The purpose of this research is to answer the question: how can a new service development (NSD) program in the financial services industry be managed? More specifically, this research has two objectives: to explore the stages in the NSD process; and to explore how customer input may be obtained in the various stages of the development process. After a review of the new product development literature, the case study methodology involving in-depth interviews with managers and their customers is described. Analysis of the data showed that there were ten stages in the NSD process, and whether those stages were managed linearly or sequentially was a function of the size of the firm. In addition, how NSD managers obtained customer input in each stage, was uncovered. Implications for NSD managers include which stages to concentrate on, and how to capture customer input.

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Due to major structural changes in the service sector, many service managers are recognizing the need to continually develop new services that are timely and responsive to user needs. Thus, user input and involvement in new service development are an important area of inquiry. Although there has been a resurgence of academic and practitioner interest in new service development, there is a dearth of research on how users are involved in new service development. This study first combines insights from extant literature and exploratory interviews with practitioners to identify four key elements of user involvement, including objectives, stages, intensity, and modes of involvement, and then investigates these four elements in 12 service firms. Based on the findings, the author develops an inventory of activities that needs to be carried out in involving users in a new service development project.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a systematic and rigorous process of data collection and fieldwork in qualitative research using four empirical studies of customer interactions in new product development (NPD) as examples. The intention is to dispel a misconception that the qualitative research lacks objectivity and methodological robustness.Design/methodology/approachTo collect data for all the four studies a preliminary process of conducting fieldwork was first developed from the extant literature. This preliminary framework was applied in the first study and subsequently revised twice in the second and third study by incorporating necessary changes and additions. Finally, the framework was tested and further refined in the fourth study.FindingsThe findings from these four empirical qualitative studies have demonstrated that a theory generating idiographic research such as field interviews could be carried out systematically. These findings also provide a basis for proposing a structured framework for data collection.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is based only on business‐to‐business NPD. Therefore, to increase the applicability of the results more studies are needed in other business and marketing fields.Practical implicationsThe results offer an in‐depth look at specific research activities that can be carried out for efficient idea generation work and the overall NPD efforts.Originality/valueThe framework reported in this paper allows for an iterative data collection process from multiple respondents and from multiple sources. This method of data collection is a key issue because product managers tend to interact with the customers and other partners repeatedly and throughout the NPD process. Thus the product managers would find this framework useful for research involving NPD and customer interactions.

Purpose -Only limited attention has been paid to the issue of new service development (NSD) in a cross-national context. To address this critique of the literature a comparative cross-national study of NSD strategy and process of financial service firms in Australia and the USA was conducted. Design/methodology/approach -The study employs a cross-sectional, survey-based methodology. The US sampling frame included 274 large financial service firms situated in the Northeast region of the USA. The Australian sampling frame consisted of 262 firms situated in the Southeast region of Australia. Findings -The data pattern suggests that the firms in both the countries use different new service strategies to compete in the industry and emphasize different sets of development stages in developing new services.Research limitations/implications -The analysis has been restricted to two countries: Australia and the USA. This suggests the need for further comparative studies of NSD in other cultures/countries. Practical implications -The findings of this research support the notion that some of the key NSD practices may be common to all countries and cultures whereas others must be adjusted for national variations. The insights from this study can help service managers from both Australia and the US to better understand and manage their NSD programs in a cross-national context. Originality/value -The findings of the research are expected to advance one's understanding of the service innovation process by shedding light on the question of universality of factors and issues that relate to a firm's NSD programs.

Industrial firms interact with many outside organizations such as the customers, suppliers, competitors, and universities to obtain input for their new product development (NPD) programs. The importance of interfirm interactions is reflected in a large number of interdisciplinary studies reported in a wide variety of literature bases. As a result, several sources of new product ideas have been investigated in the extant literature. Yet given the growing complexity and risks in new product development, there seems to be a need for managers to obtain input from new and unutilized sources. Apparently, one source that industry has not tapped adequately for its NPD efforts is the consulting engineering firms (CEFs).To fill the aforementioned gap in the literature, this article explores the roles and suitability of CEFs in new product development by conducting a rigorous in-depth case research of new product idea generation in a large Australian firm manufacturing a variety of industrial products. To generate ideas for the sponsoring firm, longitudinal field interviews with 64 managers and engineers from 32 large CEFs were conducted over a one-and-one-half year period. The findings of the field interviews were combined with the documentary evidences and the archival data. This longitudinal data collection enabled the author to generate new product ideas over real time and to gain access to the information that otherwise might have been difficult to obtain.The results suggest that CEFs are a rich source of new product ideas of potential commercial value. However, industry is making little use of CEFs, which underscores the need for industrial firms to collaborate and to establish an effective idea transfer relationship with them. Moreover, the services of CEFs are not restricted to idea generation but can stretch across the entire NPD process. These findings of the study encourage product managers to conceptualize NPD as a highly synergistic mutually interdependent process between CEFs and industrial firms rather than simply an arm's-length consulting transactions. Given the dearth of research on idea generation with CEFs, this study highlights the findings that are novel and that go beyond the techniques of new product idea generation established in the extant literature.

Purpose -Few research studies have been conducted to investigate the issue of new service development (NSD) across nations and geographical regions. To address this critique of the literature, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a comparative study of NSD process and strategy in a developed country, Australia and a developing country, India. Design/methodology/approach -The paper conducted surveys of 102 Australian firms and 97 Indian firms operating in the business-to-business financial services industry. Findings -The findings suggest that significant differences exist between the Australian and Indian firms. Service firms in both countries use different strategies to compete in the industry and emphasize different sets of development stages in developing new services.Research limitations/implications -The analysis has been restricted to two countries: India and Australia. This suggests the need for further comparative studies of NSD in other cultures/countries. Practical implications -The findings of this research validate the initial contention that NSD varies from country to country and thus there cannot be a "one-size-fits-all" approach to NSD. The insights from this study can help service managers from India, Australia and other countries to better understand and manage their NSD programs in a cross-national context. Originality/value -To the best of the author's knowledge, this research represents the first attempt to empirically test the similarities and differences in NSD practices of Australian and Indian firms.