New Service Development

The study covers two main issues: the role of Innovation within Service Firms and the topic of firms delivering experiential content as a major part of their offer. The focus was centred on the study of New Service Development (NSD) processes with an Operations Management perspective. Empirical information about the use of NSD in service firms was collected, so as to understand whether and how standard methodologies for NSD are applied in firms where innovation is a strategic priority. For solving the problems presented by environmental challenges and heterogeneity - that distinguish the service sector- the focus was placed just on a particular type of service firms: Experience Based Services, that aim to deliver services with high experience content as a central part of their outcome. The objective was to better understand how to help these firms to innovate in order to follow the trends of the so called Experience Economy. Two sectors have been selected to achieve the research objectives: the Theme Park Destination Industry and Commercial Centers. The last stage of the study aims to outline a comprehensive model for service innovation decisions.