Abstract The purpose of this cumulative dissertation is to introduce service, conceptualized by service-dominant logic, as a new explanatory framework to improve the understanding of sustainable development. Sustainability is a megatrend that challenges business and marketers to act upon and respond to global social and environmental problems. Even after over more than five decades of research related to sustainability there is a gap in the transformation to sustainable development of firms and society in large. Specifically, there appears to be a significant gap between sustainable awareness and the actual sustainable behavior of actors and organizations. A systematic approach to the topic of greenwashing is provided, including relevant approaches for its avoidance. Furthermore, the dissertation urges the need of a systematic and more general theoretic framework to connect marketing as a social science with sustainable development instead of fragmenting marketing in sub-disciplines (e.g., sustainable marketing, societal marketing, marketing ethics, etc.). S-D logic is proposed as model of marketing covering three dichotomies: (1) micro/macro, (2) positive (questioning what is?) / normative (questioning what ought to be), and (3) profit sector/nonprofit sector. S-D logic´s narrative is the continuing story of actors interacting, resource integrating and exchanging service, and co-creating value through service ecosystems, governed and evaluated through their institutional arrangements. Though with regards to sustainable development the reflection on conceptualizing value co-destruction is critical. For instance, through the value co-creation process negative value might be created for one actor, both actors, third parties, society, or nature. A strong conceptual link between the process of co-creation of value and the process of value co destruction is ascertainable in the sense of contra indication. In addition, the findings of a literature review indicate that further attention should be paid to imbalance, conflict and power relations between actors and the service ecosystem. Furthermore, the concept of service is extended beyond the human-created phenomenon, by observing that ecosystem services exist in the natural world. A change of perspective on nature is proposed to see nature no longer as a source of resource or a simple resource but as a services provider. Thus, the underlying human-nature relationships may improve.:Abstract III I Table of contents IV II List of Publications: VI III List of Figures VII IV List of Tables VIII 1 General Introduction 1 1.1 Purpose and scope 1 1.2 Theoretical introduction 3 1.2.1 Reason for a new theoretical framework for sustainable development 4 1.2.2 Service as the underlying process for sustainable development 7 1.2.3 S-D logic´s evolvement to a concept of service ecosystem 9 1.2.4 Conceptualizing value co-destruction 11 1.3 Structure of the dissertation 22 1.4 General Summary 24 1.4.1 Summarizing the implications of S-D logic and sustainable development 24 1.4.2 Outlook on general future research for evolving S-D logic in the field of sustainable development 26 1.4.2.1 Creation of value and well-being through fast, sacrifice, or renouncement 27 1.4.2.2 Improve the understanding for micro-macro paradox 27 1.4.2.3 Extension of the human-centric S-D logic to a more general service concept 28 1.4.2.4 Conceptualization of power relations in a service ecosystem 28 1.4.2.5 Pursuing the idea of destructive co-creation of value 30 2 Die normative Ordnung der service-dominierten Logik für ein komplexes Wertnetzwerk–ein innovativer Weg zu mehr Nachhaltigkeit? 32 2.1 Einführung 32 2.2 Das Triple-Bottom-Line-Konzept 34 2.3 Die S-D Logik und die Chance zur normativen Ordnung eines komplexen Wertnetzwerks für mehr Nachhaltigkeit 40 2.3.1 Verbesserung der normativen Ordnung für ein innovatives Nachhaltigkeitskonzept 40 2.3.2 Normative Ordnung im sozialen Raum 42 2.3.3 Einführung in die S-D Logik 44 2.3.4 S-D Logik und nachhaltige Entwicklung 49 2.4 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick 53 3 Avoiding Greenwashing in Event Marketing: An Exploration of Concepts, Literature and Methods 56 3.1 Introduction 57 3.2 Literature review 59 3.2.1 Characteristics of greenwashing in event marketing 59 3.2.2 Current approaches to avoid greenwashing in event marketing 61 3.2.2.1 Identifying greenwashing and its impacts through measurement 63 3.2.2.2 Developing and applying internal rules 65 3.2.2.3 Creating a (multi-)stakeholder approach 66 3.2.2.4 Realignment according to laws and statutory regulations 68 3.2.2.5 Applying eco-labelling 69 3.3 Discussion, implications and further research 73 3.3.1 Discussion 73 3.3.2 Theoretical contributions and practical implications 75 3.3.3 Limitations and future research 78 4 Service Dominant Logic as a New Fundamental Framework for Analyzing Event Sustainability: A Case Study from the German Meetings Industry 80 4.1 Introduction 80 4.2 Literature review 84 4.2.1 S-D Logic as a new approach for the sustainable development of events 84 4.2.2 Events and the Service Dominant logic 84 4.3 S-D Logic and (event) sustainability 89 4.4 Case study 92 4.4.1 Case study context 92 4.4.2 Data collection 93 4.4.3 Data analysis 94 4.4.4 Findings 95 4.4.4.1 Micro level 96 4.4.4.2 Meso level 99 4.4.4.3 Macro level 102 4.5 Discussion 106 4.5.1 Theoretical contributions 109 4.5.2 Practical implications 110 4.5.3 Limitations and future research 111 References 114 Darstellung des wissenschaftlichen Werdegangs 137 Selbständigkeitserklärung 139 Bibliographische Darstellung 140

Background: Crowdfunding is a new form of financing that has gained popularity among entrepreneurs seeking to fund innovative and creative projects. It involves collecting small amounts of money from a large number of potential backers through specialised websites. Crowdfunding has the potential to democratize access to capital, facilitate market validation, foster community engagement, and drive social impact, making it a powerful tool for innovation, economic growth, and positive change. The success of a crowdfunding campaign is influenced by the number of backers, the degree of interaction and engagement between creators and backers, as well as effective communication and engagement strategies. This study focuses on Customer Engagement, Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, and Value Co-Creation in the context of tabletop Kickstarter campaigns, since the platform has become a popular destination for game designers to fund their projects. Research Purpose: The development of an in-depth understanding of the role of customer engagement and co-creation of value in crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter.  Research Problem: The existing literature on crowdfunding success has explored various factors, but there is a lack of understanding regarding the evolving nature of customer engagement. While the concepts of value co-creation and interactive experiences in marketing relationships offer a foundation, further research is required to gain a comprehensive understanding of how customer engagement and co-creation affect both successful and less-studied unsuccessful campaigns. Further exploration of this topic is necessary due to the challenges faced in crowdfunding entrepreneurial development, such as engaging communities in co-creation activities in dynamic online environments.  Research Question:  How do customer engagement and co-creation impact crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter?  Method: Research Philosophy – Constructivism Paradigm; Methodology – Multiple-case Study Approach; Data Collection – 6 Semi-structured Interviews (with the inclusion of both successful and unsuccessful campaigns); Data Analysis – Thematic Analysis (using Abductive Approach with Cross-case Analysis);  Conclusion: To increase the likelihood of success, creators must carefully plan and execute their campaigns while taking into account the principles of Service-Dominant logic. This involves co-creating value with customers, engaging with them through feedback efforts, and demonstrating organizational competence. By following these principles, creators can increase the likelihood of success and create a positive experience for their backers.

Background: To remain competitive in Industry 4.0, B2B suppliers must develop new and increasingly advanced digital services by incorporating AI. However, although being of interest to practitioners, academic research on successful AI implementation in B2B functional domains is lacking. Consequently, academics have stressed the importance of developing comprehensive frameworks within B2B marketing to accelerate the creation of strategic roadmaps for AI implementation. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how AI can be utilized to enhance digital servitization, according to the perspectives of one supplier and several of its customers. The aim is to provide a framework that can assist practitioners in implementing value-adding AI services. Method: To fulfill the exploratory purpose of this study, a qualitative single-case research design was applied. The empirical data was collected through twelve in-depth semi-structured interviews.  Utilizing an inductive approach, the data has been analyzed and interpreted through a thematic analysis. Conclusion: Incorporating a complete S-D logic mindset by implementing the AI solution based on all five axioms was found to enhance digital servitization. A model displaying various servitization activities connected to these axioms arose, emphasizing their collective impact. Additionally, suppliers may enhance digital servitization through the implementation of AI by engaging in three transformational mechanisms, namely customization, automation, and agile co-development.

The process of globalization over the past five decades has given impetus to drivensustainability and related thinking in business. It is also observed that there areunprecedented trends in corporate strategy towards sustainable thinking - the emergenceof sustainability as corporate strategy and the concern of business for ecology and society.This forces companies to rethink their standard business models and increase theirinterest in innovating products and services based on the challenges of global sustainabledevelopment. The pressure from external stakeholders, mainly non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs), as drivers of change may also contribute strongly to thisendeavour. This substantial change pressure clearly reflects companies’ recognition of themounting pressures for social responsibility and governance. The overall aim of this thesisis to describe and understand how social responsibility and value-creation of customers’influence the overall service quality of companies in developing a sustainable servicebusiness. The theoretical and conceptual frame of reference finds its stimulation from the researchin sustainable development – corporate social responsibility, service research and qualitymanagement. In this way it attempts to bridge the gap between business and socialresponsibility. Theoretically and conceptually, the thesis amalgamates sustainabilitythinking and the service logic. Here, value creation and co-creation of Service DominantLogic (S-D logic) approach expands to integrate the values based approach of CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) in management thinking and have created the prevailingbusiness practices and service quality (SQ) improvement. This thesis is a compilation offive different papers that follow an interpretative case study approach. The empiricalstudy developed from the cases of multinational companies, small and mediumenterprises, smallholders and NGOs. In this thesis, ‘Sustainable Service Dominant Logic’ (SSDL) was labelled to argue thatvalue-based co-creation of the S-D logic framework can be used to create values-basedservices for sustainable business by examining the link between CSR and S-D logic basedon value, values and service quality for sustainable business. This is this thesis’scontribution to the ongoing discussion of the paradigm shift in service research. Theframework is of the integration of CSR thinking into service business to create sustainablebusiness thinking. This signifies the new thinking of incorporating different managementsystems in creating the organizational change process, sustainability and finally SQimprovement. This counters the critique against S-D logic by expanding the societal andethical dimensions by using CSR, and showing real business cases. This depends on theintegration of different change pressures for value creation, whether related to economicand social resource integration. This involves the shift of the focus of managerial controlfrom a preoccupation with financial issues to a wider awareness of CSR thinking. Theseissues are also explored by demonstrating, based on cases, how the adoption of thisperspective can also enable the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) framework to become animportant aspect of value creation. Finally, the paradigm shift can be generalized to newthinking in S-D logic and the social responsibility of businesses as the major phenomenonof the changing and globalizing business environment; time for the CSR framework to permeate S-D logic.

Resource integration, as it relates to value creation, has recently been a key aspect of the discussions about service-dominant (S-D) logic. However, the majority of research pays relatively little explicit attention to the process of theorizing and the epistomological and ontological assumptions upon which the theorizing process is based. This article addresses these issues. The processes that relate to theorizing and developing strong theory are discussed. We then examine how to conceptualize ‘resources’ and ‘resource integration’ following differing ontological and epistemological assumptions that guide the theorizing process. Research recommendations to help navigate through the finer details underlying the theorizing process and to advance a general theory of resource integration are developed.

Det pågår ett skifte där varor har skiftat mot en mer tjänsteinriktad marknad som påverkar allt flera branscher, bland annat affärssystembranschen. Det produktorienterade synsättet har ersatts av Service Dominant (S-D) logik, där värde samskapas av aktörer i ett aktör-till-aktör nätverk. Denna utveckling kommer påverka aktörerna: kund, affärssystempartner och affärssystemleverantör, som är de aktörer som traditionellt ingår i ett aktör-till-aktör nätverk inom affärssystembranschen. Studien syftar till att skapa förståelse kring hur affärssystempartners och affärssystemleverantöres roller i aktör-till-aktör nätverket kommer förändras när affärssystem levereras som en molntjänst. Samt hur detta kommer påverka aktörernas relation till varandra. Studien har identifierat utmaningar som molnbaserade affärssystem kommer föra med sig för affärssystempartners och affärssystemleverantörer. Molnbaserade affärssystem har påverkat affärssystempartners och affärssystemleverantörers roller och sätt att arbeta. Främst affärssystempartners roll då deras arbetsuppgifter ersätts av andra aktörer. / A shift is taking place where goods has shifted towards a more service-oriented market that affects several industries, including the enterprise industry. The product-oriented approach has been replaced by Service Dominant (S-D) logic, where value is cocreated by multiple actors in an actor-to-actor network. This development will affect the actors: customer, ERP partner and ERP vendor, which traditionally are a part of the actor-to-actor network in the business of enterprise industry. The purpose of the study is to understand how the roles of ERP partners and ERP vendors will change in the actor-to-actor network when ERP are delivered as a cloud ERP. And how this will affect the actor’s relationship to each other. The study has identified challenges that cloud ERP will bring for ERP partners and ERP vendors. Cloud ERP have influenced the roles of ERP partners and ERP vendors, and their ways of working. Primarily ERP partners' role, as they risk being replaced by other actors.

Introduktion – Millennials, är den första generation som har växt med teknologi nära tillhands. För dem har mobilen fått bli en integrerad del av deras liv, vilket har påverkat hur dem som konsumenter interagerar med en butik och dess miljö. På många sätt har mobilen blivit en distraktion för dem när de är i butiken, men på vissa sätt så kan den också vara en hjälp för dem, speciellt i komplexa köp. Detaljhandlare har däremot fram tills nu sett mobilen som ett problem då den leder till att konsumenten ignorerar det som finns i butiken, men eftersom mobilen har betydande roll i konsumenternas liv bör de istället byta fokus. De måste istället hitta sätt att dra nytta av mobilanvändningen, både för deras egen fördel och förkonsumenternas. Syfte och metod – Studiens syfte var därmed att få en djupare förståelse för hur detaljhandlare kan hitta värde i mobilanvändandet för millennials i komplexa köp. Vidare, syftade den till att kunna ge teoretiska bidrag kring konsumentens värdeskapande, genom att sammanfläta mobilanvändandet med butiksmiljön. Studien gjordes som en kvalitativ fallstudie på IKEA genom användningen av två metoder. 47 respondenter tillfrågades att göra tre uppgifter på köksavdelning medans de bar eye trackingglasögon som filmade vad de gjorde. Efter det, fick de göra en komplimenterande semistrukturerad intervju, och alla data analyserades sedan med hjälp av en tematisk analys. Resultat och slutsatser – Resultatet visar att millennials använder sin mobil för att hjälpa dem navigera sig i butiken, hitta information, och viktigast, för att ta foton på information och inspiration. Däremot, även ifall konsumenten ser mobilen som ett värdefullt verktyg, visar också resultatet att trots det fortfarande är viktigt med personlig service i komplexa köp. Till sist, finns det också indikationer på att serviceerbjudande i butiken måste anpassas för att återge mer tydlig och relevant information, samt att skyltarna behöver skapa interaktioner mellan konsumenterna och mobilen, till exempel genom användningen av QR-koder. Teoretiskt, bidrar denna studie både genom att ge ytterligare stöd till tidigare studier och genom att bidra med nya insikter kring värdeskapande i serviceerbjudandet. / Introduction – The digital native generation, millennials, is the first generation to grow up with technology close at hand. For them the mobile phone is an integrated part of their lives, which has an impact on how they as consumers interact with the retail environment. In many ways the mobile phone can be a distraction for them in store, but in some ways, it can also be a help for them, especially in high involvement purchases. Retailers has up until now found the mobile phone to be a problem since it can make the consumers ignore the retail landscape. However, since the prominent role the mobile phone has in the consumers life, there need to be a switch in focus, and retailers needs to utilise it, both for their own and the consumers benefit. Purpose and methodology - The aim of this study was therefore to get a deeper understanding of how retailers can find value in mobile phone use for the millennial consumer in high involvement purchases. In addition, it aimed to make theoretical contributions to consumer value creation, by incorporating the mobile phone usage into the retail environment. The study was done using a qualitative multiple research method in a single case study on IKEA. 47 millennials respondents were asked to perform three tasks in the kitchen department while wearing eye tracking glasses to record their actions. Thereafter, a complementary semistructured interview was performed, and the data was later analysed using thematic analysis. Result and conclusion – The results show that the millennial consumers use their mobile phone to help them navigate the store, find information, but most importantly to take photos for information and inspirational purposes. However, even though many consumers found the mobile phone as a valuable tool, in high involvement purchases personalised service is still highly valued. Finally, the result indicated the services cape needs to be adapted with clearer and more relevant information as well as signs to create interactions with the consumer and the mobile phones such as QR codes. Theoretically, this study both supports the results from previous studies as well as contributes with new insights to the theoretical field of value in service.