research framework further, the
especially in the context of company-customer impact a company has (in terms of its role,
relationships. Some risks that both customer and knowledge, skills and current processes) on its
company ought to be aware of include the need interaction with customers can be investigated by
to understand the importance of privacy as well looking at the customer’s role, expectations and
as legal issues associated with copyright matters, existing knowledge in the dialogical situation. In
intellectual property (IP) and libel laws, addition to that, by carefully examining the
especially since the blog is regarded as a private knowledge items (examples include customer
feedback, company updates, service processes,

market trends, product design and industry era has shifted from isolated to connected; from
information) which may be exchanged between unaware to informed; from passive to active,
both parties via a corporate blog, the interactive impacting companies to source for a new frame
communication that takes place may provide an of reference for value creation [15].
indication of the significance and type of value
that is being co-created between both parties. A When the customer is conceived as co-
subsequent phase of study via quantitative producer, the interaction between the parties
research can then provide how the rich generates more value than a traditional
descriptive findings revealed from the earlier transaction process, signifying distinct marketing
qualitative study hold across different marketing intelligence taking place, as the dynamic co-
contexts. creation processes view customers as partners
rather than subjects [17] [26], [23]. Even the
market is not anymore seen as a target for the
company’s offerings or as a forum, but as a
convergence of the company and the consumer is
observed [22].
In this paper, we have investigated the role of
corporate blogs acting as a dialogical platform
towards the co-creation of value between both
the company and customer. We have discussed
the importance of companies understanding the
value of existing knowledge inherent in
customers and treating it with diligence in an
effort of building a relationship with the
Figure 1: Proposed framework for further customers online. We anticipate that the insights
research garnered are helpful in paving way for some
collective thinking on how corporate blogs may
It is also important to note that such further benefit companies. Most importantly, it is
qualitative studies may help to guide the ensuing hoped that researchers heed the call for further
quantitative phase as a theory-testing platform research into what constitutes as co-creation of
for value research. Implications for such a study value between a company and its customers in
would be beneficial in terms of market sensing any particular context a corporate blog is utilized
(in anticipating change), creating customer- in. This has been detailed in the proposed
sensitive value propositions and more effective research framework as seen in Figure 1 earlier.
relationship management [25]. Such a research Such a research is especially helpful for
may help to better understand and move companies who are keen to capitalize on the
marketing’s dynamic, urgent and changing potential of corporate blogs as a business
nature towards a service-dominated, customer- enhancement and branding concept. Hence it is
oriented and relational paradigms arena [16]. the marketer’s job to ensure that their
functionality is harnessed to its optimum effect,
6. Conclusion especially in communicating the company’s
brand beliefs and principles to customers.
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