Service Innovation

Innovation in services, or service innovation, is defined in the Oslo Manual by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Eurostat as “new services that significantly [Page 414]improve customers' access to goods or services.” The Oslo Manual strives to highlight some general characteristics that apply to most services, although at the same time acknowledging that services include a wide range of different types of business models and activities. Here it will be worthwhile to review the general characteristics first and then discuss classifications focusing on intraservices' similarities and differences, as well as some of the findings and controversies within research on service innovation.

The Oslo Manual notes that the distinction between products and processes is often blurred. The distinction that is being referred to ...