Managing Open Service Innovation: An Introduction

Two of the hottest topics in the area of innovation management in the last decade have been service innovation and open innovation. The two phenomena are often studied in isolation. It has, however, been suggested that service innovation processes are often characterized by more openness than closeness and that more research is needed to understand how organizations manage open service innovation activities in different contexts. This chapter develops a framework for the management of open service innovation. The framework consists of four distinct contexts within the area of open service innovation management: (1) the management of inbound open service innovation processes, (2) the management of outbound open service innovation processes, (3) the management of resources needed in inbound open service innovation processes, and (4) the management of resources needed in outbound open service innovation processes. The chapter also positions the remaining chapters of this book according to the framework and provides an overview of all chapters.