Purpose

The category captain system (CC) of retailer category management (RCM) is established, accepted, and widely adopted. The paper empirically assesses the application of this system in building collaborations between retailers and their suppliers to generate growth following COVID-19. This study applies service-dominant logic (S-D logic) to RCM and establishes the current ‘practical’ application of the five axioms of S-D logic within the CC system.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers adopted a qualitative research design which examined both category managers and retail buyers currently involved in the CC system, using thematic analysis of transcripts from 25 practitioner participants.

Findings

The study reveals service is not a fundamental basis of exchange in the CC system. Value is uniquely, independently, and separately created by the retailer that significantly restricts the scope of the category service eco systems and the opportunity to innovate through value co-creation.

Practical implications

Significant change is required to realise value co-creation and innovation applying S-D logic to RCM. The study indicates there is potential to start this change by the formalisation of wider informal category relationships between non-captain suppliers and retailers through consumer insight technology, and by aligning suppliers and retailers to make more effective and sustainable trading decisions.

Originality/value

The study indicates that certain elements of the CC system proposed by the literature's games-based theoretic models, are not applied in practice. The lived experiences of practitioners suggest informal ways of by-passing the formal system using S-D logic.

中文翻译：

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服务主导逻辑：重构品类领导力和零售商品类管理

目的

零售商品类管理（RCM）的品类队长制度（CC）被建立、接受并广泛采用。本文实证评估了该系统在零售商及其供应商之间建立合作以促进 COVID-19 后增长的应用。本研究将服务主导逻辑（SD 逻辑）应用于 RCM，并在 CC 系统中建立了 SD 逻辑的五个公理的当前“实际”应用。

设计/方法论/途径

研究人员采用了定性研究设计，对 25 名从业者参与者的成绩单进行了主题分析，对目前参与 CC 系统的品类经理和零售买家进行了调查。

发现

研究表明，服务并不是 CC 系统中交换的基本基础。价值是由零售商独特、独立、单独创造的，这极大地限制了品类服务生态系统的范围以及通过价值共创进行创新的机会。

实际影响

将 SD 逻辑应用于 RCM 来实现价值共创和创新需要进行重大变革。该研究表明，通过消费者洞察技术，使非主要供应商和零售商之间更广泛的非正式类别关系正规化，并通过协调供应商和零售商做出更有效和可持续的贸易决策，有可能开始这一变革。

原创性/价值

研究表明，文献中基于博弈的理论模型提出的 CC 系统的某些要素并未在实践中得到应用。从业者的生活经验提出了使用 SD 逻辑绕过正式系统的非正式方法。