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Value co-creation in design for services

This chapter discusses and articulates the implications and applications of the concepts of ‘value co-creation’ and ‘service logic’ (as theorised in Service Research) in Design for Services. The exploration of the contributions Service Design and Service Research can bring to each other is at its beginning; this chapter is extremely timely and significant considering the call for interdisciplinary work and interest in Design within the growing community of Service Science.

This chapter interprets the author’s past research work in Design for Services using the Service Logic framework and terminology: 1) “Innovation through Improved Service and Design” workshop series for manufacturing SMEs funded by European Regional Development Fund and 2) “Design for Flexibility and Change within Healthcare providers” research project funded by EPSRC. It suggests how Design for Services actualises a ‘service logic’ when it supports organisations to think differently (what the author calls ‘service thinking’) and to reframe their businesses around the customer’s own value co-creation processes.

This reflection is part of a wider work and interdisciplinary collaboration with key authors in Service Research (Prof. Bosse Edvardsson – Service Research Centre, Karlstad University - and Prof. Christian Grönroos – Hanken School of Economics) to create a bridge between the two fields and their respective theoretical frameworks (Wetter Edman, Sangiorgi, Edvardsson, Holmlid, Grönroos and Mattelmaki, 2013). Re-interpreting Design for Services using contemporary service study terminologies creates the groundwork to expand the scope and development of this discipline in the international service science scenario.