This paper contributes to the sport marketing field by analyzing the market situation in a network perspective. It also gives an idea of the relative positions of the organizations making up the network. When a sport club is delivering a sport event there is a complex set of actors that must interact and intervene with each other. Which those actors are and what they bring to the network depends on if you consider the network from a non-commercial sport point of view, or from a business and commercial point of view. In a traditional perspective the side of the network that is based on the non-commercial or sport side consists of actors that are volunteers and engaged in the team for the fascination of sport. This paper provides a unique insight into how a sports club have been able to use different resources to create a successful incubation from primarily being a non-profit organization. The arena concept has been an important part in building relationships with different business actors in relation to the surrounding actors and the community. The ARA-model provides the analytical tools for analyzing the actors, resources and activities for developing the marketing strategy for a sport club.

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to describe how parted or divided service development is carried out, where interactions and cooperation need to take place with other actors in order to create the foundations for the service, in the form of a coherent specification of the extended service concept. Design/methodology/approach -This study builds empirically on an in-depth longitudinal case-study approach using data from a development project within the public transport sector. By the time this study is published, the phase that deals with the development of the system requirements and specifications will be in its final stages, while the next phase -the actual creation of the technology-based systems and the test launch -will have been initiated. Findings -In this study, three important groups of actors were identified. The first group, the information carriers, are the actors from the different organisations participating in the project who possess the important knowledge that should be tapped out and translated. The second group is the translators who are the ones that gather the knowledge from the other actors and interpret and translate this knowledge. In order to make this possible and to facilitate the process, the third group, the supporting actors or facilitators, plays an important role. Originality/value -This study provides an alternative view of new service development from a knowledge transfer perspective, which is in contrast to the highly structured and sequenced models that have characterised most of the existing research on service development.

Purpose -The aim of this study is to achieve a better understanding of how small business develops personalised business-to-business services. Design/methodology/approach -In-depth interviews are conducted with representatives of 11 small Swedish companies in the service sector. Qualitative data from the interviews are coded and sorted according to themes. Findings -Service development in the firms studied is an unstructured, incremental, and relatively informal process that proceeds as part of the firms' day-to-day interactions with their customers. It is essentially an iterative learning process by which individuals develop new knowledge and competencies to enhance the capacity of their firms to solve the specific problems of customers. Originality/value -In contrast to the highly structured and sequenced models that have characterised most of the existing research on service development, this study provides an alternative view of new service development as a relatively informal learning process.

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Purpose – The purpose of the study is to create an initial understanding of how various internal and external actors contribute to the development of new services based on the research question considering “which different actor takes part in small companies’ service development processes in order giving access to the resources needed and what roles do they play?” Design/methodology/approach – Due to the lack of previous studies within the area, the focus in this study has been to use a qualitative method to reach a deeper insight about how small companies’ service development could be described, as seen from an actor’s perspective. Findings – Based on the empirical analysis, the study identifies seven main categories of actors who were involved in the service-development process that contributes with different types of resources and their role varies during the development process. The actors and their roles are presented in a model giving initial understanding how various internal and external actors contribute to the development of new services. Research limitations/implications – Using a qualitative approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Instead, the findings should be seen as an initial starting point for further studies. Practical implications – The paper’s highlight a number of actor roles that need to be handled to create possibilities for small companies’ service development. Originality/value – The paper fills a research gap in the service innovation research. Traditionally, this research has been focused on larger companies, with a focus on what happens inside the companies.