Luca Carrubbo

Decision-Making in Smart Service Systems: A Viable Systems Approach Contribution to Service Science Advances

In contemporary dynamic markets, approaches to management based on systems theory have assumed increasing relevance, leading firms to valorise a holistic optic to challenge environmental changes. In particular, Viable Systems Approach (v S a) symbolizes the aforementioned holistic view of enterprises, introducing some innovative concepts that renovate traditional managerial paradigms in terms of decision-making. Simultaneously, in the field of service research, Service Science can be interpreted as an all-encompassing framework investigating the efficiency of firms, which are in turn intended as service systems; there are numerous points of convergence between Service Science research stream and the v S a. Therefore, this paper aims to combine the two, highlighting the common features, in order to propose insights for an integrated and shared macro level conceptualization of service systems and smart service systems. The main goal is to demonstrate the opportunities for capturing emerging contributes to Service Science advances. This can be achieved by fostering different views and paradigms, such as the v S a, thus avoiding a possible “missed call” from the existing worldwide Service Science research community.

How Service Innovation Contributes to Co-Create Value in Service Networks

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how service innovations (in a living lab context) contribute to co-create value in a service network. Exploratory research is developed using a qualitative approach and case study on mobility services in Bologna. Our findings reveal that the involved entities are able to recombine their existing resources and design a new value proposition based on the ICT solution. Theoretical and empirical research suggests that collaboration and participation in decision making are critical to service system reconfiguration. The study shows the importance of including insights from Service Science Management and Engineering and Design (SSMED) in the management of network theory. Moreover, the research paves the way for new perspectives on analysis of local governance issues based on value co-creation processes in the ICT service solution context. Using this perspective, service innovations in the overall management of public services view a city as a Smart Local Service System (SLSS), whose competitiveness depends on its ability to access and share common resources to create mutual value.

Service Innovation in Translational Medicine

Innovation implies collaboration among business actors and is fundamental in value cocreation networks. A significant context is the healthcare, where Translational Medicine (T-MED) aims at decreasing barriers between clinical research and medical treatments. The Translational Medicine is the integration and optimization of inputs in basic research improving the patient care, advancing and speeding up the process of offering new protocols, therapies, and practices. This conceptual contribution analyzes the Service Innovation in Translational Medicine using the paradigms of the Service Science (SS), Complex Service Systems, and Viable Systems Approach (VSA). It aims to increase the comprehension of relationships and complexity reduction processes in Translational Medicine and in Service Innovation in healthcare and improving of understanding the constraints to the innovation supporting Translational Medicine approach, seeking strategic solutions with a holistic view of healthcare networks.

The Demolition of Service Scientists’ Cultural-Boundaries

More than 10 years ago, IBM launched Service Science as an open and aggregating initiative in an attempt to integrate different knowledge domains contributing to the study and better understanding of the dynamics of Service Systems and Smart Service Systems. Today, there are few published manuscripts that are effectively grounded in different knowledge domains. Moreover, in the fields of management and marketing, further investigation is needed to determine what are the effective contributes to scientific and theoretical advances in Service Science. This contribution to the second edition of the Service Science Handbook will detail the results of an investigation conducted through a bibliometric analysis of key scientific journals and books that, in their mission statements, have a clearly stated goal of reporting on advances in Service Science. It is demonstrated that the majority of the manuscripts seem to be grounded in vertical and specific scientific domains. Further, manuscripts produced by experts on management and marketing appear not to address models or theoretical propositions capable of advancing Service Science. Instead, these manuscripts are applicative and empirical studies, or they merely apply existing models or theories to specific Service Science issues or peculiarities. These findings should stimulate the growing Service Science community to improve the integration of the various scientific knowledge domains that are relevant to Service Science, to increase the number of co-authored articles by researchers with different interests, and to strongly promote scientific integration among scholars.

A system dynamics perspective on a viable systems approach definition for sustainable value

Aim of this work is to shed light on sustainable value and develop a model, based on vSa and translated at applicative level through the system dynamics methodology for measuring sustainable value. By adopting vSa perspective, value, characterized by strongly subjective contents, will be considered as a vector quantity, as the result of the subjective weighting of the different dimensions that may change according to the considered organization. Starting from the analysis of system dynamics and vSa, we will implement the theoretical framework into a model developed with system dynamics, hence through a methodology capable of addressing systemic problems which is also an expressive approach to solve issues arising in complex systems (characterized by interdependence, mutual interaction, information feedback, circular causality). In order to translate theory into “action and application” we will develop a model through which it will be possible to exploit the advantages of vSa implemented into an SD model, which ultimately can also be instantiated to specific cases and then simulated for further quantitative insights. Currently, there is no theoretical/practical approach to sustainable value measurement for business organizations that simultaneously considers the dimensions of the triple bottom line together with the subjective perspective of decision-makers. From these considerations, we derived the idea to integrate vSa and system dynamics with the aim of analyzing the issue of sustainable value, whose triple dimension is usually (erroneously) seen under a perspective that does not consider the interactions among those three dimensions. The integration of the subjective perspective within a model for calculating sustainable value can be seen as considering vSa as the theoretical framework, and system dynamics as the methodology that allows translating such an approach into a model that can later be simulated. It is also worth mentioning that through the application of the vSa theory to the case of sustainable value, by means of a transcoding approach like the system dynamics one, we are somehow trying to “redefine”, or better “enhance”, the vSa theory itself, by “operationalizing” it.

An overview of the contribution of Systems Thinking within Management and Marketing

In recent years, common interests have led the fields of marketing and management to differentiate themselves, even in similar research areas. This chapter provides an overview of systems thinking in these two disciplines, reading the main concepts in an integrated way according to relational and value perspectives. A systematic literature review is conducted using the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases, focusing on applications of the Viable System Model and the viable Systems approach. Due to the adoption of systems thinking, the paper can serve to spur further studies to better define the boundaries and the eventual inclusion of marketing in management and vice-versa.

Evaluating festival attributes adopting S-D logic: the mediating role of visitor experience and visitor satisfaction

To symbolize the importance of contextual factors of provision in the contemporary service era, in festival research, the term festivalscape has been proposed. Despite the large number of works investigating the construct, extant research does not adequately assess the systemic and interactive nature of festivals, which can be viewed as a set of interconnected elements. To bridge this gap, this article evaluates four festival attributes (atmosphere, service quality, people interaction and collateral services) according to service-dominant logic and service-ecosystem view. Current work examines a light festival organized in Salerno during the Christmas holiday using a sequential regression analysis, revealing the mediating role of experience and satisfaction in influencing behavioural intention.

Co-creation in Action: An Acid Test of Smart Service Systems Viability

Purpose - The topic of this paper is about Smart Service Systems (SSS), as recent evolution of service systems. The aim is to focus on the connection between structural/system traits of SSS and the value co-creation therein, and how the achievement of a co-creative experience is effectively supportive of the SSS viability.