This qualitative research is a contribution to the ongoing debate among marketing researchers regarding if there is a dominant paradigm and viewpoint of marketing and which one is the most appropriate. In this study current views of marketing are identified and then compared against the older Goods-Dominant Logic of Marketing and Vargos’ and Luschs’ alternative Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing. The trends that have been observed are situated in the framework of Thomas S. Kuhn’s philosophy of science. The aim has been to make an analysis about which stage marketing is in its scientific revolution today. Kuhn’s philosophy has, as far as we know, never been examined with the chosen methodology. Further it has not been applied onto a social science either. The conclusion that has been drawn in the thesis is that marketing is dealing with anomalies at this moment. Therefore it is in a stage of crisis in its scientific revolution. Hence there is not a dominant paradigm in marketing currently. / Bakgrunden till uppsatsen är den debatt vilken pågått under snart 20 år fram till dags dato mellan marknadsföringsforskare gällande vilket grundläggande synsätt som vetenskapen bör ha. Forskning visar på att marknadsföringsdisciplinen under lång tid präglats av ett varucentrerat synsätt som har sitt ursprung i nationalekonomin. I debatten tydliggör forskarna för de brister som de finner med det varucentrerade synsättet och särskilt gällande det förhållningssätt synsättet har till service och tjänster. Undersökningen har sin utgångspunkt i den fråga några forskare ställer sig gällande om ett paradigmskifte kan vara på gång inom marknadsföringsdisciplinen. Frågan ställer vi mot det alternativa synsätt Stephen Vargo och Robert Lusch utvecklat. De är inte de enda forskare som utvecklat alternativa synsätt men deras utmärker sig på två sätt. Dels genom att service istället för varor är grundstenen i synsättet dels den aggregerade nivån på deras resonemang. Vi ställer oss frågan vilket som är det rådande paradigmet inom marknadsföringsdisciplinen idag. Är det Vargos och Luschs nya servicecentrerade synsätt Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic of Marketing, eller det äldre varucentrerade som de benämner Goods-Dominant (G-D) Logic of Marketing? Eller kanske något annat? Frågeställningen ställs utifrån Thomas S. Kuhns vetenskapsfilosofi vari paradigm är det mest centrala begreppet. Vidare syftar vi till att påvisa i vilken av faserna i den vetenskapliga revolution som marknadsföringsdisciplinen är i idag. Undersökningen har främst en deduktiv ansats, där grunden utgörs av en omfattande litteraturstudie. Kuhns vetenskapsfilosofi och alla de faser som ingår i den vetenskapliga utvecklingen som han kallar för vetenskapliga revolutioner fungerar som en metateori. Vidare redogörs det även för de karakteristiska dragen i G-D Logic och S-D Logic. Metodvalet är kvalitativt då vi syftar till att ge en ögonblicksbild av rådande synsätt vilket stämmer väl överens med kvalitativa metoders styrkor. Tio informanter inom urvalet intervjuades rörande deras synsätt kring områden som marknadsföringsämnet består av. Analysen byggs sedan upp i två steg. Informanternas svar analyseras utifrån G-D Logic och S-D Logic för att se om informanternas synsätt omfattas av dem eller om något annat synsätt är tydligt. De tendenser vi finner i informanternas synsätt analyserar vi sedan utifrån Kuhns vetenskapsfilosofi. Därefter var det möjligt att dra slutsatsen att marknadsföringsdisciplinen idag befinner sig i den vetenskapliga fasen kris som karakteriseras av anomalier. Vidare är inget synsätt dominant idag. Undersökningen har främst två målgrupper. Dels forskare inom marknadsföringsämnet där vi bidrar till den rådande debatten. Dels till andra samhällsvetenskapliga discipliner. Vi har inte kunnat finna att Kuhns filosofi har testas inom samhällsvetenskapen tidigare. Därigenom kommer undersökningen också med ett metodologiskt bidrag.

Pre-sale activities of buying and post-sale activities of use are separated by time and judged in two time-place forms. Exchange value being one kind of judgment of desirability, separate from use value. However, traditionally marketing has not fully captured the co-creation of value in use, or therefore, how it affects the perceived value of the offering at purchase. The separation of purchase and use has been shown to create buyer uncertainty at the point of purchase about the future value created in use. Consider the decision to buy a service support contract for capital equipment in which the act and experience of use could continue for up to ten years after the decision to buy. At purchase, buyers may not be certain about the future state of use, i.e. whether or not equipment will fail, or indeed how the service will perform in the event of failure. While uncertainty about the state of use will continue across time, it has been argued uncertainty about how the service will perform may be resolved through repeat use or interaction. Through an exploratory case and a web-based survey of 95 organisational buyers of Product Service Systems (PSS) in capital equipment markets, this thesis finds customer-provider co-capability, which facilitates service performance in use, mediates the customer’s perceived risk of re-purchasing. As a result, this thesis makes a contribution to B2B marketing in identifying how value of the offering at purchase is affected by future customer-provider co-capability in use.

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.

Service quality and customer satisfaction are becoming increasingly important in today‟s business environment which is characterised by fierce competition between the service providers. In this regard it is very imperative that companies assess themselves by measuring service quality. Consequently, areas of the service with low service quality would be identified and improved. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the effectiveness of SERVQUAL in measuring service quality and reveals the positive impact technology has on customer satisfaction in public transportation. To do this, we developed a questionnaire within the framework of the SERVQUAL dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangible. With a scale of 1 to 7, respondents of our questionnaire who are users and customers of the public bus companies; Karlstad city bus which we labelled business level 1(B1) and intercity buses like Swebus and Värmland Trafik which we labelled business level 2 (B2) were able to evaluate the service quality of these companies by grading them. Based on the results of our research in which we asked respondents to mention some of the areas of the service process in which they had encountered unfavourable service experiences, we were able to determine the areas of the service process from which the customer complaints came from. We compared these results with the customer complaints received by the management of the public Bus Company and noticed that they were similar. Majority emerged from areas of the service process whereby the customer came in contact with the employees or the service failure could be directly associated with the employee. After comparing these complaints with the results of questions in our questionnaire developed within the framework of the SERVQUAL dimensions, we noticed that those questions with larger GAP 5 implying lower service quality were actually a reflection of the areas of the service process from which customer complaints came from. In this regard, we were able to conclude that SERVQUAL was effective in measuring the service quality in public transportation. In addition, we ranked the questions in the questionnaire and noticed that those areas of the service process whereby the employees and the customers interact (come in contact) or whose service failure can be directly associated with an employee had low grades and ranked below the mean and median of all the questions in the various dimensions, whereas those areas of the service process where technology is used or customers had the opportunity to make use of Self Service Technology ranked above the mean and median. This was a clear indication that technology is a service quality driver and positively impacted customer satisfaction in public transportation.

Tjänstelogiskt perspektiv, systemtänkande och organisatoriskt lärande främjar innovation i organisationer. Utmaningen är att ta reda på användarens behov och välja en anpassad organisatorisk struktur som metod för att skapa värde. Grunden är att öka bredden och djupet på lärandet i organisationen för ökad flexibilitet. Konsten är att välja och implementera främjande perspektiv. Studiens undersökning utgår från ett tjänstelogiskt perspektiv för att förstå användarnas behov i ett mindre problem. I studien diskuteras ett ramverk att förbättra innovationsmiljön på ett socialkontor i mellersta Sverige. Metoden är inspirerad av aktionsforskning. Nio intervjuer genomfördes i syfte att skapa förförståelse för användarnas behov. En transparent kommunikation med uppdragsgivarna hölls frekvent i syfte att öka medvetenhet för nya metoder och perspektiv. Författarna höll en workshop med åtta deltagare i syfte att skapa en gemensam mental modell, transparens mellan enheter som är beroende och för att låta författarnas problembild valideras. En slutpresentation hölls inför ledningsgruppen i syftet deltagarvalidering. Resultatet visar att det standardiserade IT-systemet skapar en komplex manuell administration. IT- utvecklare och enhetschefer upplever att integrationen mellan systemen brister. Medarbetarnas involvering är inte tillräcklig och kommunikationen brister i viktig detaljerad information mellan enheterna. / Service logic perspective, systems thinking and organizational learning promotes innovation in organizations. The challenge is to find out the users’ needs and to select a custom organizational structure as a method to create value. The foundation is to increase the breadth and depth of learning in the organization for increased flexibility. The trick is to select and implement promotion perspective. The study's survey is based on a service logic perspective to understand the needs of users in a minor problem. There is a discussion in this study of a framework to improve the innovation environment in a social office in central Sweden. The method is inspired by action research. Nine interviews were conducted in order to create pre-understanding of user needs. A transparent communication with clients held over time in order to increase awareness and understanding of different approaches and perspectives. The authors held a workshop with eight participants in order to create a shared mental model, transparency between entities that are dependent and to allow authors problem scenario validated. A final presentation was held for the management team for the purpose of a respondent validation. The results show that the standardized IT- system creates a complex manual administration. IT- developers and unit managers feel that the integration between the systems has flaws. Employee involvement is not sufficient and communication gaps in important detailed information between entities.

<p>With marketing concept being maturely developed, many firms are encouraged being customer-oriented. However, as firms pursue advanced technology development which is in order to meet customers’ various needs and being competitive, the furious competition of products innovation and development is raising which leads to time and people consuming blindly for firms, and the space of being competitive is condensed. In such case, a new logic is advocated which is to ask firms to lay down the separated line with consumers, and start to consider about interaction with consumers and other value network entities, it is time to get rid of single side supply and to advocate two side collaborate. This paper argue the customer orientation should be reconsidered with transmitting into service-dominant logic, through demonstrating from several primary theory foundation, it argued that interaction and collaboration of manufacturing companies and consumers is a new features for firms to find another outlet to being competitive. Even though this mindset is not prevail, it has already started in IT sector, and gradually it will expand to others, because information technology is seen as a good facilities for interaction between companies and consumers, it will be reflected in further practical study.</p>

The customer’s role as a co-creator of value is an essential element in the service-dominant (S-D) logic, highlighting the importance for firms to develop relationships with customers through dialogue. By providing feedback customers become co-developers, and help create a competitive advantage. Moreover, the Internet offers an abundance of digital channels for dialogue. Payne et al (2008) have developed a framework for value co-creation, which in this paper is adapted to communication in digital channels, focusing on a company perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate how companies in the Swedish telecommunication industry use digital channels, including social media, for value co-creation with customers. To enable this a case study is conducted with three network operators. The data collection consists of several interviews. Findings indicate that the companies are indeed customer-centric in their offerings, and that communication and feedback in digital channels are of strategic importance. Furthermore, changes in technology, industry logics and customer preferences offer opportunities as well as challenges. Another challenge lies in finding suitable metrics and in knowledge management. The concept of lead users is presented as a potential resource. It is concluded that communication in digital channels enhances the features of the S-D logic.

Service science is an emerging multidisciplinary field concerned with the study of service systems and value co-creation. In recent years, the field has expanded considerably, growing to encompass a community of researchers and practitioners from a range of backgrounds and knowledge domains. However, very little research has focused on the study of service systems within the context of social-purpose organizations (SPOs), such as a nonprofit charitable organization or academic institution. We contend that SPOs represent a class of service systems that are understudied in service science, and the goal of this thesis was to contribute to the ongoing development of the disciplines theoretical foundations through an empirical study of a special type of SPO, the social enterprise. Through case-study research we surveyed five social enterprise organizations across Canada. Our findings point to a number of areas that suggest a conceptual bias towards service systems that are economically motivated and profit driven.

Service science is an emerging multidisciplinary field concerned with the study of service systems and value co-creation. In recent years, the field has expanded considerably, growing to encompass a community of researchers and practitioners from a range of backgrounds and knowledge domains. However, very little research has focused on the study of service systems within the context of social-purpose organizations (SPOs), such as a nonprofit charitable organization or academic institution. We contend that SPOs represent a class of service systems that are understudied in service science, and the goal of this thesis was to contribute to the ongoing development of the disciplines theoretical foundations through an empirical study of a special type of SPO, the social enterprise. Through case-study research we surveyed five social enterprise organizations across Canada. Our findings point to a number of areas that suggest a conceptual bias towards service systems that are economically motivated and profit driven.

För att på ett effektivt sätt uppnå konkurrensfördelar på dagens marknad krävs det att företag finner nya strategier för att bli konkurrenskraftiga, en strategi är att verka på en eftermarknad. Företagskunder utgör en mindre marknad och beroendet mellan parterna är större (jämfört med privatkunder) påvisar detta att relationen är en viktig del i en B2B-miljö. Service-Dominant logic (S-D logic) beskriver hur ett paradigmskifte sker där kunden betraktas som värdefullt humankapital och företag vinner konkurrensfördelar genom långsiktiga relationer, värdeskapande tillsammans med kund och utbyte av kunskap genom interaktivt processarbete. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka på vilka sätt företaget Komatsu Forest kan vinna konkurrensfördelar genom att implementera S-D logic. De strategier vi testar är front-line employee (FLE) – personal med kundkontakt, butikslandskapet, varumärket och den interna kommunikationen. Studien baseras på kvantitativa studier med en kompletterande kvalitativ studie. För att undersöka vilka strategier som kan användas inom denna bransch har vi studerat samband mellan de olika strategierna samt hur de kan användas som verktyg för att vinna konkurrensfördelar genom S-D logic.             Studien visar att de strategier vi undersökt är sammankopplade med varandra där resultatet kan delas upp i fundamentala, lönsamma och stöttande åtgärder. De fundamentala strategierna för att implementera S-D logic innebär att Komatsu Forest bör arbeta tvärfunktionellt inom organisationen och involvera kunden i värdeskapandet samt att personal lär och delar med sig av information med varandra. Vidare är det av vikt att ta tillvara på medarbetarnas spetskompetenser och därmed fokusera på specialisering av kunskap. För att vinna konkurrensfördelar på marknaden är det av yttersta vikt att värdera humankapitalet, både kunder och medarbetare.   De lönsamma strategiska åtgärderna innefattar att fokusera på mervärde för kund istället för merförsäljning där fokus är att möta kundens behov. Varumärket är en primär del i den lönsamma strategin då kundens varumärkestillhörighet förenklar kundens köpprocess vilket i sin tur leder till att kunden känner en stolthet att använda Komatsu Forest’s produkter och resulterar i återkommande köp. FLE är en primär del i den säljande åtgärden då dessa innehar kundkontakt samt att de av kunderna anses vara tydliga varumärkesbärare. Genom att FLE tillges rätt verktyg och stöd kan de involvera kunden, dokumentera och följa upp individuella kundbehov. Slutligen visar studien att butiksmiljön är en stöttande åtgärd då den inte direkt är av betydelse för kunden men påverkar personalen som vistas i miljön.