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This paper aims to explore and propose the skills and capabilities required in developing products and services within UK university spin-offs (USOs) by considering the model of products/services development (Verona, 1999).

Mixed methods of 20 in-depth interviews and questionnaire survey with 204 founders of USOs were used in this study.

The findings contribute in filling the literature gap by proposing key knowledge and capabilities required to develop products/services within the unique and non-commercial context, in which USOs are created by academics who do not necessarily have entrepreneurial or business experience.

This research contributes to studies of product/service development by proposing a modification of elements within the existing theoretical model to be applicable to the specific firm and country context, such as USOs in the UK. Further, the study extends knowledge on the interplay between knowledge management and product development. The applications of the findings are that they can inform academic entrepreneurs on the capabilities significant in the development process. They can also act as indicators to technology transfer offices in what is needed for the provision of appropriate support and training to academic founders/entrepreneurs to foster and enhance other entrepreneurial activities.

This paper aims to discuss a foresight study conducted in Singapore’s national R&D agency to help science and technology decision makers identify key capability areas of R&D investment to support the manufacturing industry’s growth in the country and the region.

Using horizon scanning, scenario analysis and expert opinion, nine capabilities are identified as core areas to be developed to support the country’s future growth of product-service systems.

The results of a Delphi survey involving 30 industry and academic thought leaders recommend priorities of these capabilities. This paper concludes with a discussion of the study implications for theory, research and practice in the domain of servitisation and product-service systems.

The foresight study presented here on the future of servitisation in Singapore demonstrates one of the first fully fledged applications of foresight in constructing a coherent vision of future product-service system markets. In this study, the authors applied systemic foresight methodology (SFM) comprising the first six phases: initiation (scoping), intelligence (scanning), imagination (scenarios), integration (priorities), interpretation (strategies) and implementation (action).For future research, an ideal step would be to proceed with the final phase of the SFM, impact, to develop indicators for servitisation and to monitor and evaluate the transition process.

Manufacturing and services are no longer distinct concepts with a clear divide. Manufacturing firms not only become more service dependent but also produce and provide services for their consumers. This transformation towards servitisation implies fundamental re-organisation of the production and management practices. Furthermore, through new business models, new and loyal customers will be gained, which will in turn bring additional income, while making the companies less prone to economic and business fluctuations.

The results of this study have practical implications for policymakers of public and private sectors that are interested in playing a key role in future product-service system innovation. These have implications for developing the human and intellectual capital that are required for supporting the future innovation. Institutes of higher learning and vocational institutes should also consider incorporating new curricula and modules to build the capabilities for knowledge creation and transfer.

The findings of the present study on strategic growth areas and relevant critical capabilities provide new directions for research in the field of servitisation. Among the nine capabilities identified, the top three were advanced customer intelligence capability, socio-physical service quality, traceability and maintainability and integrated strategic decision-making. From the results, it is apparent that advanced customer intelligence capability is both an area of importance to Singapore and the world.

Nowadays manufacturers companies are increasingly compelled to navigate towards servitization. Different methods and approaches were proposed in literature to support them to switch from traditional product-based business model to product service systems (PSSs). However, new knowledge, capabilities and skills were needed to consistently develop PSSs, since they need a joint focus on both customer’s perspective and company’s internal performance and at the same time a proper support for the integration of product and service design. The purpose of this paper is to propose the Product Service System Lean Design Methodology (PSSLDM), a structured methodology to develop PSSs along their entire lifecycle.

Retrieving concepts from interpretative, interactive and system development research traditions, and strongly reminding the design research methodology framework, the adopted research methodology is composed of three main phases (observation and conceptualization, theory building and tool development, validation) and involved three heterogeneous companies.

This paper provides an overview of the PSSLDM, explaining how the different methods supporting its conduction should contribute to properly design an integrated PSS. Moreover, companies highlighted several benefits in the different stages along the PSS lifecycle deriving by the adoption of the PSSLDM.

The development of a platform based on the PSSLDM methodology raises a discussion on the possible changes needed by current Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) models and systems when they have to do with PSSs.

The PSSLDM enriches the already proposed SErvice Engineering Methodology, introducing new several components linked by lean rules in each of its phases (starting from customer analysis, going through solution concept and detailed design, until the offering analysis) and better supprting the deatil design of both prodcut and service components.

The goal is to examine the relationship between business process improvement initiatives (BPII), information systems (ISs) integration, and customer focus.

The data for the study were collected at the divisional levels from a list of “Fortune 500” firms. A total of 1,100 questionnaires were mailed to divisional managers and 115 responses were used for the data analysis.

The results of this study support the hypotheses that BPII directly affects customer responsiveness and product/service innovation. In addition, data integration and communication networks flexibility are found to significantly affect customer responsiveness and product/service innovation. Communication networks connectivity did not have any significant effect on customer responsiveness and product/service innovation, respectively. Data integration, intrafirm networks connectivity and networks flexibility are found to significantly mediate the relationship between BPII and customer responsiveness and BPII and product/service development, respectively. Interfirm networks connectivity was not found to significantly mediate the relationship between BPII and customer responsiveness and BPII and product/service development, respectively.

The sample consists of divisions of Fortune 500 firms. Second, the study is cross‐sectional; therefore, it lacks the predictive power to find the long‐term effects of BPII and IS integration on customer focus. A longitudinal study can be a future research endeavor to validate the results of the study.

To business managers, the study clarifies the role of IS integration in customer focus.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a concrete integrated roadmap structure and a supporting tool for efficient roadmapping, to enhance interdisciplinary research on product‐service.

The paper first clarifies definitions based on literature review. Next, the integrated roadmap structure is designed by overcoming limitations of the existing product‐service roadmaps. Lastly, a modified quality function deployment technique is developed to be used as a means for the integration process and applied to the mobile communications industry for the case study.

The suggested roadmap and roadmapping process have potential advantages that can help strategic planning and management of product‐service.

There are issues related to complexity of the suggested technique and completeness of the case study.

The suggested approach stimulates communication and knowledge sharing between manufacturers and service providers, providing a useful guidance to picture the long‐term future from the same perspective.

The paper provides a holistic approach on the development of the product‐service sets, which is characterized by many challenges and uncertainties.

In pursuit of socio-economic growth, scholars and policymakers in emerging economies continues to show interest in understanding technology-based start-up (i.e. tech start-up) emergence, to help mitigate persistent failure experienced during commercialization. Howbeit, some scholars lamented that extant studies that investigated tech start-up emergence are mostly fragmented, because they focus on specific event/sub-process in tech start-up gestation. Thus, this study aims to conduct a systematic literature review to discover, harmonize and develop a framework that describes the interaction among varying dimensions of events/sub-processes that characterizes tech start-up emergence in an emerging economy.

To conduct this study, the authors engaged a concept-centric systematic literature review. Having developed a search protocol, the authors searched through information systems database, and other relevant discipline databases, to select relevant articles for review.

The systematic review revealed various dimensions of events (i.e. opportunity discovery and selection, team formation and domain consensus, bootstrapping and the development of minimum viable product and market experimentation feedback) that are critical to tech start-up emergence. Most prior studies are isolated, as they focus their investigation on specific event. Thus, from this review, the authors developed a framework harmonizing various dimensions of events characterizing emergence of a viable tech start-up.

The researchers conducted this study in response to lingering call for harmonized study that provides in-depth description of how different dimensions of events interact and characterize tech start-up emergence. Consequently, the study resulted in a descriptive framework. Furthermore, the findings highlight some practical implications and proposes new study directions as future research agenda for scholars interested in tech start-up emergence.

To combat concerns over the state of the natural environment, energy security and deteriorating air quality, the oil and gas sector needs to implement eco-innovations. Interest in eco-innovation is growing, as its implementation facilitates the transition toward sustainable development and a circular economy, while enabling firms to attain a competitive advantage vis-à-vis capabilities that foster sustainable economic and environmental development. However, literature on eco-innovation capabilities construct development, measurement and validation is scant. This study, therefore, develops an Eco-innovation Capabilities Scale for oil and gas firms.

Three dimensions of Eco-innovation Capabilities are identified through an extensive literature review and qualitative interviews. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis is applied to data collected from managers of Malaysian Oil and Gas Services and Equipment (OGSE) companies.

Results reveal a parsimonious three-dimensional structure with nine items. The construct of eco-innovation capabilities is manifested by Product Service Stewardship, Environmental Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Development Commitment dimensions. Reliability analysis confirms the reliability and validity of the scale.

The eco-innovation capabilities scale should be useful to researchers in exploring dimensions, factors and outcomes of eco-innovation capabilities. Oil and gas firms play a key role in the global energy mix; hence managers of oil and gas firms may also find this scale useful in measuring their eco-innovation implementation.

Manufacturing companies are increasingly making efforts to combine products and services into integrated offerings. However, the companies’ success in such transformation is linked with the presence of structured routines and processes, which the authors conceptualize as product-service systems (PSS) innovation capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to address the important question of how manufacturing companies can systematically build PSS innovation capabilities and does its presence or absence significantly influence PSS innovation.

This study is based on longitudinal data from an aerospace company, which acts both as an OEM providing through-life services for aircraft engines, as well as a developer of innovative subsystem technologies. Data has been collected over three years (2009-2012) and constitutes 40 in-depth explorative and semi-structured interviews with diverse respondents. For analysis of the data, the authors have used constant comparison technique leading to identification of three high-order categories. In addition, the authors gain from observations and secondary data which enable to achieve data triangulation and data validity.

The results objectively depict an overview of how the case company developed PSS innovation capabilities, though progression of routines over three early PSS development stages. More specifically, the authors find evidence for development of formalized routines related to customer interaction and innovative organizational climate during need phase, cross-functionality, and network partnering during solution-seeking phase, and competence and business case development during solution development phase. As these routines become more structured within the case company, they forge a path for PSS innovation capabilities development.

This study provides two distinctive contributions to emerging PSS literature. First, the authors propose and explain how PSS innovation capabilities are developed. Although prior studies acknowledge the importance of possessing specialized PSS innovation capabilities, limited studies have reported empirically how they are developed. Second, through adopting a longitudinal perspective, the authors reveal key routines and actions that drive PSS innovation during different development stages. To the knowledge, no prior study has combined insights from PSS literature and resource-based view to objectively explain capabilities development process.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding of the new service development (NSD) research field. It addresses its scientific production, social and intellectual structures, and maturity.

This study uses a bibliometric-based literature review. Quantitative and qualitative analyses are performed on a sample of 277 NSD articles (published from 1984 to 2014). These articles are organized into four periods to improve the analyses from an evolutionary perspective: Early Writings (1984-1995), Advancing of Literature (1996-2001), Progressive Literature (2002-2008), and Recent Works (2009-2014).

The scientific production in the NSD field has grown significantly over these four periods, and the entry of new authors has extended the social structure. However, collaboration networks seem disconnected from one another. Nonetheless, the intellectual structure has shown great progress, making NSD an independent area of research and discovery from the new product development domain, with its own foundations and expansions into new topics. Although the NSD research field has not yet reached maturity, it is consistently moving toward it.

This study delivers a multiperspective view of research on NSD using a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. It provides new insights into the discussion of the field’s maturity and can be used as a roadmap for academics and practitioners who would like to understand the state of existing knowledge and are looking for research opportunities.