Aspara Jaakko, Klein Jan F, Luo Xueming, Tikkanen Henrikki
Department of Marketing, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland.
Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
J Serv Res. 2018 May;21(2):249-262. doi: 10.1177/1094670517738368. Epub 2017 Nov 9.
We conduct a systematic exploratory investigation of the effects of firms' existing service productivity on the success of their new service innovations. Although previous research extensively addresses service productivity and service innovation, this is the first empirical study that bridges the gap between these two research streams and examines the links between the two concepts. Based on a comprehensive data set of new service introductions in a financial services market over a 14-year period, we empirically explore the relationship between a firm's existing service productivity and the firm's success in introducing new services to the market. The results unveil a fundamental service productivity-service innovation dilemma: Being productive in existing services increases a firm's willingness to innovate new services proactively but decreases the firm's capabilities of bringing these services to the market successfully. We provide specific insights into the mechanism underlying the complex relationship between a firm's productivity in existing services, its innovation proactivity, and its service innovation success. For managers, we not only unpack and elucidate this dilemma but also demonstrate that a focused customer scope and growth market conditions may enable firms to mitigate the dilemma and successfully pursue service productivity and service innovation simultaneously.
我们对企业现有服务生产率对其新服务创新成功的影响进行了系统的探索性研究。尽管先前的研究广泛涉及服务生产率和服务创新，但这是第一项弥合这两个研究领域之间差距并检验这两个概念之间联系的实证研究。基于一个涵盖14年期间金融服务市场新服务推出情况的综合数据集，我们实证探索了企业现有服务生产率与企业成功向市场推出新服务之间的关系。结果揭示了一个基本的服务生产率 - 服务创新困境：在现有服务中提高生产率会增加企业积极创新新服务的意愿，但会降低企业将这些服务成功推向市场的能力。我们对企业现有服务生产率、创新积极性及其服务创新成功之间复杂关系背后的机制提供了具体见解。对于管理者而言，我们不仅剖析并阐明了这一困境，还表明聚焦的客户范围和增长的市场条件可能使企业减轻这一困境，并同时成功追求服务生产率和服务创新。
