Dr. Kerimcan Ozcan’s body of research work delves into the importance of co-creation, brand value, and digitalized platforms in the modern business environment. His work has been published in prestigious academic journals and books, providing valuable insights and guidance for businesses navigating the complexities of today’s rapidly evolving landscape. Dr. Ozcan’s research work delves into several critical areas, including:

1. Co-creation and stakeholder engagement: Emphasizes the need for leaders to prioritize stakeholder engagement for sustainable and prosperous business models.
2. Digitalized interactive platforms: Showcases the potential of leveraging digital technology to transform traditional goods and services into engaging retail co-creation experiences.
3. Brand value co-creation in a digitalized world: Explores synergies between co-creation, digitalization, and brand value, providing an integrative framework for companies to enhance their brand’s value in an increasingly competitive market.
4. Strategy and co-creation thinking: Demonstrates how co-creation can be incorporated into a company’s strategic planning process, driving innovation and competitive advantage.

By integrating these principles into their strategies, companies can adapt to the rapidly evolving market, capitalize on emerging technologies such as AGI and ChatGPT, and position themselves for sustained success.

Academic Book

Ramaswamy, Venkatram and Kerimcan Ozcan (2014). The Co-Creation Paradigm, 360 pp., Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press. (Amazon link)

“The Co-Creation Paradigm” is a groundbreaking book that redefines the way businesses create value with their customers, employees, and other stakeholders. By harnessing the power of co-creation, companies can become more agile, innovative, and customer-centric. The book provides practical insights and examples to help organizations create unique value propositions, foster long-lasting relationships, and navigate the complexities of today’s digital landscape. With the rise of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and technologies like ChatGPT, businesses have an opportunity to integrate these tools into their co-creation strategies, leading to unprecedented growth and success.

Journal Articles

Ramaswamy, Venkatram and Kerimcan Ozcan (2020). “The “Interacted” actor in platformed networks: theorizing practices of managerial experience value co-creation”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, ahead-of-print.

This article presents a unique perspective on the concept of the “interacted” actor in platformed networks, highlighting its role in managerial value creation within the interactive business world. By connecting the co-creation paradigm with industrial marketing and purchasing literature, it provides valuable insights into how managers can better cope with the complexity of interactivity and interdependencies in platformed networked interactions for both business efficiency and innovation.

_____________ (2019). “Digitalized Interactive Platforms: Turning Goods and Services into Retail Co-Creation Experiences”, NIM Marketing Intelligence Review,11 (1), 18-23.

Ozcan and Ramaswamy showcase the potential of leveraging digital technology to transform traditional goods and services into engaging retail co-creation experiences. As companies navigate the digital era, integrating advanced technologies such as AGI and ChatGPT can revolutionize customer interactions and foster lasting brand loyalty.

_____________ (2018). “Offerings as Digitalized Interactive Platforms: A Conceptual Framework and Implications,” Journal of Marketing, 82 (4), 19-31. [“lead” article of the issue; finalist for AMA’s 2018 Shelby D. Hunt/Harold H. Maynard Award]

Key insight is that offerings are no longer “finished” in the traditional sense, instead, creation of value continues by engaging actors (often consumers and their associated social networks) interacting with organizing actors (often firms and their associated organizational ecosystem) in a joint space of interactive system-environments.

_____________ (2018). “What is co-creation? An interactional creation framework and its implications for value creation,” Journal of Business Research, 84 (March), 196-205.

This article offers a fresh, unifying perspective on co-creation by grounding its theorization in interactive system-environments and their heterogeneous relations, spanning activities of production, exchange, and use of goods and services. Introducing the concept of value-in-interactional creation, it transcends conventional value chain roles and provides new insights into the practice of value creation in an increasingly interconnected business landscape.

_____________ (2016). “Brand Value Co-Creation in a Digitalized World: An Integrative Framework and Research Implications,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33 (1), 93-106.

Ozcan’s research on brand value co-creation in a digitalized world explores the synergies between co-creation, digitalization, and brand value. By adopting an integrative framework, companies can harness the power of co-creation to enhance their brand’s value in an increasingly competitive market.

_____________ (2013). “Strategy and Co-Creation Thinking”,Strategy & Leadership,41 (6), 5-10. [Selected as the Outstanding Paper of 2013 by the Editorial Board of the journal]

The research work on “Strategy and Co-Creation Thinking” demonstrates how co-creation can be incorporated into a company’s strategic planning process, driving innovation and competitive advantage. As businesses face unprecedented challenges and opportunities, embracing co-creation thinking can help them stay ahead of the curve and ensure long-term success.

Book Chapters

Ramaswamy, Venkat, and Kerimcan Ozcan (2022). “Brands as Co-Creational Lived Experience Ecosystems: An Integrative Theoretical Framework of Interactional Creation”, in Research Handbook on Brand Co-Creation, edited by Stefan Markovic, et al, Edward Elgar.

This article presents a unique insight into brands as co-creational lived experience ecosystems, emphasizing the increasing importance of interactive lived experiences in the digital age. It introduces the concept of “co-creational lived experience ecosystem” to transcend traditional goods and services, highlighting the need to focus on (increasingly digitalized) flows of interactive “agencing-structuring” experiences and their impact on brand value co-creation.

Ramaswamy, Venkat, and Kerimcan Ozcan (2013). “CEOs Must Engage All Stakeholders”, in How CEOs Can Fix Capitalism, edited by Raymond V. Gilmartin and Steven E. Prokesch, Harvard Business School Publishing. Also appeared in:Harvard Business Review,On Point Magazine, Fall. (Harvard Business Review link)

In the book chapter “CEOs Must Engage All Stakeholders”, Ozcan and Ramaswamy emphasize the need for leaders to prioritize stakeholder engagement, leading to a more sustainable and prosperous business model. This approach is critical in today’s interconnected world, where businesses need to build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders.