Innovation capabilities in services: a multi-cases approach

Abstract

Through many years, services was perceived as non - innovative and complementary activities, oriented mai nly to produce goods. However, the association between technological advances, the rise of consumer participation in service operations and the emergency of information and communi cation technology systems (ICT) have allowed a proliferation of intermediate activities in the productive s ector alo ng a change in the economic perspective about services. In addition, it is perceived the increased importance of innovation as a source of competitiveness and a way to firms survive through time, which makes the comprehension of the innovation pro cess crucial in order to explain the service economy dynamics. Despite this, innovation in services – including the analysis of firm capabilities – still is a poorly explored subject. Considering the importance of services and innovation for the modern eco nomy and the peculiarities that differentiates services from tangible goods, the present study aims to better understand how innovation takes place on services based on the capabilities approach. This w as done based on the related literature, identifying g aps in the capabilities model and seeking new conceptual insights in the field. Results show that the traditional capabilities framework is limited to explain service’s innovation, as there is many levels of intangibility and non - linearity in services’ off erings. An altered model is suggested based on field’s discoveries, and a set of propositions is made for future research.