Studies of service development have mostly focused on isolated projects or processes. Little attention has been paid to the historical, political and business contexts, and, much emphasis has been put on the development of new services in relation to the re-bundling of existing services. The main purpose of this dissertation is therefore to describe and understand the development of an integrated service including context factors. An integrated service is built on two or more existing services. Two research questions are formulated: one focusing on what is being developed (i.e. the integrated service) and the other on how the integrated service is being developed. The dissertation contributes to the theoretical field of service research in the area of service development.

A suitable case in the business context of a public transport authority in Sweden was chosen for the purpose. An in-depth, longitudinal study was carried out, spanning ten years. A combination of deductive and inductive approaches was used in the analysis.

The empirical results show that the service concept was designed by the owners within the economic and technical restrictions at hand. Some adjustments were made but in practice there was little focus on the customers’ needs and demands. The theoretical contributions are summed up in two models which describe an integrated service (“what”) and the development process of an integrated service (“how”). The model of an integrated service is based on a service platform consisting of integrated resources and service processes corresponding to the customers’ primary needs. Different supporting services are developed, corresponding to the customers’ secondary needs. The supporting services strive for customisation and are designed in flexibility. The model of the development process illustrates that the development of an integrated service can be described and understood as a process consisting of activities of breaking up and integrating service pre-requisites, the internal service infrastructure and factors related to a stakeholder network. The process of breaking up and integrating, propelled by stakeholders, is described and understood as change pressure.