Anatomy of of service innovation: Introduction to the special issue

The idea to do this special issue was spawned by the growing focus by government, industry and academics on the contribution of services to the global economy. Paradoxically, while service are identified as a major priority for economic development and innovation is seen as a major driver of business success, service innovation is still an area with limited theory and empirical work being undertaken. The central purpose of this special issue is to bring together, research on an international scale on service innovation in firms. In particular, this special issue presents theoretical and empirical articles focusing on service innovation covering issues related to service quality from multiple viewpoints, the role of creativity in the design and delivery of new services, value creation through service, quality-driven processes in firms' services innovation, the role of innovation in services branding, and relevant antecedent to achieving service innovation success. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.