Rethinking the Place Product from the Perspective of the Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing

Since its promulgation in 2004, the service-dominant (S-D) logic of marketing has become an influential perspective on the study of marketing. This chapter considers the nature of the place ‘product’ from the perspective of the S-D logic, where intangibility, exchange processes and relationships are central constructs. The chapter begins by outlining the foundational premises of the S-D logic and considers the nature of place resources. Here, the paper distinguishes between operand and operant place resources to consider not only the nature of the tangible elements of the place product, but also a more phenomenologically-oriented notion of what constitutes a place ‘product’. The chapter reviews the potential contribution of the emerging sub-discipline of service science to the conceptualisation of place products as networks of stakeholders with differing capabilities who will collaborate to co-create place products with users/consumers of the places concerned. The chapter concludes that an S-D logic perspective emphasises the role of a bottom-up approach to place branding, in terms of a more co-creative and collaborative creation and communication of the nature of the place product.