Added Value: Marketing Basics

Added value is a concept which is commonly used in marketing teaching and practice, yet a student seeking clarification of the concept and term, cannot easily find it by looking it up in the index of marketing textbooks. Of 80 texts surveyed, only 5% defined the term. However 100% of the sample of texts, used the concept of added value.

Several issues emerged from the survey. First, there were variations in the use in marketing textbooks, of the term added value. Second, where the term was used, often it was not defined. Finally, textbooks used the underlying concept (for which there is also some variation) of added value without necessarily using the term.

This paper reviews the various approaches to the concept of added value, and draws together some key themes in the form of a working model. The model developed recognises the accounting origins of the concept of added value, but arguments are developed within a marketing framework.

A key principle of the model developed, is the quantifiable nature of added value. This is viewed as being important, though difficult, where a sales transaction has not taken place. From a marketing perspective, it is recognised that products which have yet to be sold, have potential added value which marketing activity can help to realize.