Background: Today the printing industry suffers from fragmentation and overcapacity, and printed matters are regarded as commodity products. Since the introduction of digital color printing, this technology has been forecasted to grow signifcantly but the definite break-ghrough has yet failed to come and the use of digital printing for production at printing houses is still quite low. As the cost of digital printing is higher for larger editions, a strategic approach of differentiation is necessary for digital printing companies to compete successfully.
Purpose: The objective of this paper is to analyze the strategic use of digital printing both from the view of the digital printing house and the view of their customers.
Method: In this qualitative case study focused interviews has been conducted to gain deeper knowledge of the behavior behind the strategy in the studied coompnies. The studied companies involve both digital printing houses and customers, such as dvertising agencies and direct customers.
Results: The results of this case study show that by adopting vertical integration in the value system it is possible for digital printing houses to offer increased value to their customers and support the different business models of digital printing. On the other hand the customers do not believe that digital printing fulfill the demands of their printed matters.
But the use of digial printing has increased through the mutual understanding between the producers and the customers in ho to co-create value in the digital printing value system. By gradually introducing the customers into the opportunities of digital printing the printing houses have been able to establish a long-term relation and step by step increase the perceived customer value of more complex applications like variable data printing.