Abstract

In food and agriculture, the creation of value is paramount to any company’s survival (Kotler and Keller, 2008), and even more so at a time where dramatic changes in business and industrial marketing’s context are leading to fundamental changes in what companies should be analysing, creating, and delivering (Doyle, 2000; Hunt, 2000).

Although there has been a lot of literature generated on the topic, there is a general feeling among academics and practitioners that we have only just begun to understand what is meant by “value” (Anderson and Narus, 1998). Many different angles of value have been investigated (cf., Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2012) and specifically in food and agriculture (cf., British Food Journal, Vol. 100, No. 1, 2008). Two more or less distinct research streams are identified in the value literature (Lindgreen et al., 2012); one focusing on the value of the object of exchange (goods and services) and one focusing on the value of the process of exchange (the relationships, networks, and interactions that the company is embedded in). However, holes remain to be filled, and new fields need to be explored (Lindgreen and Hingley, 2008).

The overall objective of the special issue is to provide a comprehensive collection of cutting-edge theories and research on “value” as analysed, created, and delivered by business and industrial marketing organisations and as perceived and experienced by their customers, suppliers, and other important stakeholders (cf. Lindgreen et al., 2009) within the arena of food and agriculture.