This thesis deals with the social enterprise and the social enterprising NPOs and the identification of societial marketing in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is to investigate the service innovation, brand image, and Societial Marketing identification, and their interrelationships within different social enterprise patterns in Taiwan. In addition, it's further to point out the differences among three types of social enterprises : public social charity, culture education, and culture art. Studies on the social enterprise and the social enterprising NPOs and the identification of societial marketing in Taiwan in Kaohsiung resident as a research objective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the four variables of service innovation, ie. new social welfare, new service concept, new client interface, and new service delivery system; the three variables of brand image, ie. types of brand association, favorability of brand associations, uniqueness of brand associations and societial marketing identification, and their interrelationships within different social enterprise patterns in Taiwan. With regard to sampling methods, use of non-random sample of convenience sampling, this study a total of 426 questionnaires were recovered, an effective sample of 393 copies. The results of the study were as follow: showed that service innovation, brand image and identity among social marketing does have a significant positive correlation, however, different patterns of social enterprise in the relationship between the various variables are showed some negative correlation. The results can be summarized under five main conclusions: ¡Ð When the social enterprises want to input the concept of service innovation in the organization, it should not ignore the social welfare and social entrepreneur of the specific conduct. Because the service innovation and brand image can simultaneously enhance the community identification. ¡Ð Social enterprise of public social charity: It should continue to construct indicators for sustainable management and for the evaluation of internal and external organization. ¡Ð Social enterprise of culture education: It should retain its own brand image, while aiming to enhance the new type of service and customer interface. ¡Ð Social enterprise of culture art: It Should construct new types of social welfare, and strengthen the brand values, to offer the community a better understanding of the realities of life of the art and aesthetics. ¡Ð This study also found that people generally give recognition and trust for non-profit organizations, which engaged in social enterprise with commercial or profit-making activities.

Problembakgrund: Innovationer är ofta svårhanterliga för organisationer på grund av den höga osäkerhet de medför, tjänsteinnovationer betraktas vara än mer svårhanterliga då tjäns­ters abstraktionsgrad medför ytterligare komplexitet. För att undersöka denna problematik studeras här en nationell implementering av en teknikbaserad tjänsteinnovation, i form av den pågående implementeringen av ordinationssystemet Pascal.  Implementeringen av Pascal genom­förs som en direkt åtgärd för att möjliggöra omregleringen av den svenska dosapoteks­marknaden. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka en pågående implementering av den teknik­baserade tjänsteinnovationen Pascal i svensk offentlig sektor. Metod: För att få en förståelse för det studerade ämnet genomfördes först en litteraturstudie och därefter tre observationer där betydande områden i implementeringsprocessen upp­märksammades. Områdena kategoriserades tematiskt och undersöktes vidare genom fyra inter­vjuer och en webbaserad enkätundersökning. Resultatet sammanställdes och analyserades för att sedan mynna ut i karaktärsdrag för denna typ av implementeringsprocess. Slutsatser: Utifrån den studerade implementeringsprocessen har ett antal karaktärsdrag varit utmärkande. Processen karaktäriserades av teknisk komplexitet, individuella drivkrafter, pa­rallella processer och aktiviteter, en stegvis och interaktiv utvecklingsprocess, flertalet in­blandade individer och aktörer, snabba och löpande förändringar samt tidspress. Ett antal faktorer har även visat sig ha en tendens att inverka på mottagarnas acceptansnivå och in­ställning till ordinationssystemet Pascal. Förslag till fortsatta studier: En kompletterande studie, efter det att implementeringen är slutförd, kan vara intressant för att se om de karaktärsdrag som visat sig vara utmärkande under implementeringen även inverkar på framgången för projektet på lång sikt. Med fram­gång menas i detta fall att systemet används och accepteras när det väl har implementerats. En annan intressant aspekt är att undersöka om de karaktärsdrag som framkommit genom denna studie går att identifiera i liknande processer i andra branscher. / Problem statement: Innovations are often difficult for organizations to manage due to the high uncertainty that they bring. Service innovations are considered to be even more difficult to handle because of the high level of abstraction in services that adds further complication. To investigate the problem a national implementation of a new technology-based service inno­vation is studied, in terms of the ongoing implementation of the prescription system Pas­cal. The implementation of Pascal is conducted as a direct action to enable reregulation of the Swedish dos-pharmacy-market. Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate an ongoing implementation of the tech­nology-based service innovation Pascal in the Swedish public sector. Method: A literature review was made on previous research on the field, in order to form an understanding of the studied substance. This was followed by three observations where signifi­cant areas of the implementation process were highlighted. The areas were then themati­cally categorized for further research, which was made through four interviews and a web-based questionnaire. The results were compiled and analyzed to form the basis for the characteristics of this type of implementation process. Conclusions: Based on the studied implementation process a number of characteristics have been prominent. The process was characterized by technical complexity, individual motiva­tions, parallel processes and activities, incremental and interactive development, several in­volved individuals and actors, rapid and continuous change and time pressure. A few factors have also had an impact on adopters’ attitude and acceptance of Pascal. Proposal for further studies: It would be interesting to do a complementary study on the same project, after the implementation is completed, in order to see if the characteristics which proved to be essential during the implementation process will affect the success of the project in the long run. In this case success means that the system is used and accepted once it has been implemented. Another interesting aspect is to investigate whether the characteristics that emerged from this study can be identified in similar processes in other industries.

Research to date discovered two gaps restricts the existing service innovation theories from full support for SMEs - who also require good service innovation theory to innovate and to survive in the fast-pacing market - which are: goods-thinking-based service innovation logic and incomprehensible service innovation theory for SMEs. In this research, we share and enhance the vision of system thinking researchers - interaction plays the very basis and important role in service value creating and delivering - as our theory foundation. Founding on this interaction-centric notion, we propose an easy-to-adapt service innovation methodology which suggests that SMEs could do service innovation by adjusting business interactions, and justify it with a comprehensive model evaluated by simulation techniques and a prototype supporting information system mechanism to provide support for SME users. Last but not the least, at the end of this research, we re-examine the system thinking framework with our discoveries, and signaled a possible adjusting direction of the framework for more value-oriented purposes. From the practical view, we identify a way to extend the current system thinking theory to a practical model for real world SME’s service innovation purposes. For the academic research, our interaction-centric service innovation methodology is believed to enhance the to-date system thinking theories. In addition, we also identify several future possibilities for academic researchers in this field to discover.

Innovation networks are not only about connections, but also dynamics, structures and influences. This research focuses on these three new aspects of innovation networks. The results of this research show that innovation networks have regularities in their dynamics, structures and influences. In the conclusion, these regularities are presented in the network snapshots and regression modelling. This research makes contributions in improving the understanding about how service innovation is created.

Recent innovation research has paid more attention to investigating innovation in KIBS. The KIBS sector is widely reported to be more innovative than most other services. However, many past studies in this area have focused on R&D when analysing service innovation in KIBS. While some KIBS (typically those classified as Technological-KIBS or T-KIBS) do made substantial investment in R&D, this is however much less the case in many other KIBS (especially in Professional-KIBS/P-KIBS and Creative-KIBS/C-KIBS). This implies that other activities –apart from conventional R&D– may be applicable to understanding service innovation in KIBS. Knowledge management approaches have been introduced in several previous studies of service innovation in KIBS - but these typically see ‘knowledge’ as an object or property. This study argues for, and develops, an alternative ‘knowing’ perspective, which viewing knowledge as embedded in practice. This approach is underpinned by the interactivity and knowledge-intensity characteristics of KIBS. Their services are typically solutions to specific client problems. Knowledge is thus context-dependent and much relevant knowledge is learned in the very local context of practice. This theoretical standpoint is applied in this qualitative research study, exploring the role of knowing in service innovation in KIBS. In so doing, we employ four data sources (i.e. in-depth semi-structured interviews, expert interviews, observation and archival data) and apply the techniques of template analysis to the rich qualitative data that has been generated. We then delve into three analytical exercises. First, we depart from the current theories of service innovation, framing the exploration in the light of the concepts of service innovation dimensions and dynamic capabilities (introduced in the literature review). Second, we analyse what forms of knowing are involved in the process of service innovation. Third, we synthesise the first two analytical exercises to probe on the interrelation between service innovation and knowing in KIBS - what roles do forms of knowing play in service innovation?One major finding of this research is that service innovation and managing knowing in KIBS are interrelated by the fact that knowing is seen as enacted capability, forms of knowing are constituted in the process of service innovation, and this requires particular capabilities. We identify four ways of knowing in which KIBS engage for service innovation. Here, we incorporate the knowledge relatedness factor and the strategic focus to knowing (i.e. exploration or exploitation). These aspects enable this research to put forth the argument that the more the members of KIBS enact their knowing in practice, the better understanding they have towards the practice, the firm and the environment. Such ultimately becomes important for the sustainability of KIBS, not only to meet current market demands, but also to be able to construct new frameworks and thus to influence market development.

This research presents a co-developing service innovation imagery system that considers the service innovation imagery can be designed and created with their customers and appropriate collaborators in co-creation network. Default imagery reasoned by analyzing SMEs information, interaction pattern and cultural behavior so as to represent current status quo of the service to co-develop toward service innovation. In addition, we use metaphor statement as the representation of different kinds of user value (i.e., emotional, social-cultural environmental value) so as to build a knowledge based imagery bank for the co-developing process. The mechanism of the open group support system facilitates the interactions between different interpreters that derive and imply a set of value, such as emotional, social-cultural-environmental dimensional consumption values for the SME’s customers. In this research, our main goal is to propose an IT-based systematic approach for SMEs to co-developing their service innovation imagery with other actors and interpreters. The co-developing journey would facilitate SMEs to derive the service innovation imagery for service innovation.

With technological advancements rendering customer expectations ever more sophisticated, firms must compete with increasingly complex service offerings to secure their position in the market. For firms in the hospitality industry, innovating their service offerings to cater to these changing customer demands has therefore become a prerequisite to survive. This paper takes a dynamic capability perspective to examine how family firms fare in this rapidly changing environment by examining the role of family influence on their capabilities to engage in service innovation.  The purpose of the study was to describe and explain how family influence impacts dynamic capabilities for service innovation in a family firm within the hospitality industry. The aim of the study was to derive insights on how family influence impacts family firms’ innovation capacity and to stimulate future work in the field of research.  This study is based on an in-depth single case study approach. Empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. Based on a qualitative explorative study using an abductive approach, we were able to develop new combinations of established theoretical models and concepts with findings from our theory and empirical data.  Five attributes of family influence were identified that impact family firms’ capabilities for service innovation - both positively and negatively. The results indicate that family influence can positively impact dynamic sensing capabilitites for service innovation, while the impact of family influence on dynamic seizing and dynamic transforming capabilities for service innovation can be ambiguous. The findings call for continued exploration of the role of family influence on dynamic capabilities for service innovation and family firms’ innovation capacity in general.

Service innovation is an important component for service business through its applicability in development and accretion that promotes business operations. The service innovation process can be created and maintained through interaction between the actor and the customer, where mutual value is being created through collaboration. However, disruptive external forces that reconfigure businesses environment and changes behavior of customers can have an impact on the conditions for service processes, where the need for innovative solutions increases to continue to reach customer satisfaction. In addition, it may further impact the underlying processes of innovating services, not at least within the facility service sector since interacting and operating within customer’s sites. Therefore, the authors want to contribute with knowledge regarding how service innovation processes are being affected by disruptive external forces, investigated through a single case study. The empirical data has been collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with six respondents within a global market-leading provider of facility services where the study has addressed the Swedish market. The empirical findings acknowledged that a changed customer behavior imposed by disruptive external forces causes challenges and changes to the business environment of facility services. The collected data highlighted disruptive forces such as technological, environmental and, especially prominent, the pandemic as particularly influential to the processes of facility service innovation. Business environment in a reconfigured state has, among other, affected the parts of developing, testing, and implementing innovative solutions, thereby influencing the implementation process of service innovation. In conclusion, disruptive external forces imposed new areas of focus and requirements from customers, leading to customers becoming more involved in the process of facility service innovation. The case company has been required to adopt a form of Service-Dominated (S-D) logic on the approach of developing value propositions, implicating that the customers are taking an increased and active part in the facility service innovation process. In relation to a changing customer need imposed by disruptive external forces, psychological senses and perceptions have been distinguished to be a requirement of facility service innovation and have therefore constituted an active component of the innovation process.

This publication-based dissertation covers research on service innovation and service productivity over eight chapters. The first and second chapter provide an introduction into service innovation and service productivity. The third chapter is a systematic literature review that structures research published on service productivity. The fourth chapter is a meta-analysis which analyzes the factors influencing service productivity. The fifth chapter is a quantitative empirical paper that explains how individual political behavior affects new service development at the customer interface. The sixth chapter is a multiple case study that investigates how service innovation score concepts must be designed to be reinforcing and mutually supportive with the firm service productivity strategy. The seventh chapter is a mixed empirical study that combines qualitative interview data with quantitative questionnaire data to shed light on the underlying mechanisms that enhance innovation implementation effectiveness. The eighth chapter summarizes the contributions of this dissertation as well as its limitations and potential directions for further research.:Table of contents List of tables Table of figures List of abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Summary of research papers 2.1 First article 2.2 Second article 2.3 Third article 2.4 Fourth article 2.5 Fifth article 2.6 References 3. Service productivity: a systematic review of a dispersed research area 4. Measuring and managing service productivity: a meta-analysis 5. Political Behavior in Service Innovation: Empirical Examinations of Social Relationships 6. Combining strategies of high service productivity with successful service innovation 7. Effective innovation implementation: A mixed method study 8. Contributions, limitations, and further reserach 8.1 Contributions to research and practice 8.2 Limitations 8.3 Future research 8.4 References

Constant development of new technologies in a rapidly changing and globalized world decreases product life cycles. Time-to-market is crucial for commercial success. This development requires resources to create new knowledge and skills within organizations and together in networks with other firms. Open innovation is an alternative for developing innovative products and services that takes advantage of external knowledge and give access to new market channels. Even though services is vital for economic growth and fits well with the open innovation model, there is little research on open service innovation. The purpose of the thesis is to extend knowledge on how service innovations emerge and evolve in open innovation nets in industrial networks. It also aims to follow the development from idea to a commercial service. The thesis describes organization for service innovations to emerge and develop in open service innovation nets. It also explains the actors involved and their different innovator roles in the development from idea to commercial services. The present research provide insights how the organization of the development work might differ between incremental and radical service innovation. there is a range of organizing templates (archetypes) that fit different types of development work. Where previous research on open service innovation has focused on radical service innovation present research suggests that open service innovation also can be a strategy for incremental service innovation. Present research shows how actors take on multiple innovator roles in the innovation process of open service innovation. The more radical changes, the more roles each actor takes on. Present research add a new innovator role to previous research, The Constitutional Monarch. The Constitutional Monarch has a central position in all archetypes, but as the name implies, has no decision power. The research also sheds light on how the hub firm deploys not one but a portfolio of network orchestration processes dependent on the archetype used for open service innovation. / The development of new technologies in a rapidly changing and globalized world decreases product life cycles, time to market is crucial. Firms can no longer rely solely on internal knowledge in new product-/service development. They require external resources to create new knowledge and skills within their organizations. Developing innovative products and services that takes advantage of external knowledge and give access to new market channels is labeled open innovation. Even though the open innovation model is well known and widely spread, there is little research on open service innovation. The aim of the thesis is to understand and describe how service innovations emerge and evolve in open innovation nets (groups) in industrial networks, and to follow the development from idea to a commercial service. The thesis describes organization for service innovations to emerge and develop in open service innovation nets. It also explains the actors involved and their different innovation roles in the development of service innovations in open service innovation nets. The present research provide insights how the organization of the development work might differ between incremental and radical service innovation. It suggests that open service innovation can be a strategy not only for radical but also for incremental service innovation. The thesis also present a new innovator role to add to existing research, The Constitutional Monarch. The Constitutional Monarch has a central position as third-party facilitator catalyzing the innovation process but has no decision power.