Service Business: An International Journal Special Issue on: Innovation and Service-Dominant Logic Guest Editors: Francisco Mas-Verdú, Polytechnic University of Valencia Kun-Huang Huarng, Feng Chia University Amparo Cervera-Taulet, University of Valencia Background The way firms manage innovation has undergone two radical changes over the last 10 years. First, innovations no longer develop solely within the boundaries of the organization. Innovation occurs in collaboration with an extensive network of external agents (suppliers, partners, and customers themselves) (Chesbrough 2003; Nambisan and Sawhney 2007). Second, innovations core elements are not only tangible but also intangible in the form of information transferred to the customer. The emphasis has thus shifted from products physical attributes to the value or experience as perceived by the customer (Lee 2015; Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004; Vargo and Lusch 2004, 2008). Third, innovation can shape strategy of organizations (Lee and Olson 2010).
Innovation is now considered part of the broader context of supplier-customer relationships. Firms now aim to develop a continuous flow of innovative solutions to specific customer problems. The notion of innovation no longer refers to something new in absolute terms, but instead to what is new for a particular customer. Much innovation research has followed the principles of good-dominant logic (Vargo and Lusch 2004, 2008). Good-dominant logic focuses on separating different actors in the economic process to optimize and manage tangible results. In contrast, rather than stressing the production and supply of tangible goods, servicedominant logic emphasizes exchange services an exchange being a situation whereby an actor uses skills and abilities to benefit another actor. Thus, service-dominant logic makes it possible to transcend the different types and forms of innovation (tangible or intangible). Accordingly, products become an instrument for providing a service. Scholars have enriched the theory on service-dominant logic by adapting it to specific contexts. But the key element that explains the transition from good-dominant logic to service-dominant logic can be expressed as follows: the business process is informed between understanding the purpose as selling things to people and understanding it to be serving the exchange partner s need (Lusch and Vargo 2014, p. 11). This new conceptualization of service innovation according to the service-dominant logic highlights the key role of actors -operant resources- that are embedded in social systems creating changes in structures expressed in innovative ways that allow actors to co-create value (Edvardsson and Tronvoll, 2013, Koskela-Huotari, Edvardsson, Jonas, Sörhammar and Witell, in press). This special issue, Innovation and Service-Dominant Logic, explores the need for a broader conceptualization of services and innovations to explain how both are generated, disseminated, and applied. The special issue also probes into service-dominant logic s potential as a framework to explain innovation processes (Lusch and Vargo 2004, 2006, 2008). As Michel et al. (2008) report, service-dominant logic offers a novel theoretical perspective that demands a reassessment of the nature and management of innovation and a better understanding of the innovation and value creation processes. Service-dominant knowledge is increasingly being recognized as a viable approach in service innovation research (Lusch and Nambisan 2015; Mas-Tur and Soriano 2014; Ordanini and Parasuraman 2011). Service-dominant logic offers a suitable framework for understanding innovation in services fusing both services and goods into an integrated ecosystem where customers play a key role.
Subject Coverage The focus of the special issue is on high quality, original, unpublished research, case studies, and implementation experiences. Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following: Innovation in the consumers value-creation processes Collaborative innovation in service-dominant logic Innovative processes of value co-creation Methods and tools for knowledge management in service innovation processes Open innovation and service-dominant logic Techniques and tools for knowledge management in service innovation Agendas and interdisciplinary approaches for service innovation The way service-dominant logic helps us understand the impact of technological innovations Types of service innovation strategies Online co-innovation Social innovation Submission Guidelines Submitted papers must be original and must not be under consideration by any other publication. All submissions will be reviewed by at least two independent referees. The editors will base their final acceptance decision on relevance for the special issue, technical quality, innovative content, and originality of research approaches and results. All submitted manuscripts must be fully compliant with the general author guidelines for Service Business. An International Journal (http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/journal/11628?detailspage=pltci _691846). Submissions should be sent via Editorial Manager (https://www.editorialmanager.com/sbus/default.aspx). Queries should be submitted directly to the Guest Editors: Francisco Mas-Verdú (Polytechnic University of Valencia, fmas@upvnet.upv.es), Kun-Huang Huarng (Feng Chia University,
khhuarng@mail.fcu.edu.tw), and Amparo Cervera-Taulet (Universitat de València, amparo.cervera@uv.es) Important Dates Manuscript submission: February 10 th, 2017 References Chesbrough H (2003) Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Harvard Business School Press Books, Boston. Edvardsson B, Tronvoll B (2013) A new conceptualization of service innovation grounded in SD logic and service systems. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 5(1), 19-31. Koskela-Huotari K, Edvardsson B, Jonas JM, Sörhammar D, Witell L (in press) Innovation in service ecosystems Breaking, making, and maintaining institutionalized rules of resource integration, Journal of Business Research, Available online 10 March 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.02.029. Lee S (2015) The age of quality innovation. International Journal of Quality Innovation 1(1): 1-9. Lee S, Olson D (2010) Convergenomics: Strategic Innovation in the Convergence Era. Gower, Surrey, UK. Lusch RF, Nambisan S (2015) Service innovation: a service-dominant logic perspective. MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems 39(1):155 175. Lusch RF, Vargo SL (2014) Service-Dominant Logic. Premises, Perspectives, Possibilities, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Mas-Tur A, Soriano DR (2014) The level of innovation among young innovative companies: the impacts of knowledge-intensive services use, firm characteristics and the entrepreneur attributes. Service Business 8(1):51-63. Michel S, Brown S, Gallan A (2008) An expanded and strategic view of discontinuous innovations: deploying a service-dominant logic. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36(1):54 66.
Nambisan S, Sawhney M (2007) The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World. Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Ordanini A, Parasuraman A (2011) Service innovation viewed through a servicedominant logic lens: a conceptual framework and empirical analysis. Journal of Service Research 14(1):3 23. Prahalad CK, Ramaswamy V (2004) The Future of Competition: Co-creating Value with Customers. Harvard Business School Press, Boston. Vargo SL, Lusch RF (2004) Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing 68(1):1 17. Vargo SL, Lusch RF (editors) (2006) The Service Dominant Logic of Marketing. Dialog, Debate and Directions. Sharpe, New York. Vargo SL, Lusch RF (2008) Service-dominant logic: continuing the evolution Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36(1):1 10.