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This document is a guest editorial from the Journal of Service Management, introducing a special issue on digital service innovation (DSI). The editorial emphasizes the strategic importance of services and the role of digitalization in enhancing service offerings. It also discusses the need to integrate technological innovation requirements into service management frameworks. The special issue focuses on unraveling the requirements and mechanisms for adopting a DSI strategy and understanding how DSI implementation varies among organizations and sectors. The editorial provides a comprehensive definition of DSI and introduces the three themes explored in the collection of papers: origins, progress, and challenges of DSI; nature and characterization of DSI; and learning, alignment, and market dynamics of DSI. The papers in the special issue offer insights into these themes and contribute to a better understanding of DSI. [Extracted from the article]

Firms in multiple sectors are incorporating information technology (IT) partners to gain digital capabilities, improve their operations, and offer new value propositions. The deployment of digitalization in well‐established firms from traditional sectors enables the creation of specific strategic alliances (concentric) with IT providers. However, establishing these particular strategic alliances with an IT provider raises tensions and reconsiderations both at the internal level and within the alliance as a consequence of the profound organizational challenges that both digitalization and a strategic alliance imply. This study analyzes how digitalization influences the emergence of these new strategic alliances, highlighting the process and key factors that have contributed to its success at our unit of study in the retailing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital servitization allows companies to establish specific entry barriers and create isolating mechanisms to maintain their products’ competitive advantage. Rapid linking of technologies with products has introduced new mechanisms to deliver services that complement product offerings. This business environment has significantly affected food companies in the retail sector, where companies have begun to implement and rely on digital solutions to support business operations to fulfill changing market conditions. The study demonstrates how the Covirán cooperative is improving service provision through digital capabilities to generate isolating mechanisms that enable the company to achieve a superior competitive position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing industrial concern about sustainability challenges has driven vehicle and auto parts manufacturers to adopt service capabilities as a way to maintain competitiveness in compliance with environmental regulations. As a result, automakers have progressively integrated digital and green service initiatives to support operations and address environmental issues effectively. The present study examined the effect of digital and green servitization on the firm’s productivity. To test their effect quantitatively, this study used the ORBIS database to construct a multi-country sample containing 228 companies in the automotive industry. Our findings indicate that implementation of digital and green servitization is positively associated with higher productivity outcomes once the two forms of servitization coexist and operate jointly. Moreover, the results of the study underscore the importance of establishing a successional pathway of implementation priorities. Our evidence suggests that firms willing to offer green services should consider offering digital services first, as this is the only way to obtain productivity gains from green servitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]