Customer Value Propositions in Declining Industries: Differences between Industry Representative and High-Growth Firms

Using institutional theory and a business model perspective, we develop a framework and use content analysis of company Web sites to examine differences in customer value propositions among a sample of high‐growth firms paired with two comparison samples of industry representative firms in 18 declining industries in the United States. Our results indicate that high‐growth firms develop value propositions that differ substantially from industry representative firms. In addition, high‐growth firms communicate their value propositions more clearly and aggressively than do industry representative firms. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.