Innovation capabilities in services: a multi-cases approach

Abstract

Purpose Considering the importance of services and innovation for the modern economy and the peculiarities that differentiate services from tangible goods, the purpose of this paper is to better understand how, based on the capabilities approach, innovation takes place in services. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative multi-case study was conducted in five instances of innovation in the fitness market, using a semi-structured questionnaire as devised in Zawislak et al. (2014). Findings The results show that the traditional capabilities framework is limited in explaining service innovation, as there are many levels of intangibility and non-linearity in service provision. Cases show that it is not possible to think of capabilities linearly in the service context. The authors propose that capabilities overlap, and the results show that this is a more accurate way of describing service dynamics. An alternative framework is suggested based on field findings, and a set of propositions are made for future research. Originality/value For many years, services were perceived as non-innovative, complementary activities, geared mainly towards the production of goods. The value of this study is to investigate a topic (innovation) that is widely studied in the industrial sector in a service context, contributing to a largely unexplored field.