The value of the affiliate marketing network

Sammanfattning: With the Internet as a commercial medium, new ways of doing business have developed in almost every industry sector. Business conducted over the internet, which often is referred to as e-commerce, is rapidly growing, and holds highly competitive characteristics and promises for the creation of value (Amit & Zott, 2001). With the growth of online marketing and e- commerce a new form of value network has come to attract more and more attention, the affiliate network, which has become a major strategic consideration for all companies working with e-commerce (Duffy, 2005). In this single-case study the author aim to identify how the affiliate network can create value for the participants (the affiliates, the marketer and the customers) involved and how this value is created. In order to identify the value creation process the author also identify the different roles that the participants take on as use them as a reference point when discussing the value creation. The main conclusion is that value creation is found to take place throughout the network and is identified through both the flow of goods, services, and revenue (GRS) and knowledge value as well as in the form intangible value. Further, the value is identified to be co-created by both the affiliates, the marketer and the customers. Even though, there are value to be found and created by engaging in the affiliate network some downside have been identified. This paper also attempts to identify potential implications that the value creation process within the affiliate network can pose for the marketer, in this case study represented by Unibet.