609 The purpose of this exploratory paper is to increase our understanding about demand. In general terms demand can be divided into two categories - positive demand and negative demand. Positive demand generates business, whereas negative demand can mainly be seen as a cost. In service marketing literature these two categories have been named as value demand and failure demand. The original concept of failure demand is quite company grounded. In this paper we have broadened the concept to cover also customer actions by introducing a supplemented definition. The existing service marketing literature provides limited guidance for coping with failure demand and, therefore, we identify different types of failure demand. Methodologically the topic is approached through an exploratory focus-group interview and three theme-interviews. The empirical results indicate clearly that there is a need for new approaches and that the customer processes and procedures must be constantly assessed and improved. Service capacity problems and communication seem to be the biggest causes for failure demand. Even though customers may carry some responsibility, the general perception among them seems to be that it is purely company´s task to avoid failure demand. Managerially it seems to be beneficial to be aware of one’s demand structure and to develop one’s customer processes on a constant basis. Additionally, customers must be guided towards the most suitable channels. The study as a whole underline the importance of developing our thinking regarding the demand https://jbrmr.com/details&cid=609 https://jbrmr.com/cdn/article_file/v20i2jbrmr3.pdf Volume 20 Issue 02 58 2026-04-01 2026-06-24 no 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 Customer Encounter Customer Value Demand Failure Demand none 123081 79 0 Teemu Kokko Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finland Marko Maki Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finland