The initial stages of new service development: A case study from the Greek banking sector

Despite the importance of developing new services by bank institutions, the empirical research that has been undertaken concerning the process of developing new services is rather limited. This is even more obvious as far as the initial stages of the procedure are concerned, despite the fact that many authors have stressed their importance for the success of the whole effort. This paper examines the initial stages of new service development in the case of a leading Greek bank. Nine in-depth interviews were conducted with senior and middle executives. These revealed a different way for developing new services in comparison with the main body of the existing literature. Its main difference is the fact that each business unit is almost exclusively responsible for the development of new services, without collaborating extensively with other departments within the bank.