Emergence of innovations in services

Along with the ‘servicisation’ of society, innovation in services has become a topical issue. However, analytical and detailed discussion about the nature of service innovations and their emergence is only beginning. This article aims to contribute to this discussion through a theoretical analysis supplemented with findings from two empirical case studies. The theories examined are multi-disciplinary including general service theories, general innovation theories and theories linked to new service development and innovation management. The empirical studies have been carried out in Finland in the fields of real estate and construction services and of knowledge-intensive business services.     

Distributed product knowledge service: model and system framework

Conventional business models focus on providing end products and services regardless of product- or service-related knowledge. Such models are unable to meet customer requirements in a knowledge economy. Therefore, to effectively capture, accumulate, store, and apply knowledge to provide product knowledge service to customers is central to enterprise success. This study has the following three objectives: (i) to propose a novel product knowledge service model based on the product lifecycle and its supply chain, (ii) to design a system framework for product knowledge service, and (iii) to implement the proposed system. The product knowledge service model can be seen as a product knowledge supplier chain based on the integration of the product lifecycle and its supply chain. Based on the knowledge management cycle, software agent technology, and service-oriented architecture, the agent-based knowledge service-oriented system framework is designed to reflect the distributed, flexible, and hierarchical characteristics of the product knowledge service model. Finally, the proposed agent-based knowledge service-oriented system framework is developed and implemented using Unified Modelling Language and Java programming language with the Java Agent Development Framework.     

A supply chain management framework for services

While services represent the largest sector of the global economy, 86.8% in the United States, most supply chain management (SCM) research is focused on product flows. Executives in manufacturing firms have benefited from frameworks created to implement SCM processes, but this is not the case for their counterparts in service companies. The two most cited SCM frameworks for services have methodological and conceptual deficiencies. Drawing upon the service-dominant logic of marketing and using an empirical research approach, we developed supply chain structure maps for nine service firms. Our findings indicate that the supply chain structure maps of service companies are comparable to those in the product-based literature, which supports the service-dominant logic. Then, we identified the six key processes that constitute a framework to manage service supply chains. The customer relationship management and the supplier relationship management processes form the critical links in the supply chain, and the other four processes are coordinated through this linkage. The SCM framework for services provides direction for executives in service firms who need to increase cross-functional integration within their firms and with other members of the supply chain. For academics, 12 avenues for future research are identified.     

制造业服务化战略竞争优势构建的理论框架——基于制造业的多案例分析

制造业服务化作为传统制造业企业重构竞争优势的重要战略手段受到学界高度关注,但对于以生产制造为主导的传统制造业企业应如何成功构建服务化战略竞争优势,企业在竞争优势构建中需要具备哪些关键资源或能力等问题,现有研究鲜有涉及。鉴于此,以我国三家具有代表性的典型制造业企业为例,运用扎根理论研究方法,分析影响制造业服务化战略竞争优势构建的内外部关键因素,构建以“企业关键资源—企业独特能力—企业竞争优势”为框架的概念模型。研究发现,支持制造业服务化提供物开发与提供的内外软性无形关键资源是成功构建制造业服务化战略竞争优势的基础,而基于企业这些内外部关键资源衍生的能够支持客户特定情境服务需求的企业独特能力是成功构建制造业服务化战略竞争优势的关键,即制造业企业不仅要储备和培植以具有路径依赖、因果关系模糊的软性无形资源为主的内外部关键资源,而且要强化基于关键资源的企业独特能力的开发和培育。此外,组织内部管理层和员工层两个不同组成部分服务导向价值观的秉持对作用于制造业服务化战略竞争优势构建的企业独特能力有正向调节影响作用,即管理层和员工层秉持的服务导向价值观正向调节影响企业独特能力的强弱。     

知识整合研究:一种基于资源与能力的动态分析框架

知识整合是企业提高竞争优势的关键。本文在对现有的知识管理研究文献进行归纳和述评的基础上,构建了知识整合的动态分析框架,指出知识整合是组织适应外部环境的动态性和不确定性,从而取得持续竞争优势的关键。最后,文章对研究结论进行总结,并提出未来研究方向。     

提升我国服务业发展水平的跨位思考

提升我国服务业发展水平,分析我国服务业的发展现状。服务业的产值与吸收就业能力呈现明显增长趋势,但同国际发达国家服务业的发展情况相比,差距明显。研究表明,我国服务业具有向资本密集型、知识密集型现代服务业发展的趋势,并逐渐在经济活动中取得主导地位。     

Organisational capabilities and internationalisation of the small and medium-sized information and communications technology firms

Especially in changing and unpredictable global environments where small knowledge-intensive information and communications technology (ICT) firms often operate, knowledge-based organisational capabilities are seen to contribute most to the performance. In this paper we explore the internationalisation process of small knowledge-intensive firms by studying the effects of a firm’s organisational capabilities on internationalisation and performance. We use a sample of 124 (of which 55 operate internationally) Finnish small and medium-sized firms. International experience is confirmed to be a significant determinant of internationalisation and international performance. In addition, financial capabilities prove to be a significant indicator of the degree of internationalisation: excellent investment expertise, connections with venture capitalists and good financial management are important capabilities for a small firm with high international growth aspirations.     

The value of business managers' ‘Information Technology’ competence

This study analyses the role of general managers and their competence in information technologies (ITs) in the integration of these technologies in knowledge-intensive businesses. From a resource-based view, it assesses the effect of managers' IT knowledge and vision on information management in their organizations. It focuses on two knowledge industries: telecommunication and biotechnology, with a final sample of 122 firms. Structural equations are used to assess the data. The findings show that the role of managers goes further than supporting and championing ITs. They are direct key actors in the IT–business integration. For this reason, managers should understand IT potential and information system management in order to combine this knowledge with their unique strategic vision of the business, foreseeing opportunities and needs.     

The Service Industries and Input-Output Analysis

This paper makes an empirical investigation into the influence of service innovativeness on the relationship between market orientation and innovative performance, first as a moderator with specified interaction effects, and secondly as a mediator in the path from market orientation to innovative performance. A sample of 169 new service development (NSD) projects in Chinese knowledge-intensive business service firms provides the data for an empirical test of these issues. The results indicate that service innovativeness does not play a moderating role in the relationship between market orientation and innovative performance, but a mediating role in this relationship. For NSD, project, innovativeness is only a temporary trait. The impact of market orientation is to spur innovativeness, which, in turn, affects innovative performance.     

Breaking new ground: base-of-pyramid service research

Two-thirds of the world's population lives in poverty, a global problem that researchers from a wide variety of disciplines study. Yet there is a fundamental lack of service research pertaining to this huge segment of society, commonly known as the base of the pyramid. This segment offers a rich source of information that could help break new ground in service research, by exploring services in contexts in which its current concepts, models, theories, and generalizations might not apply the same way. This article starts by exploring key contributions in base of the pyramid literature and identifying the main perspectives from which extant knowledge has developed. By revising existing service research priorities to identify useful intersections with base of the pyramid perspectives, this study offers new grounds deriving five research streams that reflect the integration of base of the pyramid research perspectives with service research priorities. Finally, this article details the emerging area of base of the pyramid service research using one of those research priorities, namely, transformative service research, in an effort to specify the relevant objectives, scopes, differences, and similarities and thereby identify common grounds for future service research at the base of the pyramid.     

Novelty-focussed document mapping to identify new service opportunities

Successful innovation in services is considered a key factor for organisational sustainability. However, existing customer- and expert-centric approaches are becoming time-consuming and labour-intensive as the number and complexity of services increase. To counter this, an instrument for service opportunity analysis based on quantitative data and systematic processes is proposed in line with the notions of service engineering. At the heart of the suggested approach is text mining to extract the meanings of service documents and the local outlier factor to identify novel services based on quantitative indicators. A case study of mobile services is exemplified. The suggested approach promotes consensus building for promising service opportunities and enhances the efficiency of the fuzzy front-end stages of new service development.     

中国知识密集型服务贸易国际市场势力分析

是否拥有市场势力是衡量一个行业或一个企业能否取得定价权的一个主要因素。通过选取我国知识密集型服务行业作为切入点,在分析其出口特征的基础上引用Hall的模型,实证测算了各行业出口的市场势力,发现我国大部分知识密集型服务出口存在市场势力缺失的事实,由此提出了增进市场势力的对策。     

Service Business Development in Small- to Medium-Sized Equipment Manufacturers

Purpose: This article explores service business development by small- and medium-sized equipment manufacturers (SMEMs). It focuses on underlying dynamic and operational capabilities in service business development.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The research design is based on case study research with nine companies from Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Findings: The findings are twofold. First, the authors elaborate the phases and capabilities necessary for service business development. Second, they argue that these phases and capabilities depend on sales channels (direct sales versus indirect sales through distributors) and customer structures (a limited number of strategic customers versus many end-customers). SMEMs selling directly to a limited number of strategic customers develop organizational capabilities through four phases: (1) consolidation of service offerings, (2) job enlargements in organizational functions, (3) job enlargement in the key account teams, and (4) orchestration of partners to widen the solutions offered to customers. SMEMs selling indirectly through distributors to many customers develop organizational capabilities through the following four phases: (1) rearranging collaboration with distributors, (2) enlarging the service competencies of distributors, (3) modifying distributors into subsidiaries, and (4) enlarging jobs in the sales function of the subsidiaries.

Research Limitations/Implications: The research limitations are due mainly to the intrinsic nature of qualitative research.

Practical Implications: Managers can obtain guidance for service business development from the phases and capabilities described in the paper.

Originality/Value: The study offers a comprehensive framework for assisting researchers in conceptualizing service business development and operationalizing capabilities. The results provide testable propositions that can be used to guide future research.     

Achieving sustained competitive advantage in retail and consumer service firms: The role of entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial bricolage

The vital role of entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial bricolage in creating sustained competitive advantage in retail and consumer service firms is increasingly acknowledged in modern markets. Using data from 246 retail and consumer service firms (hereafter R&CSFs) in Japan, this paper develops and empirically tests a framework delineating how entrepreneurial-oriented R&CSFs strategically combine existing resources while managing risks to differentiate their service portfolios to be competitive. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial bricolage influence differentiation advantage and risk management, which, in turn, is associated with creating a sustained competitive advantage (hereafter SCA). This paper adds novel insights to the dynamic capabilities view and retail and service marketing literature by identifying entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial bricolage, and risk management as dynamic capabilities, which allows R&CSFs to create service innovations in resource-constrained environments.     

Determinants of industry performance: region vs. country effects in knowledge-intensive service industries

Recent variance decomposition studies have started trying to determine the relative importance of industry and firm on profitability, but little research has been done to investigate exactly how much the difference in regions and countries could explain the variation in industry performance. This study explores the sources of knowledge-intensive service industry performance by comparing the relative importance of region, country, and industry effects. Using a variance components model fitted to a new data set, we find that while the country effects dominate industry performance around the world and in all regions (North America, South America, West Europe, East Europe, and Asia), industry effects too play a role in developing the worldwide knowledge-intensive service industries. We also find that regional effects have little significant influence on industry performance.     

Using Information as a Basis for Segmentation and Relationship Marketing: A Longitudinal Case Study of a Leading Financial Services Firm

An important concern for service businesses is how to develop an appropriate segmentation and relationship marketing strategy that is tied to the value contribution of the customer base. This article presents a case study of the relationship marketing strategy for a division of a leading, worldwide financial services provider. The case firm segments customers into three tiers, using a framework similar to the one established by Berry and Parasuraman. Potential revenue from the customer is the primary segmentation variable used to assign customers to one of the three tiers, while the customer service response is tailored for each tier based upon customer information capabilities and needs. Although information is normally thought of as a supplemental service, rather than a core service, this case study shows how information is central to providing effective customer service and is a key to relationship marketing. The study also demonstrates how social and structural bonds can be used to refocus a customer's thinking from a cost perspective to a value perspective.     

Knowledge,Human Resources and Social Practice: The Knowledge-Intensive Business Service Firm as a Distributed Knowledge System

The knowledge base of firms is intrinsically linked to the knowledge of their employees. This is particularly the case in knowledge-intensive business services, where the production of services is almost entirely dependent on the ability of the firm to make use of the knowledge of the employees. Applying a distributed knowledge system view of the firm helps us understand that how knowledge is created is more important than what knowledge the firm and its employees have. This article presents findings from a case study of a large Danish knowledge-intensive business service firm. It turns out that knowledge not only resides in the minds of individual employees but also that it is constructed in the social interaction between members of teams.     

Developing learning capabilities through a quality management program

This study examines the development of learning capabilities through the implementation of a quality management program in services, based on a case study of transplantation management. The findings show how the introduction of an online system, based on a quality management program, underpinned the knowledge-building capacity of the organization. The results contribute to service literature by addressing how a quality management program links to organizational learning process directly and through building-up organizational knowledge. The implementation of a quality management program allows knowledge building through identification and socialization of tacit knowledge and combination of explicit knowledge. The development of learning capabilities fostered by the introduction of this program occurs under conditions that contribute to the building-up of organizational knowledge. Organizational learning is enhanced during this implementation through an incremental process that detects errors and corrects behavior and/or alters organizations premises, standards and values. This organizational learning helps to upgrade the overall process.     

Customer benefits and value creation in streaming services marketing: a managerial cognitive capability approach

Customer value analysis and management is a key theoretical and empirical issue in marketing management and strategic management. However, little is known about the influence of customer benefit on customer value from the microfoundations of the dynamic capabilities perspective. Currently, a boom in online video and music streaming services is changing the entertainment industry structure. Thus, marketing managers in the fast‐growing streaming services industry should have dynamic managerial capabilities to anticipate other service elements that customers consider valuable. Based on managerial cognitive dynamic capabilities, this research explored the influences of customer‐perceived functional benefit, experiential benefit, financial benefit, and psychosocial benefit on perceived instrumental and terminal values. General linear model (GLM) and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were conducted to gain a more nuanced understanding of how different customers’ perceived benefits have different impacts on perceived value. The findings illuminate complex benefit configurations that drive perceived instrumental and terminal values and contribute to the development of value creation and its drivers. The proposed framework can help managers develop managerial cognitive dynamic capabilities by increasing their understanding of the impact of different perceived benefits on value creation for different types of customers.     

Inter-firm relational resources in cloud service adoption and their effect on service innovation

This study examines (1) inter-firm relational resources for cloud service adoption and (2) their effects on service innovation. A research model and the related hypotheses are developed based on resource-advantage (R-A) theory that combines inter-firm relational resources identified in theoretical and empirical research as important antecedents of cloud service adoption and its effect on service innovation. This study collects data from 165 managers from service firms in Taiwan. The results show that resources, including reliability, cost, and compatibility significantly affect a firm’s cloud service adoption. Furthermore, the adoption of cloud service significantly contributes to service innovation. The findings add to the current understanding of service innovation in two important ways. First, drawing on R-A theory, this study is among the first attempts to identify inter-firm relational resources (reliability, cost, compatibility, and customer orientation) for cloud service adoption and their effect on innovation performance. Second, this study introduces cloud services as effective technological platforms for a firm and its business partners to share, integrate, and reciprocate information, knowledge, and experience for service innovation.