Research on time-value-oriented business model innovation path in life services enterprises and its impact on customer perceived value

Abstract

In the era of the digital economy, the acceleration of life pace has induced to a continuous increase in people’s sense of time scarcity. In order to satisfy consumers’ lifestyle changes and immediate needs, life service enterprises have carried out lots of business model innovation activities guided by value of time. However, it is still unclear what the time-value-oriented business model innovation path is and whether it can improve the perceived value of customers. Under such background, this paper aims to construct a time-value-oriented business model innovation path in life services enterprises and to discuss its relationship with customer perceived value. The study indicates that: Firstly, specific innovation paths of enterprises include putting forward the purpose of value of time proposition, designing standardized process based on time-oriented, constantly forming unique core resources such as big data, brand and supply chain, and updating the transaction method combining online and offline, and so on. Secondly, the questionnaire results indicate that time-value oriented business model innovation in four aspects – value proposition, key processes, core resources, and transaction methods – can effectively enhance customer perceived value. Thirdly, there are differences in the matching degree between time-value-oriented business model innovation and customer value perception among different types of enterprises in the life services industry. Among them, the express delivery industry has the highest enhancing degree and customer satisfaction. This is related to the heterogeneous characteristics of industries such as express delivery, transportation, catering, and retail. Overall, this study offers a comprehensive and practical perspective for enterprises to meet customer perceived value demands by presenting business model innovation paths and solutions.