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Service Innovation - A Roadmap for Practitioners
... Service innovation is important for companies to remain competitive and to ensure their success in the long run (Schwarz et al. 2012). However, it is ambiguous from an academic point of view considering that the service innovation approaches are still developing in limited autonomous studies (Coombs and Miles 2000). ...
This study proposes a model for the prediction of propensity to innovate based on KIBS in the service sector of an emerging country (Brazil). The Spinner model presents, in a dynamic form, three dimensions: knowledge creation, knowledge transfer, and innovation, similar to the three axes of interaction of a fidget spinner, KIBS being the center. KIBS were divided in p-KIBS (professional KIBS) and t-KIBS (technological KIBS), according to the analysis carried out in 71 small, medium, and large firms. The Spinner model test was done based on three econometric models of logistic regression (logit), which examined the defined dimensions and variables. The model allowed us to evaluate prediction of propensity to innovate based on KIBS, considering the relationship between knowledge creation and transfer, where dimensions presented a positive sign, as expected. The findings contribute to theory development on knowledge intensive solutions, by revealing elements such as the relationship of knowledge creation and transfer with innovation in KIBS, and their relationships in the assessment prediction of propensity to innovate.
In this Chapter we discuss the main implications of mobility for digital business. In particular, we introduce the reader to the drivers and the enablers that impose mobility as the characterizing feature of digital services, depending on and made possible by the convergence and the resulting dependencies between contents, devices, networks, and social activities. Furthermore, the Chapter provides the reader an introduction to frameworks related to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) academic research stream. The discussion is suitable to provide useful insights and conceptual tools for increasing the understanding of the behavioral intention to accept and adopt a mobile technology as well as the related services and applications. Then the Chapter focuses on how IT managers and executives interested in digital innovation of services through mobile can face challenges related to the lifecycle of such initiatives: from development and integration with enterprise information systems, to a secure supply to the final users, through a constant control and performance monitoring. Finally, the discussion of case studies concludes the Chapter, providing insights from practice on factors and strategic points.
This study examines the relationships between customers’ perceived functional (social) benefits from service providers and customers’ perception of service innovation. It also assesses the mediation effects of their participation on their perception of service innovation. Focusing on service centers for ITproducts, structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses with data collected from 116 university students in South Korea. The results demonstrate that customers’ perceived functional benefits from service providers and their perceived social benefits significantly and positively influence their perception of service innovationat service centers for IT products. Additionally, customers’ participation partially mediates the relationships between their perceived functional (or social) benefits, and their perception of service innovationat service centers for IT products. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are also discussed.These findings may help in identifying factors that enhance customers’perception of service innovation.
Given the significant, sustained growth in services experienced worldwide, Arizona State University’s Center for Services Leadership embarked on an 18-month effort to identify and articulate a set of global, interdisciplinary research priorities focused on the science of service. Diverse participation from academics in a variety of disciplines working in institutions around the world—in collaboration with business executives who lead organizations ranging from small startups to Global 1000 companies—formed the basis for development of the priorities. The process led to the identification of the following 10 overarching research priorities:
• Fostering service infusion and growth
• Improving well-being through transformative service
• Creating and maintaining a service culture
• Stimulating service innovation
• Enhancing service design
• Optimizing service networks and value chains
• Effectively branding and selling services
• Enhancing the service experience through cocreation
• Measuring and optimizing the value of service
• Leveraging technology to advance service
For each priority, several important and more specific topic areas for service research emerged from the process. The intent is that the priorities will spur service research by shedding light on the areas of greatest value and potential return to academia, business, and government. Through academic, business, and government collaboration, we can enhance our understanding of service and create new knowledge to help tackle the most important opportunities and challenges we face today.
Marketing was originally built on a goods-centered, manufacturing-based model of economic exchange developed during the Industrial Revolution. Since its beginning, marketing has been broadening its perspective to include the exchange of more than manufactured goods. The subdiscipline of service marketing has emerged to address much of this broadened perspective, but it is built on the same goods and manufacturing-based model. The influence of this model is evident in the prototypical characteristics that have been identified as distinguishing services from goods—intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, and perishability. The authors argue that these characteristics (a) do not distinguish services from goods, (b) only have meaning from a manufacturing perspective, and (c) imply inappropriate normative strategies. They suggest that advances made by service scholars can provide a foundation for a more service-dominant view of all exchange from which more appropriate normative strategies can be developed for all of marketing.
The purpose of this research is to answer the question: how can a new service development (NSD) program in the financial services industry be managed? More specifically, this research has two objectives: to explore the stages in the NSD process; and to explore how customer input may be obtained in the various stages of the development process. After a review of the new product development literature, the case study methodology involving in-depth interviews with managers and their customers is described. Analysis of the data showed that there were ten stages in the NSD process, and whether those stages were managed linearly or sequentially was a function of the size of the firm. In addition, how NSD managers obtained customer input in each stage, was uncovered. Implications for NSD managers include which stages to concentrate on, and how to capture customer input.
The service-dominant logic (S-D logic) provides a novel and valuable theoretical perspective that necessitates a rethinking
and reevaluation of the conventional literature on innovation. This literature is built upon a goods-dominant logic and has
resulted in a restricted and out-moded perspective that overlooks many major discontinuous innovations. In this article, we
show how many innovations can be better understood by deploying a S-D logic perspective. We present six S-D logic categories
of discontinuous innovation positing that they can help scholars and managers analyze, design and implement breakthrough advances
in resource use. We argue that discontinuous innovation can arise by changing any of the customers’ roles of users, buyers
and payers on the first dimension. On the second dimension, the firm changes its value creation by embedding operant resources
into objects, by changing the integrators of resources, and by reconfiguring value constellations. Finally, we offer some
managerial and research implications of this expanded and strategic view of discontinuous innovation.
KeywordsService-dominant logic-Discontinuous innovation-Growth strategy-Marketing-Customer
The past decade has seen, in response to the growth in service industries, increasing interest in what has been termed services science and innovation. This embryonic research field has been promoted by far sighted enterprises, government agencies and academics, the basic premise being that for far too long we have concentrated on the study and practice of physical and aesthetic innovation: designed to add value through maintaining end product leadership. Services science embodies and marshals a multi-disciplinary approach: science, engineering and management; in an effort to address and build upon complex service related opportunities. A sub-set, or possibly the driving force, of services science, is services innovation: dealing not so much with the end product but rather with the support, development and delivery of services: that are now the lifeblood of our developed economies.This paper provides a brief overview of services science and innovation, articulating a case for ensuring that we do not, in our pursuit of sustained competitive advantage and short-term economic growth, adopt a too narrowly defined and puritanical view of innovation and ignore the importance of the service exchange. Sustainable growth, we argue, is based upon identifying, supporting and nurturing meaningful service exchanges that exploit, develop and embody value added knowledge transfer within and across industry. It is time to broaden the services innovation debate in an effort to reach the many practitioners, academics and policy makers not as yet engaged with this exciting now field.
The purpose of this article is to lay the foundations of a theory that can be used to interpret innovation processes in the service sector. The hypothesis underpinning this article is based on Lancaster's definition of the product (in both manufacturing and services) as a set of service characteristics [Lancaster, K.J., 1966. A New Approach to Consumer Theory. J. Political Economy 14, 133–156.]. The article follows the example of those who have sought to apply Lancaster's work to technological phenomena. Various modes of innovation in the service sectors are highlighted and illustrated.
Advancing service science requires a service-centered conceptual foundation. Toward this goal, we suggest that an emerging logic of value creation and exchange called service-dominant logic is a more robust framework for service science than the traditional goods-dominant logic. The primary tenets of service-dominant logic are: (1) the conceptualization of service as a process, rather than a unit of output; (2) a focus on dynamic resources, such as knowledge and skills, rather than static resources, such as natural resources; and (3) an understanding of value as a collaborative process between providers and customers, rather than what producers create and subsequently deliver to customers. These tenets are explored and a foundational lexicon for service science is suggested.
Purpose
Focusing on one main research question: how is the phenomenon “service” portrayed within service research?, the aim is to describe and analyze how the concept of service is defined, how service characteristics express the concept, the relevance of the existing “service portraits”, and to suggest a new way of portraying service.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature search was carried out in order to find definitions of the service concept and expressions about the service characteristics. Databases were searched and 34 articles were used for further analysis. The same procedure was carried out for service characteristics. The articles that were chosen by the databases were reviewed thoroughly and those most relevant to the search topic were chosen. Sixteen leading scholars who had been shaping the service research field were also asked two basic questions.
Findings
The analysis of the concept of service and service characteristics shows that the definitions are too narrow and the characteristics are outdated as generic service characteristics. It is suggested that service is used as a perspective. When service is portrayed as a perspective, the approach is clear: it depends on who is portraying the service and on the purpose. If service characteristics are outdated, when will they stop being used in teaching? It is no longer necessary to defend services as being different from goods. Service is a research area in its own right.
Research limitations/implications
The number of articles and books used in the analysis can be criticized for not including enough relevant literature. The keywords used when searching in databases should also have included other words to capture the concept of service and service characteristics.
Practical implications
The practical implications are not so clear since this article is a contribution to the ongoing discussion about future directions of service research. However, it is suggested that service is a perspective on value creation and that value creation is best understood from the lens of the customer based on value in use.
Originality/value
This paper contributes with a literature review, a discussion on what service portraits are, and describes service as a perspective on value creation through the lens of the customer.
Marketing inherited a model of exchange from economics, which had a dominant logic based on the exchange of "goods," which usually are manufactured output. The dominant logic focused on tangible resources, embedded value, and transactions. Over the past several decades, new perspectives have emerged that have a revised logic focused on intangible resources, the cocreation of value, and relationships. The authors believe that the new per- spectives are converging to form a new dominant logic for marketing, one in which service provision rather than goods is fundamental to economic exchange. The authors explore this evolving logic and the corresponding shift in perspective for marketing scholars, marketing practitioners, and marketing educators.
The marketing discipline has been concerned primarily with GOODS. Yet SERVICES are claiming an increasing share of the consumer's dollar. This author argues that marketing people should direct more of their attention to the services sector.
What are the marketing characteristics of services? Are goods solely goods—services solely services? Is not the marketing of services by government agencies an appropriate province for marketing analysis? These are some of the questions considered here.
The concept of service Science, Management, and Engineering (SSME) is an emerging interdisciplinary approach that combines fundamental management, and engineering theories. The objective is to help organizations improve their competiveness in a rapidly changing business environment by exploring the true requirements of their customers, and setting up an effective service process with the support of IT. Despite the significance of SSME, few studies have attempted to develop a methodology to guide and implement SSME research. To address this research gap, we discuss the interdisciplinary nature of the SSME approach. We review related literature and theories, and explore the tools used in various fields relevant to SSME. Then, we propose a systematic three-phase framework for SSME research. Our interdisciplinary review and the proposed framework are designed to help researchers and practitioners utilize available SSME tools and theories. We believe the framework will enable researchers and practitioners to implement their respective SSME processes more effectively and efficiently.
The diversity of the service sector makes it difficult to come up with managerially useful generalizations concerning marketing practice in service organizations. This article argues for a focus on specific categories of services and proposes five schemes for classifying services in ways that transcend narrow industry boundaries. In each instance insights are offered into how the nature of the service might affect the marketing task.
The service sector is the most important and fastest growing business sector of developed countries nowadays. However, a lack of conceptual foundation for service science and service innovation is identified. This paper aims at closing this gap, indicating important topics for future research in the field of service innovation. A research portfolio, classifying research questions to be addressed, is developed on the basis of a conceptual framework for service innovation research. The portfolio characterizes research topics and challenges regarding "rigor and relevance", thus enhancing the scientific base of service innovation. A three step approach is utilized to generate the portfolio. First, a general service innovation and transformation model is developed. This model is based on general systems theory, following an ITO (input - throughput - output) approach, including a feedback loop as well as environmental aspects. The model outlines relevant aspects for the generation and exploitation of service innovations. Second, related research questions are derived from literature and interviews with experts. The research questions are assigned to corresponding sections of the service innovation transformation model. Third, a wide-spread survey among service researchers is conducted. The survey provides the basis to build the research portfolio, allocating each single research question. Summarizing the findings from the survey and the insights depicted in the research portfolio, specific research challenges to enhance the knowledge base of service innovation are shown. Among other important topics, the results reveal a need for further research regarding strategic foresight, design thinking, technology adaption, and service innovation evaluation.
Looks at the author's research among several companies in Sweden and Finland with regard to market-orientation of service as against physical goods. Found the main difference between them was the difficulty of developing a concrete, tangible service offering. Points out that many experts believe service marketing must differ from goods marketing, but, nevertheless, no radical effort to develop a marketing theory, or ever some marketing concepts, for service firms aiming at solving their problems, seems to have been made — service industry companies deserve a better deal. Discusses this related matter and suggests marketing mix planning to support a hypothetical framework. Investigates, in depth, service industries and their characteristics and weaknesses, accessibility, human resources, auxiliary services and intra-corporate elements. Presents two case studies — one inclusive tours marketing and the other barber's shop marketing. Concludes that concepts and models for marketing mix planning do not seem applicable in service industries — but further research is required — such as a consumer study.
In the unfolding knowledge-based economy, services do matter. But while they are increasingly seen to play a pivotal role in innovation processes, there has been little systematic analysis of this role. This essay presents a four-dimensional model of (services) innovation, that points to the significance of such non-technological factors in innovation as new service concepts, client interfaces and service delivery system. The various roles of service firms in innovation processes are mapped out by identifying five basic service innovation patterns. This framework is used to make an analysis of the role played by knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in innovation. KIBS are seen to function as facilitator, carrier or source of innovation, and through their almost symbiotic relationship with client firms, some KIBS function as co-producers of innovation. It is further argued that, in addition to discrete and tangible forms of knowledge exchange, process-oriented and intangible forms of knowledge flows are crucial in such relationships. KIBS are hypothesised to be gradually developing into a "second knowledge infrastructure" in addition to the formal (public) "first knowledge infrastructure", though there is likelihood of cross-national variations in the spill-over effects from services innovation in and through KIBS, and in the degree to which KIBS are integrated with other economic activities. Finally, some implications for innovation management and innovation policy are discussed.
Service systems are value-co-creation configurations of people, technology, value propositionsconnecting internal and external
service systems, and shared information (e.g., language, laws, measures, and methods). Service science is the study of service
systems, aiming to create a basis for systematicservice innovation. Service science combines organization and human understanding
with business andtechnological understanding to categorize and explain the many types of service systems that exist as wellas
how service systems interact and evolve to co-create value. The goal is to apply scientific understandingto advance our ability
to design, improve, and scale service systems. To make progress, we think servicedominantlogic provides just the right perspective,
vocabulary, and assumptions on which to build a theory ofservice systems, their configurations, and their modes of interaction.
Simply put, service-dominant logicmay be the philosophical foundation of service science, and the service system may be its
basic theoreticalconstruct.
KeywordsService science-Service systems-Service-dominant logic
Agriculture and manufacturing used to be the major elements of the modern world's economies. Now, services are a critical element, a trend also affecting the developing world. Universities throughout the world - most notably in North America, Europe, and Australia - are offering courses and graduate-level certification in services science, with the long-term goal of establishing degree programs. Services science is interested in both relatively simple service businesses such as fast-food restaurants and more sophisticated operations such as healthcare companies. Businesses could use technologies such as knowledge management and data mining to get targeted analytical information they can use to evaluate their operations. Companies can utilize technology to find patterns in the way they have successfully delivered services and interacted with customers. The companies could then repeat those patterns with multiple customers. Although technology is a key element of services science, a better understanding of human behavior is critical. The field calls on the resources of social sciences such as psychology and sociology, as well as anthropology, which could provide useful information about the way people and groups work and interact. Understanding these factors is an important aspect of services science. Businesses are also employing services science principles in their operations
This study provides a conceptual framework with respect to service innovation, especially from a service-dominant logic (S-D logic) perspective. Even though innovation has been discussed as one of the most critical elements in enhancing the competitiveness of service industry, it was not clear how service innovation should be different from diverse types of existing innovation. The S-D logic provides a novel and valuable theoretical perspective that unifies the conventional literature on innovation. According to this new logic, four types of service innovation are presented based on two dimensions: the degree of co-creation and the degree of networked collaboration. We argue that service innovation can arise by the activity of value co-creation between firm and customer on the first dimension. On the second dimension, the firm needs to enhance their own capabilities for service innovation by applying the resources of all actors including suppliers and customers. Our framework indicates that it is critical for productive service innovation to make customers participate in value creation process and to integrate the dispersed resources held by participants. Examples are discussed with respect to different types of services innovation.
Two characteristics of services—intangibility of the offering and simultaneity of production and consumption—have important implications for strategic planning. Four of these implications are described.
Life cycle, experience, and market share, which are the usual determinants of profitability that provide guides for strategic planning are not easily applied to the service firm. Therefore growth strategies need to be revised.
In its second part the paper suggests alternative growth strategy paths for service firms. It brings forward three main remarks. First, the service firm should not overuse its delivery system and its image by attempting to serve the needs of too many sociodemographic segments. Second, service development and concentric diversification are not sequential choices; the latter is not so distant from the former as may be commonly perceived. Third, expansion to out-of-country markets represents a risk discontinuity; it should be approached by service firms with considerable flexibility and willingness to interact with different cultures.
Due to major structural changes in the service sector, many service managers are recognizing the need to continually develop
new services that are timely and responsive to user needs. Thus, user input and involvement in new service development are
an important area of inquiry. Although there has been a resurgence of academic and practitioner interest in new service development,
there is a dearth of research on how users are involved in new service development. This study first combines insights from
extant literature and exploratory interviews with practitioners to identify four key elements of user involvement, including
objectives, stages, intensity, and modes of involvement, and then investigates these four elements in 12 service firms. Based
on the findings, the author develops an inventory of activities that needs to be carried out in involving users in a new service
development project.
Analyzes how successful firms fail when confronted with technological and market changes, prescribing a list of rules for firms to follow as a solution. Precisely because of their adherence to good management principles, innovative, well-managed firms fail at the emergence of disruptive technologies - that is, innovations that disrupt the existing dominant technologies in the market. Unfortunately, it usually does not make sense to invest in disruptive technologies until after they have taken over the market. Thus, instead of exercising what are typically good managerial decisions, at the introduction of technical or market change it is very often the case that managers must make counterintuitive decisions not to listen to customers, to invest in lower-performance products that produce lower margins, and to pursue small markets. From analysis of the disk drive industry, a set of rules is devised - the principles of disruptive innovation - for managers to measure when traditional good management principles should be followed or rejected. According to the principles of disruptive innovation, a manager should plan to fail early, often, and inexpensively, developing disruptive technologies in small organizations operating within a niche market and with a relevant customer base. A case study in the electric-powered vehicles market illustrates how a manager can overcome the challenges of disruptive technologies using these principles of disruptive innovation. The mechanical excavator industry in the mid-twentieth century is also described, as an example in which most companies failed because they were unwilling to forego cable excavator technology for hydraulics machines. While there is no "right answer" or formula to use when reacting to unpredictable technological change, managers will be able to adapt as long as they realize that "good" managerial practices are only situationally appropriate. Though disruptive technologies are inherently high-risk, the more a firm invests in them, the more it learns about the emerging market and the changing needs of consumers, so that incremental advances may lead to industry-changing leaps. (CJC)
A service science discipline to integrate across academic silos and advance service innovation more rapidly is discussed. Today services means jobs and growth, but the companies who have been leading the charge lack a strong conceptual foundation for their work and are now reaching out to academics. There are elements common across many different types of services that might form a foundation for services, including close interaction of supplier and customer, nature of knowledge created and exchanged, simultaneity of production and consumption, and exploitation of ICT and transparency. Services exchange involves a negotiated exchange between a provider and an adopter for the provision of intangible assets. Services exchange today involves many complex combinations of both codified and tacit knowledge. A number of European countries have done a great deal of work to understand the growth investment in services sector and to try to increase government investment in services.
Most service industries have a need to develop a steady stream of service innovations. Competitive pressures are prompting a newfound aggressiveness that questions established service offerings and calls for new ways of identifying and satisfying buyers’ needs. Unfortunately, few service firms are adequately prepared to meet this challenge, and the literature concerning new service development is sparse at best. This article proposes a systematic model for new service development. The model is based on the extensive body of literature dealing with new product management; however, the structure of the model also reflects the unique conditions prevailing in service industries.
The impact of environmental innovations on firm performance is ambiguous. On the one hand, regulatory-driven environmental innovation may impose additional costs to firms and lower their profits. On the other hand, eco-innovators could profit from lower uncertainty in innovation due to regulatory standards and demand-generating effects of regulation. In this paper we analyse (a) whether regulation-driven environmental innovation generate similar innovation success compared to other types of product and process innovation, and (b) whether regulation-driven environmental innovation increase or decrease firm success (as measured by return on sales). Using firm data from the German innovation survey, we find that both product and process innovations driven by environmental regulation generate similar success in terms of sales with new products and cost savings as other innovations do. However, we find different effects when looking on the field of environmental regulation that triggered innovations. Regulations in favour of sustainable mobility contribute to higher sales with market novelties while regulations in the field of water management lower this type of innovation success. With regard to a firm’s price-cost margin, new processes implemented in order to comply with environmental regulation requirements lower profitability, indicating higher costs for this type of innovation which cannot be passed on prices. Higher profit margins can be observed for firms with innovations triggered by regulations on recycling and waste management as well as on resource efficiency.
When comparing the research on service topics to those research activities that focus on material goods, an obvious gap can be observed: While there exists a broad range of models, methods and tools for the development of goods, the development of services has hardly become a topic of scientific literature. An approach for capturing services as an R&D object is presented in the following under the general heading of "service engineering", and an attempt made to systematise the development of services.
Evaluating Innovation Ideas: A Comprehensive Approach to New Product Development
- F Kerka
- B Kriegsmann
- M G Schwering
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Innovation in Services: The Contributions of Design Theory
- S Lenfle
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Service Innovation Mechanism Based on Customer-Employee Interaction
- L Liu
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Whither Services Marketing?
- C H Lovelock
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Stimulating Innovation -A System Approach
- T Rickards
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Service Innovations -Challenges of User Involvement in Idea Generation
- L Sørensen
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