ArticlePDF Available

Key Dimensions of Service Systems: Interaction in Social & Technological Networks to Foster Value Co-Creation

Authors:

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to identify the key dimensions of service systems and to describe how they interact in the process of value co-creation. The four key dimensions identified in the analysis are: customers; people (including employees and other stakeholders); information; and technology. The chapter also characterises the value-creation process in service systems as consisting of three related stages: value proposition; acceptance; and fulfillment. The main conclusion of the chapter is that the four key dimensions interact at all three stages in a network of relationships that co-create value through the integration of resources. In details, the interactions between the key dimensions shape two kinds of nets: (i) a social network; (ii) a technological network. These nets are the basis for a greater value-creating network aimed at increasing stakeholder value. Conclusions have practical implications for managers and theoretical implications for researchers.
A preview of the PDF is not available
... Any case could effectively illustrate the concept of resource integration by presenting the relationship between company and customer, but at the same time, the shift in the role of the actors is useful to explain the concept of value co-creation. The modern meaning of service may be associated with a form of co-creation of value that involves various parties in the service exchange Ramaswamy 2000, 2004a, b;Mele and Polese 2011). In this service exchange, the actors are interacting with other actors and with the environment; no single actor or provider can realize a complete co-creative experience by itself (Gummesson 2004a, b;Gummesson and Polese 2009). ...
... Seeing as value co-creation is indissolubly based on the bidirectional and interactive exchanges between users and providers (Mele and Polese 2011;Randall et al. 2011), the last dimension of the model introduced is connection, in other words the concrete relations among all the members involved in the process. There are two distinct relational stages: (1) relationship building, in which customers establish links with suppliers; (2) relationship maintenance, resulting from the strengthening of trust-based links among customers and users which can lead to satisfaction and loyalty in the long run ...
... The role of users in service design, during service provisions and after them (in terms of feedback) appear really active and functional for the positive level of performances inside the smart city, intended and analyzed as a whole [16,125]. Users are the key resources that need to be integrated in the service provision [126], so with their involvement it could be possible to catch greater results than working alone [127,128]. ...
Chapter
Full-text available
With the rapid growth of emerging technologies and services, smart city has been extensively studied with the development of modern societies. There are various applications and strategic views in different smart city domains such as smart urban planning or smart mobility, for designing smart services. However, it is still very complex to understand the interconnections and mutual influences among city services across the application domains. Therefore, based on a layered model of smart city, this paper investigates the emerging technologies and domain-specific services in a holistic way and plots them in the defined layers, so that the mutual interconnections and similarities can be identified. Our results show which technologies and services are developed in certain domains and also demonstrates how to organize technologies and services in terms of a smart city layered landscape model. The model allows us to compare the similarities and differences in each layer and identify possible interactions of smart services for each smart city layer across different smart city domains.
... Technology is still one of the key elements but is conceived as a tool that enables knowledge application. As such it should be negotiated through human interactions and resource integration (Mart ın-de Castro et al., 2011;Mele and Polese, 2011). ...
Article
Purpose The study queries the drivers of innovation management in contemporary data-driven organizations/companies. It is argued that data-driven organizations that integrate a strategic orientation grounded in data, human abilities and proactive management are more effective in triggering innovation. Design/methodology/approach Research reported in this paper employs constructivist grounded theory, Gioia methodology, and the abductive approach. The data collected through semi-structured interviews administered to 20 Italian start-up founders are then examined. Findings The paper identifies the key enablers of innovation development in data-driven companies and reveals that data-driven companies may generate different innovation patterns depending on the kind of capabilities activated. Originality/value The study provides evidence of how the combination of data-driven culture, skills' enhancement and the promotion of human resources may boost the emergence of innovation.
Article
Full-text available
This study explored the system theory and its relevance to open and closed systems in organizational management. The research provided an overview of the system theory, its historical development, and application in modern organizations. The paper analyzed the characteristics of open and closed systems, and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each system. Additionally, the paper evaluated the effectiveness of open and closed systems in a real-world case study and highlighted the challenges and limitations of their implementation. The study utilized secondary data gathered from existing literature, scholarly articles, case studies, and relevant industry reports, to provide insight in to the relevance of open and close system in organizational management. The implications and significance of the system theory for managing open and closed systems in modern organizations are also discussed. Overall, the paper highlighted the importance of the system theory in organizational management and provided insights for future research and practice. The key findings of the paper revealed that the system theory is essential in understanding the behavior of open and closed systems in organizations. Thus, the study recommends further research and application of the system theory in organizations, particularly in managing open and closed systems effectively.
Chapter
The value concept which has been defined as produced by the firm and consumed by the customer in the traditional Goods-Dominant logic perspective is discussed in the marketing literature based on the Service-Dominant logic for two decades. Service-Dominant logic led to radical changes in the basic arguments of value by conceptualizing the value created in the interaction between actors. It is important to eliminate or reduce obstacles such as boundaries and asymmetry in the exchange of information between the firm and the customer in the process of value co-creation. The DART model consists of dialogue, access, risk, and transparency components, which are important in making the flow between the actors faster and more efficient. The model creates interdependent conditions for creating an organizational climate conducive to co-creating value. The DART approach, which provides the basic conditions for value co-creation among the actors, also plays an active role in ensuring long-term and sustainable firm–customer relations. Efforts to integrate actors into value co-creation processes also lead to formulating innovation strategies of firms. The existence of innovative approaches in the service concepts perceived by the customers enables the firm to be perceived as creative and progressive. Value co-creation also leads to the emergence of a firm perception that differs from its competitors by customers. The active participation of actors in the creation processes of value causes customer loyalty and therefore to plays an active role in the formation of sustainable relationships by providing interaction. The airline firms play an active role (with increasing their bilateral interactions and information sharing) in the process of value co-creation. The fact that the information about benefits and costs in the relationship between actors (firms and passengers) is more clear and understandable, will increase the passengers’ participation in the value co-creation process for sustainability.KeywordsValue co-creationDART modelSustainabilityAirline ecosystemS-D Logic
Chapter
Businesses have recently shifted their attention to service innovation as a new economic justification for addressing environmental sustainability issues. Sustainable innovations may help businesses embrace solutions in new ways and can help firms grow and improve existing business models in ways that decrease social and environmental consequences while also adding new advantages and features. Businesses that adopt environmental sustainability in innovative processes can positively increase their opportunities to be innovative leaders in related fields. This acts as a link to win business competition around innovative approaches to environmental sustainability. In this context, the study aims to contribute to the role of environmental sustainability, value co-creation, and service innovation in service industries with an S-D logic perspective. From an S-D logic viewpoint, the study also investigates the extent to which service innovation and value co-creation may contribute to environmental sustainability.
Article
This study sought to assess the influence of strategy implementation on school performance in private secondary schools in Tshangu District, City Province of Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo. The specific objective of the study was to investigate the effect of structure on school performance in private secondary schools in Tshangu District, City Province of Kinshasa in DRC. The Systems Management Theory was used to guide the research. The study used a descriptive survey approach with a target sample of 620 members of the board of directors, instructors, and administrative personnel from 30 private secondary schools. The Krecjie and Morgan Formula was used to generate a sample of 237 employees. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data, which was then analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The study discovered that the power flow indicated in the school structure guaranteed that plan execution was not delayed. According to the findings, there was a significant positive correlation between strategy implementation and school performance. The first and most powerful independent variable was structure. The study recommends that the school structure be examined to clearly reflect the hierarchical structure of all functions to ensure that decision-making is not delayed because each employee's tasks and responsibilities are evident. Key words: Strategy Implementation, Structure & School Performance.
Thesis
Full-text available
Over the last decades, profound economic changes have occurred with direct implications on the modus operandi of organizations in general, and specifically in libraries. These changes have given place to redefinitions of social relationships between service providers and customers, to the re-orientation of targets, roles and expectations, to the reconsideration of the customer’s role as a more informed and more demanding social actor, and to a greater accountability, ascribed to social entrepreneurs and economical agents in the value creation. This investigation seeks primarily to respond to the way customers, as service benificiary of a University library, create value through the integration and use of resources in their everyday practices, in their social context and, secondly, to assess the implications that a service provider, in a service system, extracts, from the evaluation carried out by the beneficiary of the experienced service, to proceed with the creation of its value proposition. In order to understand and explain this inter-influence we considered the role of the customer as a fundamental actor in the process of the value co-creation. To this end, we used the conceptual contributions of S-D logic, articulating and complementing them with those of the Consumer Culture Theory, the Service System and the Integration of Resources. Framing the object of research in the University library system, as an organic and social structure, inserted in a University community and as an area where study, learning and research practices occur and are being developed, this study used qualitative and exploratory methodologies based on sixty narratives, observations and field notes, to explain how customers integrate and use resources in the value creation in their daily practices. Results intends to help bridge between two research gaps (research gaps) described in the literature concerning the S-D logic model of the functioning of the organizations, namely: 1) the role of the client as a value creator in connection with the service, independently of being or not a co-creator of the service offer and 2) the influence that the socio-cultural environment exerts on the process of value creation, as an effect of the combination of macro, meso and micro systemic "levels" in service system research. Results show that value co-creation in the context of a University library comes from the combination of integrative conditions of resources (operative and operated) with the library considered as a “space”, which provides the physical and comfort conditions; as a “place” for learning and studying practices; and as a “state”, the agora of the encounters, experiences, conversations, interactions, proximity, belonging and inclusion, which enhances the energy and motivation in the actors’ network. Ao longo das últimas décadas têm-se verificado profundas mudanças económicas com implicações diretas no modus operandi das organizações em geral e nas bibliotecas em particular. Essas mudanças têm determinado redefinições nas relações sociais entre fornecedores e clientes, na reorientação dos focos, papéis e expectativas, na reconsideração do papel do cliente enquanto ator social mais informado e mais exigente, na maior responsabilização atribuída aos agentes económicos e sociais na construção de valor. Esta investigação foca o modo como os clientes, enquanto beneficiários do serviço de uma biblioteca universitária criam valor através da integração e uso de recursos nas suas práticas quotidianas, em contexto social e, que implicações um prestador de serviço num service system retira da avaliação realizada pelo beneficiário do serviço experienciado para prosseguir com a criação da sua proposta de valor. Para compreender e explicar essa interinfluência tomámos com referência principal a perspetiva do cliente, enquanto elemento nuclear do processo de criação de valor, alicerçada nos contributos teóricos da S-D logic, articulando-os e complementando-os com os da Consumer Culture Theory, do Service System e da Integração de Recursos. Posicionando o contexto da investigação no sistema-biblioteca universitária, enquanto estrutura orgânica e social inserida numa comunidade universitária e enquanto palco onde ocorrem e se desenvolvem as práticas de estudo, aprendizagem e investigação, recorremos à metodologia qualitativa e exploratória baseada em sessenta narrativas e em observações e notas de campo para compreendermos o modo como os clientes integram e usam recursos para criar valor nas suas práticas quotidianas. Os resultados desta investigação pretendem contribuir para colmatar duas lacunas teóricas (research gaps) identificadas pela literatura do S-D logic nomeadamente: 1) o papel do cliente, enquanto criador de valor na relação que estabelece e que justifica a natureza do serviço, independentemente de também poder ser ou não co-produtor da oferta proposta pelo serviço e, 2) a compreensão do modo como o ambiente sociocultural influencia e condiciona o processo de criação de valor concebido como uma combinação sistémica de “níveis” descritivos de funcionamento – macro, meso e micro - e que tem sido pouco debatida na literatura relevante. Os resultados evidenciaram que a cocriação de valor, em contexto de biblioteca universitária, resulta da conjugação sistémica de condições integrativas de recursos (operantes e operados) com uma biblioteca enquanto space, que proporciona as condições físicas e materiais de conforto e bem-estar; uma biblioteca enquanto place, como lugar de estudo e aprendizagens e práticas formativas; e uma biblioteca enquanto state como uma ágora de encontros, de experiências, de diálogos, de interações, de proximidade, de pertença e de inclusão, potenciadores de aumento de energia e de motivação na rede de atores.
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Purpose - The main motivation of this article is to explore the following two questions: 1. what are blockchain-based solutions that lead to service innovation within the public sector? 2. What applications of blockchain technology in the public sector, are the main priority for the Italian government in practice? Methodology - The research implements a mixed-method approach. In the first stage, qualitative data collection and analysis were conducted using a systematic literature review to seek to answer the first research question. In the second stage, following the findings of the first stage, in order to answer the second research question, two instruments will be used as follows: a) qualitative interviews with government leaders. b) conducting a web-based survey for experts. Originality/value - Applying blockchain in government offers a new method for delivering and managing public services. The paper provides a blueprint for government leaders in their endeavor of planning and investment to implement blockchain technology. This research is the first study in the area. The experience of the government could be the first step in the development of blockchain-based public services. Research Findings - This research identifies the blockchain-based solutions that lead to service innovation within the public sector in which blockchain applications are customized to ensure a fit with requirements of administrative processes in Italy. The findings yield new research venues, which are promising to further explore the topic of blockchain within the public administration to experiment and figure out where the real opportunities are, where this technology can actually solve problems in new kinds of ways. Research implications - This paper has implications for practitioners by illustrating the ways to modernize their services along digital lines. The blockchain-based solutions identified in this study lead to innovative services and transform government processes and citizen services. Keywords: Blockchain technology, Government, Public Sector, Service innovation, Italy
Presentation
Full-text available
This presentation is about the contribution of Systems Thinking and, specifically, Viable Systems Approach (vSa® ) to Service Research. It illustrates key elements of a systems and dynamic view of service highlighting the strong convergences with Service Science and Service-Dominant Logic.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.