To Örebro University

IMP research is often treated as an empirical perspective describing complexities of repeated business-to-business exchanges and their embeddedness. While building on some common understandings and concepts, this paper asks: How homogeneous is the IMP research? This paper uses cluster analysis to capture the roots and various sub-groups of IMP research as means to depict the question of homogeneity (i.e. a core focus in the research) or heterogeneity (i.e. using references from other fields or specific to sub-fields) of the IMP thought. In this scientific work in progress paper we introduce how we design to use bibliographical methods in order to harvest data from an extensive amount of IMP-related articles written from the 1970’s onwards. In this first attempt to reveal IMP we used overall 294 articles yielded to 10,615 co-citation relationships. A threshold of minimum number of citations of a cited reference was set to five (5) to capture such references that have been cited in multiple publications. We introduce visual mapping of defined subject area clusters and as an example we describe shortly clusters. Perhaps not surprisingly our findings suggest that IMP research is not so homogenous, with at least four clear clusters of IMP-research each utilizing different key references.

The acknowledgement of a research tradition by other disciplines shows its contribution to the development of the broader body of scientific knowledge. This paper investigates the contribution of IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing) research to broader research disciplines by analyzing how researchers within and beyond IMP have cited core IMP articles. First, through quantitative bibliometric analysis, the paper identifies the diffusion to other research disciplines. Thereafter, through qualitative analysis, the impact of the IMP perspective is captured to understand how strong these imprints are. The analyses show that IMP research has been noticed among a range of adjacent research disciplines. However, the use of IMP references has generally been rudimentary, and without a deeper understanding of the IMP ontology, meaning that IMP still has some “weak ties” to the other disciplines. Establishing IMP's contribution through enduring imprints would need further engagement with researchers from other research disciplines and publications in top journals. The paper contributes empirically with how the IMP perspective has spread beyond the IMP Group and theoretically by adding insight into how research ideas travel and transform to other disciplines. 

Denna rapport delger lärdomar och kunskap förvärvad inom ett ettårigt Vinnovaprojekt (diarienummer 2018-04685) som sökt beskriva och analysera möjligheter och hinder för en omställning till en cirkulär ekonomi utifrån ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv. I detta samverkansprojekt har tre huvudaktörer drivit arbetet; forskare från Handelshögskolan vid Örebro universitet och dess Centrum för hållbart företagande (CSB), den ideella föreningen CradleNet som syftar till att accelerera den cirkulära ekonomin samt det privata företaget Econova  med mångårig erfarenhet inom återvinning och återanvändning av restmaterial och avfall. I projektet har vi arrangerat fyra interaktiva kunskapsmoduler där aktörer med intresse för en övergång till cirkulär ekonomi samlats och tillsammans diskuterat nuvarande praktiker samt vägar framåt. I projektet har vi arbetat med en bred definition av cirkulär ekonomi; definitionen inbegriper hantering av material med målet att minimera avfall, samt en materialhantering som är miljömässigt, socialt och ekonomiskt ansvarstagande. Rapporten summerar de viktigaste lärdomarna från projektet och beskriver olika sätt som företag –tillsammans med andra – kan påbörja resan mot en cirkulär ekonomi.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a state-of-the-art comparison of the conceptualization of resources in ‘Resource Interaction’ (IMP) and ‘Resource Integration’ (SDL). Both are engaged with understanding how value is (co)-created, but with different emphases. Existing comparisons are limited and out of date. We trace how each has evolved over time by analyzing key developments. The focus of SDL has shifted from operant resources towards resource integration, and from a dyadic view towards ecosystem contexts. Within IMP, research takes a network perspective in investigating the nature of resource interaction in a variety of empirical contexts. An analysis of similarities and differences highlights key assumptions, the classification of resources, and the role for the actor. The comparison offers a thorough understanding of Resource Interaction and Resource Integration. The paper concludes by proposing suggestions for further research for Resource Interaction.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of service innovation by exploring realization as a part of service innovation. Service innovation can be described as something that creates value for customers through new service offerings or service processes while realization refers to the actual use or deployment of the service.

My research approach is based on a multiple case study, that focuses on three international firms with origins in Sweden. Empirical material has been gathered through interviews and focus groups. A literature review that tracks the evolution of service innovation further contributes to the exploration of the service innovation concept.

Innovation has traditionally been connected to new technology and new products. However the present study has found that service innovation has evolved into a multifaceted concept. Specifically, service innovation is not restricted to the development of new products and services in the shape of new offerings, it also becomes relevant to consider the actual usage of the service offerings. In order to fully understand the process of service innovation, it is important to include the usage of a service offering in the service innovation concept. This realization occurs when the service offering is introduced and used in the customer’s processes, and typically involves both the customer and the provider.

This research illustrates how realization requires resources from both the provider and the customer. In general, the realization part of the service innovation process requires more participation from the customer than the development of new offerings. However, this can vary depending on the customer’s competence, intention to interact and level of commitment. Considering an active or recipient customer role and also whether the service offering is directed at the products or the customer processes, this study shows how these different service offerings will have different impacts on service innovation realization, for example, in terms of different resources being required.

The extended view of the service innovation concept, includes realization, and is therefore not limited to developing new offerings. This view implies that new areas of innovation that do not necessary need to include new technology, but contribute in other ways to customer value creation must be propelled into focus. Productivity improvements in customer processes are becoming important since they help create customer value (reduced costs, improved quality, reduced down-time etc.). Empirical evidence shows how service offerings that emphasize improvements in customer processes have become more important. This thesis discusses how this view of productivity can result in important benefits for customers, as consideration is given to both customer satisfaction and the use of customer resources. In this respect, productivity becomes a part of the extended service innovation concept.

Extending the service innovation concept by adding realization implies an increased emphasis on deployment, and implicitly on customer value creation. Thus, service innovation becomes critical for gaining long-term sustainable competitive advantages through service.

Service innovation is increasingly becoming a basis for manufacturing firms to reach and sustain competitive advantages. While traditional product innovation typically includes how new technology can be utilized in new products, service innovation spans a broader area that is not exclusively focused on new technology, but rather how resources can be developed into value propositions and then integrated in the customer’s process in order to support customer value creation through realization. However, manufacturing firms that infuse services struggle with service innovation; this becomes especially evident in the realization phase.

This thesis is a compilation of five papers discussing different aspects of service innovation realization and the inherited challenges. The study builds upon empirical data from four Swedish manufacturing firms that infuse services and develop new value propositions that include both products and services to support customer processes.

The thesis illustrates realization as a phase in service innovation where the firm interacts with its customer in order to adjust, revise and further find new ways of improving the customer’s processes through for example customer training. Realization is characterized by a deployment phase and a post-deployment phase that represent the ongoing relationship between the customer and the firm.

Depending on who has the competencies or ability to integrate the resources that are needed for service innovation, different interaction patterns are identified. Through indirect interaction, the firm facilitates the customer’s value creation through, for example, preventive maintenance, while through direct interaction the firm acts as a co-creator in the service innovation process and hence work jointly together with the customer in order to improve customer value creation.

This thesis contributes to the literature by characterizing service innovation realization and by increasing the understanding for different interaction patterns in the service innovation process.

Purpose: Collaboration with customers and the involvement of a customer’s resources have been regarded as a key issues in the service innovation process. However, research that covers collaboration in service innovation tends to have a one-sided focus, as it especially concentrates on the involvement of customer resources in the firm’s development of the offering per se and hence foresees the firm’s involvement of resources in the later part of the service innovation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze resource involvement from both the firm and the customer in the service innovation process.

Design/methodology/approach: The study used an exploratory case study approach, focusing on two Swedish manufacturing firms in a business-to-business context that add services to their core product offerings (service infusion). Data was collected through interviews and focus groups.

Findings: The study found that different types of interaction modes are related to the integration of varying key resources from both the firm and the customer. A typology of interaction modes in service innovation, based on different levels of involvement, is developed.

Managerial implications: Increased and more specific knowledge of the customer’s resources is required in order to manage and coordinate how and with what resources the customer and the firm should contribute to the service innovation process.

Originality/Value: The previous service innovation literature tends to focus on how the customer can be involved in the firm’s development of offerings per se. This article suggests that focus should also include the firm’s involvement in the later phases of the service innovation process. The study contributes to the research on involvement in service innovation by showing how resources from both the customer and the firm are integrated in the service innovation process.

The concept of place, as well as physicality of place, impacts  sustainability practices in different ways. While management and organization studies have seen a rise in discussions on sustainable business models, we argue that place has lost its natural place in sustainability studies related to the business organization. Place offers a rootedness and a link to the natural, that all organizational activities are dependent on. Therefore, place has the capacity to drive and deepen sustainability practices.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover the role of place in sustainability research and organizational practice. A topic, which in sustainability research related to the business organization has been rather weakly covered. By applying an abductive research approach, we identify four different settings for the relation between place and sustainability. We then develop a place typology that shows the different roles of place in sustainability research and practice.

This study explores the future of Sweden's electric utility network and its transition towards sustainability and resilience by combining traditional scenario analysis with foresighting, an anticipatory, non-predictive approach. The research focuses on potential disruptive innovations and changes within the industry, such as increased electrification, electromobility, and advances in grid infrastructure, using a Delphi study. This approach involves gathering expert opinions from various stakeholders, including industry, academia, and government experts, to anticipate multiple future scenarios and better prepare for potential challenges and opportunities. The interconnected nature of the electric utility network and the relationships between various actors play a critical role in shaping the industry's future. Foresighting allows stakeholders to anticipate and prepare for disruptive changes, such as the increasing role of prosumers, local microgrids, and novel value propositions. By employing the Delphi methodology, the study systematically gathers and synthesizes expert insights, offering a comprehensive understanding of the electric utility network's future development. The findings highlight the importance of improving end-customer relationships and enabling the use of prosumer products and services. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the need to address existing challenges within the Swedish power grid and increase transmission capacity to support the introduction of new technologies and a more efficient and sustainable energy system. By integrating the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) network perspective, the study demonstrates that foresighting is more effective in accounting for exceptional events and non-linear growth patterns in the electric utility market. The results also provide insights into the emergence of new business models and the role of emerging technologies, such as energy storage, in shaping the future of the electric utility network.

Traditionally, innovation has been regarded as something that firms could and should manage mainly inhouse with innovation processes that was less inter-organizational, and less complex and easier to handle within one firm without market interactions. However, more recently, it is evident that innovation is becoming increasingly influenced by multi-actors acting together in complex innovation-related ecosystems. Some types of ecosystems can provide an industry platform which defines standards, rules and overall function of the system, which allows for integration between the industry platform and different businesses.

The present case study is situated in the electric utility industry, which is seen as our industry platform/ecosystem. There are early signs of disruption based on new technologies that allow a move from centralized (e.g., nuclear) electric production to distributed (e.g., solar) electric production. We investigate a business network of four electric utility firms that collaborate with an aim of innovating the focal offering in terms of customer value proposition. Our research aim evolves around how different actors interact with respect to the focal offering and how these relationships within the business ecosystem might contribute to value creation.

Our preliminary findings indicate that (1) actors have different roles in the business ecosystem. The business ecosystem has a strategy in that some firms are innovators while other firms are imitators. Innovation in business networks requires a new set of interactive competences and skills among the involved actors. (2) Innovation within the business ecosystem is focused on innovating customer offering. (3) The industry platform in this setting is clearly and narrowly defined which allows for easy integration but restricts the possibilities for innovation.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge on business model transformation (BMT) by developing an integrative framework for BMT dilemmas, including strategies for shaping and stabilizing market structures.

Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a case-based approach, with data from the Swedish electric utility industry.

Findings: The findings uncover practices related to both shaping and stabilizing market structure. The study contributes with insights for firms to overcome the BMT dilemma. Shaping strategies involve disruptive innovations while stabilizing strategies concerns incremental improvements in existing structures; by balancing these efforts, firms can find ways toward successful BMT.

Originality/value: With a focus on incumbent firms and the balancing act of BMT in a network, the study covers areas that have scarcely been addressed in the existing literature. Even though most business model literature has focused on shaping consumer markets, the need to consider BMT as a dual-directional process in an industrial context is emphasized in this study.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the role of service modularity in developing and deploying efficient services, while at the same time meeting diverse customer needs. The analysis distinguishes between different service types and sets forth key issues for service modularization, identifying supporting resources (both internal and customer) and associated modular strategies for the different types.

Design/methodology/approach: The study design used an exploratory case study approach, focusing on three Swedish manufacturing firms that are moving toward an increased service focus (service infusion). Data were collected through interviews and focus groups, and the collected data were analyzed independently, before being merged and synthesized in a cross-case analysis. Themes and patterns were extracted and linked to the theoretical framework following a systematic combining process.

Findings: This study contributes insights to the emerging field of service modularity by investigating process modularization and modular strategies. A framework is put forward outlining modular strategies for four different service types covering both a passive and an active role for a customer. From a theoretical point of view, the role of the customer is added to the discussion to advocate for the necessity of a co-creative perspective in service modularity.

Originality/value: This article contributes to the emerging research field of service modularity by providing empirical insights into how modularization and modular strategies can enable more efficient services. Depending on service type, different modular strategies are set forth. This study also highlights the need to recognize customer-specific activities, resources and competencies as pivotal parts of the modular service processes. Such insights are particularly relevant given the established view of service modules as functions of intra-firm activities.

This study explores factors that influence market shaping in a B2B market channel. Through a case study from the Swedish steel industry insights in how actors connect to each other in order to shape markets and to enable new innovations are drawn. This study finds that by approaching downstream actors a supplier can influence, and even shape, the development of the market in a favorable direction. The shaping of new markets is dependent on both the power of the supplier, and the characteristics of the market. For suppliers who find their customer to be a barrier for the development of a market, finding new ways to interact with downstream actors might be a valid market opportunity and mutually beneficial to the entire market channel. By leveraging its knowledge, the supplier can develop innovative paths to shape a new market. This study contributes to understand market innovation and how the supplier can influence downstream actors to build markets and to increase competitiveness.

Purpose: Service productivity continues to receive ever-greater amounts of attention as service covers a greater portion of the economy. As competition increases, service productivity becomes increasingly important. This study aims to explore the applicability of lean principles in a service context and to conceptualize how these principles impact service productivity.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a conceptual analysis of the six most commonly used lean principles in manufacturing and their applicability to a service context for different types of services. Using this analysis, six propositions are developed to examine the influence of lean on service productivity.

Findings: This study suggests promising synergies, as well as important obstacles, for applying lean principles in services. Standardizing services and increasing reliability in service processes through lean principles can increase efficiency. However, the customer's active role in certain services and, simultaneously, high diversity make the application of lean principles increasingly difficult. Also, customer satisfaction must be considered when improving service productivity, otherwise the positive long-term effects of a lean approach in service will be absent.

Practical implications: These findings are useful for organizations aiming to improve their service productivity Particularly, lean principles are invaluable to increase efficiency and customer satisfaction for services with low diversity and low customer participation. This paper suggests a direction for the proper use of lean principles for different service types, and how efficiency and customer satisfaction are affected through a lean approach.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the research on service productivity and continues the discussion on prototypic characteristics of service and manufacturing orientations.

Purpose: As customer needs becomes more heterogeneous, and as the importance of service grows, customer-specific requirements have led to increased demand for efficient and customized services in many industry sectors. However, there is scant research on developing services that are both efficient and customized. The objective of the present study is to explore the applicability of Lean, one of the best-known practices for manufacturing efficiency, in business-to-business services.

Design / Methodology / Approach: The empirical part consists of a multiple study of service-providing industrial companies in Northern Europe. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and participating observations.

Findings: The study suggests promising synergies, but also important obstacles when applying Lean principles to business-to-business service operations. The ability to standardize service elements and increase reliability in service processes through Lean principles can increase service efficiency and ensure service quality. However, the active role of the customer in certain services makes it increasingly difficult to apply Lean. Furthermore, there are certain key differences in the view on value creation between a service perspective and a Lean principles perspective, which should be addressed.

Practical Implications: The findings are useful for companies looking to improve their service deployment. In particular, Lean is a valuable tool with which to increase standardization and reliability in service processes.

Originality / Value: The study contributes to the research on service efficiency and customization. It also contributes to the continuous discussion on prototypic characteristics of service and manufacturing orientations.

Purpose: Traditional notions of product and service modularity miss the link between the provider and customer. By recognizing the potential role of customer competences and activities in service modules, this study aims to investigate how modular services can enhance collaboration and value cocreation between the service provider and the customer.

Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative study of four Swedish manufacturing firms moving into service and integrated solution fields was conducted, with modular business services as the unit of analysis. Data was collected through interviews, focus groups, and participant observations. The gathered data enabled a conceptualization of modular services based on provider and customer components, activities, and competences.

Findings: The decomposition of services into modules is not only a decomposition of components; activities and competences must also be considered. In addition, given that services can be co-created, service modules may also include customer elements. This increases the complexity of the modules, but also the potential value for the customer and provider. The observation of customer-specific and supplier-specific parts of modules is an important finding with which to further develop modularity in a service context.

Originality/Value: The paper contributes to the emerging research field of service modularity by providing empirical insights into how service modularity can help achieve more efficient services. In particular, the paper addresses the need to recognize customer-specific activities and competences as a pivotal part of modular services. Such insights are particularly relevant given the established views ofservice modules as a function of intra-firm components.

The number of service innovation articles has increased dramatically in the past 25 years. By reviewing 128 articles published between 1986 and 2010, primarily in leading marketing and innovation journals, this study analyzes the progression of service innovation research according to topicality and perspective. The authors summarize prior research by clustering it into three evolutional phases and drawing parallels with the evolution of the wider services marketing field. Overall, the view of service innovation has evolved, from a complement of traditional product innovation to a multidimensional, all-encompassing notion that entails several functions, both within and outside the firm.

Given that we are spending more times indoors, there is a need for re-formulation of business model in the wood-product industry. A business model transformation (BMT) towards an outward-looking business model with the user’s well-being in loci is surfacing. This study develops a framework for how a business model can be configured based on well-being and value in context.

Preliminary result indicates a business model transformation; from emphasizing products to emphasizing well-being and the experiences of the customer (e.g., how the end-user perceive in-door wooden material). Interestingly, the business model expand the market view from a narrow focus on e.g., market shares and total revenues, to include the whole ecosystem and hence including environmental considerations as well as human well-being.

Given that markets are shaped by the actors engaging in market activities, this research emphasize key factors in business model transformation by companies aiming to form sustainable business models where the well-being of humans are emphasized and where environmental effects are taken into considerations. We believe the Nordic countries with their expanding wood-industry can serve as a raw-model for developing sustainable business models that can meet future requirements of sustainable markets.

The sharing economy, which is considered a better way of utilizing existing resources, is associated with positive effects not only on the financial aspects of sustainability but also on its environmental and social dimensions. But is this true? Previous research has typically discussed either the positive or negative aspects of the sharing business model in specific contexts. This study adopts a dual perspective regarding the sustainability of sharing business models by critically analyzing the relationship between sharing business models and sustainability. Building on the resource-based view of the firm and practice theory, the current research develops a conceptual framework for evaluating the sustainability of sharing business models at the level of the individual, the firm, and society. Our proposed dual-process model suggests that two competing processes contribute to sustainability. The study's conceptual model and propositions advance theory and provide a research agenda for future empirical studies. This research also provides valuable guidance to managers and policymakers regarding the sustainability of sharing business models, which can inform the business model innovation process.

Environmental sustainability is becoming an increasingly important motivator for the development of new of-ferings on business-to-business markets. Taking environmental concerns into account in the creation of new offerings can increase the complexity of the offering development process. Green offering development is therefore associated with new or emphasized capability requirements. This paper aims to explore these capability requirements through a multiple case study of manufacturing firms. It introduces a typology of three distinct kinds of green offering development, and suggests capabilities that are especially important for each type of green offering. The three types of offering are: internally oriented green production, externally oriented green application, and finally, reshaped green networks, which entails modifications in the boundaries between pro-duction and use.

The rapid commercialization, diffusion, and adoption of low-carbon innovation will have a pivotal role to play on the path to net-zero emissions globally. Therefore, in the context of climate-change mitigation and decarbonization, it is no surprise that we can observe an inherently optimistic view on the prospects of low-carbon innovation among scholars, specifically in the research domains of innovation management and sustainability transitions. Yet, simply taking for granted that innovation-led decarbonization processes universally will produce beneficial outcomes for society runs the risk of neglecting potential adverse effects or negative consequences that might accompany the deployment of these technologies. Therefore, knowledge of the dark sides of low-carbon innovation is crucial for developing policies and innovation-management strategies that enable truly economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable net-zero transitions. Through a systemic literature review, this study systematizes the extant research on the topic and proposes a typology of negative consequences of low-carbon innovations: (1) Jevons Paradox, (2) social consequences and cultural barriers, (3) economic consequences, and (4) environmental consequences and problem-shifting effects. Based on these categories, we put forward a research agenda with key priorities for future research.

There is a growing call for more network-level research on sustainability within marketing that avoids a narrow interorganisational focus. Business networks have a crucial role to play in reorganising and innovating to achieve sustainability and are met with significant challenges because of the scale and scope of changes necessary. We propose connectedness as central to understanding networked, interorganisational responses to the sustainability shift. We contribute by highlighting how systemic interdependence across organisations, which is developed through business network connectedness, is core to achieving sustainable networks and sustainable markets. The text provides an overview of current research on sustainability in business networks before synthesizing six new articles that address multiple sustainability challenges. The editorial concludes with an agenda for further research arranged around four main themes, including network dynamics and measuring and valuing in investigating the transformative change needed by all business sectors.

The pursuit of growth is a key endeavor of all types of firms, but it is particularly important for SMEs. From a managerial perspective, growing SMEs face a wide range of challenges; this study proposes a broad framework that emphasizes not only the various types of managerial challenges, but also the importance of taking a balanced, broad approach to facing them. In a qualitative study of 44 Swedish SMEs, the researchers identify, map, and aggregate distinct challenges to SME growth, proposing three overarching themes - business model, leadership, and people. Multiple lower-level categories and individual challenges make up each of these themes suggesting that firms that seek to excel in growth should be aware of and manage all three themes in a balanced manner. This research provides insights into each theme and potential consequences for SMEs; it also offers an overarching, integrative perspective on SME growth challenges opening future research avenues.

As the marketing literature increasingly construes markets as malleable entities, research studies of ‘market-shaping’ strategies have gained increasing attention in recent years. Those are proactive, deliberate initiatives which a firm takes with the aim of re-shaping an operating environment comprising direct customers, customers' customers, and other actors such as its competitors. Our study derives a theoretical framework for market-shaping from the existing literature and an in-depth case study of one market-leading firm in the steel industry, which has been working actively in the shaping of a market. Analysis of the responses of a range of experienced executive staff to unstructured and semi-structured interviews shows, among other things, that in order to shape the market, the firm performed many individual and aggregated activities at three levels of influence – system, market offer and technology – with various actors in the market in focus. These findings are the basis of a proposed activity framework for the proactive shaping of a market: that is, what firms can do in order to shape an existing market, drive growth and create sustainable competitive advantage.

As manufacturers initiate service-led growth, the interdependence between manufacturer, intermediary, and user increases. In this study, we conceptualize a triadic value proposition and analyze how the structural, economic, and social dimensions of the value proposition between manufacturer, dealer, and user change when the manufacturer enters the service market. The research is based on a five-year study of a multinational industry incumbent entering the service business by offering a new service for professional users (B2B). Primary data comes from interviews with respondents from the manufacturer, dealers, and end-users in the Netherlands, Sweden, and the US. What makes the context and time particularly interesting to study from a value proposition perspective is the fact that (1) the dealers sell multiple brands and have no specific loyalty towards a particular manufacturer, and (2) entering the service market implied a redefinition of the existing relationship and value proposition characteristics in order to succeed. Results show the dynamics of the triadic value proposition throughout the entire service development process, from idea and concept to launch and sales. Modifications and adaptations take place due to factors such as emergent opportunities, unexpected limitations, and internal strategic re-prioritizations, as well as inputs from dealers and customers along the way. By analyzing how the proposition evolves over time, we can better understand how to involve and collaborate with key actors in order to initiate a disruptive change on a firm and network level. This is particularly timely given the major difficulties related to service infusion when intermediaries play a decisive role for the success.

Value propositions are reciprocal resource-integration promises and value alignment mechanisms operating to and from actors seeking an equitable exchange. In a business triad, any change in the relationship between two actors also affects relationships with the third actor, influencing resource integration and value creation at the value constellation level. This study of the development of a triadic value proposition analyzes how the discontinuous effects of a new service initiative alter the relationships among actors in a manufacturer-dealer-user triad. A qualitative empirical inquiry examines a 10-year process, in which a leading industry incumbent enters the service business by crafting a triadic value proposition. As the value proposition evolves over time, the network ties-and thus the interdependence among manufacturer, dealer, and user-strengthen. The findings offer firms a better understanding of how to involve and collaborate with key actors to initiate discontinuous changes at the firm and network levels. These insights are particularly timely in light of the difficulties that product firms face when intermediaries are decisive for the success of their service-led growth initiatives.

The book chapter discusses the research on service innovation, covering what a service innovation is and what a sustainable service innovation is. A key insight is that service research has taken a customer perspective on service innovation, and we ask if this is enough for service innovation research to stay relevant. Research on service innovation needs to address transparency and open the line of visibilities toward value creation, the environment, social, financial, and privacy to further our understanding and to increase the managerial relevance. The book chapter ends by directing research on service innovation in a sustainable direction.