Development of a framework for industrial service innovation management and coordination

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to identify different service innovation drivers, innovation process activities and to understand industrial services innovation management and coordination, as well as to develop a framework for industrial service innovation management and coordination. Design/methodology/approach -The study involved collection of information and data from the literature and the Norwegian oil and gas (O&G) industry. A survey was conducted to get an overview of existing practices and guided interviews were conducted to confirm the findings of the survey. Findings -The study indicates that the market needs are considered the most important innovation process driver, feedback from the customers is the most important activity to encourage service innovations, whilst return on investments is the most important decision-making factor in evaluating innovation feasibility. Employees are the most important source of innovation ideas. Furthermore, interactions between different companies, as well as involvement of customer, employees and suppliers in the innovation process are becoming increasingly important.Practical implications -The study shows that service providers and receivers often collaborate in the innovation processes, and that many of the activities are performed simultaneously. This results in the collaborative parties needing to put resources on managing and coordinating the innovation process in a structured, effective and efficient way. The proposed framework for service innovation management and coordination provides practitioners with a structured approach to manage industrial service innovations.Research limitations/implications -The findings are based on the data collected from a number of companies from the O&G industry in Norway. Originality/value -The paper identifies different innovation process drivers and activities and proposes a modified framework for industrial services innovation management and coordination based on the study analysis, interaction with the practitioners and using available literature on innovation management.

Subsea maintenance service delivery: Mapping factors influencing scheduled service duration

“…The service buyer can use options in the contract to increase specifications (customerdriven innovation). These drivers are consistent with the drivers of innovations reported in [32].…”

On Service Innovation and Realization in Manufacturing Firms

“…However, for service innovation in manufacturing firms, researchers argue that the process further include deployment and implementation activities (den Hertog, van der Aa, & de Jong, 2010;Gebauer et al, 2012;Singh Panesar & Markeset, 2008;Tuli, Kohli, & Bharadwaj, 2007) and also that the service innovation process is more ad-hoc and not as structured as product innovation (Gremyr, Witell, Löfberg, Edvardsson, & Fundin, 2014). An increased attention to service and support of customer processes Matheiu, 2001) emphasizes manufacturing firms' service innovation deployment.…”

“…Realization differs from, for example, diffusion, implementation, and commercialization that address the task of striving for commercial success of a new offering (Garcia & Calantone, 2002;Singh Panesar & Markeset, 2008) by implying that innovations can occur jointly with customers (Skålén et al, 2014). Realization in this thesis is seen as a part of service innovation where firm and customer resources are integrated into the customer's creation of value-in-use in relation to new or existing value propositions.…”

“…Even if service innovation has described implementation as a part of the service innovation process (Singh Panesar & Markeset, 2008) research on service innovation tends to be internal looking, primarily directed at the process of developing new value propositions, and hence less research has focused on how service innovation contributes to value-in-use (Rubalcaba et al, 2012;Song, Song, & Di Benedetto, 2009). …”

“…Also, service innovation research that has included implementation has tended to perceive it as the delivery of the offering and hence approaches the customer as a mere passive receiver (Singh, Panesar, & Markeset, 2008). In contrast, this thesis starts from the service logic approach, focusing on how value is created by customer (see for example, Edvardsson & Tronvoll, 2013;Lusch & Nambisan, 2015;Ordanini & Parasuraman, 2011;Rubalcaba et al, 2012).…”