Course 2019-2020 a.y.

20292 - INNOVATION IN SERVICES

Department of Management and Technology

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
CLMG (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - M (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - IM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - MM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - AFC (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - CLELI (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - ACME (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - DES-ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - EMIT (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - GIO (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - DSBA (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - PPA (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06) - FIN (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/06)
Course Director:
NICOLETTA CORROCHER

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: NICOLETTA CORROCHER


Suggested background knowledge

No formal prerequisites.

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

The distribution of employment and value added is shifting away from manufacturing towards service sectors, following the process of deindustrialisation that characterises many countries across the world. As services play an increasingly important role into the economic systems, it is paramount to understand whether and to what extent service companies develop innovations, as they might represent a major force into the growth of countries. This course provides students with a deep understanding of the characteristics and dynamics of innovation in the service sectors, with a focus on vanguard, ICT-based activities such as knowledge intensive business services and financial services. Financial services firms play a central role in the global economy. They provide capital for growth, payments infrastructure for transactions, and the tools to manage risk. These services are provided in different organizational forms, from FinTech startup to multi-trillion dollar global bank. The course puts emphasis on the economic and social relevance of the service sectors and their role as innovative actors in the economy; it highlights the specificities of services and the differences across service activities; it identifies the specificities of innovation in services and discusses ways of measuring innovations in services. Furthermore, it allows students to grasp how different service companies engage in the development of innovations through the analysis of selected sectoral case studies.

CONTENT SUMMARY

The course is organised around four modules that cover all the relevant aspect of innovation in services:

  • The service sectors in the economy - main features of service activities
    • Recognize the economic and social relevance of the service sectors; highlight the specificities of services and the differences across service activities
  • Innovation in services – main characteristics and measurement issues
    • Identify the characteristics of innovation in service sectors as compared to manufacturing sectors and the ways of measuring innovations in services
  • Innovation and competition in vanguard, ICT-based services, with a focus on financial services and knowledge intensive business services.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Recognise the importance of services (as opposed to manufacturing activities) in the economy in terms of employment, value added and innovation.
  • Identify the characteristics of service activities and their implications for innovation.
  • Discuss the features of innovation processes in services in light of the different approaches developed by the literature.
  • Acknowledge the differences across different service sectors in terms of type of competitors, users, knowledge base, modes of innovation.
  • Realize in which way the payments space is undergoing the most innovation and is most susceptible to disruption by focusing on the many types of payments made possible by blockchain technology and Fintech funding.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Analyse the process of structural change and the growing role of services within the economy in terms of employment, value added and innovation.
  • Apply the methodologies and relevant theoretical approaches to discuss the characteristics of service activities and their implications for innovation.
  • Measure and evaluate innovation in services.
  • Develop new service ideas.
  • Show teamwork abilities and presentation/communication skills.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
  • Group assignments

DETAILS

The learning experience of the course is articulated around different teaching methods. Besides traditional frontal lectures, the students have the opportunity to discuss case studies and incidents concerning the development of innovation in services, to interact with guest speakers from different service companies, who provide their practical insights and perspectives on the process of innovation in different service sectors (from banking and financial services, to consulting and insurance services), to work in team for the development of a final group project. The group work should aim at the analysis of the development of an innovative service, from the idea to the market introduction and diffusion. There are three possible ways in which students can tackle this issue:

  1. Focus on the introduction of an innovative service in the market – e.g. climate change services, peer-to-peer online payment services.
  2. Focus on a single company that has introduced an innovation in services in the market and has consequently acquired (more) visibility in the market and increased its profits – e.g. Uber, Satispay.
  3. Focus on a project of a new service, which does not yet exist on the market. In this case, students should carefully describe the techniques and research adopted to identify the idea and evaluate its technical and economic feasibility.

At the end of the course, all projects are presented and all students actively participate to the discussion, providing their comments and perspectives on the cases developed by other groups. Students are supposed to prepare a report of their case, which are used for the student assessment together with the presentation.


Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
     x
  • Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
   x  

ATTENDING STUDENTS

In order to evaluate the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, the assessment procedure involves two main parts:

  1. 50% group work (written report and final presentation). The report is worth 90% of the final grade, while the presentation accounts for 10%. With the group work, students will have to apply the knowledge acquired during the course to discuss and examine the empirical evidence related the evolution of innovation and competition in vanguard services. In particular, students will be able to apply the existing approaches to a specific case, identifying the role of technological and non-technological innovation in services and assessing the importance of service innovation for companies’ success. In doing so, students will have the opportunity to show teamwork abilities, as well as presentation and communication skills.
  2. 50% written exam based on course readings and lecture notes, consisting of open questions aimed to assess students’ ability to apply the analytical tools illustrated during the course and to explain the different theoretical approaches to innovation in services. The exam will typically include a set of statements to discuss, aimed to assess the ability of students to articulate their reasoning and to evaluate the potential effects of innovations both within service companies and on the external competition.

The attendance is measured with the "Attendance" procedure available to all students. In order to take the exam as an attending student, an attendance rate equal to or higher than 75% must be reported.


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

For non attending students, the final grade is completely based on a written exam including 3 compulsory open questions, which cover all the topics of the course and aim at assessing the learning outcomes both in terms of the understanding of theoretical approaches and in terms of the capability to analyse different issues in relation to innovation patterns in different service sectors. To this aim, besides course readings and lecture notes, students have to prepare on a set of additional readings.


Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • I. MILES, Patterns of innovation in the service industries, 2008, IBM Systems Journal, vol. 47(1), pp.115-128.
  • S.L.VARGO, R.F. LUSCH, The Four Service Marketing Myths, Journal of Service Research, 2004, 6(4), 324-335.
  • F. GALLOUJ, O. WEINSTEIN, Innovation in services, 1997, Research Policy 27, pp.537-556.
  • F. CASTELLACCI, Technological paradigms, regimes and trajectories: Manufacturing and service industries in a new taxonomy of sectoral patterns of innovation, Research Policy 2008,  37, pp.978-994.
  • B. TETHER, Do Services Innovate (Differently)? Insights from the European Innobarometer Survey, Industry and Innovation 2015, 12, pp.153-184.
  • L.L. BERRY, V. SHANKAR, J. TURNER, PARISH, S. CADWALLADER, T. DOTZEL, Creating New Markets Though Service Innovation, MIT Sloan Management Review 2006, 47(2), 56-63.
  • R. BARRAS, Towards a theory of innovation in services, Research Policy 15, 1986, pp. 161-173.
  • F. GALLOUJ, Innovating in reverse: services and the reverse product cycle, European Journal of Innovation Management, 1998, 1(3) pp.123-138.
  • N. CORROCHER, L. ZIRULIA, Demand and Innovation in Services: the Case of Mobile Communications, Research Policy 39, 2010, pp.945-955.
  • E. MULLER, D. DOLOREUX, The key dimensions of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) analysis: a decade of evolution, Fraunhofer Institute Systems and Innovation Research, Working Papers Firms and Region 2007, No. U1/2007.
  • N. CORROCHER, L. CUSMANO, A. MORRISON, Modes of innovation in knowledge-intensive business services: Evidence from Lombardy, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2009, 19(2), 173-196.
  • P.TUFANO, P, A. RYAN, and D.SCHNEIDER, An Introduction to Consumer Credit,Harvard Business School Note No. 9-209-107.
  • K.ZACHARY, The Uberization of Money, Wall Street Journal, Nov 6, 2015.
  • R. SMITH, Challenged by Upstarts, Lenders Try New Strategy: Cooperation, New York Times, Jan 7, 2016.
  • S.A. COLE, P.TUFANO, BASIX, Harvard Business School Case No. 9-207-099, February 2007.
  • C. A. STONE, A. ZiISSU, P.TUFANO, H.JACKSON and A.RYAN, Lending Club,Harvard Business School Case No. 9-210-052, December. 17, 2010.
  • F.Velde, F.R. Bitcoin: A Primer, Chicago Fed Letter, No. 317 (December 2013).
  • T.PHILIPPON,The FinTech Opportunity, mimeo ,March 2018.
  • Z.WEI, M.LIN,Market Mechanisms in Online Crowdfunding,mimeo,May, 2015.
  • S.CHRISTI,J.BARBERIS, The Financial Technology Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs and Visionaries,(Wiley, 2016).
  • I.LISKOVICH,M.SHATON, Borrowers in Search of Feedback:Evidence from Consumer Credit Markets ,mimeo March 31, 2017.

 

Additional cases and readings might be made available on the course BlackBoard at the beginning of the course.


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • I. MILES, Patterns of innovation in the service industries, 2008, IBM Systems Journal, vol. 47(1), pp.115-128.
  • S.L.VARGO, R.F. LUSCH, The Four Service Marketing Myths, Journal of Service Research 2004, 6(4), 324-335.
  • F. GALLOUJ, O. WEINSTEIN, Innovation in services, 1997, Research Policy 27, pp.537-556.
  • F. CASTELLACCI, Technological paradigms, regimes and trajectories: Manufacturing and service industries in a new taxonomy of sectoral patterns of innovation, Research Policy 2008,  37, pp.978-994.
  • B. TETHER, Do Services Innovate (Differently)? Insights from the European Innobarometer Survey, Industry and Innovation 2015, 12, pp.153-184.
  • L.L. BERRY, V. SHANKAR, J. TURNER, PARISH, S. CADWALLADER, T. DOTZEL, Creating New Markets Though Service Innovation, MIT Sloan Management Review 2006, 47(2), 56-63.
  • R. BARRAS, Towards a theory of innovation in services, Research Policy 15, 1986, pp. 161-173.
  • F. GALLOUJ, Innovating in reverse: services and the reverse product cycle, European Journal of Innovation Management, 1998, 1(3) pp.123-138.
  • N. CORROCHER, L. ZIRULIA, Demand and Innovation in Services: the Case of Mobile Communications, Research Policy 39, 2010, pp.945-955.
  • E. MULLER, D. DOLOREUX, The key dimensions of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) analysis: a decade of evolution, Fraunhofer Institute Systems and Innovation Research, Working Papers Firms and Region 2007, No. U1/2007.
  • N. CORROCHER, L. CUSMANO, A. MORRISON, Modes of innovation in knowledge-intensive business services: Evidence from Lombardy, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2009, 19(2), 173-196.

  • R. BARRAS, Interactive innovation in financial and business services: The vanguard of the service revolution, Research Policy 19, 215-237, 1990.

  • J. SUNDBO,  F. ORFILA-SINTES, F. SORESAN, The innovative behaviour of tourism firms - Comparative studies of Denmark and Spain, Research Policy 36, 88-106, 2007.

  • B.S. TETHER, C. HIPP, J. MILES, Standardisation and particularisation in services: evidence from Germany, Research Policy 30, 1115-1138, 2001.

  • U. SCHMOCH, Service marks as novel innovation indicator, Research Evaluation 12(2), 149-156, 2003.

  • P.TUFANO, P, A. RYAN, and D.SCHNEIDER, An Introduction to Consumer Credit,Harvard Business School Note No. 9-209-107.
  • K.ZACHARY, The Uberization of Money, Wall Street Journal, Nov 6, 2015.
  • R. SMITH, Challenged by Upstarts, Lenders Try New Strategy: Cooperation, New York Times, Jan 7, 2016.
  • S.A. COLE, P.TUFANO, BASIX, Harvard Business School Case No. 9-207-099, February 2007.
  • C. A. STONE, A. ZiISSU, P.TUFANO, H.JACKSON and A.RYAN, Lending Club,Harvard Business School Case No. 9-210-052, December. 17, 2010.
  • F.Velde, F.R. Bitcoin: A Primer, Chicago Fed Letter, No. 317 (December 2013).
  • T.PHILIPPON,The FinTech Opportunity, mimeo ,March 2018.
  • Z.WEI, M.LIN,Market Mechanisms in Online Crowdfunding,mimeo,May, 2015.
  • S.CHRISTI,J.BARBERIS, The Financial Technology Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs and Visionaries,(Wiley, 2016).
  • I.LISKOVICH,M.SHATON, Borrowers in Search of Feedback:Evidence from Consumer Credit Markets ,mimeo March 31, 2017.

 

Additional cases and readings might be made available on the course BlackBoard at the beginning of the course.

Last change 30/04/2019 09:45