An Empirical Investigation of the Resource-based Antecedents of Customer Value in Turbulent Environments in China

With the increasingly turbulent environment and the significant role of customers in business success, creating and delivering superior customer value by deploying unique competences of a firm has been winning more attention. However, studies of customer value seem rather divergent and fragmented, and few studies, if any, have been conducted to identify the distinctive capabilities that determine the effective and efficient creation and delivery of customer value. This paper tries to bridge such gaps and explores the fundamental antecedents of customer value in turbulent environments in perspective of a resource-based theory. Based on the structural equation models developed, we find that technological competences, integrative competence and strategic flexibility are the key resource-based antecedents of customer value while no evidence is found to support the impact of marketing competences on customer value. Furthermore, only the moderating role of marketing turbulence in the relationship between customer value and strategic flexibility is detected and supported.