Vissa människor väljer att skänka saker som gåvor istället för att slänga eller sälja dem och detta gåvogivande antas skapa något av värde för givarna. Vilka värden som skapas av gåvogivande och när de uppkommer undersöks i uppsatsen genom en case-studie av Erikshjälpens secondhandbutiks gåvogivare utifrån teorierna Service Dominant Logic och Service Logic. Studiens resultat visade att värden som skapades var: att göra sig av med saker; att skapa nytta för andra, vilket uppstod direkt genom att någon annan kan använda de skänkta sakerna och indirekt genom att gåvorna vid försäljning i secondhandbutiken genererar ett bidrag till bistånd; samt att de skänkta sakerna kan återanvändas och bidra till en minskad miljöpåverkan. Dessa värden uppkom vid olika tillfällen i gåvogivarprocessen och genom olika aktörers inblandning. Secondhandbutiken kunde genom sitt agerade bidra som möjliggörare till värdet som skapades för gåvogivarna eller bli en samskapare av värde tillsammans med gåvogivarna.

Inom serviceforskning har synen på värdeskapande skiftat från att värde produceras av företaget till att kunden är drivande i den värdeskapande processen. Företagets möjlighet till värdeskapande begränsas till att påverka kundens värdeskapandeprocess. Inom "Service Logic" betraktas företaget kunna medskapa värde genom direkt interaktion med kunden. Traditionellt anses frontoffice vara den del av företaget som har denna interaktion, medan backoffice agerar avskilt från kunden. Utifrån att synen på värdeskapande har skiftat, syftar uppsatsen till att undersöka hur backoffice kan vara delaktiga i kundens värdeskapandeprocess genom plattformar av direkt interaktion. Studien bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer med anställda på backoffice i flygbolaget SAS. Resultatet visar att det finns plattformar för direkt interaktion mellan backoffice och kund där medskapande av värde kan ske. Plattformarna återfinns i företagets produktutveckling, i backoffice dagliga arbetet samt i backoffice delaktighet i frontoffice. Resultatet tyder på att backoffice har en större roll som medskapare i kundens värdeskapandeprocess än vad tidigare forskning visar.

The involvement of customers and other stakeholders in the innovation process is proposed to be a key success factor and something that makes companies more competitive. As a consequence, more and more organizations alter their innovation strategy accordingly. In order for a company to open up innovation processes, it is vital to foster a practice where there is openness for external ideas and knowledge. However, when external ideas meet internal innovation practices complex organizational situations appear. Creativity, for example, involves co-dependence of other persons’ strategies and actions. New roles for those involved affect hierarchies and knowledge sharing opportunities. This thesis involves three different perspectives of the same process provides an opportunity to study both individual and structural challenges. This research aims to identify on-going challenges for an organization during the transformational processes that adjustment from a traditional product innovation structure to an open service innovation culture implies. This qualitative case study involves two main cases and three supporting cases and aims to understand how users and other external parties, top management and middle managers experience open innovation processes. The results describe interactions between organizations and users or external stakeholders as well as internal interactions within the organization. Top management were dedicated to the idea of increased openness, but detected structural issues to deal with in order to implement user involved innovation. Among middle management, some individual aspects such as attitudes and relational issues matter, as well as organizational structures and practices. Users had mixed opinions about their participation in the process. Favorable experiences, such as benevolence and deepened relationships, were balanced by un-favorable experiences such as incapability and intrusion. Different dimensions of openness regarding open innovation practice are discussed. In this work a relational focus is emphasized. The findings assist managers in their work to create conditions for open innovation. Managers can benefit from this research by getting a better understanding of how different stakeholders’ experience co-creation of value. This is relevant for innovation managers in the process of redesigning innovation processes to understand different aspects of the interactions involved. / KIT / SIMGIC

Num mercado com crescente competição como o atual, é mister que as empresas façam mais por seus clientes, ou seja, que em essência lhes entreguem mais valor. Para empresas industriais em particular, uma das ações mais comuns é a integração de serviços aos produtos existentes, a fim de oferecer uma solução que atenda às necessidades do cliente. A servitização, termo cunhado para denominar esse modelo de negócios, demanda uma transição organizacional, afinal prestar serviços é diferente de fabricar produtos. Não obstante argumentos em favor, nem sempre a servitização é bem sucedida. Nesta pesquisa, foram examinados os efeitos organizacionais da servitização no mercado editorial brasileiro, mais precisamente no segmento de livros didáticos. O foco recaiu sobre as editoras que criam, produzem e comercializam os livros, bem como sua relação com um de seus maiores clientes: as escolas particulares de ensino fundamental e médio. Usualmente vistas como produtoras de um bem manufaturado o livro e historicamente estruturadas segundo a tradição taylorista, essas editoras têm se reformado na direção de uma organização voltada à criação de conteúdo didático e prestação de serviços às escolas e professores. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo descrever e explicar como têm ocorrido as mudanças organizacionais decorrentes da servitização. Por meio de um estudo de caso múltiplo, coletaram-se evidências empíricas dos obstáculos e/ou facilitadores nesse caminho. Os resultados mostraram evidências de mudanças organizacionais devido à servitização, com destaque para a introdução de novas estruturas organizacionais e políticas de recursos humanos, que possibilitaram um relacionamento mais próximo dos clientes e de suas necessidades. Contudo, ainda há trabalho a fazer, como enfrentar os desafios da crescente digitalização dos conteúdos didáticos e o uso da Internet na distribuição de conteúdos e no relacionamento com os clientes. / In a marketplace with growing competition, it is mandatory that companies do more for their clients, i.e. that they ultimately deliver more value. For manufacturers in particular, one of the most common actions is the integration of services to the existing products, in order to offer a solution that meets customer needs. Servitization, a term coined to describe this business model, demands an organizational transition, given that providing services is different from manufacturing tangible goods. Despite the arguments for servitization, it is not always successful. The research investigated the organizational effects of servitization in the Brazilian publishing industry, specifically the textbook publishing segment. The focus was on publishers who create, produce and market the books, as well as their relationship with one of their major clients: the private Primary and Secondary Education Schools. Usually seen as manufacturers of a tangible good the textbook and historically structured according to the taylorist tradition, these publishers have reformed themselves towards an organization focused on the creation of didactic content and the provision of services to schools and instructors. The present research aimed to describe and explain how organizational changes occurred, due to servitization. A multiple case study was carried out, and empirical evidence was gathered, including the problems and successes on that matter. Results showed evidence of organizational changes due to servitization. Major examples include the introduction of new organizational structures and new human resources policies that enabled a closer relationship with customers and their needs. However there is still work to do, such as facing the challenges of growing digitalization of didactic content, as well as the use of Internet for content distribution and as a means of relationship with customers.

Supply chain management complexity is a growing challenge for a broad range of contemporary companies, which makes them turn to new and increasingly advanced IT-systems as a salvation. One of the currently most important system in a supply chain manager’s toolbox is the warehouse management system. As business challenges increases so does also the complexity in the investment processes surrounding the warehouse management systems, this paper explores value creation in these processes to understand the resource exchanges involved, the exchange actor’s different roles and the implications of interactions between the actors. This is conducted through a case study with a market leading warehouse management system vendor and a supply chain intensive customer. The findings indicate that value creation in a complex warehouse management system investment entails several intervened and ongoing processes of different resource exchanges, were the actors co-create value jointly by sharing, combining and utilizing the resources throughout these processes. In order to establish this essential value co-creation sphere, also social exchanges in the form of qualitative interactions between the actors have proven to be a fundamental factor.

Num mercado com crescente competição como o atual, é mister que as empresas façam mais por seus clientes, ou seja, que em essência lhes entreguem mais valor. Para empresas industriais em particular, uma das ações mais comuns é a integração de serviços aos produtos existentes, a fim de oferecer uma solução que atenda às necessidades do cliente. A servitização, termo cunhado para denominar esse modelo de negócios, demanda uma transição organizacional, afinal prestar serviços é diferente de fabricar produtos. Não obstante argumentos em favor, nem sempre a servitização é bem sucedida. Nesta pesquisa, foram examinados os efeitos organizacionais da servitização no mercado editorial brasileiro, mais precisamente no segmento de livros didáticos. O foco recaiu sobre as editoras que criam, produzem e comercializam os livros, bem como sua relação com um de seus maiores clientes: as escolas particulares de ensino fundamental e médio. Usualmente vistas como produtoras de um bem manufaturado o livro e historicamente estruturadas segundo a tradição taylorista, essas editoras têm se reformado na direção de uma organização voltada à criação de conteúdo didático e prestação de serviços às escolas e professores. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo descrever e explicar como têm ocorrido as mudanças organizacionais decorrentes da servitização. Por meio de um estudo de caso múltiplo, coletaram-se evidências empíricas dos obstáculos e/ou facilitadores nesse caminho. Os resultados mostraram evidências de mudanças organizacionais devido à servitização, com destaque para a introdução de novas estruturas organizacionais e políticas de recursos humanos, que possibilitaram um relacionamento mais próximo dos clientes e de suas necessidades. Contudo, ainda há trabalho a fazer, como enfrentar os desafios da crescente digitalização dos conteúdos didáticos e o uso da Internet na distribuição de conteúdos e no relacionamento com os clientes. / In a marketplace with growing competition, it is mandatory that companies do more for their clients, i.e. that they ultimately deliver more value. For manufacturers in particular, one of the most common actions is the integration of services to the existing products, in order to offer a solution that meets customer needs. Servitization, a term coined to describe this business model, demands an organizational transition, given that providing services is different from manufacturing tangible goods. Despite the arguments for servitization, it is not always successful. The research investigated the organizational effects of servitization in the Brazilian publishing industry, specifically the textbook publishing segment. The focus was on publishers who create, produce and market the books, as well as their relationship with one of their major clients: the private Primary and Secondary Education Schools. Usually seen as manufacturers of a tangible good the textbook and historically structured according to the taylorist tradition, these publishers have reformed themselves towards an organization focused on the creation of didactic content and the provision of services to schools and instructors. The present research aimed to describe and explain how organizational changes occurred, due to servitization. A multiple case study was carried out, and empirical evidence was gathered, including the problems and successes on that matter. Results showed evidence of organizational changes due to servitization. Major examples include the introduction of new organizational structures and new human resources policies that enabled a closer relationship with customers and their needs. However there is still work to do, such as facing the challenges of growing digitalization of didactic content, as well as the use of Internet for content distribution and as a means of relationship with customers.

The view of how value is created for customers have increasingly been changing. Especially, it is about how more and more companies have come to realize that they can generate greater value by co-create services together with the customer. The housing company Mimer in Västerås are in some cases experiencing that they do not create enough value for their tenants and the public. This has laid the foundation for this qualitative study, where the purpose is to have conversations with employees and managers to find out whether Mimer has the potential to work with co-creating actions and, if so, explain what it is that suggests that with the help from theories. The empirical data consists of interviews with leaders within Mimer, and also relevant documents that may affect the company's ability to work with co-creation processes. The results of the study show that Mimer in several ways with processes that could be a breeding ground for co-creating actions. / Synen på hur värde skapas för kunder har allt mer kommit att förändras. Framförallt handlar det om hur allt fler företag kommit till insikt med att de kan generera högre värde genom att samskapa tjänster tillsammans med kunden. Bostadsbolaget Mimer i Västerås upplever i vissa fall att de inte skapar tillräckligt värde för deras hyresgäster och allmänheten. Detta har lagt grunden till denna kvalitativa studie, där syftet är att i samtal med medarbetare och ledare ta reda på om Mimer har förutsättningar för att arbeta med samskapande aktioner samt i så fall redogöra med hjälp av teorier vad det är som tyder på detta. Empirin består dels av intervjuer med ledare inom Mimer, och dels av relevanta dokument som kan tänkas påverka eller främja bolagets möjligheter att arbeta med samskapande processer. Resultatet av studien visar att Mimer på flera sätt arbetar med processer som skulle kunna vara en grogrund för samskapande aktioner.

This thesis is about service provider flexibility and how provider flexibility facilitates customer value creation in contexts where customer processes and activities change. Provider flexibility is delineated as a mechanism of value creation and defined as the ability of the service provider to respond to changes or to bring about changes that support its customers’ value creation. Although provider flexibility has been implied as a relevant factor in value creation, previous studies focusing on some kind of provider flexibility would benefit from a deeper understanding of the strategic role that service provider flexibility plays in value creation. The purpose of this study is to provide a framework that explicates the strategic role of provider flexibility in value creation. The role of provider flexibility in the adjustment of the provider’s processes and activities and the development of opportunities based on insights from customer interactions are thus emphasized. Moreover, while these insights from customer interactions can offer valuable development opportunities for the service provider, these opportunities yield returns only with the transfer of the insights back to the service provider’s organization. The research process evolves along five research articles that develop the understanding of the strategic role of provider flexibility in value creation. The study builds on the empirical data from five service organizations of large industrial firms. The empirical insights from the articles are expanded and their conclusions further developed by iteratively and abductively substantiating the research model. The discussion explicates how exercising provider flexibility—in the form of organizational flexibility in the provider sphere, interaction flexibility in the joint sphere, and flexibility in use in the customer sphere—contributes to value creation. Moreover, findings show that the provider and the customer are entwined in a service system surrounding their service relationship. Provider flexibility in this aspect functions not merely as a mechanism of value creation, but also as a carrier of knowledge and information about the customer. Having this dynamics in mind, the provider continues to use provider flexibility to reinvent itself and constantly evolve the organization. This thesis contributes to the literature by providing a framework that explicates the strategic role of provider flexibility in value creation. More specifically, the contributions are: 1) an increased understanding of how provider flexibility in value creation is exercised, placing provider flexibility at the core of the encompassing process of value creation, and thus explicating the manner in which the encompassing process of value creation can unfold; and 2) an increased understanding of the strategic role of the work of part-time marketers by delineating the process of provider flexibility in value creation where different aspects of provider flexibility in value creation are linked. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Accepted. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

This thesis researches the value creation process in Internet based subscription services in accordance with service dominant logic. The aim of the paper is to identify the characteristics of these services and to envisage the future of Internet based subscription services. The authors have utilized a qualitative method in their research which consists of personal interviews as well as a focus group. The main theoretical subjects that are discussed are value creation, customer participation and service dominant logic. The paper analyses the empirical findings by matching them with the theoretical framework. The paper concludes with a discussion and possible implications of this analysis. / Examensarbete, Företagsekonomi III, 2FE60E, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet VT2012. Författare: Carl Mårtensson, Mikael Omberg &amp; Gabriella Sandberg Handledare: Leif Rytting Examinator: Richard Owuso Titel: Internetbaserade abonnemangstjänster – Tillgänglighet, delaktighet och kontroll Bakgrund: Den nya tekniken, Internet och kundernas allt mer ökade önskan och krav på kundanpassning möjliggör för nya tjänsteerbjudanden att utvecklas. Företagen försöker hela tiden att vara innovativa i sättet de utvecklar sina tjänsteerbjudanden för att på så sätt vara konkurrenskraftiga. Samtidigt lägger de också över allt mer ansvar på kunden. Den nya utvecklingen har lett till att kundernas beteende förändrats och att de gått från att vilja äga, exempelvis sin egen musik, till att vilja abonnera. Vi ser i och med detta en ökning av tjänster där kunderna abonnerar för att få tillgång till hela utbudet eller delar av det, till skillnad från att köpa styckevis. Det som intresserat oss i uppsatsen är just sådana tjänster som kunden kan abonnera på över Internet. Forskningsfråga: Vad karaktäriserar värdeskapande inom Internetbaserade abonnemangstjänster och vilken utveckling kan vi förvänta oss av dessa tjänster? Syfte: Vårt syfte med denna uppsats är att skapa förståelse för servicelogik och kundmedverkan inom Internetbaserade abonnemangstjänster samt analysera styrkor och svagheter för dess framtid. Metod: Vi har arbetat med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Primära källor består av fem personliga intervjuer med personer som har expertis inom IT, samt även en fokusgrupp bestående av sex studenter. Uppsatsen kännetecknas av en abduktiv natur, då ett växelspel mellan induktion och deduktion har genomsyrat hela arbetsprocessen. Resultat och slutsatser: Uppsatsen uppfyller sitt syfte och besvarar forskningsfrågan genom att kartlägga de värdeskapande processer som förekommer vid Internetbaserade abonnemangstjänster. Rapporten identifierar att konsumenter finner värde i den utökade kontroll som dessa tjänster kan erbjuda. Internetbaserade abonnemangstjänster har en högre tillgänglighet och konsumenter tillika företag vinner på att veta vad de får och ger på en fast periodbasis. Det servicelogiska perspektivet på uppsatsen fastställer även att kommunikation, anpassningsmöjligheter och kundmedverkan är centrala begrepp i de värdeskapande processerna för dessa tjänster. De Internetbaserade abonnemangstjänsterna produceras och konsumeras även i ett virtuellt servicelandskap, vilkets påverkan och särdrag behandlas. I rapporten efterfrågas fortsatt forskning för abonnemangstjänsters kundnytta.

The digitalization of products has become an important driver for service innovation in manufacturing firms. The embedding of digital technology in previously non-digital products creates digitalized product platforms that enable digital service innovation. Digital service innovation offers new business opportunities for manufacturing industries, as well as challenges established premises for value creation.  While digital service innovation can be found in many manufacturing industries, this thesis studies service logic in digitalized product platforms in the vehicle industry. Existing Information Systems (IS) literature presents challenges in digital service innovation relating to value, architecture, and generativity. The design of the architecture of digitalized product platforms requires the identification and combination of digital and non-digital assets. Understanding the architectural aspects is useful in digital service innovation. Moreover, with growing instances of generative digital technologies, it is challenging to develop strategies to leverage generativity for service design in digitalized product platforms. While digital technologies are embedded in products, the role of technology-embeddedness in value creation of digital services is relatively unexplored. Drawing on these challenges, this thesis describes and conceptualizes the underlying premises brought by the architecture and generativity to the value creation of services in digitalized product platforms. The research question addressed in this thesis is: What are the underlying premises for services in digitalized product platforms? To address the question, an interpretive qualitative research approach was adopted in a collaborative research project concerning services enabled by digitalization of vehicles. Drawing on digital innovation and service literature, this thesis presents a theoretical perspective on the role of the architecture and generativity of digitalized product platforms for value creation of digital services. This perspective is conceptualized as underlying premises for this specific class of services. The premises frame the service logic in digitalized product platforms and provide a ground for understanding services in digitalized product platforms in relation to value dimensions, architecture and generativity. The premises are based on five concepts: value-in-architecture, value-in-connectivity, fundamental asset for value creation, mutual dependence of modular and layered modular assets, and re-evaluation of value propositions. The proposed premises offer a basis for understanding value creation of this class of services, and guidance for manufacturing firms designing digitalized product platforms.