Towards an Ontological Foundation of Service Dominant Logic
Garyfallos Fragidis Technological Education Institute of Serres,
Greece
Konstantinos Tarabanis University of Macedonia, Greece
► Service systems and value co-creation are recognized as the two most fundamental concepts of service science ● “value co-creation is the primary object of study in service
systems” ● “service science is the study of value co-creation phenomena”
Spohrer, J., Maglio, 2010; Maglio, Kieliszewski, and Spohrer, 2010
► Service-Dominant (S-D) logic is recognized as “one of the corner stones of service science” and “the philosophical foundation of service science”
Spohrer, J., Maglio, 2010
► Service science was acknowledged to be inconsistent in applying the principles of S-D logic
Maglio, Kieliszewski, and Spohrer, 2010 Vargo and Akaka, 2009; Vargo, Lusch and Akaka, 2010
► The slow development of service science ► The concepts of value, value creation and value co-
creation, remain still unclear and vague. ● “Value co-creation is the basic action that take place in the
interaction between service systems”. ● Value co-creation provides a balanced approach and an
integrated perspective on the creation of value for the business firm an the customer alike.
► A lack of alignment between business and IT approaches in service science ● Service science and S-D logic function at different levels of
analysis and for different purposes
Purpose
► Support the deeper understanding of S-D logic and its key concepts (e.g. service, value co-creation, etc.) ● Provide a common framework of concepts and relations ● Move beyond a lexicon ● Contribute in the resolution of inconsistencies and
misunderstandings ► Contribute in the establishment of S-D logic as the
foundational theory of service science ● Contribute in the assimilation of the concepts of S-D logic
► Contribute in the improved communication of experts from different areas in the multidisciplinary field of service science.
Literature Review
► Approaches that set conceptual foundations of service systems
● Ferrario, R., Guarino, N.: Towards an Ontological Foundation for Services Science. ● Alter, S.: Service system fundamentals: Work system, value chain, and life cycle. ● Stanicek, Z., Winkler, M.: Service Systems through the Prism of Conceptual
Modeling. ● O'Sullivan, J.: Towards a Precise Understanding of Service Properties.
► Approaches that aim at the business modeling of service systems
● Poels, G.: A Conceptual Model of Service Exchange in Service-Dominant Logic. ● Weigand, et al.: Value-Based Service Modeling and Design: Toward a Unified View
of Services. ● Andersson et al.: Towards a Reference Ontology for Business Models. ● Baida, Z.: Serviguration ● De Kinderen, S., Gordijn, J.: E3service. ● Scheithauer: Business Service Description Methodology for Service Ecosystems. ● Sorathia, V., et. al: Towards a Unifying Process Framework for Services
Knowledge Management.
Literature Review
► Relationship to service science/ S-D logic ● Most of them refer to service science (as a research trend) ● Only two refer to S-D logic ● Only three are based on input from service science and/ or S-D
logic ► The origin of the concept of service
● Input from the business management or the economics literature ● a) service as an event, b) service as a process, c) service as a
resource ► Customer- orientation ► Co-production and/or value co-creation
● Included only in two
Methodology
► We stay with the concepts of S-D logic ● 10 FP ● Lexicon ● The whole literature of S-D logic (by Vargo and/ or Lusch)
► Development of an ontological representation of S-D logic ● as a class diagram ● at a generic level
Key concepts
► Actor: a generalization of Customer and Provider ► Service: a generalization of Direct Service and Indirect Service ► Value Co-creation: a generalization of Co-production
Integration and Customisation ► Value: a generalization of Knowledge and Experience ► Resource: a generalization of Operant Resource and Operand
Resource ► Context: a generalization of Situational Context and
Idiosyncratic Context.
An ontological representation of S-D logic: the basic concepts
An ontological representation of S-D logic: the complete model
Actor ► It is a general term used to address
to the entities that participate in the value co-creation process
► Other options (suboptimal): ● FP9: “all economic and social actors
are resource integrators”. ● In service science the basic entities
are the service systems ► Customer and Provider are the two
key roles played by Actors in value co-creation processes. ● Provider: provides Service ● Customer: the beneficiary Actor that
receives the Service provided. ● The Customer may receive and
integrate Service from many Providers and supplements them with proprietary resources.
● The customer inherits all the attributes of an Actor
Service & Resource
► Resource: any kind of input used by Actors in value co-creation processes ● Operant Resource & Operand
Resource. ► Service: the application of
specialized competences (knowledge and skills) for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself. ● A process of applying
Resources. ● “Recourcing”: the activity of
rendering resources into a specific benefit (the way that value creation occurs)
● Direct Service & Indirect Service ● Self-service
Value Co-creation
► Value Co-creation: the service-based collaboration of at least one Provider, who provides Service, and at least one Customer, who integrates and complements it with proprietary Service, for the co-creation of value. ● network relationships ● service ecosystem
► Value Co-creation is a general concept that can be actualized in many different ways.
● Co-production ● Customization ● Integration
Value ► Value: the output of the Value Co-
creation process. ● Value is related to the customer
(“value is always uniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary”- FP10);
● “Value-in-use” & “value-in-context” ● Value is determined “contextually
and idiosyncratically” by the customer.
● Value affects also the Provider (“service is the fundamental basis of exchange” – FP1), namely that “service is exchanged for service”. feedback (direct and indirect).
► Knowledge: learning opportunities for the improvement of Resources.
► Experience: a basic way that the Customer perceives Value.
► Context: the general conditions that exist for the co-creation of value ● Situational Context: spatial, temporal, social and relational dimensions. ● Idiosyncratic Context: personal needs and traits of the Customer
Benefits from the ontological representation of S-D logic
► The logical analysis of S-D logic: ● provides insights ● clarifies concepts ● singles out inconsistencies
► Interpretation & improvement of S-D logic ► A basis for transdisciplinary communication ► A vocabulary and modeling constructs for the
development of “service-based” information systems (or “value-cocreation” information systems)
Service and Value Co-creation
Service and Value Co-creation
► Value Co-creation becomes the result of the direct application of Resources from the Actors ● It is compliant with S-D logic ● It is compliant with Service Science
Concepts not included
► Exchange (FP1 & FP2) ► Competitive advantage (FP4) ► Value proposition (FP7) ► Solution, dialogue, reciprocity/ interactivity, value-in-
use, value-creation network and service ecosystem (possible entries to the S-D logic lexicon).
Concepts not included - exchange
► Exchange is a competing concept to Value Co-creation ● Exchange is included in the Value Co-creation process, with
the meaning of contribution of service and resources ► Alternative modeling options
● Replace Value Co-creation with Exchange ● Add Exchange in the model
Concepts not included
► Exchange (FP1 & FP2) ► Competitive advantage (FP4) ► Value proposition (FP7) ► Solution, dialogue, reciprocity/ interactivity, value-in-
use, value-creation network and service ecosystem (possible entries to the S-D logic lexicon).
Problems & limitations
► The interpretation of S-D logic ● Subjective interpretation, especially when the concepts are
vague and the meaning/ implications unclear. • E.g. “service is exchanged for service” • “Value is always uniquely and phenomenologically determined
by the beneficiary” ● Stay with the general concepts, rather than emphasize on
the specific words ► The ontological form (why an ontology?)
● Informal vs. formal ontology ● Generic vs. specific ontologies
Future research
► The elaboration of the foundational ontology of S-D logic with additional concepts, relationships and rules (for example with regard to the types and respective processes of value co-creation, the types of value for the customer and the provider, the contextual parameters, etc.)
► The elaboration of the foundational ontology of S-D logic with partial aspects aspects (e.g. business aspect, customer aspects, etc.).
► Merging concepts between S-D logic and service science. Perhaps the development of a common/ integrated ontology.
► The development of specific ontologies for some business domains or business models.
► The formalization of the ontology. ► The building of consensus.
Questions & comments
Thank you!
Gary Fragidis Technological Education Institute of Serres
62124 Serres, Greece E-mail: [email protected]
tel.: +30 23 21049310