Lost in Transition? The Human Influence on Marketing’s Emerging Service-Dominant Logic

The managerial implications of the service-dominant logic (SDL) of marketing are discussed in this article. In 2004, Vargo and Lusch outlined the SDL. That same year, the American Marketing Association (AMA) released a new definition of marketing based on the SDL. Because services are intimately tied to service providers (i.e., people), this paper focuses on how different types of people - customers, managers, scholars, and students – influence the SDL. Explained first is how these four groups contribute to defining marketing under the SDL. Then, the challenges employees will face as their firms adopt the SDL are discussed; managers at these firms must answer many difficult questions about how to structure their organizations. Third, the competitive dynamics of the SDL are examined; specifically, this article discusses how evolving market conditions will force the SDL to change. Last, propositions are offered that explain how the SDL is likely to change in the future.