As value stands for a central purpose of economic activity and a cornerstone of economic thought (depicted as utility) it became a key term underpinning contemporary business studies by replacing product as the object of production and exchange. Firm performance is shaped by value creation and its appropriation (Mizik & Jacobson, 2003; Ellegaard et al., 2009; Czakon, 2012). Those intertwined processes have received an immense scholarly attention, yet the extant body of knowledge on management does not provide a comprehensive picture of value appropriation that captures its dynamic nature (Ellegaard et al., 2009; Czakon, 2012). Thus, the aim of this chapter is to disentangle value appropriation as an object of theoretical inquiry and empirical analysis. Hence, presented discussion concerns the notion of value in the strategic management field, starting with a generic definition of the term and then shifting the focus toward the interrelation and a non-linear occurrence of processes of value creation and value appropriation. Drawing on the assumption that both processes are separable at conceptual and analytical level, following two sections introduce the concept of value creation according to a contingent perspective. Acknowledging contingency conditions the next section explores the nature and the underlying logic of the concept of value appropriation in the strategic management field. That introduction to the contemporary understanding of the concept is followed by a detailed picture of the state of art on the subject, which is discussed in the next four sections. Presented reflections are based on a thorough review of seminal contributions referring to the industrial organization perspective, game theory conceptualizations, the resource based view of the firm and the profiting from innovations perspective. Thus, provided insights pertain not only to the field of management but also economics. In order to map those broad intellectual roots in a comprehensive and appealing way, conclusions formulated in the final section of this chapter are enhanced by a scheme illustrating interconnections between discussed theoretical contributions.

THE CONCEPT OF VALUE IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

This section provides the foundations for understanding the concepts of value creation and value appropriation. Therefore, discussion begins with valuable insights to the the notion of value in the strategic management field. This generic concept is then conceptually dissagregated into value creation and value appropriation processes.