Purpose – This paper aims to set up a natural experiment as action research and to develop a framework of cognitive distance of informants to improve the initiation of service encounter-based innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Natural experiment as action research in one Scandinavian...

Banks are known to have stable and long lasting relations with their customers, which is why development of customer relations is a crucial strategic issue in banking. However, a basic problem in banking is that the customer base is heterogeneous, ranging from homogenous segments of customers...

We develop and test a model of innovation behavior in the hotel industry. The model relates four types of innovation--i.e., management, external communication, service scope and back-office--to the key determinants: service provider characteristics, customer competences and the market drivers....

This paper discusses the possible applications of different types of experiment methods in innovation research. The paper argues that the experiment as a research method has been a largely missed opportunity in innovation research, in particular for creating applicable knowledge for businesses...

This paper proposes a model of an attractor-based innovation system for understanding tourism. Key components of the model are the attractor (that which attracts visitors), scene-maker, scene, collaborative networks between tourism and other firms and, finally, the crucial function of the...

This study examines key issues and effects of capability management on a fast-growing area of knowledge-intensive global business services -- IT outsourcing and offshoring. An exploratory study is undertaken of Indian companies providing complex process-oriented offshore IT services to their...

Bringing together concepts from previous research in linguistics, social psychology and service quality, this paper explores new grounds in the pursuit of an approach for studying quality in face-to-face communication in service encounters. Audio and video recordings are used to study...

This paper introduces the concept of a new entrepreneurial role in services that we call the frantrepreneur. This is based on two case studies of the internationalization of two US franchisors, one in temporary services (Sweden) and the other in computer training (Australia). The frantrepreneur...