Enhancing service innovation in a business-to-business context

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 290-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maaria Nuutinen ◽  
Katri Ojasalo
Keyword(s):  
Service Innovation ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Service Logic ◽  
Interdisciplinary Framework ◽  
Business Customers ◽  
Reciprocal Value ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretically and empirically grounded interdisciplinary framework for understanding service innovation in a business-to-business (b-to-b) context, particularly from the perspective of the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Design/methodology/approach – This study used an abductive research process, supported by theoretical insights from a literature review, and empirical evidence from a multiple-case study. Six SME case companies were all transforming towards service logic. The empirical data consists of semi-structured interviews with the case companies and their business customers, workshops and business documents. Findings – The study identified four critical service logic-related perspectives in service innovation in a b-to-b context, and related key questions: How is potential for new service business recognised? How is freedom of action perceived? What kinds of strategies are plausible? What are the reasons, objectives and support for the change? The shared interpretation of these questions within an organisation seemed to be related to the company’s success in doing business in new ways, enhancing service innovations and in their transformation to service logic. Originality/value – This article offers a new interdisciplinary and empirically grounded perspective on innovation in the b-to-b and SME context framing the phenomenon in service logic. Tackling the questions is a precondition for SMEs in enhancing service orientation in strategy, mutual value orientation in organisational culture, their role in others’ business and collaborative business development, thus enhancing service innovations producing reciprocal value-in-use over time.

Business customers’ readiness to adopt manufacturer’s new services

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eija Vaittinen ◽  
Miia Martinsuo ◽  
Roland Ortt
Keyword(s):  
Adoption Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Service Adoption ◽  
Readiness To Adopt ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Business Customers ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
A Company

Purpose For successful servitization, manufacturing firms must understand how their customers adopt new services. The purpose of this paper is to explore customers’ readiness for a manufacturer’s new services to complement its goods. The goal is to increase knowledge of the aspects that manufacturers should consider when bringing new kinds of services to market. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study design is used to analyze readiness for services and interest in service adoption in three customer firms of a manufacturer. The interview data were collected from 14 persons at customer sites and were content analyzed. Findings The results show that readiness – a concept that is often used in the field of technology – is relevant also for the service adoption process. In a business-to-business context, readiness for service adoption concerns the individual and organizational levels, and hence a new dimension of organizational culture and habits had to be added to the concept that originally focuses on individuals. People consider different factors when making consecutive decisions during the service adoption process and these factors can vary even within a company. The cornerstone for new service adoption is the customer firm’s actual need for the service. Originality/value The results offer new knowledge about service adoption in a business-to-business context by taking a customer firm’s perspective. They, thus, complement previous studies on the supplier perspective of servitization and service adoption in consumer business. The contributions help manufacturers focus their efforts when bringing new services to market.

scholarly journals How is value co-created in a sport business-to-business context?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-430
Author(s):  
Anna Gerke ◽  
Herbert Woratschek ◽  
Geoff Dickson
Keyword(s):  
Sport Management ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Value Network ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Sport Activities ◽  
Service Logic ◽  
Business To Business

PurposeThere are different streams of research in the service marketing literature concerning value co-creation. Most of the research focuses on value co-creation for the benefit of the customer. However, value is also co-created for the benefit of the provider, especially in a business-to-business context. The purpose of this research is to understand (1) how value is co-created in a sport business-to-business context (i.e. sailing) and (2) how the prevailing value co-creation approaches explain value co-creation processes differently in a sport business-to-business context.Design/methodology/approachThe research was contextualised within the Auckland sailing cluster. Primary data were collected via 27 interviews, as well as observations at events. Secondary data include 13 documents of organisational information and archival data. Data were analysed deductively and interpreted using two different theoretical lenses: service-dominant logic (SDL) and service logic (SL).FindingsThe value co-creation analysis of the sailing cluster permitted theorising about relationships in sport management at different levels of aggregation and abstraction. Every actor is embedded in a wider sport eco-system triggered by sport activities and always has a dual role as provider and beneficiary. Actors that are in control of specific sport activities are pivotal actors and provide a value network for others.Research limitations/implicationsThis research suggests that SDL and SL approaches to value co-creation are complementary and that further research is necessary to integrate and operationalise these approaches.Practical implicationsIt helps practitioners to better understand how value is co-created in sport business-to-business contexts.Originality/valueThis research shows the complementarity of two differing theoretical approaches to explain value co-creation in sport business-to-business settings.

scholarly journals Emotional appeals in UK business-to-business financial services advertisements

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Mogaji ◽  
Barbara Czarnecka ◽  
Annie Danbury
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Print Advertisements ◽  
Emotional Appeal ◽  
Emotional Appeals ◽  
Business Customers ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyse the use of emotional appeals in business-to-business (B2B) bank advertisements and to understand business owners’ perceptions of such appeals. Design/methodology/approach In Study 1,834 print advertisements collected from British newspapers were content analysed. In Study 2, semi-structured interviews with 17 business owners operating a business current account with a British bank were carried out. Findings Emotional appeals are embedded in B2B financial services advertisements, and business owners acknowledge the presence of emotional appeals; however, the perceived congruency between emotional appeal and financial services could not be established as participants reported a largely utilitarian, need- and benefit-driven decision-making process. Research limitations/implications Accurately measuring emotions aroused through advertisements is considered a limitation. In addition, the sample of participants considered for this research project was small and medium-sized business owners. Practical implications Emotional appeals should be used in conjunction with detailed rational information about financial products, as emotional appeals only arouse interest. Relationship is considered crucial in capitalising on the emotionally appealing advertisements. Customers must feel appreciated and loyalty should be rewarded. Originality/value The paper responds to numerous calls for more research into the role of emotional influences on the relationships in a B2B context and on the behaviour of business customers.

Value co-creation in the B2B context: a diagnosis of knowledge management based on multiple case studies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Bonamigo ◽  
Camila Guimarães Frech ◽  
Ana Carolina Custódio Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Knowledge Asymmetry ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to empirically investigate how organizations delivering services in business-to-business relations deal with the boundary paradox and knowledge asymmetry in value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a qualitative multiple case study strategy. Datas were gathered through 13 semi-structured interviews that were then analyzed through the content analysis. Findings The authors identified three mechanisms that organizations use to deal with the boundary paradox and two strategies to handle the knowledge asymmetry. Research limitations/implications First, no opportunities were afforded to involve more participants. Second, owning to confidentiality reasons, not all organizations provided us documents to be analyzed. Practical implications The findings guide managers in balancing the use of contracts and trust in inter-firm collaborations and fostering the learning of customers. Also, insights to protect knowledge based on the paradox of openness in value co-creation. Originality/value This study’s findings address the gap in value co-creation literature concerning the lack of empirical studies.

Service innovation in the hotel industry: the dynamic capabilities view

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Babak Ziyae ◽  
Hossein Sadeghi ◽  
Maryam Golmohammadi
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Capabilities ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Hotel Industry ◽  
Service Innovation ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Labor ◽  
It Training

Purpose Consistent with the dynamic capabilities view tenets, this paper aims to conceptualize a theoretical framework of service innovation in the hotel industry. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative method with a content analysis approach. The data were collected using a snowball sampling method and semi-structured interviews with 14 experts in Tehran's hotel industry. Findings The findings demonstrate that the most significant factors are using the new technology, keeping up with it, training human labor, being up-to-date and adopting new infrastructures. Results also reveal that improper management and lack of knowledge are the most critical factors behind service innovation failure in the hotel industry. Regarding the infrastructures needed to develop service innovation in the hotel industry, the results show that adopting the newest technology in diverse aspects, human infrastructure, the capital and appropriate space and place are the key factors. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature by linking the service innovation perspective to the dynamic capabilities view. It explains how hotels can enhance service innovation to gain a competitive advantage. Therefore, both academicians and hoteliers can develop action plans by selecting and managing the service innovation process.

Studying gendered embodied consumption with poststructuralist feminist hermeneutics

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly Drake ◽  
Scott K. Radford
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Body ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
Recreational Runners ◽  
Feminist Hermeneutics

Purpose This study aims to consider how research methodologies and methods can afford holistic inquiry into gendered embodied consumption. Noting the salience of gender in past and present discourse surrounding the body and building on poststructuralist feminist hermeneutic philosophy and practice, the authors introduce a novel methodological framework situated within three considerations borne of the current socio-cultural landscape: the politics of embodiment, embodied identity and intersectionality. Design/methodology/approach To assist scholars and practitioners in interpreting themes of gendered embodiment in textual data surrounding consumption topics, the authors orient the framework around three principles of listening, questioning and hospitality. This framework fosters embodied empathy by linking the researcher’s body to those of research participants. To illustrate the method, the authors interpret consumption narratives extracted from semi-structured interviews with 26 women-identified recreational runners on the topics of embodiment, sport and media. Findings The interpretations of gendered consumption narratives show that using the principles of listening, questioning and hospitality invites an understanding of consumers as multifaceted, contradictory and agentic. The authors argue that consumers’ everyday experiences are often simple and quiet but embedded in history wherein bodies are both biological and inescapably social. Originality/value The methodological framework allows both the researcher’s and research participants’ embodiment to play a role in the research process. It also illuminates the entanglement of embodiment and consumption in a fraught, politicized context. The authors show that by listening to consumers, questioning their narratives and traditional interpretations thereof and inviting consumers to feel comfortable and heard, researchers can see what other approaches may overlook.

The fluid power: constructing the concept of power in community-based tourism in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-537
Author(s):  
Cicilia Larasati Rembulan ◽  
Avin Fadilla Helmi ◽  
Bagus Riyono
Keyword(s):  
Social Situation ◽  
Fluid Power ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Relationship Processes ◽  
Comprehensive Framework ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The concept of power in the literature is not conclusive yet and still contradictive. As contested concept, power have multi-definition in the literature. This study aims to construct a concept of power between organizations, state-owned enterprises (SOE) and communities in the context of community-based tourism in Borobudur, Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach Participants were 29 individuals representing SOEs (i.e. executive members) and local communities (e.g. village chiefs, community enterprise, managers and residents). Data collection was conducted through interviews, focus group discussions, field records and documents. Using grounded theory, the data were analyzed using open, axial and selective coding. Findings This study discovered that power was fluid. At first, power was a static resource then when it exchanged, it turned into relational/power interplay and at last, became output resource. There was a transformation of antecedent resources of power into a consequential source of power through relationship processes. Research limitations/implications This study should be replicated in other settings for further research, for example, in a business-to-business context and business-to-government to develop a general framework. Practical implications Policymakers should be aware of such fluid power to ensure that community-based tourism programs can benefit all parties involved. Originality/value Findings from this study make several contributions to current literature as follows: this study extends from the existing theories of power, the community-based tourism context where this study was conducted represents actual social situation allowing it to be transferrable to real environment and elaborating theory of power into a comprehensive framework.

scholarly journals Information security frameworks for assisting GDPR compliance in banking industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-244
Author(s):  
João Serrado ◽  
Ruben Filipe Pereira ◽  
Miguel Mira da Silva ◽  
Isaías Scalabrin Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Information Security ◽  
Design Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Body ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation

Purpose Data can nowadays be seen as the main asset of organizations and data leaks have a considerable impact on the organization’s image, revenues and possible consequences to the affected clients. One of the most critical industries is the bank. Information security frameworks (ISF) have been created to assist organizations and other frameworks evolved to update these domain practices. Recently, the European Union decided to create the general data protection regulation (GDPR), applicable to all organizations dealing with personal data of citizens residing in the European Union. Although considered a general regulation, GDPR implementation needs to align with some industries’ laws and policies. Especially in the Bank industry. How these ISF can assist the implementation of GDPR is not clear. Design/methodology/approach The design science research process was followed and semi-structured interviews performed. Findings A list of practices to assist the bank industry in GDPR implementation is provided. How each practice map with assessed ISF and GDPR requirements is also presented. Research limitations/implications As GDPR is a relatively recent subject, it is hard to find experts in the area. It is more difficult if the authors intend to find experienced people in the GDPR and bank industry. That is one of the main reasons this study does not include more interviews. Originality/value This research provides a novel artefact to the body of knowledge. The proposed artefact lists which ISF practices banks should implement to comply with GDPR. By doing it the artefact provides a centralized view about which ISF frameworks (or part of them) could be implemented to help banks comply with GDPR.

Competing in business-to-business sectors through pay-per-use services

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 914-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heiko Gebauer ◽  
Mirella Haldimann ◽  
Caroline Jennings Saul
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Market Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sales Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Service Portfolio ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Business Sectors

Purpose Despite the opportunities provided by pay-per-use (PPU) services, product companies in business-to-business sectors often fail to compete systematically by using them. The purpose of this paper is to explain how companies can avoid failures when it comes to PPU services. The paper describes the “seizing” capabilities needed to achieve the strategic objectives of PPU services. Design/methodology/approach The research process is divided into a pilot and an in-depth study. Altogether, 17 companies participated in the study. Findings The findings reveal that the seizing capabilities depend on the strategic objectives of PPU services. To expand the market share with PPU services, companies need to broaden the customer portfolio for PPU services, to align individual services within the entire service portfolio and to balance profits made by PPU services and other business lines. For strategic objectives such as rapid sales growth early in the market development and new market creation other seizing capabilities are required. Research limitations/implications The findings are not generalizable, due to the use of a qualitative study. The study is restricted to product companies in the business-to-business sector. Practical implications Managers often believe that extending and modularizing the service portfolio is beneficial. When achieving sales growth during the market development phase, these capabilities are in fact sometimes counterproductive. Practitioners have to look into the costs and benefits of setting-up their own financing company and working with banks. Social implications PPU services contribute to a more sustainable consumption and make product design more resource-efficient. Originality/value The study is original by virtue of systematically studying PPU services, providing a microfoundation for seizing capabilities and developing testable propositions for future research.

scholarly journals Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraint Holliman ◽  
Jennifer Rowley
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inbound Marketing ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Content Marketing

Purpose – This paper aims to draw attention to the emerging phenomenon of business to business (B2B) digital content marketing, offers a range of insights and reflections on good practice and contributes to theoretical understanding of the role of digital content in marketing. B2B digital content marketing is an inbound marketing technique and hence offers a solution to the declining effectiveness of traditional interruptive marketing techniques. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 key informants involved in B2B content marketing in the USA, UK and France, in five industry sectors. Findings – B2B digital content marketing is an inbound marketing technique, effected through web page, social media and value-add content, and is perceived to be a useful tool for achieving and sustaining trusted brand status. Creating content that is valuable to B2B audiences requires brands to take a “publishing” approach, which involves developing an understanding of the audience’s information needs, and their purchase consideration cycle. Valuable content is described as being useful, relevant, compelling and timely. Content marketing requires a cultural change from “selling” to “helping”, which in turn requires different marketing objectives, tactics, metrics and skills to those associated with more traditional marketing approaches. The article concludes with a theoretical discussion on the role of digital content in marketing, thereby contextualising the findings from this study within a broader exploration of the role of digital content in marketing and relational exchanges. Originality/value – As the first research study to explore the use of digital content marketing in B2B contexts, this research positions digital content marketing with regard to prior theory, and provides both an agenda for further research, and suggestions for practice.

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