Research group: Centre for Service Innovation

This sizeable Centre for Service Innovation (CSI) was established as a result of an RCN research grant in 2011, with sustainability guaranteed until 2019. The research undertaken by CSI explores service innovation under four coherent and interlinked research themes.

10.5.1 Organisation, leadership and strategies

The group has 12 senior members (with a varying rate of % FTE) and two PhD students. An extensive governance structure is in place, including a board of directors, consortium, management team, research directors and a scientific advisory board (including several well recognised international service science scholars). This is quite impressive.

Appropriate resources are in place to ensure the effective day-to-day management of the centre. The managing director has a clear leadership role, with responsibility for executing the centre’s strategy

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and its daily operations. These responsibilities are shared with the two members of the management team.

The group’s desire to attract external funding to support it in the longer term is work in progress, though the five additional funding projects that have been set up suggest there are grounds for optimism. The likely contribution of the membership model in supporting funding is less obvious, with this funding route requiring further attention.

The preparedness of the RCN to continue funding the centre is indicative of the quality of its work.

Overall, the profile presented indicates an internationally well-regarded research group, with a strong researcher profile that is carrying out interesting and important work with clear impact.

CSI’s aspiration for international excellence is evident in its stated strategy, which provides a clear sense of the group’s vision, objectives and of the outcomes that are sought to achieve them. These objectives seem appropriate for a centre of this type. They include: the need to publish at the highest level, the drive to build a strong international network of partners, attracting research funding to become financially sustainable beyond 2019, and the desire to carry out work that is impactful in a variety of ways.

10.5.2 Research personnel

Overall, the research group has good capacity to address its four priority research themes. Eleven members of academic staff are listed, most of whom spend between 20% and 35% of their time working in the centre. Most gained their PhDs from NHH, but four gained their PhDs overseas. The gender balance seems reasonable and there is a mix of age groups and experience within the centre.

Several of the staff gained their PhDs overseas. There is also a good mix of affiliated researchers and PhD students from other academic and practitioner organisations. In addition, the group includes one postdoc researcher and two PhD students.

There are several cases of members of the group’s PhD and postdoc community becoming permanent staff members. A rigorous approach is in place for selecting PhD students. The degree to which the group can afford to be selective is indicative of the reputation it is building.

A well-designed training programme is in place to support these students during their studies. The network of centre partners provides students with easy access for data collection, which can otherwise be a barrier. National and international mobility are designed into the programme. For example, students have the opportunity to study abroad for six months. Postdocs are also well supported, and seem to have good access to teaching and project opportunities that can both support the work of permanent staff and help the postdocs to develop their CVs.

The group collaborates with research partners (both academic and industry), but there is no report on activities related to the mobility of the researchers.

10.5.3 Research production and scientific quality

The group shows good scientific quality that is evidenced through its publications, including several papers in FT50 and ABS 3 and 4 ranked outlets. As would be expected given the different career stages, the level of publishing by individuals varies, as does the quality of the selected publications. However, some of the centre’s staff publish in the best journals in their fields, often in collaboration with international co-authors. There is also an upward publishing trajectory as the group seeks ongoing elevation of its publishing profile to ABS 3 and 4 star outlets. A systematic approach to dissemination is adopted, which brings internal and external dissemination to academic and practitioner audiences.

A combination of academic and press channels is used.

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Service science is quite interdisciplinary by nature, evidenced also by the range of journals the members of the group publish in (including service research, service design, economic psychology, marketing, health studies and computer science etc.)

10.5.4 Networking

The nature of the group’s network, with both academic and practitioner partners, is as would be expected. There is further potential to grow the international network. It would have been interesting to learn more about CSI’s links with policy, which is little explored.

10.5.5 Interplay between research and education

Contributions are made by research group members at postgraduate and executive levels, with a particular focus on contributions that can be linked directly to the group’s research on a new master’s programme in New Business Development. On the basis of the information provided, it is not easy to establish the extent to which all members of the group contribute to teaching, or whether this is focused on particular individuals.

10.5.6 Societal relevance and impact

To widen its academic and practical impact, group members deliberately work collaboratively with other disciplines. Given that the external funding environment has moved strongly in the direction of supporting research that tackles Grand Challenges – which typically demand interdisciplinary approaches – this is a positive move.

CSI has established partnerships with a variety of Norwegian businesses – as would be expected given the research it prioritises – and a mix of Norwegian and international institutions. Presumably there will be opportunities to further grow the international networks over time.

The impact case on ’Service design & design thinking in Telenor’ submitted by the group is a good example of the transdisciplinary research the group is involved in with partners both from academia (also other institutions) and practice.

In relation to the impact of its research, the group is motivated by the desire to undertake studies that will help to make service firms more prosperous, and thus supports the prosperity of the Norwegian economy. The Telenor case indicates that the group has the capacity to create that kind of business and societal impact. There is also a programme of activity to develop teaching resources and programmes, to provide an educational outlet for the group’s work.

10.5.7 Overall assessment and feedback

This well-organised group demonstrates very good scientific quality that is evidenced through the quality of its publications, by the mobility of the research staff it has trained, and through the impact of its work on practice. The group utilises systematic dissemination methods. It is well connected with other institutions, and it also has strong partnerships with industry.

A priority for the group is to consider its sustainability beyond 2019. Reflecting this need, CSI has had some success in attracting some further project funding as well as some income in the form of paid member organisations. Optimally, the funding beyond 2019 would also include more stable long-term funding in order to allow the members of the group to fully focus on the scientific work instead of having to spend excessive amounts of time applying for funding piece-by-piece.

Assessment of research group: 5 – excellent

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