How Small Companies Generate Ideas for New Services

Abstract Although conventional models of successful service development suggest that the generation of ideas for new services should be made in a formal and structured way, it is unclear whether most service development really is conducted in this way, and whether these formal models might merely represent theoretical structures that have been retrospectively imposed on the actual process. The present study therefore presents the findings from in-depth case studies of service development in eleven small Swedish companies. The study concludes that new ideas in such firms rarely emerge from a formal systematic process. The most important sources of inspiration for such new ideas are outside the company. It is therefore important that individuals involved in the generation of ideas maintain an open mind to the possibility of receiving inspiration from unexpected sources, including from people whose skills and knowledge are in other fields of business activity

Actor Roles in the Service Development Process

The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of the different actors participating in the service development process, the roles they play, and the resources they contribute to the process. The public transport system in Sweden is a complex setting in which many actors control a variety of resources. Using the established tripartite network model (actors, activities, and resources), the present study identifies eight groups of actors: (1) the Strategic Creators; (2) the Competing Actors; (3) the Deciding Actors; (4) the Supporting Actors; (5) the Prime Movers; (6) the Suppliers; (7) the Service Performers, and (8) the Users. The primary contribution of this paper is to identify this novel typology of actors in the service development process. The study also proposes a conceptual model of the relationships among these various actors and their functions

Service Development in Outsourced Public Service Networks : A Study in the Public Transport Sector

When public-sector services are outsourced to private commercial operators, the issue of new-service development can become problematical because the political/social objectives of the controlling authority are often different from the commercial imperatives of the private operator. These (often conflicting) imperatives can cause difficulties in new-service development with regard to both: (i) deciding what new services are required; and (ii) deciding how the service-development process should proceed. This study takes a qualitative approach in investigating what happens during the development of new services in the Swedish public-transport sector, in which services are contractually outsourced from public authorities to private commercial operators by public tender. The results of the study show that: (i) the development of new services in this context is especially challenging; (ii) conflicts do arise between public and commercial interests; (iii) collaborative service development is significantly hampered by the regulatory framework and contractual arrangements; and (iv) the contracts themselves actually represent an important aspect of the overall service-development process. The implication for managers is that the formulation of tendering documents and contracts must be seen as an important determinant of service development, often for many years in advance