Innovative Marketing Through Creative Digitalization: Rethinking Customer Service in the Japanese Well-being Industry

Abstract

The pandemic had a huge negative impact globally on small and micro firms, particularly on cultural enterprises, making it imperative for them to create strategic solutions for sustainable business models and customer relationships. This chapter studies the digital interventions employed by the micro cultural enterprises in the Japanese Onsens (Hot baths) sector during the pandemic period in Japan. Using the theoretical lenses of service dominant logic and value creation, the study extracts four prominent value creation processes from the analysis of the employed secondary data. The study underlines the importance of collaboration between a firm's internal and external resources, their creative use of operant resources, and a robust customer orientation leading to creative digitalization. The results of the study show how cultural enterprises can rethink customer service in the cultural and creative sector. It also draws attention to the need for more robust policies and support systems that can encourage global cultural enterprises to develop sustainable business models.

Citation

Billore, S. (2024), "Innovative Marketing Through Creative Digitalization: Rethinking Customer Service in the Japanese Well-being Industry", Camilleri, M.A. (Ed.) Tourism Planning and Destination Marketing, 2nd Edition, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 151-173. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-888-120241008