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The management concept of service science (SS), and its origins in the business sector through evolving customer service expectations are explored in this chapter. It proposes the concept’s utility—indeed its emerging necessity—as an administrative requisite to meet library users’ needs. The chapter is a conceptual one addressing SS and service design (SD) approaches to building customer service systems for libraries, the why and how of implementation in libraries regardless of the community served—that is to say, the why and how of implementation in libraries regardless of the community served. The changing outlook of customers and managers regarding commercial service expectations is not disputed in the business and management literature. Extreme customer service has become a norm. However, these service expectations can and have carried over into the public and nonprofit sectors. This chapter proposes that libraries become aware of changing service norms and utilize SD methods to meet users’ needs. Quite simply, libraries that do not investigate SD methods and implement community-specific design strategies, may begin to suffer patron dissatisfaction and even lose patronage. Alternatively, libraries which do adopt SD methods, may see increases in user satisfaction and patronage. SS and design are relatively novel subdisciplines of management studies. This, however, does not belie their importance. A broad introduction of the topics for library administration and planning considerations is warranted and necessary.

Poverty, hunger, inequalities, diseases, unsustainable use of resources, etc., in spite of scientific progress, still remains unsolved worldwide issues. All these issues relate to the challenges of sustainability and sustainable development that now call for urgent answers. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the service research community can respond to this call and to identify key areas of potential contribution.

After a brief review of selected service literature aimed at exploring its interest in the topics of sustainability and sustainable development, the authors develop the interpretative proposal identifying the key requirements of a global engagement in the challenge of sustainability and sustainable development and highlighting the potential contribution of service research.

Findings highlight the potential contribution of service research to the global challenge of sustainability and suggest acting upon education by considering the “T-Shaped” professional model as a possible reference for embedding sustainability in the education of future managers and addressing the need of interdisciplinary thinking through the systems approach.

The proposed study of service literature is only an exploratory analysis of main contributions that does not aim to identify gaps but only to highlight the potential of a greater engagement of service research in the global call for a more sustainable and inclusive development.

A trans-disciplinary approach is also required. This implies the involvement of the business and the social real world.

This paper represents a novel call for engaging the service research community in a boundary-crossing collaboration with the aim of contributing to address the challenge of sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how systems thinking contributes to decision making in uncertain contexts that are characteristic of service systems. Based on the assumption that service systems face complex conditions, the paper posits that systems thinking may support the understanding of key issues in service management.

This paper proposes an interpretation of complexity in the context of service systems, which highlights the perspective change that occurs when a systems approach is adopted. The offered conceptual perspective is then brought to an operational level, in spite of the complexity of the decisions driving a viable system, by modelling a service system as a network of agents, resources, processes and decisions through the use of fuzzy logic. The paper reviews service management research streams, and takes a deeper look at the concepts of service systems and complex service systems. The paper then proceeds to discuss how systems thinking contributes to service management by proposing a systems interpretation of complexity.

Service management theories and models may be enhanced by integrating prevailing approaches, based on a quantitative and mechanistic view of service systems dynamics, with systems thinking‐based meta‐models that can be used in better understanding service exchanges. The findings of the paper also show how the integration of an engineering approach can be insightful to the understanding of service systems; adopting a Viable Systems Approach (VSA) as a meta‐model can be useful in fully comprehending market behaviour in uncertain conditions.

The originality of this paper lies in exploring the contribution of systems thinking, in particular of the Viable Systems Approach (VSA), to service management and decision making.

Technology is revolutionizing the management logic of service systems. The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI), in particular, is challenging interaction between humans and machines changing the service systems’ value co-creation configurations and logic. To envision possible future scenarios, this paper aims to reflect upon how the humans’ use of AI technology can impact value co-creation.

The study is developed, at a conceptual level, using selected elements from managerial and marketing theoretical frameworks interested in value co-creation – Service-Dominant Logic, Service Science and Viable Systems Approach (VSA) – used as interpretative tools to reframe value co-creation in the digital age.

The interpretative approach adopted and, in particular, the new VSA notion of Intelligence Augmentation (IA), in the perspective of the information variety model, shed new light on value co-creation in the digital age framing a possible “IA effect” that can empower value co-creation in complex decision-making contexts.

The study provides insights useful in the design and management of service systems suggesting a rethinking of the view of AI as a means for mainly increasing the smartness of service systems and a new focus on the enhancement of the human resources contribution to make the service systems wiser.

The paper provides a refocused interpretative view of the interaction between humans and AI that looks at a possible positive impact of the use of AI on humans in terms of augmented decision-making capabilities in conditions of complexity.

Health is a fundamental populations’ need and an integral part of the socio-economic development of a country. However, it is required to explain the growing role of the private sectors in addressing various health care needs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse potential contribution, criticalities and conditions of success of public-private partnership (PPP) as a strategy to face the complexity of nationally relevant Italian and Indian service systems.

The methodology is built upon the basis of the viable systems approach (VSA) integrated with the fundamental interpretative elements of service science and service-dominant logic to contextualize interpretation to the management of service systems benefitting from recent advances in these research fields.

A VSA-based general framework of reference is built that is useful for analysing any relational context in which different aims and expectations need to be harmonized to make the collaboration effective. On the basis of this framework, first insights on Italian and Indian health care PPPs are proposed, highlighting key elements of analysis and criticalities that may challenge a positive conclusion on health care PPPs.

The implications of the study are both theoretical and practical. From a theoretical perspective, the study contributes to the scholarly understanding of complex health care system in Italy as well as in India with particular reference to the public-private collaboration phenomenon. It also suggests theoretical approaches in the form of a generic VSA-based framework as applicable. From a practical perspective, the study stimulates managers to a critical reflection about current health care management approaches which are reflected in the adoption of PPPs solutions.

The paper discusses relevant worldwide decision-making challenges, such as the equality in the populations’ access to health service, suggesting managers the way to create conditions of consonance among the diverse stakeholders for a successful health care PPPs.

This study aims at rereading public governance (PG) and public value management (PVM) in the light of viable systems approach (VSA). Starting from the common points and the dissimilarities between the two theories, an integrated framework for pinpointing the key drivers leading to the emersion of public value co-creation in a public system conception of governance is elaborated. An overview on the emersion of PVM and PG is conducted in order to identify the main features of the new mindset. Then, VSA’s assumptions also are analyzed (with particular focus on their managerial implications) and then subdivided into four macro-areas.

The combination of the two theories allows recognition of four levers (with relative postulates) for fostering public value co-creation: (1) strategic selection of actors; (2) establishment of system and relational boundaries; (3) pursuit of the fit strategy-tactics; (4) system governance diffusion. From a theoretical point of view, the study provides suggestions for the creation of a public system theory of governance. Regarding managerial standpoint, revealing the drivers for public value co-creation can aid managers to better elaborate strategies for stimulating actor’s engagement in order to challenge complexity and user’s demands variability.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.