Skip to main content

Customer-Centric Service Innovation in Public–Private Value Networks

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 1313 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter aims to deepen the understanding of customer-centric service innovation in the value networks of public and private actors. In practice, this topical issue has attracted growing interest, though it has not been studied to any great extent within service innovation research. To narrow the gap, a conceptual framework is built, driven by recent studies on public service innovation and the service-dominant logic (S-D logic) perspective. The emphasis is on innovation as complex networked value co-creation by resource re-bundling, embedded in an everyday service exchange among different actors. Customers as beneficiaries are an active and necessary group of actors in co-innovation, for which reason a specific focus is placed on deepening the understanding of customer value in use. This focus enables the development of more extended service concepts and platforms, transparent value-creation processes, and the strategic management of novel resource integration at different levels of service ecosystems. The contribution of an external facilitator, as an intermediary of innovation activity in value chains and networks, is also examined. The framework is illustrated with two empirical case studies. The main findings contribute to the topical debate on the linkages between S-D logic and innovation and provide conceptual starting points for its further development. They also provide a tool for collaborative reflection among practitioners in the public–private interface.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ballantyne, D., & Varey, R. J. (2006). Creating value-in-use through marketing interaction: The exchange logic of relating, communicating and knowing. Marketing Theory, 6(3), 335–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brand, R. (2005). The Citizen-innovator. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 10(1), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlborg, P., Kindstrom, D., & Kowalkowski, C. (2014). The evolution of service innovation research: A critical review and synthesis. The Service Industries Journal, 34(5), 373–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandler, J. D., & Vargo, S. L. (2011). Contextualization and value-in-context: How context frames exchange. Marketing Theory, 11(1), 35–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • den Hertog, P. (2002). Co-producers of innovation: On the role of knowledge-intensive business services in innovation. In J. Gadrey & F. Gallouj (Eds.), Productivity, innovation and knowledge in services: New economic and socio-economic approaches. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edvardsson, B. (1997). Quality in new service development: Key concepts and a frame of reference. International Journal of Production Economics, 52(1–2), 31–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edvardsson, B., Kristensson, P., Magnusson, P., & Sundström, E. (2012). Customer integration within service development—A review of methods and an analysis of in situ and ex situ contributions. Technovation, 32(7), 419–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edvardsson, B., Tronvoll, B., & Gruber, T. (2011). Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: A social construction approach. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39, 327–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532–551.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elg, M., Engström, J., Witell, L., & Poksinska, B. (2012). Co-creation and learning in health care service development. Journal of Service Management, 23(3), 328–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartley, J. (2005). Innovation in governance and public services: Past and present. Public Money & Management, 25(1), 27–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hennala, L., Konsti-Laakso, S., & Harmaakorpi, V. (2012). Challenges of bringing citizen knowledge into public sector service innovation. In H. Melkas & V. Harmaakorpi (Eds.), Practice-based innovation: Insights, applications and policy implications (pp. 255–275). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kallio, K., Lappalainen, I., & Tammela, K. (2013). Co-innovating in public services: planning or experimenting with users? The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 18(3), article 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews. An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langergaard, L. L., & Scheuer, J. D. (2012). Towards a deeper understanding of public sector innovation. In L. A. Macaulay, I. Miles, J. Wilby, Y. L. Tan, L. Zhao, & B. Theodoulidis (Eds.), Case studies in service innovation (pp. 167–193). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lappalainen, I., Kallio, K., & Toivonen, M. (2012). Facilitating service development in a multi-agent environment: Different roles of consultancy. In J. C. Spohrer & L. E. Freund (Eds.), Advances in the human side of service engineering (pp. 276–285). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehtonen, M., & Tuominen, T. (2011). Multiple voices of the user in public sector services. In J. Sundbo & M. Toivonen (Eds.), User-based innovation in services (pp. 227–250). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lusch, R. F., & Nambisan, S. (2015). Service innovation: A service-dominant logic perspective. MIS Quarterly, 39(1), 155–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lusch, R. F., Vargo, S. L., & Tanniru, M. (2010). Service, value networks and learning. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(1), 19–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Möller, K., & Rajala, A. (2007). Rise of strategic nets – New modes of value creation. Industrial Marketing Management, 36(7), 895–908.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, P., & Peccei, R. (2007). The work you want, the help you need: Constructing the customer in Jobcentre Plus. Organization, 14(2), 201–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saari, E., Lehtonen, M., & Toivonen, M. (2015). Making bottom-up and top-down processes meet in public innovation. The Service Industries Journal, 35(6), 325–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, F., Sundbo, J., & Mattsson, J. (2013). Organisational conditions for service encounter-based innovation. Research Policy, 42(8), 1446–1456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundbo, J. (2011). Value chain innovation: An actor-network-theory based model for innovation at the interface between service and other economic sectors. In J. Sundbo & M. Toivonen (Eds.), User-based innovation in services (pp. 71–98). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sundbo, J., & Toivonen, M. (Eds.). (2011). User-based innovation in services. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, A.M. (2001). Collaboration: Meaning and measurement. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, A. M., & Perry, J. L. (2006). Collaboration processes: Inside the black box. Public Administration Review, 66(Special Issue 1), 20–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toivonen, M. (2010). Different types of innovation processes in services and their organizational implications. In F. Gallouj & F. Djellal (Eds.), The handbook of innovation and services (pp. 221–249). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tronvoll, B., Brown, S., Gremler, D. D., & Edvardsson, B. (2011). Paradigms in service research. Journal of Service Management, 22(5), 560–585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2008). Service-dominant logic: Continue the evolution. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the case organizations for fruitful cooperation. The author is also grateful to Research Professor Marja Toivonen from VTT, the reviewers of the article, and the editors of the book for their valuable comments. The research has been funded by TEKES (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) and VTT.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Inka Lappalainen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lappalainen, I. (2017). Customer-Centric Service Innovation in Public–Private Value Networks. In: Russo-Spena, T., Mele, C., Nuutinen, M. (eds) Innovating in Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43380-6_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics