Co creating value from knowledge intensive business services in manufacturing firms: The moderating role of relationship learning in supplier customer interactions
This study seeks evidence for a positive moderating role of relationship learning in the relation between manufacturing firms' knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) i.e. product related services for developing customized solutions, and firms' customer specific sales performance. Our findings from a survey of 91 supplier customer relationships indicate that KIBS offerings do not generate performance per se; instead, supplier customer relationships must be characterized by relationship learning to co create value from the supplier's KIBS offerings. Our findings extend the literature on industrial service businesses by shedding a more nuanced light on the core activities that enable value co creation and value appropriation in the KIBS context.