Service development in small companies: a communication and learning process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of how individually designed services are actually developed in small companies. Design/methodology/approach – This study focuses on a small number of enterprises over a relatively long period. The study has been using a qualitative method based on repeated interviews. Findings – The findings in this study show that there is no such thing as formal and/or structured development processes within the companies that were studied. The development process is more focused on how to, in an informal way, get hold of knowledge and other resources that are needed in order to create the new service. The development process can therefore be described as an intellectual and interactive process that involves cooperation within and between a changing set of actors and intervening parties, who all strive to create the knowledge that is needed in order to form new service offerings. Originality/value – The main contribution of this study is to bring new perspectives into the service development area, and thereby highlight other aspects that the traditional service development literature has been focusing on, i.e. intra-organisation service development.