Improving service innovation in Aker Solutions – How clients’ knowledge, management and organisational structure can facilitate service innovation

Abstract

Services have long been perceived as non-innovative or technologically backward. It is only recently that innovation in services has attracted greater interest. However, service innovation is important for organisational competitive advantage and is of ever greater importance in the economic development through creating new business opportunities and employment. In our study we look into how application of service innovation theories can benefit Aker Solutions by investigating our research topic: “Improving service innovation in Aker Solutions – How clients’ knowledge, management and organisational structure can facilitate service innovation.” We test and analyse our proposed model of service innovation through applying it to Aker Solutions and this results in a revised model of service innovation. Management support, mass customisation, knowledge creation and sharing, amongst other, play an important part in this model, as well as understanding customer needs and involving and interacting with the customer. Our study shows how important it is for a knowledge intensive organisation, where knowledge plays a crucial role in generating value, to have a clear innovation focus and a relevant organisational culture.