A scaling up framework for innovative service ecosystems: lessons from Eataly and KidZania
ISSN: 1757-5818
Article publication date: 18 December 2017
Issue publication date: 1 February 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore why innovative service ecosystems scale up, using a service-dominant logic lens. The focus is on identifying the key drivers of the scaling-up process as the basis for a new conceptual framework on the scaling up of service innovations.
Design/methodology/approach
An inductive research design is used to zoom in on two innovative service ecosystems, Eataly and KidZania, to identify the key drivers that can explain why innovations scale up. For both companies, the triangulation of semi-structured interviews, archival sources and in-store observations is used as complementary data sets. Multiple investigators and multiple coders have been involved in the data collection, coding process and analysis.
Findings
An extended conceptualization of service innovation is obtained, grounded in a framework of four drivers of scaling up: effectuation as the basis for creating the value proposition; sensing and adapting to local contexts; the reconfiguration and alignment of resources and forms for collaboration between actors; and values’ resonance.
Originality/value
This study represents one of the first empirical investigations of the key drivers of the scaling up process of service innovations. The paper contributes with a conceptualization of service innovation and why scaling-up processes emerge, emphasizing the existence of multiple constellations of four drivers.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Eataly and KidZania’s managerial teams for their support during the data collection phase and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the paper. Javier Reynoso would like to acknowledge Karla Cabrera, Senior Researcher for supporting the preparation of this paper.
Citation
Di Pietro, L., Edvardsson, B., Reynoso, J., Renzi, M.F., Toni, M. and Guglielmetti Mugion, R. (2018), "A scaling up framework for innovative service ecosystems: lessons from Eataly and KidZania", Journal of Service Management, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 146-175. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-02-2017-0054
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited