ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we bring to the management scholars’ attention the concept of contexts of experience as a key factor in understanding the changes currently influencing the strategies of many businesses and the behavior of many consumers. The topic is introduced with a critical analysis of how the marketing literature has dealt with the difference between goods and services. Then, we define the consumption of goods and services as contexts of experience. Consumers interact in these contexts, learning and feeling emotions. We go on to further analyze the role of emotions and the process of value co-production. Finally, we propose to divide contexts of experience into two categories that may be useful for designing a successful marketing strategy: first, the (few) contexts with a high intensity of experience (in which the firm conducts an exploratory activity), and, second, the (many) contexts in which it mainly exploits the results of a low intensity of experience.
