Purpose -To offer a critical analysis of the literature of solutions offerings; to provide a new conceptual framework, incorporating dimensions that can distinguish between different kinds of solutions, and connect their different characteristics.Design/Methodology/Approach -A critical review of the relevant literature, both 28 contributions identified in a search of three major databases and a range of other published work for the broader perspective, illustrated by real-world examples.Findings -There is no unanimous and rigorous definition of solutions, but rather a number of often broad and generic descriptions that could be applied to a wide array of different offerings, if not generically.Research Limitations/Implications -The sample of subject-specific contributions to the literature may not have been sufficient, and a wider selection of keywords to identify them might have captured a richer variety of concepts and opinions.Originality/Value -This structured and critical review contributes to the literature on services and solutions, by developing a conceptual framework as a basis for future studies and current management strategy.

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The country‐of‐origin effect is a topic central to the field of international marketing. Country of origin has been found to exert a particularly potent effect on consumer evaluation in situations where there is a strong link between a country and a particular product category. The present study provides further insight into how this particular effect can be understood. Drawing on a novel conceptualization of how country image and product categories interact, this study tested the relative evaluative relevance of product category with respect to estimates of brand equity across a variety of product categories. The findings suggest that facets of a country's image that are more closely related to the evaluation situation exert a greater influence on the evaluation of brands. This result encourages scholars as well as practitioners to re‐evaluate which situations might cause the country of origin effect to hold managerial relevance and paves the way for new paths toward a more comprehensive understanding of the effect. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the subject-specific literature on service and flexibility and derive a conceptualization of the linkages between provider flexibility and customers’ value creation. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze existing perspectives on service and flexibility and propose linkages between provider flexibility and customer value creation. Findings Drawing on the service logic literature, and utilizing real-world examples, this paper advances propositions and a conceptual model of how flexibility can contribute to value creation. Research limitations/implications This paper establishes the basis for a practical and applicable flexibility perspective on value creation. It is particularly important for service-oriented providers and other firms operating in dynamic contexts. Practical implications The propositions and conceptual model offer suggestions on the manner in which provider flexibility contributes to customer value creation. Contextual influences that moderate provider flexibility in value creation are also included. Originality/value This paper contributes a novel perspective on service, which may serve as the starting point for the development of a more formal flexibility perspective on value creation.

Due to their inherent uncertainty, emerging high-tech business fields require a unique set of network management capabilities. Drawing from the dynamic capabilities literature and the networking capability literature, we develop a framework for network management in such environments. The framework consists of three interrelated capabilitiescontext handling, network construction, and network position consolidation. A longitudinal case study of a startup company in the smart energy sector validates and provides an illustrative understanding of the three capabilities. The findings identify how they are enacted through a portfolio of activities, providing a microfoundational insight into how a focal actor in an entrepreneurial and explorative manner navigates and manages a business field in the making. Our research contributes a novel conceptualization of network management capabilities with an explicit focus on attracting, establishing and managing relationships in the complex and uncertain environment of emerging high-tech fields. In addition, our research offers guidance to managers with respect to the capabilities they need to galvanize and coalesce actors in an emerging business network.

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1 Abstract Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies for visualizing the value of service-based offerings in a B2B context. By taking a process perspective on the offering life cycle, this paper also aims at distinguishing which visualization strategies are most appropriate using at which life-cycle stages.Design/methodology/approach -The study employed a qualitative, multiple-case study research design involving five manufacturing firms.Findings -Primary findings are that firms need to make use of several different visualization strategies depending on, among other things, the key stakeholders and also where the firm's offering currently is positioned in the service-based offering life cycle. Originality/value -Visualization strategies have been relatively little studied from a B2B perspective, and the process dimension, especially, is novel. Research limitations/implications

Design/methodology/approach: The study develops a conceptual framework of nine propositions (and corresponding diagrammatic representations) of the relationships between: (i) three kinds of risk (operational, strategic, and financial); and (ii) three strategies for the provision of added service (customisation, bundling, and broadening the range of offerings).This conceptual framework is examined empirically by qualitative analysis of data gathered in a three-year longitudinal study of managerial representatives from nine multinational manufacturing firms engaged in the addition of services to their traditional goods offerings. Findings:Eight of the nine propositions are fully supported, and one receives equivocal support. In addition, several contextual factors are identified as moderating influences on the relationships between the three categories of service offering and the three classes of risk. Research implications:The study provides an original conceptual framework and nine research propositions that represent a useful starting point for the development of a formal theory of the risks of providing services. Practical implications;The conceptual framework provides guidance for managers' assessments of the risks accompanying the infusion of added services to the traditional goods offerings of manufacturing companies.Originality/value: This paper provides a novel conceptualisation of service innovation and attendant risk.