The managerial approach to value creation and destruction with AI in retail marketing - A managerial perspective on value creation opportunities and value destruction risks with AI

Abstract

Marketing managers are pressured to implement artificial intelligence into their workflows in order to harness the potential value creation benefits of modern AI tools. However, the potential risk of value destruction posed by AI remains poorly understood. With this tension in mind, the purpose of this thesis is to examine how marketing managers approach the value creation potential of AI while avoiding the potential risks. Nine marketing managers at some of Sweden’s top 100 retail companies were interviewed, and their responses led to the creation of three themes: First, Dual managerial perspectives on value, which shows that marketing managers have a fluctuating and non-static view of value; Second, AI intermediation in the value creation process which illustrates the disruptive role of AI in established value creation processes; Finally, Expected value outcomes combines the former two themes in order to show how the coupling of specific value perspectives and AI intermediation levels can indicate the value outcome that managers expect from a given approach. These findings contribute to the understudied concept of value destruction, and may aid marketing managers looking to structure their approach to value creation with contemporary AI tools.