Keg wine technology that allows for more sustainable packaging and distribution of wine is an innovation launched in the otherwise conservative wine industry. Yet, the study of keg wine through the ...lenses of sustainable offering in services is daunted by the challenges around sustainability innovation in service providers. Drawing on the sustainability-oriented service innovation (SOSI) tool (Calabrese et al., 2018a, 2018b), this paper uses keg wine as a case study of the forces that drive or hinder the adoption of sustainability innovation in service activities like foodservice. Data from owners and general managers of Swiss foodservices provides initial insight into the perceived benefits and challenges for the adoption of innovations with sustainability potential. Specifically, results show that the willingness to adopt keg technology increases when potential long-term sustainability benefits are paired with new business interactions and new delivery systems. The study offers insights that could be used whether a restaurant is adopting innovative keg wine or not, especially as sustainability is an increasingly determinant driver of customer purchase behavior.
•Keg wine technology and packaging is a service innovation for sustainability in foodservice.•SOSI forces driving willingness to adopt keg wine technology are new business interactions and new delivery systems.•Sustainability innovation offers insights for the willingness to adopt keg wine.•Foodservices should inform their customers about the sustainability benefits of keg wine as SOSI.
With the COVID-19 pandemic came an influx of digital technologies introduced into the care home sector. Many care homes were not ready for digital changes, and subsequently, the inclusivity of these ...innovations was variable. We develop a holistic evaluation framework to assess the inclusivity of service innovations, including the well-being of care home residents and employees. We adopt a mixed methods approach using the ‘non-adoption, abandonment, and challenges to scale-up, spread, and sustainability − complexity assessment toolkit’ (NASSS-CAT) to evaluate the introduction of tablet computers into care homes across Scotland and assess the inclusivity of the innovation. The paper offers a theoretical synthesis by indicating how the seven dimensions of the NASSS-CAT can evaluate the six stages of the ladder of inclusive innovation. Results specify how the care home sector could be more inclusive of its residents and staff by co-creating innovation, developing staff training, and supporting the well-being/activities coordinators.
Service innovations challenge existing offerings and business models, shape existing markets, and create new ones. Over the last decade, service research has shown increasing interest in the concept ...of innovation and should by now have reached maturity and created a strong theoretical basis. However, there is no coherent theoretical framework that captures all the facets of service innovation, and to move service innovation research forward, we must revisit the key assumptions of what an innovation is. To enable this, the present article addresses three fundamental questions about service innovation: (1) What is it and what is it not? (2) What do we know and what do we not know? and (3) What do we need to know to advance service research? By doing so, this article offers an updated and comprehensive definition of service innovation and provides a research agenda to suggest a path forward.
The remarkable growth of e-commerce has defined the recent years of various industries worldwide. Driven by consumers, the e-commerce surge (e-retail in particular) stems from the final leg of the ...supply chain: the last mile. As the growing flow of e-commerce orders continues to generate new records for annual revenues, key actors in the last mile face the challenges of increasing customer demands and transportation volumes. In response, e-retailers and logistics service providers seek innovative service solutions, often powered by technological advancements. This study consisted of focus group interviews and a usability test that incorporated an innovative technology in the delivery service. The study provides insights into how service innovation affects e-customer behavior and presents a basic map of the e-customer journey. The findings also provide a foundation for improving management of the customer experience and aiding managerial decision-making when designing new e-commerce last mile services.
Many product-based companies are seeking to increase their competiveness by moving towards a service-based business model. This research is based on a multiple case study of seven manufacturing ...companies and by using the business model concept it links managerial activities to a service innovation framework to emphasise how companies can best take advantage of a new service-based business model. Findings indicate that companies need to focus on all areas of their business models in a holistic fashion, and not just change isolated elements. Among other challenges, companies must develop their abilities to build relationships with customers, to visualize the intangible value of their service offerings, and to advance a dynamic service offering portfolio that is adaptive to changing customer needs.
Digitization is receiving a lot of interest in recent servitization research, but the use of platform-based Industry 4.0 technologies to boost product-service innovation (PSI) is less covered. This ...study aims to explore how companies successfully leverage platforms for servitization in an Industry 4.0 context. Building on theories of PSI, platform leverage and business model adaptation (BMA), we use longitudinal and interpretive research methods to conduct an exploratory study of the servitization pathways of four Chinese textile and apparel manufacturing companies. Results reveal companies’ roadmaps in undertaking digital and smart servitization strategies enabled by platform leveraging, and show the implementation approaches for related BMA. Further analysis identifies platform-based servitization destinations and pathway dynamics. This study constructs a theoretical basis and a typology for explaining platform-based servitization.
•This study explores how manufacturers leverage digital platforms for servitization.•We posit a theoretical framework for explaining platform-based servitization.•Three service destinations are non-digital, digital and smart servitization.•Platform leverage logics can be applied in the organizational front- and back-end.•Companies follow a sequential and simultaneous business model adaptation path.
This paper examines the key antecedents and implications of territorial servitization in Central Europe and the Mediterranean. Territorial servitization is analyzed using 17 Spanish and 38 German ...NUTS-2 regions during the period 2010-14. The results indicate that, in terms of market size and economic activity, territorial servitization is significantly higher in regions with more knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) deepening and where air and maritime transport have positive effects on territorial servitization. Interestingly, while the results confirm a positive relationship between patents and territorial servitization, patents show decreasing returns. Important implications for research, firms and policy-makers are discussed.
Several firms worldwide that attempted to penetrate the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) with digital service innovations have encountered disappointing returns. This article explores what capabilities ...firms should develop and how they should nourish them for value creation at the BOP. Using the multiple-case method, this study inductively derives persuasion, co-creation, adaptation, and self-sustainability as essential capabilities. Cumulative maneuvering of these capabilities resulted in a sand cone model. Both established incumbents and digital natives benefit from this model, which enables them to safeguard their digital offerings while penetrating or expanding within BOP markets.
The point of departure for this article is the need for product-centric firms to compete in the market by adding services to their portfolio, which requires a greater focus on service innovation if ...they are to remain competitive. A major challenge associated with the shift from product-centeredness to a product-and-service orientation is the management of the essential dynamic capabilities of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring needed for service innovation. The research study reported identifies key microfoundations forming the basis of successful realignment of a firm's dynamic capabilities so as to achieve a better fit with service innovation activities. Eight qualitative case studies of product-centric firms form the basis of the study. The findings make three primary contributions to the body of knowledge. First, they extend the existing literature on dynamic capabilities by specifically discussing microfoundations related to service innovation. Second, the study extends existing work on service innovation into the manufacturing industries by identifying the key microfoundations in that context. Third, the research provides empirical evidence of dynamic capabilities in practice, especially in product-centric settings in which the service context is novel.
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