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The purpose of this paper is to offer an integrative model of foreign market learning, including different learning processes, antecedents and outcomes.

The paper makes a critical review of the relevant literature, drawing on a keywords-based search of three major databases and a range of other published work for a broader perspective on the subject.

The resulting integrative model shows in a number of ways how companies can learn and benefit from differences in foreign markets and what results this can lead to.

The sample of subject-specific contributions to the literature may have been insufficient, and a wider selection of keywords to identify them might have captured a richer variety of concepts and opinions.

The integrative model contributes to the literature on foreign market learning and innovation and serves as a basis for future studies and current management strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the subject-specific literature on service and flexibility and derive a conceptualization of the linkages between provider flexibility and customers’ value creation.

The authors analyze existing perspectives on service and flexibility and propose linkages between provider flexibility and customer value creation.

Drawing on the service logic literature, and utilizing real-world examples, this paper advances propositions and a conceptual model of how flexibility can contribute to value creation.

This paper establishes the basis for a practical and applicable flexibility perspective on value creation. It is particularly important for service-oriented providers and other firms operating in dynamic contexts.

The propositions and conceptual model offer suggestions on the manner in which provider flexibility contributes to customer value creation. Contextual influences that moderate provider flexibility in value creation are also included.

This paper contributes a novel perspective on service, which may serve as the starting point for the development of a more formal flexibility perspective on value creation.

Previous studies on innovation tend to view innovation as consisting of a creative phase of novel and useful ideas, and a non-creative, or at least a less creative phase, as this considered to be the mere implementation and validation of the initially created ideas. In contrast, this paper aims to stress on the significance of the process of validating a new idea as being a creative, learning, exploratory process that shapes the degree of novelty of the innovation as a whole.

In driving this argument, this study deductively builds on a theoretical pre-understanding derived from extant literature related to management innovation and organizational legitimacy, and inductively draws on information gleaned from three in-depth case studies.

The study shows that the validation phase in the innovation process is a creative process, rather than just being a set of activities that relate to the mere execution of the created ideas. Viewing the validation process as an exploratory search for new knowledge, this study establishes a relationship between the form of knowledge mobilized, vertically within an organization or horizontally from outside, and the form of legitimation required. Validation based on internally generated knowledge is effective in terms of achieving pragmatic (efficiency-driven) objectives. Inter-organizational knowledge inflows are associated with cognitive legitimacy – a form of legitimacy that leads to changes in the stakeholders’ beliefs about a the product. In contradistinction, horizontal, socio–cultural inflows of knowledge are likely to improve on the product itself, thereby generating more traction for validation.

This research is based on data collected from three firms only.

The idea developed here can provide business organizations a better understanding of the validation process of management innovations. This study suggests that successful innovation often requires managers to be prepared to seek knowledge beyond the confines of their own organizations.

This study contributes in three ways: it submits that there is a dynamic interplay between the moments of creation and validation, which is largely shaped by the novelty of the mobilized knowledge, depending on whether it is internal top–down or external horizontal; relatedly, the effectiveness of validation is shaped by the novelty of the knowledge garnered to justify the initial ideas; and the present paper has extended Suchman’s (1995) framework by linking the effectiveness of the various forms of legitimacy to the source of knowledge mobilized in the validation process.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute a framework that explains how value is formed during the usage of immersive technologies in industrial contexts.

Drawing on activity theory and a customer-dominant logic, the authors tentatively develop an activity-centric framework for value formation enabled by physical and mental activities conducted by users of immersive technologies. The authors evaluate the framework through a case study focusing on the use of virtual reality (VR) in an industrial setting.

The findings from the case study illustrate the tentative framework and specify how it is enacted by users in the studied context through three physical activities constituted by a set of actions and reflected in five emotional responses.

Both researchers and practitioners may use the framework presented in this paper as a guide for further academic and practical developments concerning the value of immersive technologies such as VR and augmented reality.

The activity-centric framework contributes a novel perspective to the literature on value formation enabled by immersive technologies.

The research on effects of outsourcing tends to focus on financial effects and effects at a country level. These are not the only consequences of outsourcing, though. When firms outsource functions previously performed in‐house, they risk losing important competencies, knowledge, skills, relationships, and possibilities for creative renewal. Such non‐financial consequences are poorly addressed in the literature, even though they may explain financial effects of outsourcing. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop a model that enables the study of non‐financial consequences of outsourcing.

Based on a review of the literature on interdependencies between organizational functions, a main proposition is developed: given that savings gained from outsourcing are not reinvested in the organization, outsourcing of any function will negatively impact the capabilities of that and other functions in the organization. This proposition is broken down into sub‐propositions, which are tested through a focus group study. Respondents include purchasing professionals with experience from best practice outsourcing.

The initial proposition is developed through identification of variables mediating the proposed negative consequences of outsourcing. Mediating variables are broken down into four categories: variables relating to the outsourcer, the outsourcee, the relationship between the parties, and the context.

By developing a model for the study of non‐financial consequences of outsourcing, this paper takes a step towards opening up an important avenue for future research.

This paper contributes to the outsourcing field by not only considering non‐financial effects, but also by drawing on examples of best practice outsourcing to identify ways in which potentially negative consequences of outsourcing may be managed.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical analysis of the literature of solutions offerings; to provide a new conceptual framework, incorporating dimensions that can distinguish between different kinds of solutions and connect their different characteristics.

The paper takes a critical review of the relevant literature, 28 contributions being identified in a search of three major databases and a range of other published work for the broader perspective, illustrated by real‐world examples.

There is no unanimous and rigorous definition of solutions, but rather a number of often broad and generic descriptions that could be applied to a wide array of different offerings, if not generically.

The sample of subject‐specific contributions to the literature may not have been sufficient, and a wider selection of keywords to identify them might have captured a richer variety of concepts and opinions.

This structured and critical review contributes to the literature on services and solutions, by developing a conceptual framework as a basis for future studies and current management strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies for visualizing the value of service‐based offerings in a B2B context. By taking a process perspective on the offering life cycle, this paper also aims at distinguishing which visualization strategies are most appropriate using at which life‐cycle stages.

The study employed a qualitative, multiple‐case study research design involving five manufacturing firms.

Primary findings are that firms need to make use of several different visualization strategies depending on, among other things, the key stakeholders and also where the firm's offering is currently positioned in the service‐based offering life cycle.

While the empirical data is from only one sector – i.e. manufacturing – managers from other B2B sectors should have an interest in the results and the key aspects identified. Further research could also establish linkages to performance metrics.

Visualization strategies have been relatively rarely studied from a B2B perspective, and the process dimension, especially, is novel.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the risks for manufacturing companies of extending their traditional goods offerings by the addition of different kinds of services.

The study develops a conceptual framework of nine propositions (and corresponding diagrammatic representations) of the relationships between: three kinds of risk (operational, strategic, and financial); and three strategies for the provision of added service (customisation, bundling, and broadening the range of offerings). This conceptual framework is examined empirically by qualitative analysis of data gathered in a three‐year longitudinal study of managerial representatives from nine multinational manufacturing firms engaged in the addition of services to their traditional goods offerings.

It was found that eight of the nine propositions are fully supported, and one receives equivocal support. In addition, several contextual factors are identified as moderating influences on the relationships between the three categories of service offering and the three classes of risk.

The study provides an original conceptual framework and nine research propositions that represent a useful starting point for the development of a formal theory of the risks of providing services.

The conceptual framework provides guidance for managers' assessments of the risks accompanying the infusion of added services to the traditional goods offerings of manufacturing companies.

The paper provides a novel conceptualisation of service innovation and attendant risk.

Describes challenges and problems of outsourcing services at firms that are also adopting service logic and, based on an empirical study, provides lessons regarding how they can be managed.

One in‐depth longitudinal study of a leading systems provider has been carried out and data from between 1997 and 2003 has been utilised, consisting of 92 interviews, documents, and insider observations. Over 20 outsourcing projects were studied and the analysis was conducted both for the individual projects and across the different projects, in an iterative cycle back and forth between data on different levels and between data and theory. The aim was to search for patterns in the observed processes and glean lessons related to the outsourcing of services on an organisational level.

Based on a literature review, three outsourcing challenges and how they should be managed are presented: the internal change challenge, the strategy formation challenge, and the customer‐relationship challenge. Four selected project stories are then presented; illustrating empirically how the outsourcing challenges can be managed. The project stories illustrate how difficult it can be to select a detailed sourcing strategy and implement it in a linear fashion.

Three main lessons learned during the research are described. First, the change process should be iterative and interactive. Second, all outsourcing and partnering initiatives should be coordinated. Third, the customer‐relationship should be nurtured during the outsourcing process.

An unusual in‐depth study of the process and challenges of outsourcing product services at an industrial firm; providing rich illustrations and empirically‐based advice regarding how the challenges of outsourcing can be managed.