The contrasting marketing principles of service-dominant (S-D) logic and goods-dominant (G-D) logic are examined in this article from the perspective of current research themes in the information science community. The conclusion is reached that much of the distributed multi-agent literature is complementary to the issues being explored concerning S-D logic, and that some multi-agent research may therefore be pertinent to the business marketing community. This article discusses the modelling approach of interactionism as an underlying principle of both S-D logic and multi-agent systems technology. The two domain technologies are compared, and implications for business marketing practice proposed.
The current discussions in the field of marketing studies concerning service-dominant (S-D) logic, as outlined by the evolutionary work of Vargo and Lusch, 2004a, Vargo and Lusch, 2004b, Vargo and Lusch, 2006, Vargo and Lusch, 2008a and Vargo and Lusch, 2008b have attracted the attention of the information science community. This interest stems from the belief that the underlying issues in the S-D logic dialogue have close affinities with current debates taking place within Information Science, and indeed, over a number of years across a wide spectrum of Western culture. Recent changes in viewing business interactions from a goods-focused to service-focused (or process-driven) perspective have been reflected in information and communication technology (ICT) research and practice through innovations such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA), social media, service science, and multi-agent systems. We believe that the problematic nature of ‘information’ that underlies some of the discussions in Information Science are also crucial to the understanding of markets and economies, and that these issues are also being uncovered in the current S-D logic dialogue. Our aim in this paper is two-fold: (a) to discuss complementary directions and practice across the two disciplines, and (b) to propose implications for business marketing derived from a particular research focus within Information Science that we believe has a strong synergy with the S-D logic community.
We have argued that the interactionist perspective of information science is more comprehensive than the objectivist perspective, but it can encompass and employ objectivist models in appropriate circumstances. This suggests that the S-D logic thinking, too, can encompass and employ G-D logic concepts and terminology if due care is given to this employment. Thus the use of the term ‘resource,’ as for example used in Vargo et al. when they refer to “socially constructed entities” ( Vargo, & Akaka, 2009), carries an objectivist connotation for us, and therefore it could be argued that it is derived from a G-D logic view. This suggests to us that resource may be a concept that has a narrower scope than the full domain of S-D logic thinking, and its usage should be restricted accordingly.
We see further development of the notion of operants, and operant interaction models, as a key area for future marketing management research. Maglio, Vargo, Caswell, and Spohrer (2009) have proposed a more general interaction model, but this is only one of an unlimited number of operant interaction protocols that could potentially be in effect. The work of Ballantyne and Varey on dialogical models of S-D logic (Ballantyne and Varey, 2006a and Ballantyne and Varey, 2006b), however, strikes us as very much in harmony with the extended agent conversation research that has been done in the multi-agent community. There is considerable MAS work in this area on constructing dialogical models that may be used to characterise extended interactions, and we believe that this a promising area for future work. We are confident that this work can be extended in the direction of narrative modelling. In particular, we are interested in new micro-blogging technologies ( Java, Song, Finin, & Tseng, 2007), such as Twitter for expanded narrative expression opportunities.
In this article we have outlined parallels and affinities between multi-agent systems research in information science and service-dominant logic research increasingly accepted by the business marketing and wider-marketing communities. We have argued that both approaches are domain-specific applications of interactionist thinking, and we expect that further developments in the modelling and simulation of service process and value co-creation will come from cross-disciplinary fertilization, leading to enhancements in business marketing practices. Because both disciplines overlap in the domain of electronic business and associated interactions, we have made suggestions concerning terminology and technology. In particular, the term agent could bring S-D logic and Information Science together in a unified research agenda.
We have also discussed mutual research directions that seem beneficial for business marketing practice. Specific areas include agent-based work on interactive workflow, social commitments, norms and policies, and trust, institutions, and dialogical models for extended interactions. Combined, they form a solid base for a contribution to future marketing theory and practice, based around S-D logic and information science.
