New service development

During the last decade the literature on new service development (NSD) has increased in significance, reflecting the rapidly increasing contribution of services to the economy. A growing number of researchers suggest that NSD leads to service firm competitive advantage. However, the literature on NSD-based competitive strategy is fragmented. This paper attempts to model the antecedents of NSD-based competitive strategy. Specifically, the framework presented in this paper argues that entrepreneurial intensity, distinctive learning capabilities and NSD comprise key components of a model that examines the role of NSD in gaining sustained competitive advantage in service firms. Key theoretical constructs within the model are explored and research propositions presented.

The service concept plays a key role in service design and development. But while the term is used frequently in the service design and new service development literature, surprisingly little has been written about the service concept itself and its important role in service design and development. The service concept defines the how and the what of service design, and helps mediate between customer needs and an organization's strategic intent. We define the service concept and describe how it can be used to enhance a variety of service design processes. As illustrations here, we apply the service concept to service design planning and service recovery design processes. Employing the service concept as an important driver of service design decisions raises a number of interesting questions for research which are discussed here.

Customer involvement has been recognized as an important factor for successful service development. Despite its acknowledged importance, a review of the literature suggests that there is little empirical evidence about the effectiveness and outcomes of interacting with customers while developing new services. Similarly, the extant literature shows mixed views about the effect of technological uncertainty on customer involvement and the effectiveness of customer involvement at different stages of the new service development process. Against this backdrop, the present study has three objectives: (1) to investigate the effects of customer involvement on operational dimensions (i.e., innovation speed and technical quality) and market dimensions (i.e., competitive superiority and sales performance) of new service performance; (2) to examine the effect of technological novelty and technological turbulence on customer involvement; and (3) to explore the moderating effect of the stage of the development process on the relationships among technological novelty, technological turbulence and customer involvement, and customer involvement and new service performance. A total of 807 firms with 75 or more employees in a varied set of industries were selected from the Dun & Bradstreet's 2004 listing of Spanish service firms. A questionnaire was mailed to the person in charge of new service development at each company. A total of 102 complete questionnaires were returned. Findings reveal that whereas customer involvement has a positive direct effect on technical quality and innovation speed, it has an indirect effect on competitive superiority and sales performance through both technical quality and innovation speed. The study also finds a positive effect of technological novelty as well as technological turbulence on customer involvement. Contrary to expectations, the study does not find any moderating effects of the stage of the development process. This study has several theoretical and managerial implications. In terms of theoretical implications, the study supports the role of technological uncertainty (novelty and turbulence) as an antecedent to customer involvement. It also provides empirical evidence of the impact of customer involvement on operational and market dimensions of new service performance. In terms of managerial implications, the study offers critical insights on how customer involvement in new service development translates into improved new service performance. Furthermore, it reveals that the importance of customer involvement in technologically uncertain contexts and its impact on new service performance are independent of the stage of the development process, suggesting that managers should involve customers throughout the entire development process.

W hat can service firms do to improve their ability to offer new services? In this paper we argue that new service development success results from building a competence in the management of service development resources and routines. We conceptualize new service development competence as a multidimensional, secondorder latent construct that is represented by a system of four interrelated and complementary dimensions: (1) formalized new service development processes, (2) market acuity, (3) new service development strategy, and (4) information technology use and experience. We hypothesize that the growth of new service development competence is related to improved new service development performance. Using structural equations modeling, we analyze survey data from 166 retail banks and report three key empirical findings. First, we show that the four hypothesized dimensions are statistically significant in defining new service development competence. Second, contrary to conventional wisdom in new product development, we find that formalized processes play a lesser role in the success of new service development compared with the other three dimensions. Instead, market acuity-which captures the firm's ability to see the competitive environment clearly and to anticipate and respond to customers' evolving needs and wants-was the most important new service development competence indicator. Finally, we demonstrate the positive effect of new service development competence on new service development performance and show that new service development competence is also significantly related to business-level performance. Together, our empirical results suggest that complementary benefits arise from the adoption of a more holistic approach to the management of new service development at the program level.

The service concept plays a key role in service design and development. But while the term is used frequently in the service design and new service development literature, surprisingly little has been written about the service concept itself and its important role in service design and development. The service concept defines the how and the what of service design, and helps mediate between customer needs and an organization's strategic intent. We define the service concept and describe how it can be used to enhance a variety of service design processes. As illustrations here, we apply the service concept to service design planning and service recovery design processes. Employing the service concept as an important driver of service design decisions raises a number of interesting questions for research which are discussed here.

Tuotekehityksen tärkeyttä painotetaan sekä valtakunnallisissa, alueellisissa että kunnallisissa matkailustrategioissa. matkailustrategioilla linjataan matkailun alueellisia tavoitteita ja toimenpiteitä, ja usein niissä korostetaan tarvetta kehittää uusia, entistä kilpailukykyisempiä, houkuttelevampia ja kestävämpiä tuotteita matkailuun (Haanpää, García-Rosell & Kyyrä, 2013). Matkailun tuotekehityksellä on siis keskeinen rooli sekä matkailuyritysten että matkailukohteiden vetovoiman ylläpitämisessä. Tutkimus kirjallisuudessa matkailun tuotekehitystä on tarkasteltu tuotelähtöisestä, asiakas lähtöisestä ja toimintaympäristö lähtöisestä näkökulmasta.

New services come up with opportunities for organizations but the risk associated with these services always exists. Empirical studies, which have investigated the success factors at the project level, showed that success or failure is not the result of managing one or two activities very well; it is the result of a total approach, managing several aspects competently and in a balanced manner. It is therefore obvious that management is highly interested in learning about those factors that influence the success of new services. To address the challenge of high failure rate, a significant number of studies have focused on the factors that affect the performance of new services. However, the majority of new service development (NSD) research has concentrated on the financial service sector, but so far, there has been no important research on NSD in the largest industries worldwide, such as the hospitality industry, and in particular the hotel sector. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gain insight into the criteria that contribute to the success in NSD projects in the hospitality economy. This study aims to explore the characteristics that distinguish between success and failure of new hotel services in Thailand. It thereby contributes to the improvement of success rates by allowing managers to refine their development processes for new services. Towards this end, the study investigates the potential of developing a predictive model that incorporates the unique characteristics of services and is demonstrated to distinguish effectively between successful and unsuccessful new hotel services. Keywords: New service development, service innovation, hospitality services, tourism, multicriteria analysis, critical success criteria

Unlike companies that produce tangible goods, service firms typically cannot rely on product advantage as a means for ensuring the success of a new service. Developing a competitive response to a tangible product may require significant investments of time and effort. In many cases, however, competitors can easily duplicate the core elements of a firm's new service. This fundamental difference between new products and new services means that managers who hope to find the keys to new-service success must look to factors other than sustainable product advantage. Chris Storey and Christopher Easingwood suggest that managers must understand the totality of the service offering from the customer's perspective. They explain that the purchase of a service is influenced not only by the service itself, but also by such factors as the service firm's reputation and the quality of the customer's interaction with the firm's systems and staff-in other words, by the augmented service offering (ASO). Using the results of a study they conducted in the consumer financial services industry in the U.K., they identify the components of the ASO, and they examine the relative contributions of these components to the success of new services. In their model, the ASO comprises three elements: the service product, service augmentation, and marketing support. The core of the ASO-the service product-includes such dimensions as product quality, product distinctiveness, and perceived risk. The study's results suggest that improvements in the service product open up new opportunities for the firm, but have only modest effects on sales and profitability. Rounding out the ASO model are service augmentation and marketing support. Service augmentation encompasses such dimensions as distribution strength, staff-customer interactions, and reputation. The customer recognizes and responds to these elements of the ASO, but they are not part of the product core. Marketing support involves those marketing and management actions that affect the quality of the product and its augmentation, even though customers typically are not aware of them. These elements include knowledge of the marketplace, training of contact staff, and internal marketing. Enhanced service augmentation has significant effects on profitability and sales for the firms in this study, but it does not offer enhanced opportunities. The marketing support elements contribute significantly to all aspects of performance for the firms in this study.

M otivated by the increasing attention given to the operational importance of developing new services, this paper offers a theoretical framework that integrates both process-and resourceoriented perspectives of new service development (NSD) by defining and organizing 45 practice constructs for NSD-related practices and activities that occur in contemporary service firms. We employ a rigorous procedure whereby both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through multiple rounds of interviews and card-sorting exercises with senior service managers. This iterative refinement process helps ensure that the construct domains and definitions are consistent and that they are applicable across multiple service sectors. A primary contribution of this research is to provide precise operational definitions of theoretically important NSD practice constructs. Importantly, this study expands on the NSD literature by including both resource-and process-centric perspectives within a single framework. A second contribution is to illustrate a general methodology for developing clear, concise, and consistent construct definitions that may be generally useful for production and operations management scholars interested in new construct development for emerging areas. Empirical results suggest that the resource-process framework can help guide and organize future research on, and provide insight into, a more comprehensive view of new service development.

The adoption of service-dominant logic (SDL) suggests inter-organizational collaboration and interdependencies during the development of service. Thus, integrating resources is of essence. This paper promotes the value of various stakeholders in developing services. It discusses how to approach multi-party collaboration to achieve simultaneous face-to-face actor-to-actor interaction. The purpose of the paper is to develop a framework to integrate stakeholders in service development. This is a two case research-based paper which investigates direct multi-party stakeholder collaboration and participatory development activities. In workshops, the experiences were positive: the service was not only understood more extensively but also developed further. The experimental evidence supports the use of direct interaction and workshop methods. The analysis shown in this paper provides a foundation for further research. The practitioners realize the power of direct multi-party stakeholder integration. And for academics, the paper provides advancements in integrative engagement approaches in developing service and its managerial consequences.

Both academics and practitioners emphasize the importance for product firms of pursuing service innovation. Despite a strategic focus on service-led growth, however, many firms struggle to succeed with their service innovation initiatives. In order to increase our understanding of the nature of service innovation in product firms, this chapter discusses the specificities in, and dynamics of, service offerings, service processes, and business models in industrial contexts. First, it outlines key differences between new product development and new service development, and highlights issues like sales and delivery, which firms frequently fail to accomplish. While product development is generally ‘back heavy’ with many resources required for prototyping and technology development, service development is more ‘front heavy’ with more weight placed on market introduction, pilot testing, and securing the skills, systems, and infrastructures for sales and delivery. In terms of service offering innovation, a taxonomy based on service focus and revenue model is presented. In order to better understand service process innovation, Larsson and Bowen’s (1989) service design typology is then revisited. Finally, common service business model archetypes are introduced and discussed.

The presentation is focused on a concept of an institutional repository designed for a medium-sized or small colleges and universities. This concept takes into consideration the needs of smaller institutions and the niche institutional repository may fill. Practical steps for the establishment of a successful repository in a smaller institution are discussed as well as the functions of a repository in a smaller institution. The new repository service is observed from the point of views of its major constituencies: faculty, students, and administration.

The spread of digital technologies offers great potential for both the creative industries in general and for the tourism industry. The overall goal of this research is to evaluate the impact of mobile technology in augmenting and streamlining the tourist experience. To this end, we integrate
two existing methodologies, the Kano Model (KM) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which allow categorization and ordering of service attributes according to how they are perceived by customers, and we estimate their impact on customer satisfaction. Our analysis is based on qualitative
data collected through questionnaires administered to a panel of Italian tourists visiting the cities of Palermo and Rome, over a period of 3 months (March–May 2014). As results in evaluating the impact of mobile technology we propose the Smart Tourist App (STAPP) which is a mobile travel assistant
that integrates the functionalities of a traditional city card with the specificities of mobile devices.

Innovation management literature typically concerns functionally organized firms. In this paper we investigate innovation management in a different type of firm, the project-based firm. Project-based firms, such as engineering and construction companies, consultancies and ...

Realiza una reflexión sobre como las bibliotecas y bibliotecarios de los países en desarrollo están organizando los productos y servicios que ofrecen a su público través de un ambiente electrónico e digital. Señala la necesidad de que los bibliotecarios se preparen para el nuevo entorno de servicios de información e incorporen la concepción de la calidad según el punto de vista de los usuarios o clientes en su labor profesional. Discute los principales recursos y herramientas de evaluación de los servicios por parte de los usuarios que utilizan la biblioteca por medios electrónicos visando el perfeccionamiento de servicios y productos de información (DigiQUAL, SERVQUAL, LIBQUAL, CRM, etc). Defiende la participación de los usuarios en la proposición y mantenimiento de nuevos
servicios electrónicos. Concluye con la presentación de una síntesis comprensiva de las estrategias disponibles a los bibliotecarios para la mejoría de la calidad en las bibliotecas, considerando tanto su ambiente físico como su aspecto digital.

Meeting the challenges of an unstable and unsettled environme nt is not easy. The recent impacts on the hospitality services economy of changing technology, mergers of institutions, increasingly dema nding consu mers and increased competition have created an atmosphere of volatility and rapid change. In order to survive in this demanding market place, service organisations have only one choice, to successfully develop and launch new services. However, the failure rate of new service projects is high, because the knowledge on how new services should be developed is limited. Unfortunately, unlike tangible new product developme nt practices which have the benefit of extensive research into how successful new products are developed, the service sector has only recently begun to explore ways to ensure the success of new services. Therefore, this study focuses on a better understanding of how successful new hotel services are developed and investigates the factors, which have impact on success or failure in new service development (NSD) in the hotel sector. The results of the exploratory study are sum m arised in a conceptual model for further research.

Most empirical research investigating open innovation has focused on the development of new physical products in manufacturing industries, whereas open service innovation has not been researched correspondingly. Services have some characteristics that distinguish them from physical products, which may affect the types of open innovation practice utilised during service innovation processes. Tourism services comprise a subset of services that is particularly distant from tangible products. Therefore, the exploration of how tourism firms utilise different types of open innovation practice offers a valuable opportunity to learn about the nature of open service innovation practices. Thus, this paper addresses the following research question: what types of open innovation practice are utilised during the development of new tourism services? A qualitative case study approach was used to answer the research question. The findings suggest that pecuniary and non-pecuniary inflows of knowledge are utilised during service innovation processes in tourism. However, the stage of the innovation process at which inflows of knowledge are utilised varies systematically with respect to whether the innovation is perceived to be incremental or more radical. The findings also indicate that tourism firms reveal knowledge to other tourism firms in non-pecuniary outbound open innovation processes. However, no example of a pecuniary outbound open innovation practice was identified in this study. Implications for management and further research are discussed in the paper.

Services form an important part of the economy today. Innovation for service firms is as important as for manufacturing, but the innovation process for service firms is comparatively little studied. In this paper, I review the literature there is on the innovation process for service firms, and make two suggestions for formalizing that process. The common thought that service firms do not innovate does not hold. Innovation is, however, often ad hoc for services, and it can therefore be difficult to measure firms' innovation efforts. These points are related to issues of appropriability of the benefits of innovation in services. The two issues primarily discussed in this paper — the possibilities of formalizing and appropriating in case of new service development — are central issues for service firms. It is here that this paper offers some contributions to the existing literature; it does not so much present an overview thereof.

Le ricerche di mercato online denominate anche e-research, rappresentano uno strumento nuovo nel campo delle indagini di mercato, diffuso per lo più in Paesi ad elevato utilizzo della rete Internet quali Stati Uniti e paesi Scandinavi (Finlandia in particolare). Lo stato attuale della letteratura in materia evidenzia soprattutto i vantaggi e gli svantaggi che si ottengono ricorrendo a questo strumento e le attenzioni metodologiche che è indispensabile avere se si decidesse di sostituire una ricerca condotta in modo tradizionale (via telefono, posta o tramite interviste personali) con una ricerca condotta via web.
L’articolazione del lavoro prevede una prima parte dedicata alla descrizione degli aspetti metodologici più rilevanti di una ricerca online e una rassegna delle esperienze più significative condotte all’interno del DISA (Dipartimento di Informatica e Studi Aziendali). Nella parte successiva si avanza un’ipotesi relativa alla maggiore efficacia di una ricerca online nel caso di indagini che abbiano per oggetto prodotti o servizi a forte contenuto innovativo. In quest’ambito esistono a nostro parere opportunità per tale tipo di ricerche connesse ai minori tempi e costi di realizzo dell’indagine, che nel caso di prodotti nuovi diventano variabili decisionali di tipo strategico, ed a minori vincoli di rappresentatività campionaria, che per questo tipo di prodotti, costituisce un problema di rilievo contenuto.

Purpose-This study aims to shed lights on the dynamics of involving and sharing knowledge with stakeholders in the process of new service development (NSD) over time. Design/methodology/approach-The paper is based on a paradigmatic case focused on the development of the digital MBA program by the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano. Primary and secondary data have been largely collected and analyzed, involving multiple stakeholders of the development process. Findings-This study describes how several stakeholders have been involved during the phase of the NSD process, showing two variables that ruled their involvement: the level of control exerted by the School on the stakeholders and the level of flexibility of the stakeholders. Research limitations/implications-This research offers insights to the understanding of the dynamics of involving and sharing knowledge with multiple-stakeholders in NSD. From a theoretical perspective, it contributes to stakeholder theory linking it with the service management literature, highlighting the role of cyclical fluctuations in the involvement activities. Practical implications-This research offers insights to managers dealing with the development of new services, offering them a novel view on how various stakeholders may be involved over time, in different moment and in different ways, to properly enhance the development process thanks to their knowledge sharing. Originality/value-This paper contributes to the service management literature emphasizing the role of multiple stakeholders while providing insights and suggestions to manage the complex relationships created by their involvement and their knowledge.

prove um melhor entendimento da própria gestão do conhecimento, trazendo à tona uma nova visão: a da busca da eliminação dos desperdícios de conhecimento. Palavras-chave: Desperdício de conhecimento. New Service Development. Gestão do Conhecimento.

The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated model to improve service processes in ageing-home-care. According to the literature, existing service processes have potential service failures that affect service quality and efficacy. However, most previous studies have only focused on conceptual model development using New Service Development (NSD) and fail to provide a systematic model to analyse potential service failures and facilitate managers developing solutions to improve the service process. This study proposes a model that integrates service blueprinting and Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA). First, the service blueprint tool was used to analyse potential service failures in the service process. Then, FMEA was employed to diagnose the possible causes and effects of service failures in the model. Finally, we utilised the expert brainstorming method to develop feasible solutions to improve the service process. A case study of the service process used by an ageing-home-care service agency was conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model. Finally, we summarised the advantages of the proposed model and its implications.

New services come up with opportunities for organizations but the risk associated with these services always exists. Empirical studies, which have investigated the success factors at the project level, showed that success or failure is not the result of managing one or two activities very well; it is the result of a total approach, managing several aspects competently and in a balanced manner. It is therefore obvious that management is highly interested in learning about those factors that influence the success of new services. To address the challenge of high failure rate, a significant number of studies have focused on the factors that affect the performance of new services.

However, the majority of new service development (NSD) research has concentrated on the financial service sector, but so far, there has been no important research on NSD in the largest industries worldwide, such as the hospitality industry, and in particular the hotel sector. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gain insight into the criteria that contribute to the success in NSD projects in the hospitality economy. This study aims to explore the characteristics that distinguish between success and failure of new hotel services in Thailand. It thereby contributes to the improvement of success rates by allowing managers to refine their development processes for new services. Towards this end, the study investigates the potential of developing a predictive model that incorporates the unique characteristics of services and is demonstrated to distinguish effectively between successful and unsuccessful new hotel services.

Keywords: New service development, service innovation, hospitality services, tourism, multicriteria analysis, critical success criteria

Organizing new service development is an important topic for decision-makers in service firms, since continuous innovation is expected to pay off. Although the literature on organizing new service development has grown rapidly over the last decade, the numerous publications are highly fragmented, each concentrating on a small piece of the complex innovation puzzle. This paper classifies current literature on organizing new service development (NSD) into two evolutionary stages: managing key activities in the NSD process, and creating a climate for continuous innovation. For both stages its consequences for the initiation and implementation of new services are discussed. The paper ends with limitations and suggestions for future research.

New service development (NSD) has emerged as an important area of research in service operations management. However, NSD empirical investigations have been hindered by the lack of psychometrically sound measurement items and scales. This paper reports a two-stage approach for the development and validation of new multi-item measurement scales reflecting a multidimensional construct called NSD competence. NSD competence reflects an organization's expertise in deploying resources and routines, usually in combination, to achieve a desired new service outcome. This competence is operationalized as a multidimensional construct reflected by five complementary dimensions: NSD process focus, market acuity, NSD strategy, NSD culture, and information technology experience. In the first stage of measure development, we analyse judgment-based, nominal-scaled data collected through an iterative item-sorting process to assess the tentative reliability and validity of the proposed measurement items. Our results demonstrate that a reduced set of measurement items have reasonable psychometric properties and, therefore, are useful inputs for multi-item measurement scale development. In the second stage of measurement development, we conduct a confirmatory factor analysis of the five NSD competence dimensions using survey data collected from a sample of retail bank key informants and confirm the unidimensionality, reliability, and validity of the proposed five multi-item scales. The NSD competence scales developed in this research may be used to advance scholarly understanding and theory in NSD. Further, these NSD scales may provide a useful diagnostic and benchmarking tool for managers seeking to assess and/or improve their firm's service innovation expertise. #

and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

This article provides an organisational case study using exploratory qualitative and visual research methods. We address the research question: What are the experiences of service users who use a novel in-reach rehabilitation and recovery service for people with severe and enduring mental health needs? Fifteen purposefully sampled service users were recruited from across a service that is novel in embedding community sectors within in-patient provision. The sample reflects approximately the demographic of the Service and comprises: 10 men, 5 women; 12 white British, 3 ethnic minority; aged 18-60 years; and across in-patient care and supported community living. Photo-elicitation was used to enrich data collection through lightly-structured interviews focused on the images brought by participants. Interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Analysis indicates that participants oriented towards four ‘meta-questions’: What does mental wellbeing mean to you? What difficulties have you encountered? What do you appreciate about the Service? What do you need for change to occur? We also identified six themes which told the story of a journey. The journey begins with challenge and moves towards making connections with others. Here power dynamics are often experienced and addressed in the development of a greater sense of independence. This then provides opportunities for raised awareness around possibilities of recovery and a new-found hope. Our three main conclusions are all relevant to clinical practice: service users (a) place great importance on building relationships; (b) aspire to make informed choices throughout their recovery journey, and; (c) desire greater transparency regarding treatment options.

New service development (NSD) is essential if organisations are to survive and grow. Yet the process can be complex, time consuming, costly and often unsuccessful. Services involve customers as co-producers i.e. they are present in the service system/production process. Consequently effective NSD focuses on designing service prerequisites that meet consumer needs and requirements. Additionally, other stakeholder groups may have their own expectations of the service. A number of models/approaches have been developed, however, which can assist managers and others in developing new and improved services. This paper argues that a panoramic, or holistic, approach to NSD and a high level of precision at the micro level, will combine to provide a more successful service design and NSD process. Five models from the new product/service development literature are used to illustrate how the approach can be applied to a complex multi-faceted service such as a hospital.

This paper reports the findings of a study examining how to enhance customer orientation in new service development (NSD) of a strategic alliance. The study applies the constructive action research approach in a case study concerning the development of a new financial service. The study presents a new framework illustrating the prerequisites and the early phases of a customer-oriented NSD process in alliance context. The paper concludes that the NSD process should support interaction between the personnel of the strategic partners but also towards customers. Business process simulation is one method that enhances interaction and customer orientation in collaborative NSD.

Background: As advances in genetics are becoming increasingly relevant to mainstream healthcare, a major challenge is to ensure that these are integrated appropriately into mainstream medical services. In 2003, the Department of Health for England announced the availability of start-up funding for ten 'Mainstreaming Genetics' pilot services to develop models to achieve this. Methods: Multiple methods were used to explore the pilots' experiences of incorporating genetics which might inform the development of new services in the future. A workshop with project staff, an email questionnaire, interviews and a thematic analysis of pilot final reports were carried out. Results: Seven themes relating to the integration of genetics into mainstream medical services were identified: planning services to incorporate genetics; the involvement of genetics departments; the establishment of roles incorporating genetic activities; identifying and involving stakeholders; the challenges of working across specialty boundaries; working with multiple healthcare organisations; and the importance of cultural awareness of genetic conditions. Pilots found that the planning phase often included the need to raise awareness of genetic conditions and services and that early consideration of organisational issues such as clinic location was essential. The formal involvement of genetics departments was crucial to success; benefits included provision of clinical and educational support for staff in new roles. Recruitment and retention for new roles outside usual career pathways sometimes proved difficult. Differences in specialties' working practices and working with multiple healthcare organisations also brought challenges such as the 'genetic approach' of working with families, incompatible record systems and different approaches to health professionals' autonomous practice. 'Practice points' have been collated into a Toolkit which includes resources from the pilots, including job descriptions and clinical tools. These can be customised for reuse by other services. Conclusions: Healthcare services need to translate advances in genetics into benefits for patients. Consideration of the issues presented here when incorporating genetics into mainstream medical services will help ensure that new service developments build on the body of experience gained by the pilots, to provide high quality services for patients with or at risk of genetic conditions.

Le ricerche di mercato online denominate anche e-research, rappresentano uno strumento nuovo nel campo delle indagini di mercato, diffuso per lo più in Paesi ad elevato utilizzo della rete Internet quali Stati Uniti e paesi Scandinavi (Finlandia in particolare). Lo stato attuale della letteratura in materia evidenzia soprattutto i vantaggi e gli svantaggi che si ottengono ricorrendo a questo strumento e le attenzioni metodologiche che è indispensabile avere se si decidesse di sostituire una ricerca condotta in modo tradizionale (via telefono, posta o tramite interviste personali) con una ricerca condotta via-web. L'articolazione del lavoro prevede una prima parte dedicata alla descrizione degli aspetti metodologici più rilevanti di una ricerca online e una rassegna delle esperienze più significative condotte all'interno del DISA (Dipartimento di Informatica e Studi Aziendali). Nella parte successiva si avanza un'ipotesi relativa alla maggiore efficacia di una ricerca online nel caso di indagini che abbiano per oggetto prodotti o servizi a forte contenuto innovativo. In quest'ambito esistono a nostro parere opportunità per tale tipo di ricerche connesse ai minori tempi e costi di realizzo dell'indagine, che nel caso di prodotti nuovi diventano variabili decisionali di tipo strategico, ed a minori vincoli di rappresentatività campionaria, che per questo tipo di prodotti, costituisce un problema di rilievo contenuto. Partendo dalla verifica della validità metodologica delle online research effettuata tramite un'indagine comparata su due sotto-insiemi di popolazione, intervistati con mezzi tradizionali e viaweb, sono state condotte altre quattro sperimentazioni aventi come denominatore comune la caratteristica innovativa dei prodotti o dei servizi indagati, condotte ciascuna ricorrendo a differenti strumenti di contatto disponibili sulla rete.

As the importance of services in our society increases, so does the importance of systematic approaches to develop these services -commonly termed New Service Development (NSD). An increasing proportion of services are now electronic services delivered over the Internet. The purpose of this article is to derive a set of key attributes that distinguish electronic from nonelectronic services and their potential influence on NSD. These key attributes are then used as a framework for analyzing NSD literature with regards to their applicability for the development of electronic services. This analysis reveals several gaps in NSD research. In particular, current NSD methods are not well equipped to address the rapidly changing nature and specific cost structure found in electronic services. Current NSD methods are also not well suited to fully exploit the various advantages that electronic services offer over non-electronic counterparts, in particular, the transparent feedback generated by service usage and potentials for continuous improvement and rapid deployment of service changes.