Cristina Mele

“Five Co‐s” in innovating: a practice‐based view

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to frame innovation as a process of co‐creation according to a practice‐based view.Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on the innovation practices that occurred within the web contexts of ten companies. In accordance with netnography research, data include preliminary studies of the web‐based context, naturalistic observations of the community and the activities of its members, and direct interactions with the members of the innovating community.Findings – This work proposes the integration of innovation, practice and the emerging co‐creation research. The paper develops the five “Co‐s” model including: co‐ideation, co‐valuation, co‐design, co‐test and co‐launch. Each “Co‐“ represents a phase of the innovation process resulting from dynamic and on‐going interactions among resources, actions, and a group of actors who are interrelated via a dense network. Within each “Co‐“, the authors identify practices and elements of practices.Practical implications – A...

The evolving path of TQM: towards business excellence and stakeholder value

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to analyze the present level of the adoption of TQM in firms, and to outline an evaluation of its evolving path.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative method was chosen to analyze the “state‐of‐the‐art” of TQM. A total of 21 firms were investigated, using the case study method, in detailed multiple case studies.Findings – In most of the investigated firms, TQM was characterized by stronger and stronger cultural and behavioural features. The co‐ordinated and systematic development of TQM basic factors helps the priming and feeding of innovative processes favouring the course towards business excellence.Research limitations/implications – The research is based on a sample of firms and it is necessary to amplify the research process including other enterprises and to outline some forms of categories (with cultural and behavioural aspects).Practical implications – If TQM is appropriately managed, it supports the organization in achieving excellence, the real sourc...

Co‐creating value innovation through resource integration

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse innovation in the light of service‐dominant (S‐D) logic and service science as a value‐creating process occurring through a many‐to‐many network resource integration.Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises S‐D logic and network theory to present case study research of a highly innovative Italian firm. The study investigates three innovation projects and the processes of interaction and integration that take place among the members of the networks involved in each project.Findings – The traditional understanding of innovation, in which the supplier is the innovator and the customer is the recipient of (or perhaps the stimulus for) innovation, is replaced by an understanding of innovation based on S‐D logic in which customers and other stakeholders become real co‐innovators who exchange and integrate resources to co‐create value.Research limitations/implications – Future studies could examine the antecedents and implications of the interaction and i...

Key Dimensions of Service Systems in Value-Creating Networks

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 fulfilment. 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.

The synergic relationship between TQM and marketing in creating customer value

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationships between marketing and quality in the value‐creation process.Design/methodology/approach – The paper combines the findings from a literary review and multiple case studies to develop a conceptual framework of the synergistic relationship between total quality management (TQM) and marketing in creating customer value.Findings – Two main conclusions arise from the study: TQM is a platform for the full realisation of marketing potentialities by revitalising the marketing concept and fostering its implementation; and TQM and marketing are complementary and synergistic in facilitating efficient management of the process of value creation and delivery.Research limitations/implications – The developed framework is only part of the complex relationship between marketing and quality. Nevertheless, it provides a solid basis from which to integrate the knowledge, tools, and methodologies of marketing and quality.Practical implications – The study pro...

A new perspective on market dynamics: Market plasticity and the stability-fluidity dialectics

Several researchers have pointed out that if marketing is to develop as a discipline and contribute to solving complex business and societal challenges, it should question the neoclassical view of markets and develop its own theory of markets. Efforts in this direction indicate an emerging view of markets as dynamic, subjective, and subject to multiple change efforts. However, the neoclassical view of objective, detached, and deterministic market still influences the dominant models used to describe market change. We argue that in order to better understand market dynamics, both academics and practitioners need new concepts and constructs that go beyond existing linear process and development stage models. We seek to contribute to improved understanding of markets by studying a special characteristic of markets that enables market dynamics. Borrowing a term used by Alderson (1957: 277), we propose that markets are characterized by plasticity, that is, a “potentiality for being remolded and responding in a different way thereafter.” Even though the plasticity concept was introduced into the marketing literature nearly 60 years ago, the plastic character of markets remains underresearched. This article investigates the meaning and manifestations of market plasticity, drawing analogies from the physical, natural, and social sciences. We define market plasticity as the market’s capacity to take and retain form and propose that the dialectic between market stability and market fluidity lies at the heart of market change.

Research traditions of innovation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a fresh framing of innovation, as service innovation/value innovation. Design/methodology/approach – By examining the visions, patterns and outcomes of three different research approaches to understanding innovation – goods-dominant (G-D) logic, the resource-based approach and service-dominant (S-D) logic – the authors strive to outline the contribution of each to the debate on innovation. This investigation involves a comprehensive literature review. Scrutiny of a case company provides a means of identifying and illustrating how these approaches play out in a real business context. Findings – A framework for innovation builds on the comparison of the three research approaches. G-D logic, when analysed in terms of new product development and new service development, positions innovation as an output (a new good or service) of a businesss internal processes, with the firm as the main actor. The resource-based approach establishes the drivers of innovation as...

Developing service research - paving the way to transdisciplinary research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss how service, as an interdisciplinary area of research, can increase its potential for transdisciplinary contributions from the perspective of what signifies intra-, multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary research. Design/methodology/approach – The essay first discusses common perspectives on the service concept before presenting a review on what signifies intra-, multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary research. The emerging theoretical framework is followed by a discussion on the challenges and opportunities for service research in making interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary theoretical contributions. Findings – The research provides a typological framework for understanding intra-, multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary service research and, implications related to how service research contributions can become increasingly inter- and transdisciplinary. Originality/value – The paper contributes to widening the scope of service research by focussing on how ...

Eco-innovation practices

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine eco-innovation practices within project networks. Eco-innovation practices involve systematic series of actions that integrate resources to create value. Design/methodology/approach – Using case research, the authors conducted an intensive study of innovation practices within project networks, using multiple sources of evidence to provide information to scholars and practitioners (Halinen and Tornroos, 2005). Analyzing practices facilitated an empirical investigation of how contextual elements shaped the social construction of eco-innovation. Findings – An empirical analysis of eight project networks identifies three eco-innovation practices: cleaning up the landscape, connecting life and work, and boosting the efficiency of inbound and outbound processes. A methodological framework based on this practice approach is used to discuss the main elements of the practices in question, including actors, actions, resources, and value. Practical implications – The practice-based approach (PBA) may help companies to make information and communication technology (ICT) more sustainable. By developing forms of eco-innovation that support project networks, companies can focus on holistic corporate performance, efficiency, and business value. Eco-innovation thus becomes a collective achievement that allows practitioners to appraise and critique the performance of their environmental practices, and that thereby allows them to constantly refine those practices. Social implications – The development and use of Green ICT solutions enable actors’ sense-making and sense-giving within ongoing social practices wherein macro-level phenomena, such as sustainability and environmental issues, are created and recreated through the micro-level actions of project network actors. Originality/value – This research extends beyond the more traditional issues of ecologically sound company operations and sustainable ICT use to address sustainable ways of doing business.

Innovating as a Texture of Practices

This chapter focuses on the social ways of doing business innovation in actual conditions of complexity. By applying the concept of practical accomplishment, innovating is seen as “a texture of practices,” that is, a set of practices resting on other practices. We use the metaphor of texture to develop a fresh conceptualization of innovating. A texture is made up of a weft and a warp; the warp concerns the vertical threads that run along the length of the yardage and the weft refers to the horizontal threads that run from side to side. In innovating as a texture, the weft represents the practice of co-creating and the warp represents the practice of weaving. The multiple connections in actions that arise at the cross points of warp and weft allow the big picture to emerge. This conceptualization goes beyond the economic stance to emphasize the social–contextual nature of innovating, in which establishing relationships and giving them specific forms within a situated practice activate knowing. The focus shifts to the activities, actors, and resources involved in sociomaterial and cultural practices in which innovating occurs. In this realm, innovating emerges as a continuous process.