I was working with a colleague this morning and she pointed at the table next door. “Look at what those guys did with the bread, it’s a great metaphor for personalisation” and well, she’s right of course.
I kept thinking about the photograph today and actually, you can interpret the image in terms of value co-creation (ok, a bit of a stretch but cut me some slack, it’s just a bread basket).
For starters, the table is the value co-creation network. The network interacts with its environment (the sun on the térasse, the neibouring tables and chairs) and the customer interacts with it to create value.
The two guys have adjusted the table itself, the chairs and when the food comes (from another participant in the value-creation network, the chef) they decide on the way they will eat it. By customising the table to support the two glasses of beer and the breadbasket they have added value to their lunch beyond the 13.5 euro price-tag (and of course, that’s without counting the value in their meeting in the first place which is probably the most value-intensive part of the network).