The aim of this contribution is to discuss the evolution of marketing, arguing whether it is accomplishing a paradigm change. Starting from previous definitions of paradigm, we adopt the viable systems approach (vSa) as a general interpretation key useful for interpreting the evolution of marketing over the last few decades. Through the lens of the vSa structure-system approach, which suggests distinguishing between a structure-based view and a systems-based view, we discuss the contribution of the most relevant theoretical and practical proposals to marketing theory advances in the last few decades, recognizing their scientific positioning and the theoretical connections linking them within a whole framework. The evolutionary pathway traced by the different marketing theoretical and practical approaches defines a series of phase passages characterized by progressive shifts in perspective that have led researchers to focus first on goods, then on relationship, and, more recently, on service as a general rule of market exchange. Well known as a shift from a goods-dominant to a service-dominant logic, this passage, started thanks to the relationship marketing proposal, reflects, from a vSa perspective, a wider evolution from a reductionist toward a systems view that seems to lead to a service-based systems view of market exchange.
The viable system logic is widely considered a reference point for all the entrepreneurial organizations.The viable organizations have to struggle for existence, a statement particularly valid, if we consider changes (adjustments, transformations, reorganizations) of logic and physical assets (logic and physical structure) as also specific configurations developed in time.As a consequence, a viable system can be defined as follows: it is a system that survives, remains united and entire; it is omeostatically equilibrated internally and externally; it contains mechanisms and opportunities to grow, learn, develop and adapt becoming more efficient in a proper context
This paper presents a first attempt at an integrated Service Science (SS) and Viable Systems Approach (VSA) analysis of the real-world phenomenon of changing jobs roles. Changing job roles is important to quality of life and yet understudied by systems scientists. Today, individuals changing jobs multiple times during their working life is the norm. The average person born in the later years of the US baby boom held 10.8 jobs from age 18 to age 42 (BLS [BLS 2008. Number of jobs held, labor market activity, and earnings growth among the youngest baby boomers: Results from a longitudinal survey. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. USDL 08-0860. URL: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf]). The viability of societal systems depends on both entities changing job roles offered and individuals changing job roles filled (Spohrer and Maglio, [Spohrer, J. C., Maglio, P. P. 2010b. Toward a Science of Service Systems: Value and Symbols. In The Handbook of Service Science, Maglio, P. P., Kieliszewski, C. A., Spohrer, J. C., Springer, New York, NY.]). Societal systems interact with their environment via individuals in job roles, and the behaviors and dynamics of these diverse types of viable systems are not easy to explain and predict (Beer, [Beer, S. 1972. Brain of the firm. The managerial cybernetics of organization. The Penguin Press.]). Both Service Science (SS) and Viable Systems Approach (VSA) can be seen as less well known specializations of General Systems Theory (von Bertalanffy, [von Bertalanffy, L. 1968. General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. George Braziller, New York.], Spohrer and Kwan, [Spohrer, J., Kwan, S. K. 2009. Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Design (SSMED): An Emerging Discipline – Outline & References. Int. Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector, 1(3).], Barile [Barile, S. 2009. Management sistemico vitale. Giappichelli, Torino.], Golinelli, [Golinelli, G. M. 2010. Viable Systems Approach (VSA). Governing Business dynamics. Kluwer, Cedam, Padova.]). Like General Systems Theory, these emerging analytic frameworks advocate a worldview and specialized vocabulary that provide a framework for analysis and decision making. Also, these nascent analytic frameworks aim to improve our understanding of complex systems and improve their design. By refining the concept of the identity of a system from SS and VSA perspectives, the contributions of this paper include providing an abstract framework for enumerating all job roles and transitions between job roles as well as a practical recommendation to prepare a next-generation of individuals to compete better in a world of accelerating job role change. Specifically, our analysis of changing job roles will result in a recommendation for increasing the ratio of T-Shaped Professionals (T-SP possess both broad communication skills and deep problem solving skills) to I-Shaped Professional (I-SP possess only deep problem solving skills) in the labor force of nations and businesses to improve their viability in a complex environment of accelerating change (Donofrio et al. [Donofrio, N., Sanchez, C., Spohrer, J. 2010. Collaborative Innovation and Service Systems: Implications for Institutions and Disciplines, in Holistic Engineering Education, Edited by Domenico Grasso.]). [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.]
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