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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]

This article draws on responsible innovation (RI) undertaken by hybrid organizations, institutional rigidity, and national innovation systems (NISs) to assess and contextualize the innovation performance of for‐profit firms seeking to resolve grand challenges (GCs). The extant research on RI lacks the theoretical underpinnings to profile the unique characteristics of RI firms and the contextual conditions behind the resolution of GCs through RI. This study aims to fill this important gap by focusing on a specific type of RI firm—a firm seeking to reduce climate change through implementation of a circular economy model. By studying a multi‐country sample of 1153 manufacturing firms, we implemented propensity score matching (PSM) and the Heckman selection model to compare the patent productivity of RI and non‐RI firms. Our evidence demonstrates that RI firms display lower likelihood of patenting and lower patent productivity than non‐RI firms when they do engage in patenting. Furthermore, we found that a stronger national R&D environment can be conducive to aligning public interests and private incentives by enabling RI firms to enhance their patent productivity. Additionally, RI firms in industries with lower levels of technological complexity capture more value from improvements in R&D environments than RI firms in industries with higher levels of technological complexity. Our argument as a whole contributes to the GC and RI literature streams by considering both the innovation barriers faced by RI‐oriented firms and the macro/industry boundary conditions that enable such organizations to overcome them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, and counter to the mainstream literature, we propose and empirically show that two knowledge resources can be substitutive (rather than complementary) for each other. Our test focuses on the interplay between managers' and workers' knowledge stock, considered as knowledge resources that firms can apply to improve innovation. We hypothesise a mutually exclusive effect of managerial experience (managers' knowledge stock) and labour skills (workers' knowledge stock) on product innovation. Drawing on the most recent waves of the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES), we construct a cross-sectional sample of 2,725 manufacturing firms. We used binary choice model to test the proposed effects. The results show negative interaction between labour skills and managers' experience in determining the probability to achieve product innovation, putting the knowledge resource complementarity hypothesis into question, and opening an academic debate that will have implications for knowledge management practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For manufacturing firms, the integration of advanced services into their customer offerings has become a crucial decision. Such commercial decisions require weighting the risks and rewards of implementing a business model based on advanced services. While academic experts acknowledge uncertainty of returns on investment despite potential advantages, research generally fails to address the challenge of calculating the actual risks involved in 'servitization'. This paper seeks better understanding of managers' risk perception and of servitization implications for strategic partnerships and network positioning, while considering the impact of factors such as entry barriers, technological knowledge and position in the supply chain (SC). Qualitative evidence is drawn from an industrial case study involving firms in the UK's road transport industry: 14 in-depth interviews with senior executives from seven companies (manufacturers, operators, technology providers). During interviews, a payment card exercise measured risk perception and willingness to take strategic 'make-or-buy' decisions. Results suggest that implementing advanced services is perceived as a high-risk strategy, especially when firms lack in-house technological knowledge. However, collaborative strategic partnerships within supply chain networks can mitigate this risk and prove crucial to building entry barriers against external competitors. Based on these findings, implications for network positioning are developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By drawing on a business model lens, this study proposes that the competitive performance of servitization is higher for manufacturing firms selling long-lifespan products since they better develop the key elements required for transitioning towards integrated Business to Business (BtoB) solutions delivery. Additionally, the study argues that the moderation role of product lifespan is stronger in advanced stages of servitization as it reduces replacement and information costs. To test these hypotheses, this study merges a unique survey of Manufacturing Multinational Enterprises (MMNEs) and the Lifespan Database for Vehicles, Equipment and Structures (LiVES). Results show a positive moderating effect of product lifespan in the relationship between servitization and performance. Following this finding, across firms with high-intensity servitization, the firm that sells longest-lifespan products is predicted to capture most value from servitization. Overall, the present study suggests that the implementation of recurrent services during an extended product lifecycle provides an opportunity for BtoB solutions delivery and product usage optimisation. By including product lifespan in the equation, we improve understanding of why servitization is an excellent mechanism for managing long-lasting industrial relationships and explain why servitization boosts performance in some manufacturing industries but has a neutral effect on others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]