Service Systems

Service science is an emerging discipline concerned with the evolution, interaction, and reciprocal cocreation of value among service systems (Maglio and Spohrer [Maglio, P. P., J. Spohrer. 2008. Fundamentals of Service Science. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36(1) 18–20.]; Spohrer et al. [Spohrer, J., S. Vargo, N. Caswell, P. Maglio. 2008. The Service System is the Basic Abstraction of Service Science. 41st Annual HICSS Conference Proceedings.]). Service-dominant (S-D) logic (Vargo and Lusch [Vargo, S., R. F. Lusch. 2004a. Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing. Journal of Marketing 68(1) 1–17.] [Vargo, S., R. F. Lusch. 2008. Service-Dominant Logic: Continuing the Evolution. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36(1) 1–10.]) is an alternative to the traditional, goods-dominant (G-D) paradigm for understanding economic exchange and value creation. This service-centered view is based on the idea that service – the application of competences for the benefit of another – is the basis of all exchange. S-D logic has been identified as an appropriate philosophical foundation for the development of service science (Maglio et al. [Maglio, P. P., S. L. Vargo, N. Caswell, J. Spohrer, 2009. The Service System is the Basic Abstraction of Service Science. Information Systems and e-business Management (in press).]). However, perhaps partly because S-D logic is first necessarily encountered through the G-D logic paradigm to which it runs counter, it is sometimes misinterpreted and thus misrepresented. This paper discusses S-D logic as a foundation for service science by reviewing the foundational premises of S-D logic and clarifying several misinterpretations related to (1) the S-D logic meaning of “service,” (2) the role of service in economic exchange, and (3) the nature of value cocreation. Drawing on these clarifications, implications of an S-D logic foundation for service science are proposed. [Service Science, ISSN 2164-3962 (print), ISSN 2164-3970 (online), was published by Services Science Global (SSG) from 2009 to 2011 as issues under ISBN 978-1-4276-2090-3.]

One key fundamental premise in service-dominant logic is that the enterprise cannot deliver value, but only offer value proposition. That is, business enterprises, or more generally, any actor, cannot deliver value to other actors; they can only offer a value proposition for (usually mutually) benefit. Thus compelling value propositions can establish connections and relationships among service systems, and can be developed for gaining competitive advantages. However, applied research to date suggests that relatively little is known about the related discussions carried out for and against the context of IT and electronics market such as Chinese Zhongguancun market viewed through the lens of service-dominant logic and service science. In this article, drawing on the extent service literature on the concept of value proposition and through the lens of service-dominant logic and service science, we explore and identify the focal service network initiator and the two main participating actors and the three primary pillars of the reciprocal value proposition, we further propose a conceptual value proposition model for deeply understanding of reciprocal value proposition within and among the multiple service network actors engaging with one another through the interrelated three enablers by service dialogical communications. And then, we examine its appropriateness through the two-selected case analysis in the context of Chinese electronics market such as Zhongguancun market, highlight how the three main stakeholders by joint efforts, cocreate reciprocal value propositions for their benefits, collectively and/or respectively, in accordance with service-dominant logic and service science. Finally, we conclude with gaining the new insights into value propositions, and suggest managerial implications and identify areas for future research.

A renewed understanding of service as a process of resource application and integration, rather than as digital or physical products, shifts the focus of service engineering to the value-creating relationships among entities within complex socio-technical service systems. This understanding is based on Service-Dominant Logic (S-D Logic), a recognized perspective on value creation in modern economies. Goal-oriented modeling, in particular when integrating agent-oriented principles, has been shown to be a suitable method for designing and developing service systems based on S-D Logic principles. Yet, the impact of S-D Logic on the nature and scope of requirements to be elicited and analyzed when designing a service system using goal-oriented modeling has not been clearly articulated. We propose a domain-specific profile of the Goal-oriented Requirement Language, a goal-oriented modeling language part of the User Requirements Notation standard, as well as a set of heuristics for eliciting requirements for service systems. Both are derived from a metamodel of service systems based on S-D Logic principles. Using a case study of a telemonitoring service, we demonstrate that using the heuristics to generate a requirements model for the design of the service results in a more complete set of requirements than existing solutions for telemonitoring services. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the impact of S-D Logic on service engineering, pointing toward the need for more research on the impact of operationalized domain theories on requirements engineering.

Purpose Digital ecosystemic business environments challenge dyadic approaches to value creation and particularly to business-to-business (B2B) sales. This paper aims to offer a novel conceptualization of the connection between value creation and B2B sales, which indicates practical implications and builds an agenda for future research. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper integrates theoretical insights on service-dominant logic, service ecosystems, interactional value co-creation and B2B sales. This paper uses anecdotal evidence from the field of B2B sales to illustrate theoretical concepts developed in the paper. Findings The paper develops the concept of value idea emergence (VIE), the process through which B2B entities become aware of a pursuable benefit. The paper further proposes that value (co-)creation in ecosystems happens through VIE’s intertwinement with the process of value proposition creation, a process, which includes all activities needed to bring a value proposition to a customer. The paper then discusses the role of B2B in these processes and proposes an agenda for future research. Practical implications The novel conceptualizations of value (co-)creation can help B2B sales managers to understand the ecosystemic nature of the interactions that affect sales and value creation in the current business environment. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature on B2B sales and value creation by proposing a novel concept of VIE, introducing a conceptual model of interactive value (co-)creation in ecosystems and reformulating the role of B2B sales in value creation. These theory-developing insights can be used to guide both academic and managerial attention to interactions happening in the ecosystem outside of the buyer-seller dyad.

Service-dominant logic (SDL) emerged over a decade ago as a potential framework and paradigmatic lens for rethinking the role of service in exchange and value creation. The growth of SDL reflects a major shift in service research. However, SDL’s relationship to prior service literature and its potential for future development in this field have not been empirically examined. We explore the foundational research areas and evolution of SDL research through a systematic investigation, which combines cocitation analysis with a novel text mining tool, Leximancer. Specifically, we investigate the research streams connected with SDL and compare core themes across two time periods (2004 to 2008 vs. 2009 to 2015). The findings reveal SDL’s interdisciplinary theoretical heritage and significant changes in the structure of focal themes and concepts over time. Our analyses identify current limitations and subsequent research areas and questions to further develop strategic approaches for SDL and advance a service ecosystems view. These include open innovation, dynamic capabilities, organizational microfoundations, and service systems, as well as social capital and consumer culture theories. Integration of midrange theories and strategic frameworks in these particular areas can help to guide managers in improving service innovation and enhancing value creation in service ecosystems.

Service-dominant (S-D) logic has been recognized as a theoretical foundation for developing a science of service. As the field of service science advances the understanding of value cocreation in service systems, S-D logic continues to evolve as well. Recent updates and consolidation of the foundational premises establish five core axioms of S-D logic and outline a pathway for understanding the role of institutions in value cocreation in general, and innovation in particular. This chapter overviews the evolution of S-D logic and its service ecosystems view, which can contribute to the furthering the development of service science and advancing the study of innovation in service systems. Future research directions are proposed.

Because of emergence of new logic which is Service Dominant Logic focused on intangible resources, the co-creation of value, and relationships Service dominant logic assumed a major category of economic activity in developed countries around the world, reason is that service is an interactive process of “doing something for someone” that is valued. There is a need to understand each service sector under this logic. Many researchers are working on Service dominant logic and its impact on different aspects. And for this purpose, we have chosen Easypaisa and MobiCash to understand the fund transfer system of both service systems under this service dominant logic and studied different aspects of this service exchange to better understand how value and experience are evaluated. In this Study, the Service system of Easypaisa and the service system of MobiCash are compared under the concepts of Service system. We have conducted interview with respective person of each service system and collected information and data on each concept of service. We have used Interview Guide given by Lyons and Tracy (2013) to collect data on service system concepts. We find out that Service system of Easy paisa is covering almost all concepts of Service system but comparatively MobiCash is far behind from Easypaisa. Our analysis showed that Easypaisa is much better than MobiCash because Easypaisa rapidly built a high performing national footprint, relying exclusively on the GSM channel.

This paper presents a metamodel that addresses service system analysis and design based on an operational view of service that traverses and integrates three essential layers: service activities, service systems, and value constellations. The metamodel's service-in-operation perspective and underlying premises diverge from a view of service systems as systems of economic exchange that has appeared a number of times in the journal Service Science. In addition to the metamodel itself, this paper's contributions include an explanation of eight premises on which it is based plus clarifications concerning concepts such as service, service system, customer, product/service, coproduction and cocreation of value, actor role, resources, symmetrical treatment of automated and nonautomated service systems, and the relationship between service-dominant logic and service systems. Many articles have discussed these topics individually; few, if any, have tied them together using an integrated metamodel.

In the context of the digitization of business environments, organizations and processes are currently undergoing major changes. Digital transformation offers a high potential to develop new value propositions by using digital technology, but at the same time demands for the implementation of disruptive innovation in complex service systems. Thereby, it is crucial to find out how to make use of technology-enabled potentials and how to find a structured way to develop and design new value propositions, embedded in service systems. To support the development and design of value propositions, this paper designs the VdiP-developer as a framework for the systematic development of digitization-enabled value propositions in service systems. It considers the advancement of existing likewise the development of new value propositions. In particular, the VdiP-developer highlights the roles of digital technology in service systems and establishes a framework to consider both, digital technology and service systems, in the development of value propositions. Using a field-based design-science approach to research, this paper shows how the framework for value proposition building is iteratively developed, applied and evaluated as a joint initiative by researchers and practitioners. The designed artefact, the VdiP-developer, enables organizations to systematically improve and develop value propositions by bringing management perspectives and service design elements together in one compact framework.

The Naples Forum on Service was held for the third time in June 2013 on the charming island of Ischia, which served once again as an inspiring and constructive research setting. One hundred fifty participants from more than 25 countries engaged in cross-cutting discussions with only limited opportunities for presentations, which, coupled with the diverse cultural backgrounds of the scientists, allowed for debates and conversations to find shared research paths. We are grateful to Service Science for the opportunity presented by this special section, and we are convinced that service science itself may benefit by multicultural perspectives. Service science is the study of complex service systems. Such a simple and straightforward definition opens up many intriguing issues given the ample set of disciplines, research methods (Gummesson 2005), cultural domains, and areas of interest required to capture the powerful insights and essence of service in the technological settings of modern life (Maglio 2011, Maglio and Spohrer 2008). Despite this shared and multifaceted concept, more effort must be invested by researchers outside the traditional disciplines of operations research and industrial engineering. To this end, the Naples Forum may contribute to development of service science, providing different perspectives that address the same issues from marketing, design, systems thinking, and other directions (for a full view of the forum scientific background and discussions, see http://www.naplesforumonservice.it). Service research started 40 years ago, and it is only now that we are beginning to sense the full picture of our economies as complex networks of service systems with a mission to enhance value for consumers, citizens, businesses, and society as a whole (Gummesson and Mele 2010, Gummesson and Polese 2009, Mele and Polese 2010, Wieland et al. 2012). The Naples Forum is an effort to stimulate the development of a new marketing paradigm (Golinelli et al. 2012, Gummesson et al. 2010) that is based on service science (Maglio et al. 2011; Spohrer et al. 2007, 2008), network and systems thinking (Badinelli et al. 2012; Barile et al. 2012a, b; Mele et al. 2010; Polese et al. 2009), and service-dominant logic (Lusch and Vargo 2006, 2014; Vargo and Lusch 2008); in stimulating this development, the new paradigm’s progress can be communicated and made more efficient. The forum supports publication by inviting participants to publish their presented work in special sections and issues of journals; for this special section of Service Science, we have selected some of the most interesting papers. In the first article, “When Trust Makes It Worse—Rating Agencies as Disembedded Service Systems in the U.S. Financial Crisis,” Helge Lobler argues against the common explanation of the recent U.S. financial crisis—namely, the lack of a system perspective—and instead focuses on individual and organizational moral or legal responsibility, thus proposing a richer view in which trust is a question of enabling cooperation among social systems. The second article is by Katarina Wetter-Edman, Daniela Sangiorgi, Bo Edvardsson, Stefan Holmlid, Christian Gronroos, and Tuuli Mattelmaki; “Design for Value Co-Creation: Exploring Synergies Between Design for Service and Service Logic” connects Service Logic research, which provides a framework to understand service systems in action by focusing on how actors integrate resources to co-create value, with practice and research in Design for Service, which provides an approach and tools to analyze current service systems in context to imagine future service systems and how innovation may develop as a result of reconfigurations of resources and actors.

The objective of this paper is to review recent developments in service theory and systems theory with a view to identifying common features between the two. In particular, the study explores the issue of whether so-called ‘smart service systems’ can be understood in terms of the ‘viable systems approach’ of systems theory. The paper begins with a review of recent developments in service theory by examining the fundamental principles of service-dominant logic (S-D logic) and service science (SS). The similarities and differences of the two are explored, with particular emphasis on the common feature of the service system. The study then moves to the realm of systems theory by exploring the main proposals of the viable systems approach (VSA), which is an interdisciplinary systems theory that includes elements derived from resource-based theory, biology, sociology, and mechanics. The paper then draws together service theory and systems theory by examining whether ‘smart service systems’ can be best understood in terms of ‘viable service systems.’ The most important finding of the study is that the VSA provides valuable insights into the design and management of smart service systems, especially with regard to harmonisation, systems governance, and successful value co-creation processes. [Service Science, ISSN 2164-3962 (print), ISSN 2164-3970 (online), was published by Services Science Global (SSG) from 2009 to 2011 as issues under ISBN 978-1-4276-2090-3.]

Scale development for the practices involved in creating value propositions in the exhibition industry: Service-dominant logic with a mixed-methods approach

Purpose– The collective, interactive aspects of service experience are increasingly evident in contemporary research and practice, but no integrative analysis of this phenomenon has been conducted until now. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize service experience co-creation and examines its implications for research and practice.Design/methodology/approach– To map the multi-approach research area of service experience co-creation, the study draws on literature in the fields of service management, service-dominant logic and service logic, consumer culture theory, and service innovation and design, together with invited commentaries by prominent scholars.Findings– A conceptualization is developed for “service experience co-creation,” and multiple dimensions of the concept are identified. It is postulated that service experience co-creation has wider marketing implications, in terms of understanding experiential value creation and foundational sociality in contemporary markets, as well as in the renewal of marketing methods and measures.Research limitations/implications– The authors call for cross-field research on service experience, extending current contextual and methodological reach. Researchers are urged to study the implications of increasing social interaction for service experience co-creation, and to assist managers in coping with and leveraging the phenomenon.Practical implications– For practitioners, this analysis demonstrates the complexity of service experience co-creation and provides insights on the aspects they should monitor and facilitate.Originality/value– As the first integrative analysis and conceptualization of service experience co-creation, this paper advances current understanding on the topic, argues for its wider relevance, and paves the way for its future development.

Chatbots have been increasingly used in the context of public administration in recent years and months. Using the example of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, it can be shown that chatbots are part of the current overall IT and digitalisation plan as well as the state's AI strategy. At the same time, the use scenarios and the functional scope of the first application examples are still quite limited (i.e. Corona information or information on the Integration Office). We would like to contribute to how the next step can be approached, from a “talking FAQ” to value-adding service systems.The aim of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for the design (and further evolution) of public services supported by chabots. Our conceptual framework draws from three knowledge areas: namely (1) actor engagement and multilevel service systems design, (2) conversational design (for chatbots), and (3) human-centered design.The design and operation of value-adding service systems (configuration of resources, people, etc.) is rooted in the framework of service-dominant logic and thus focus is laid on the aspect of value creation. Generally, Service platforms offer value propositions and maintain as well as operate various public service offerings. Following this consideration, the value proposition (learning about actor needs and requirements) must be placed in the foreground when planning and developing chatbots. We argue service systems design requires a multi-level design approach and framework.Hence, we start with the value proposition and existing institutional settings (i.e. legal basis and organisational constraints, data protection issues etc.) and configurations the actor is used to and guides actor behaviour. Central use case consists of a chatbot to support personalized dialogue and to support the customer along the service process. We will combine two important knowledge areas: systems design knowledge (technical requirements, usability and user requirements) and service systems design (institutional set-up and actor engagement design). Design and implementation comprises the value proposition itself and the technical realization (e.g. service system, engagement platform, service platform). A Use case based design is a valuable approach to design value propositions. In real practice, approaches such as Domain Driven Design (in order to clarify requirements). Digital services are thus identified and designed. Human centred design for interactive systems (cf. ISO 9241-210) then starts with a system vision and runs through the phases “understand & specify context of use”, “specify user requirements”, (iteratively) “produce design solutions to meet user requirements” and “evaluate design against requirements”. In the last step of the process, two evaluation methods are often used: heuristic evaluation and testing. In the paper we want to look in particular at heuristics for chatbot design (in analogy to Nielsens “Heuristics for Interface Design”).Hence, we see two particular design areas for service systems, namely institutional design (macro level) and engagement design (micro level). Design of the engagement platform represents an important next step (meso level), as it addresses mobilization of actors and resources required and resource integration pattern (e.g. business process, or customer process, supporting workflow of a chatbot). We will conclude our contribution with an evaluation as well as an outlook to what extent new research areas arise in the field of chatbots (i.e. chatbots can support identifying actor's intent and resource mobilization and allocation within administrative bodies).

This chapter explores the applicability of a service ecosystem perspective in human-centered service contexts. The notion of service ecosystems springs from the literature on service-dominant logic (S-D logic), which has contributed to the rethinking of service exchange as a value creation processes rather than as production of output. It serves as a framework for studying systems of service systems and is relevant for capturing the complexity of value creation in certain human-centered service contexts. We address this complexity by integrating the service ecosystem perspective with institutional logics theory. This allows for an analysis of how negotiations of different outlooks, values, and beliefs influence the activation of resources across service systems and ultimately the ability to cocreate value. The chapter is based on data from the Norwegian “Introduction Program,” which is a public service offered to newly arrived refugees and immigrants granted asylum. As such, the chapter deals with complex service systems that provide services for users in vulnerable and marginalized positions. In this context, the solutions to problems and areas for improvements cannot be found in the digitalization of service processes. Thus, the chapter brings attention to service areas in which the impact of the digitalization of service processes is limited, or mainly indirect.