Page 99 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling

(transmitter sphere, recipient sphere, joint sphere), the roles of the individual actors are distinctive and are possibly following in different sequences and periods of time”.
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As discussed by Lowendahl, Revang and Fosstenlokken (2001) “Value is created and generated in two distinct ways: Professional Service Firms as Consultants (PSF’s) they provide value to their clients/recipients and they provide value (knowledge) to their own repository of accumulated knowledge, enhancing their knowledge base. Owners of PSF’s gain from financial returns and from knowledge development, as the latter, to the extent that new knowledge is retained with the organisation and is rather similar to retained earnings” (Lowendahl, et al., 2001, p. 918).
A number of researchers define value primarily in monetary terms, whereas others emphasise a more broader definition that include also more non-monetary benefits and sacrifices, such as competitive gains, competencies, social relationships, knowledge, spent managerial time etc. (De Chernatory, Harris & Dall’Olmo Riley, 2000). Assessment of value is regarded as a complex undertaking, especially in the identification and measurement of the non-monetary and monetary gains and costs. Additionally, perceived value and costs are inclined to vary among receivers, between cultures and in the transmitter-receiver relationship. Within this respect, VC requires combined efforts in a longer term, whereas the gained value is dependent on the quality, intensity and sustainability of the present transmitter-receiver relationship (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000).
Functions of transmitter-receiver relationships can be basically divided into direct and indirect functions. Walter, Mueller, and Helfert (2000) use the following direct-indirect value dichotomy for identifying the value functions in a relationship between transmitter and receiver, from the transmitter’s perspective.
Direct-value functions
• Profit function, which refers to the direct revenue;
• Volume function, which refers to the volume of business;
• Safeguard function, which refers to the “guarantee” of business and profit.
Indirect-value functions
• Innovation function, which refers to the options for product and process
innovation;
• Market function, which refers to the option to gain new clients by references;
• Scout function, which refers to acquisition of market and other information;
• Access function, which refers to gaining access to relevant other actors.
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