Within this paper we explore transition paths firms can take to become product service system (PSS) innovators. Applying the dynamic capability approach we study how three firms have developed PSS innovations in the mobility sector (Car2Go by Daimler AG, Connect by Hertz by The Hertz...

With this paper we aim to contribute to the discussion about the difficulties that occur when trading technical knowledge and particularly patents. Currently one can observe that markets for technology have been sizable growing, transaction obstacles are still immanent and technology market...

In this study we research user integration in the German service industry. Goal is to explore the industrial practice with regard to four dimensions of user integration, i.e., why, whom, how, and how successful the service industry integrates to find novel service ideas. Data is collected from a...

Motivation of this paper is to discuss that the open source model of innovation does not only seem practical in the software industry, but also in various other industrial contexts. We develop the concept of Open Source Innovation (OSI) as a generalisation of the open source model of software...

Companies are starting to recognize the need to build a virtual community. They want to achieve a brought range of goals but face different, more demanding requirements when building a virtual community than do other providers. To give companies a guideline on how to establish their own virtual...

There is an increasing number of researchers conducting empirical and theoretical investigations to better understand innovation and protection activities of service companies. In fact, previous analyses reveal that the protection topic is difficult to study, particularly when using traditional...

During recent years the management of Intellectual Property (IP) underwent major changes. IP management systems became increasingly complex nowadays actively handling an integrated mix of intellectual assets rather than just "administrating" patents or trademarks as single, independently treated...

When organizing international market introductions multinational companies face coordination problems between the leading central organizational unit and local product management. Based on the assumption that international market introductions are initiated and managed by a central unit we...

Aging populations challenge companies across different countries and industries to respond to the changing needs, demands and expectations of their growing shares of older customers. This opens room for improving or developing innovations – products as well as services – that correspond to...