PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand how manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can navigate digital servitization to cocreate value propositions.Design/methodology/approachThe present exploratory study interviewed managers from 18 manufacturing SMEs holding managerial positions. The analysis started with a Gioia-inspired approach consisting of first establishing inductive first-order in vivo codes, followed by an abductive coding process based on current literature about cocreating value propositions.FindingsThe study identified three dimensions of digital servitization that manufacturing SMEs must undergo to transition to digital servitization and create value: (1) value-driven digitalization, (2) workforce-driven digitalization and (3) collaborative-driven digitalization. In these dimensions, entangled drivers and challenges related to customer demand, investments, employees and service platform providers must be addressed. A conceptual framework was developed for how manufacturing SMEs can navigate digital servitization and create value propositions.Research limitations/implicationsThis study's manager-focused interviews may limit insights from an employee perspective. As employees play crucial roles as drivers and challenges in digital servitization, future research should incorporate employee interviews to gain a holistic understanding. While interviews within 18 manufacturing SMEs provide a broader perspective on navigating digital servitization to provide value propositions, they lack the depth that a single case study could offer.Originality/valueThis research advances the literature by offering insights into how manufacturing SMEs can use value propositions to navigate the three dimensions of digital servitization, including its drivers and challenges.

Digitalisation has disrupted society and academia, especially in international management with respect to resource exchange, value propositions and innovation processes. The connection among actors in open platforms is an example of how this challenge can drive innovation and improve ecosystems' viability. This research investigates how innovation practices have arisen from connectivity and actor engagement. We use a crowdfunding context to address how the linkages can be strategically designed to join actors and resources in service ecosystems. The paper describes how actors connect in crowdfunding ecosystems by highlighting three kinds of linkages that result in actor engagement, trigger innovation and impact ecosystem viability. Managers in international settings can facilitate the design of engagement platforms, and craft strategies that increase resource exchange and integration, to engage actors in innovation practices in order to impact the service ecosystem's viability.

Using the case of efficient load out (ELO), a digital solution offered by Volvo Group, this chapter illustrates how activities can lead to a service-oriented value co-creation approach among actors during the development of a digital solution. In particular, activities performed in the ELO project focused on the customer’s process, collaboration, and creating a win-win solution. Adopting these new dimensions of a service-oriented value co-creation approach resulted in outcomes for the actors that were directly involved in the project and for those actors experiencing the result. By broadening the scope from the company to the ecosystem, the digital solution became applicable, and deeper relationships were created with customers. The company gained specific domain competence and increased its competitive advantages.  

Purpose: The philosophical foundations determine how an academic discipline identifies, understands and analyzes phenomena. The choice of philosophical perspective is vital for both marketing and service research. This paper aims to propose a social and systemic perspective that addresses current challenges in service and marketing research by revisiting the philosophy of science debate. Design/methodology/approach: The paper revisits the philosophy of science debate to address the implications of an emergent, complex and adaptive view of marketing and service research. It draws on critical realism by combining structuration and systemic perspectives. Findings: A recursive perspective, drawing on structures and action, is suggested as it includes multiple actors’ intentions and captures underlying drivers of market exchange as a basis for developing marketing and service strategies in practice. This is aligned with other scholars arguing for a more systemic, adaptive and complex view of markets in light of emerging streams in academic marketing and service research, ranging from value cocreation, effectuation, emergence and open source to empirical phenomena such as digitalization, robotization and the growth of international networks. Research limitations/implications: The reciprocal dynamic between individuals and the overarching system provides a reflexivity approach intrinsic to the service ecosystem. This creates new avenues for research on marketing and service phenomena. Originality/value: This paper discusses critics, conflicts and conceptualization in service research. It suggests a possible approach for service research and marketing scholars capable of responding to current complexities and turbulence in economic and societal contexts. 

Advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, are anticipated to profoundly affect economies and the labor market. This calls for a new understanding of human-technology symbiosis in which the division of work between technology and humans utilize the strengths of one while compensating for the limitations of the other. This chapter investigates the outcomes of two different modes of processing: (1) controlled, i.e. associated with logical reasoning and a reflective way of thinking; and (2) automated, i.e. characterized by high capacity and low effort requirements. By relating dual-process theories to robotization and AI in service, this chapter contributes a framework that categorizes the strengths of humans and technology. The chapter contributes by aiding firms to address challenges associated with implementing advanced technology.

There are many approaches to understanding value cocreation embedded in a service ecosystem. Usually, the value cocreation has portrayed “ecosystem as a structure.” In this chapter, the authors emphasize the ecosystem “as an agency,” focusing on the actor’s essential role. The ecosystem lens has developed with the key concepts of actors’ resources and institutional arrangements, shaping value cocreation. Some authors have defined “service ecosystems” as relatively self-contained, self-adjusting systems of resource-integrating actors connected by shared institutional arrangements and mutual value creation through service exchange. Accordingly, value cocreation in service ecosystems is “coordinated through actor-generated institutions and institutional arrangements.” However, the authors argue that the key role of actors, their collaboration, and the orchestration of research in value cocreation processes is still underdeveloped and needs more attention. Agency-structure theories should then discuss the actor’s key role for value cocreation by looking at both societal- and individual-focused realms, thus including social aspects of service ecosystems. Next, the chapter offers a brief review of the service ecosystem literature and discusses the key role of collaborating actors in service ecosystems; finally, it provides suggestions for future service research grounded in a service ecosystem view on value cocreation.

This paper argues that the theoretical foundation for studying the ecosystemic nature of value creation is lacking within the public service logic (PSL). To address this limitation, the paper uses a theory synthesis to clarify service-related key concepts and develop four premises that position PSL as an ecosystemic framework. These premises 1) position PSL as a mid-range theoretical framework, 2) propose the service ecosystem as an analytical framework, 3) define service (not services) as the basis for PSL, and 4) acknowledge the mediating role of the public service organization in value co-creation. Research directions guide the future development of PSL.

Purpose: Service managers increasingly strive to achieve sustainability through strategies centered on circularity. With a focus on saving, extending and (re)generating resources and their enclosing service systems, circularity can contribute to environmental, social and financial gains. Yet, the notion of circularity is surprisingly understudied in service research. This article seeks to provide an initial conceptual understanding of circular service management, introducing illustrative strategies and research priorities for circular service management. This paper provides a roadmap for scholars, practitioners and policymakers to develop a deeper understanding of the opportunities from adopting circular services. Design/methodology/approach: The authors explore the concept of circular service management by drawing upon existing literature on sustainability, circularity and service research. Strategies of circular service management and research priorities emerge on the basis of industry best practice examples and research on sustainability challenges and opportunities. Findings: Service researchers have largely ignored the concept and role of circularity for service businesses. Extant research on the topic nearly exclusively features in non-service journals and/or does not seek to advance service theory through circularity. This article argues that circular service management enables the implementation of service thinking in the pursuit of sustainability and outlines four types of circular service management strategies. Originality/value: The authors introduce the concept of circular service management and highlight the role of service research for designing and managing circular systems and operations. This article also offers a research agenda connecting managerial challenges and opportunities with key service research priorities for circular service management. This provides a roadmap for scholars, practitioners and policymakers to develop a deeper understanding of pursuing circular services, thereby contributing to a more sustainable future.