Authors: Tuula Mittila
ABSTRACT
Many scholars have called for a close investigation of service issues in B2B markets (e.g.,
Zolkiewski and Lewis 2003, Parasuraman 1998). This research project was designed to explore
how customer understanding is created in industrial firms, especially in service innovation and
development. Its theoretical background stems from services marketing and B2B marketing.
According to Ford (2009), an IMP concept of service relates to specific problems and
uncertainties of both counterparts rather than to general characteristics, offerings or problems of
either or both of them. However, in this study the focus is on the suppliers’ side of service(s) and
service development. The purpose of the paper is to scrutinize the change in industrial networks
and customer interfaces in the context of radical innovation, in this case in an industrial service
company changing its business logic from a product oriented to a customer oriented producer.
This is done by discussing earlier studies about radical innovations reported in the literature and
by reporting the findings of a Finnish case study focusing on industrial B2B services that support
customers’ business processes.
The results indicate that the transformation from product-oriented to customer-oriented
business-driven service providers is a necessity. Adoption of the new mentality, i.e., customerdominant
logic, and the adaptation of the activities needed to become customer oriented are still,
however, in their infancy. The study also indicates that raising the level of the research on radical
innovation from an operational level to a strategic, business model level is needed.
Keywords: Radical innovation, Industrial service development, Customer understanding,
Networks
Journal: ( – )
Web Address:
Publish Year:
Conference: Glasgow, Scotland (2011)