Julia M. Jonas

Creating Competitive Advantage from Services

OVERVIEW: In commodities markets, companies struggle to develop and communicate solutions for customer needs that provide competitive advantage. Service design thinking can provide the tools to help redesign value propositions to incorporate solutions that meet customer needs and sustain competitive advantage. However, in order to apply service design thinking effectively in organizational settings characterized by product thinking, some specific issues must be addressed. Based on a case study of a local gas supplier, redgas, we offer three key lessons from applying service design thinking to create new value propositions in the commodity industry: 1) see the bigger picture, 2) select suitable prototyping methods to support a collaborative ideation process, and 3) communicate narratives to and solicit feedback from customers.

Stakeholder integration in service innovation - an exploratory case study in the healthcare industry

This paper explores the integration of internal and external stakeholders in service innovation. Building upon the co-creative paradigm, the resource and knowledge integration of stakeholders in dynamic and complex service systems is gaining importance. This case study analyses the practice of stakeholder integration in a service innovation project at a German provider for medical appliances. We show that stakeholder integration is realised in the modes of reactive integration for the majority of stakeholders, whereas mutual integration is realised with members of the organisation, only. Customers are integrated as reactive resources throughout the innovation process, also informally and indirectly. The evidence from this empirical study suggests that stakeholder integration in service systems creates interdependencies between stakeholders and implicates that indirect ways of stakeholder integration have to be taken into account for project and stakeholder management.

Summary of findings and implications

The final part of this thesis provides a summary of findings (chapter 1) and derives a model for stakeholder integration in service innovation as a process where stakeholder integration activities, the service system, the integrator and the participant are interrelated, influenced by and influencing each other (chapter 2). In chapter three, the implications for management and the implications for service research will be discussed. This is followed by an outlook, deriving future research directions, and a final conclusion. A personal final note will close this doctoral dissertation.

Stakeholder integration in service innovation – a passive look from outside

Leaving behind the “foundation” part of this thesis with the presented research design and its underlying theory lens, the next chapter is concerned with the research topic “Which stakeholders are getting integrated, at what stage of the innovation process and in which mode?” from an outside perspective. This look from outside describes the state-of-the art in service research on stakeholder integration in service innovation. It will first shed light on the field of interests and findings in present empirical research as a fundament for the further exploration of the topic.

Entwicklung digitaler Servicesysteme – Akteure, Ressourcen und Aktivitäten

Im Rahmen der digitalen Transformation entstehen vielerorts neue Wertschopfungssysteme, die durch Vernetzung von Akteuren und Ressourcen uber organisationale Grenzen hinweg hybride Angebote aus Produkten und Dienstleistungen auf den Markt bringen. Unter operativen Gesichtspunkten gilt die Aufmerksamkeit der Beteiligten dabei meist der Entwicklung spezieller Losungen fur konkrete Probleme. Weitere Entwicklungen hinsichtlich der Verteilung von Aufgaben und der Zuordnung von Verantwortlichkeiten erhalten dagegen wenig Aufmerksamkeit. Der hier vorliegende Beitrag nutzt Erkenntnisse aus verschiedenen Projekten im Kontext von Industrie 4.0, um eine ubergreifende Sicht auf die Dynamiken der Entstehung digitaler Servicesysteme zu entwickeln. Die Projekte werden dazu im Hinblick auf die involvierten Akteure, Ressourcen und Aktivitaten analysiert. Um das grose Ganze in komplexen Digitalisierungsprojekten betrachten zu konnen, werden folgende Losungsstrategien abgeleitet: a) die Nutzung von Interaktionsraumen, b) das systemische Management durch Regelungscockpits und c) die Einbeziehung des gesamten Lebenszyklus eines Servicesystems.

The service systems view on stakeholder integration – a mutually engaged case study on internal stakeholder integration

Exploring stakeholder integration practice from a management perspective, Part IV and V have created a picture of stakeholder integration in service innovation that implements stakeholders integration foremost in a reactive mode, strengthens the role of senior management as a stakeholder group for service innovation, includes indirect and informal stakeholder integration, creating interdependencies in the service system and clarifies how service innovation and stakeholder integration is standing in competition with the daily work of the innovation management team.

Dienstleistungsentwicklung im offenen Innovationslabor – Ein Blick durch die Unternehmensbrille

Dienstleistungen sind heute ein wichtiger Wettbewerbsfaktor. Daher ist die Frage, wie Innovation von Dienstleistungen oder Produkt-Service-Bundeln erfolgen kann, von hoher Bedeutung. In diesem Beitrag wird, ausgehend von der Annahme, dass Kundenintegration fur die Innovation und Entwicklung von Dienstleistungen ein wesentlicher Bestandteil ist, das offene Innovationslabor JOSEPHS® als Fallstudie analysiert. Es geht dabei insbesondere darum, welche Grunde aus Unternehmensperspektive dazu motivieren, offene Innovationslabore bzw. living labs fur die Innovation von Dienstleistungen zu nutzen und welche Schlusse sich daraus ziehen lassen. Der Beitrag analysiert dabei neben allgemeinen Beweggrunden, v.a. offentlichkeitswirksame, kundenbezogene und wirtschaftliche Aspekte.

The service-dominant logic perspective on service innovation in service systems

After the presentation of the research design and structure of this thesis, this third part of the thesis presents the theory lens to be applied, the service dominant logic. First, to create a shared understanding of the concept “service innovation”, chapter 1 introduces the three research streams in services: the assimilation, demarcation and synthesis approach. Next, the service-dominant logic is introduced, as a theory lens to look at service innovation embedded in service systems in chapter 2.

The management perspective on stakeholder integration in service innovation – a reactively engaged exploration of case studies

After a look on stakeholder integration in service innovation from an outside perspective, with the analysis of existing empirical research and an interview study with innovation intermediaries, the next step of this thesis takes up the need to explore the organisational practice of stakeholder integration as perceived by responsible innovation managers. This chapter will investigate how stakeholder integration in service innovation is implemented in practice. Two case studies are conducted: a first in-depth case study on a service innovation project for hybrid healthcare solution will explore service innovation as a process with interfaces to products, in a Germany-based international manufacturing company.

Digital Transformation in Service Management

The digital transformation of single companies and of entire service businesses is an omni¬-present topic – not only in the academic discourse but also in the current public debate. The topic is often approached phenomenologically. We invited a group of well-renown scholars from different academic fields to share with us personal observations and interpretations of the digital transformation in service management in the form of individual commentaries that go beyond. The commentaries we received are based on different theoretical perspectives. They include motivations of why digital transformation makes service management research (smr) more relevant, they depict implications for service companies, and they outline research needs. This article conflates the submitted commentaries, and it is the first SMR special research paper – a paper type that will be continued in future issues to explore topics in a similar fashion that are likely to have a significant influence on the development of smr.