Best Buy and Showrooming: A Critical Thinking Case Exercise Based upon Service Dominant Logic and Value Co-creation

Abstract

This article shows how a critical thinking perspective in teaching business cases can create value for students and educators. We introduce a free, online case emphasizing value co-creation in a consumer retail setting that was co-developed by marketing faculty at Illinois State University, Best Buy and IBM. The case focuses on the problems of showrooming (i.e., evaluating products in a physical store, but purchasing products via another channel such as online) and webrooming (i.e., researching products online, but purchasing the products in physical stores) that currently challenge many traditional retailers. The extent of the information created through the case videos of involved managers and other means encourage critical thinking which supports the achievement of higher order thinking skills in students’ business decision-making. The case further adds an additional value by (a) providing current summaries of the emerging marketing literature related to service dominant logic, value co-creation and customer engagement, and (b) engendering greater student engagement in learning. The case is freely distributed, and can be found at http://business.illinoisstate.edu/bestbuy/. Suggestions for extending and/or improving the case are encouraged.

Keywords

Critical thinking service logic showroowing webrooming engagement marketing case

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