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Implementing servitization requires collaborative efforts from multiple actors in the business network or ecosystem. A multi-actor perspective is considered valuable for understanding the process of servitization. This study aims to review the contemporary research on organizing servitization by multi-actor collaborations.

The approach of systematic literature review was used. In total, 90 English-language journal articles published from 2004 to 2021 were selected based on a series of rigorous steps. Furthermore, descriptive and thematic analyses were conducted to answer the predefined review questions.

The servitization research from the multi-actor collaboration perspective is an infant field yet growing increasingly. An integrative framework was proposed to reveal the extant related studies. In this framework, three typical servitization lenses emphasizing multi-actor collaborations were uncovered. Moreover, six categories of influence factors and possible positive and negative outcomes for this process were identified. Existing knowledge gaps and underlying research directions were also discussed to lay the foundations for future research.

This research has been limited by the usage of single database, rigorous selection criteria by the Academic Journal Guide (AJG 2018) list and exclusion of non-English papers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the earliest systematic literature reviews to explore the servitization issues by adopting a multi-actor perspective. The findings can consolidate the knowledge base of servitization and provide implications for the multiple fields of industrial marketing, operational management, information management and service marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic process of multi-actor engagement by examining how it evolves and spreads in actor networks. The authors challenge the dyadic perspective adopted by previous research.

An abductive theorizing approach uses a longitudinal case study to develop a theoretical framework of the iterative process of multi-actor engagement. The authors draw on the contemporary literature on engagement, service-dominant logic and value propositions.

The research shows that engagement conditions, via actors’ appraisals, lead to engagement properties and result in engagement outcomes as the new conditions for the next iteration. Changes within this multi-actor engagement process lead the network to evolve over time.

The authors highlight the importance of adopting a dynamic multi-actor perspective of engagement and provide foundations for further research. The use of longitudinal methods that focus on the groups of actors in the evolving network is a key consideration.

There is the need to understand and measure the dynamic process of engagement among different groups of actors within networks in the service context.

This is the first empirical study to explore the dynamics of engagement among multiple actors in the network. This leads to the expansion of Storbacka et al.’s (2016) conceptual work by identifying the iterative nature of the multi-actor engagement process, and new components in the process (i.e. actors’ connections, value propositions and engagement outcomes), as well as clarifying existing ones (e.g. engagement properties and actors’ appraisals).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate selling actors in multi-actor sales ecosystems. When selling actors start taking over tasks that were formerly performed by salespeople, the distribution of tasks, allocation of responsibilities and finally the role of the salespeople changes. However, little is known about salespersons’ perceptions of selling actors’ identities and participation behavior in multi-actor sales ecosystems.

The authors conducted a World Café, a new qualitative method to the field of sales research, to obtain first data on selling actor identities in multi-actor sales ecosystems. Salespeople, who had the chance to observe and interact with more than 98,000 selling actors, disclosed their perceptions of selling actors’ participation behavior in a multi-actor sales ecosystem. Four different data sources were analyzed using qualitative content analysis to develop a comprehensive understanding of the topic and to test validity through the convergence of information from different sources.

Using identity theory, a salesperson–selling actor relationship/behavior typology for multi-actor sales ecosystems was developed. Eight different selling actor identities were identified: avoider, observer, receptive actor, prepper, expecter, savvy actor, challenger and coworker.

The typology provides researchers and managers with a tool to better understand and evaluate sales ecosystems. This knowledge can be used as a starting point for the reassessment of the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for salespeople in multi-actor sales ecosystems and to improve their training and coaching. The firsthand experiences reported by the participants of the World Café enable salespeople to identify different selling actors faster and prepare fitting approaches for all selling actor identities.

This study aims to present a state-of-the-art review pertaining to the topic of multi-actor innovation in the music industry. Because of the changing nature of the marketing paradigm from product dominant to service dominant, as well as the emerging paradigm of open, collaborative and co-innovation, this study attempts to integrate and map the previous papers that have examined the concept of multi-actor innovation in the context of the music industry.

A systematic review is carried out to produce the analysis. Various scholarly articles from well-known databases are taken into considerations in this study. These papers are then classified based on the types of innovation, category and sub-category of innovation, value capture and value creation, as well as its general characteristics. This classification is primarily aimed at mapping the development of previous studies in the current field and examining the current research gaps to propose future research agendas.

Previous researchers have shown that innovation concepts have been developed into various streams, namely, closed, open, collaborative and co-innovation. In addition to this point, the debates regarding the consumers’ roles in the market have pinpointed that innovation also calls for more participative forms rather than isolated. Nevertheless, discussions that pertain to open, collaborative and co-innovation in the context of the music business, have still been lacking and, therefore, demand more explanations.

This study is the first to present the topic of multi-actor innovation in the music business to the scholarly literature. Based on the review carried out in this study, scholars that are particularly interested in the field of open, collaborative and co-innovation within the context of the music industry can comprehend the development of previous discussions and, therefore, justify future research agendas.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how value co-creation in the Indonesian Organic Community overcomes the resource limitations of small enterprises through the integration of collective resources to drive innovation. A framework is derived and developed from service-dominant logic (SDL) and supported by consumer culture theory (CCT). It also offers a specific strategy that is required for the growth and sustainability of the organic-products entrepreneurship.

Applied thematic analysis was performed by combining observation and in-depth interviews to multi-actors in the community.

The result shows that a collaboration network with external actors and the dynamic interaction within the community drive resource integration forming value co-creation platform and lead to innovation in product, process, marketing and organization.

A combination of SDL and CCT provides a new marketing perspective of value co-creation concept. SDL offers an understanding of multi-actor value co-creation that is built from the knowledge and skills-based resources. CCT unveils the roles of the community in developing the positive perception of organic products in the market ecosystem.

The 2008 Crash (the Crash) has been attributed to the dominance of financialized corporate governance, particularly an increased shareholder value rhetoric. Following the Crash, this extreme narrative is understood to have become less financialized through increasingly favouring stakeholders. The purpose of this research is to investigate this often-accepted view using field theory, wherein managers' biases in the value-creating process result from an interconnected, dynamic, multi-actor discourse.

Various domains across the UK’s corporate governance environment, from the perspective of field theory, generate the complex discourse: corporate and regulatory domains, stakeholder organizations such as the press and think tanks. Domain-specific corpora, representative of this multi-actor field, were constructed, with financialization analysed by assessing managers’ altering biases concerning the relative importance of shareholders and stakeholders (amongst other factors like time horizon) to value creation.

Highlights of the multiple findings include the following: corporate narrative about value creation became less financialized following the Crash, yet favouring shareholders, while the multi-actor discourse for the UK economy as a whole became slightly more financialized.

Analysing a multi-actor discourse is complex. And this, to the best of the author’s knowledge, is the first study of its kind, and only made possible with the original methodology of narrative staining. The approach, while having particular relevance to field theory, is applicable to many other narrative-based research scenarios.

This paper aims to explore how tensions and alignments between different actors’ needs in a transformative services network affect balanced centricity, which is an indicator of well-being. Balanced centricity describes a situation in which all network actors’ interests and needs are fulfilled simultaneously. In such cases, all actors are better off, which increases both individual actors’ and overall actor-network well-being.

The empirical study takes place in nursing homes in which in-bed baths represent co-created service encounters that affect the well-being of focal actors (i.e. patients), frontline service employees (i.e. nurses) and transformative service mediators (i.e. family members), who have potentially competing needs. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, the study inductively explores and deductively categorizes actors’ personal experiences to gain deep, holistic insights into the service network and its complex web of actor interdependencies.

The resulting conceptual model of balanced centricity identifies actors’ lower-order needs as different manifestations of the psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. If actors’ needs are aligned, their psychological needs can be satisfied, which facilitates balanced centricity. If actors exhibit competing needs though, balanced centricity is impeded.

This study establishes actors’ psychological needs as the origin of tensions/alignments in multi-actor networks that impede/contribute to balanced centricity. Transformative service providers should try to address all actors’ psychological needs when co-creating services to achieve network well-being.

This study adopts a novel, multi-actor perspective and thereby presents a conceptual model that contributes to the understanding of balanced centricity. Future research could test this model in other transformative service settings.

The purpose of this paper is to combine service-dominant logic premises with ecosystem characteristics in the base of the pyramid (BoP) environment, aiming to establish the foundations of a new service ecosystem framework for BoP contexts.

This conceptual paper is developed by connecting service logic with an ecosystem perspective, developing theoretical propositions for sustainable service ecosystems at the BoP, and identifying future research direction using this new framework.

The paper first highlights main challenges faced in the BoP environment. It then constructs an ecosystem framework for BoP contexts composed by four theoretical propositions: first, need to shift from a top-down to a multi-actor BoP approach; second, need of social embeddedness for successful BoP initiatives; third, service co-creation for and with local communities with actors playing multiple social roles; and fourth, multi-actor and multi-dimensional value creation. Future research directions are identified related to these propositions.

Theoretical propositions integrating the service ecosystem framework need further exploration and confirmation with additional empirical studies.

Proposed framework and propositions provide useful insights for practitioners from different types of organizations aiming to participate in BoP markets.

Understanding the need to integrate a service ecosystem perspective in BoP contexts is fundamental to better address the needs of all actors involved.

The conceptual framework proposed offers a comprehensive, multi-dimensional, and multi-actor perspective on how to understand, and better address services in BoP contexts. Future research avenues identified offer a more inclusive agenda for increasing service knowledge at the BoP.

The purpose of this paper is to advance extant theorizing around resource integration by conceptualizing and delineating the notion of a usage center. A usage center consists of a combination of interdependent actors that draw on resources across their individual usage processes to create value.

This paper provides a conceptual inquiry into the usage center.

This paper delineates the notion of a usage center by way of focal and peripheral resource integrators, as well as focal and peripheral resources that form part of interdependent resource usage processes. The conceptual analysis reveals the need for resources to be accessible and shareable to focal and peripheral actors, with rivalry and emergence central factors influencing the actor’s usage processes.

Responding to recent calls for research developing insights into multi-actor value cocreation, this paper is the first to comprehensively and coherently conceptualize the notion of a usage center. In doing so, the authors build an important foundation for future theorizing related to the potential emergence of usage centers as well as the cocreation of individual and collective value.

Smart services have gained attention both among academics and practitioners, but manufacturing firms struggle in getting their new smart services extensively adopted by customers, employees and distributors. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse the requirements of different actors and the interconnectedness between their requirements in introducing smart services.

An embedded single-case study was conducted with a manufacturing firm and its network, including its sales and service personnel, customers and external salespeople. Data were collected via 30 in-depth interviews.

The paper advances the multi-actor perspective by identifying the requirements of key actors for introducing smart services. These requirements were divided into eight categories: value of smart services, reliability of smart services, competence for smart services, data security and management, attitude towards services, reliance, knowledge of installed base of equipment and services and service reputation. The findings reveal the interconnectedness of different actors’ requirements for introducing new smart services and how discussion and relationships between actors affected their requirements.

The findings represent a comprehensive template of requirements, as well as mapping the interconnectedness of actors’ requirements, serving as a practical guideline for managers.

This study characterises the introduction of smart services as a multi-dimensional, interconnected effort by manufacturing firms and their networks. It shows that service introduction cannot be viewed as manufacturer’s development task or customers’ adoption decision only. Propositions are offered on how multiple actors’ viewpoints can be combined to achieve success in introducing smart services.