Measuring value-in-use management from the supplier's perspective

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing is increasingly shifting from transactional exchanges to the long-term management of customer relationships. As suppliers offer complex, integrated solutions, the focus has shifted from product attributes to the value realized during usage. To manage this experienced value-in-use (VIU), suppliers are establishing organizational structures and processes dedicated to VIU management (VIUM). Despite its growing theoretical and managerial significance, no validated instrument currently exists to assess VIUM implementation from the supplier's perspective. This study develops and validates a second-order formative supplier-side index comprising seven VIUM subprocesses. Nomological evidence (based on survey data from B2B supplier managers, N = 284) shows that VIUM implementation is positively associated with cross-functional collaboration, customer orientation, customer centricity, and percentage sales, supporting the index's practical relevance. From a resource-based view (RBV) perspective, the study conceptualizes VIUM implementation as a supplier capability, and the validated index provides B2B firms with a diagnostic and benchmarking tool to assess VIUM implementation and prioritize improvements across customer accounts.