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Open research questions in Service and Product Innovation

96 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 1,510 Service and Product Innovation papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Multi-tier supply chain actors interact to co-create value and support customer use, yet the value co-creation (VCC) environment and interactions that enable customers’ value-in-use (VIU) in customized-product supply chains remain underexplored.

    VALUE CO-CREATION IN MULTI-TIER SUPPLY CHAINS: A STUDY OF CUSTOMIZED-PRODUCTS · 2026 · DOI

  • perception elements—perceived price, perceived quality, trustworthiness, and loyalty programme usage— as key drivers of customer value, which ultimately transform into behavioural intent. To fully address the research goal, we investigated individual related research questions hypotheses (H). (RQ) and their RQ1: How can the current perception of selected retail stores be characterised in the context of the value generated by the business model? Frequency analysis is employed to gain a general understanding of how the cohort perceives individual elements. We recorded the results of the analysis in Table 1.

    Young Adults' perceptions as a basis for strategic management of business model generation · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should explore manufacturing and industrial sectors, where digital adoption dynamics may involve different organizational and technological constraints. Future research should examine how these external factors interact with internal organizational barriers, potentially influencing digital adoption trajectories in unforeseen ways. Finally, the role of external macroeconomic factors in shaping digital adoption remains an underexplored area.

    The TOBE Playbook: Identifying Barriers and Drivers of Digital Success in the Service Sector · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should investigate the cognitive pathways that mediate the relationship between AI awareness and value judgments, the circumstances under which AI enhances rather than diminishes per-ceived value, and how these perceptions evolve as AI becomes increasingly ubiquitous. While trust plays a significant role in value assessment, the sources of this distrust remain unclear, whether stemming from fears of job displacement, perceived loss of human creativity, or skepticism about AI capabilities. While this research demonstrates that AI awareness influences value perception, the underlying mechanisms, boundary condi-tions, and temporal dynamics remain unexplored.

    The Impact of AI-Driven Product Creation on Customer Value Perception: A Preliminary Study · 2026 · DOI

  • Purpose Despite growing interest in value co-creation (VCC) in service innovation, few studies have examined how logistics enterprises collaborate with SaaS platforms and manufacturing companies to overcome geographical, organizational and technical barriers.

    Value co-creation through service innovation in logistics: an evolutionary game study · 2026 · DOI

  • So, in the first step, through interviews with “18” activists with lived experience, an attempt was made to determine the propositional themes of this phenomenon by conducting interviews with open questions and codes emerging from the contexts of zombification of firms.

    Paradigmatic phenomenology of zombification of firms: theoretical premises and practical applications · 2026 · DOI

  • study of in. Liu, Y., Cheng, P., & Zhao, D. (2018). New product launch actions and firm performance: the effects of breadth, heterogeneity. Chinese and Management Studies, 12(1), 79-105. Doi: 10.1108/CMS-06-2017-0156. complexity. Yulianto, E., Supriono, S., & Bafadal, A. S. (2024). Identifying the impact of absorptive capacity, new product development, and marketing capabilities on and new product adoption digital marketing performance in Indonesian SMEs. Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, 4(13(130), 95–109. Doi: 10.15587/1729-4061.2024.310101. choices. Ching Gu, V., & Burns, J. R. (2016). The launch pharmaceutical strategy market. International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, 10(3), 339-356. Doi: 10.1108/IJPHM-06-2015-0030. in China’s. Gupta, H., & Barua, M. K. (2016). Identifying enablers of technological innovation for Indian MSMEs using best–worst multi criteria decision making method.

    New Product Launch Proficiency to Improve New Product Performance MSMEs: The Mediation Role of Collaborative Capabilities · 2026 · DOI

  • There are limitations to this study. Even though we managed to include a three exper- tise group employee-only participant pool, without involving students, the study was restricted to staff from a single company in the furniture sales industry. While draw- 1 3A. Taylor et al. Page 21 of 26 13 ing exclusively on professionals strengthens the practical relevance of the findings, it also limits their generalisability. The salespeople in this study worked across a wide range of products, which enabled cross-selling opportunities. In contrast, in other industries sales staff specialise in a single product designed for a specific cli- entele, which narrows the scope for cross-selling. These contextual differences indi- cate that sales-related cognitive processes may differ substantially across sectors. Beyond product and company specificity, learning cultures and training resources vary considerably across retail organisations of different sizes and structures, which may shape expertise development trajectories in ways the present single-company design cannot fully capture. Additionally, the relatively short interview duration (M = 11.76 min) is inherent to the script-elicitation design, which prioritises concise structured verbalisations over extended narratives. While follow-up questions were included to deepen the elicitation, richer data may have been obtained through longer or repeated interview formats. Furthermore, as is well known in expertise research, self-reports need to be treated with caution because they are prone to recall bias, impression management, and situational framing effects (Ericsson & Simon, 1993). However, in the context of our study, they were beneficial because they provided direct access to participants’ subjective perspectives and reasoning processes, offering valuable insights into how salespeople themselves conceptualise and reflect on their expertise.

    Examining Expertise Differences in Retail Sales: A Script-based Analysis of Customer Interactions · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should extend the current study in several ways to build a richer understanding of expertise development in sales contexts. First, generalisability requires moving beyond the present setting. Examining a broader range of sales environments such as B2B, digital platform-based selling, and industries undergoing rapid technological transformation would allow researchers to explore how different contexts shape the transferability of adaptive skills. As Gegen- furtner et al. (2024) emphasise, expertise development is not only a vertical process of progressing from novice to expert under stable conditions but also a horizontal transition, where experts must repeatedly adapt to evolving task constraints. Investi- gating how salespeople navigate such transitions in varied industries can shed light on whether the sociogenetic adaptation types identified in other domains (successful, problematic, contingent, or failed) also apply to business-to-customer sales. Second, adaptive selling research can profit from stronger alignment with theories of adaptive expertise (Hatano & Inagaki, 1986; Ward et al., 2019) and adaptive sell- ing (Chaker et al., 2025; Weitz et al., 1986) with the potential of cross-fertilisation (Gobet, 2018). Adaptive selling involves flexibility, creativity, and customer orienta- tion and responsiveness, while adaptive expertise emphasises conceptual understand- ing, transfer, and the ability to restructure knowledge in response to novel problems. Bridging these frameworks could generate a comprehensive account of how sales- people develop and sustain expertise in dynamic environments. Such alignment would also allow researchers to distinguish between routine flexibility (e.g., tailoring 1 3Examining Expertise Differences in Retail Sales: A Script-based Analysis… 13 Page 22 of 26 pitches) and deeper adaptive restructuring (e.g., rethinking sales strategies in the face of AI-driven transformations). Third, future research could consider moving beyond self-report methods toward observational or simulation-based designs. Analysing real or simulated salesperson- customer interactions would complement script-elicitation approaches, enabling a more direct examination of how expertise differences manifest in actual sales behaviour. Finally, the role of education and continuous training demands closer attention. With environments becoming increasingly dynamic due to automation, digital CRM tools, and AI adoption, expertise cannot be treated as a static achievement (Gegen- furtner et al., 2024). Instead, training programmes should emphasise constant refine- ment of skills, opportunities for horizontal learning across industries or functions, and mechanisms for integrating new technologies into daily practice. This perspec- tive resonates with the idea that expertise is always “a continuing process of becom- ing; never entirely complete” (Dall’Alba, 2018, p. 35).

    Examining Expertise Differences in Retail Sales: A Script-based Analysis of Customer Interactions · 2026 · DOI

  • Despite its rigorous methodology, this study is subject to several limitations: First, Cross- sectional Nature: The data represent a snapshot in time. Given the volatility of the tourism sector, a longitudinal approach would be more effective in capturing the long-term evolution of a business model pivot. Second, Geographical Bias: Although the sample covers major hubs in Indonesia (Jakarta, Bali, Bandung, etc.), the findings may not be fully generalizable to smaller, more remote agencies that operate under different resource constraints. Third, Self-Reported Data: Relying on managers' and owners' perceptions may introduce a social desirability bias, particularly regarding their own organizational capabilities.

    A Strategic Framework for Business Model Pivot and Value Co-Creation: Evidence from Traditional Travel Agencies in Indonesia · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could explore collaborations with platforms like Haier Kaoas and Aerospace Cloud Network to obtain anonymized real transaction data. The numerical simulation parameters in this paper are primarily calibrated based on literature and theoretical assumptions, lacking validation from large-scale panel data from actual industrial internet platforms.

    Research on Pricing Decisions for Shared Manufacturing Services in a Digital Service Context · 2026 · DOI

  • Purpose Value-based selling (VBS) is increasingly a key success factor in business to business (B2B) settings, but its relationship with digital solutions selling (DSS) has not been explored.

    The relationship between digital solution selling and value-based selling: a motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) perspective · 2022 · DOI

  • The focus on successful foreignowned SMEs provides a stimulus for cross-cultural knowledge diffusion through internationalisation of entrepreneurial efforts by examining the currently under-studied value proposition construct within the SME sector.

    A value proposition mix framework of successful foreign-owned small and medium enterprises in South Africa · 2021 · DOI

  • This article identifies open questions in the NST in five areas (organizational formation, resource development, claims on value, governance, and performance) and suggests ways in which insights from the resource-based view of the firm advance answers to these questions.

    Integrating Insights From the Resource-Based View of the Firm Into the New Stakeholder Theory · 2021 · DOI

  • While previous studies have detailed a large number of such barriers, little is known of how different types of OGD users are affected, and when the barriers appear in their innovation processes.

    Barriers to innovating with open government data: Exploring experiences across service phases and user types · 2018 · DOI

  • Hence, to be successful, inventions should be explored to meet customer needs and demands, and commercialized to make the company profitable (DTI - Occasional Paper No 9, 2007).

    Service Innovation and Customers’ Involvement in Service Industry in Kosovo · 2014 · DOI

  • Purpose – While mainstream theories in international business and management are foundedeither explicitly or implicitly on studies of manufacturing firms, prior attempts to develop theoryon the internationalization of service firms are sparse and have yet to establish solid andcomprehensive frameworks.

    Value creation logics and internationalization of service firms · 2014 · DOI

  • The key issues identified include: the development of new conceptual frameworks; the creation of new metaphors that might supplant the dominance of the networking metaphor; research that would explore the production of translocal distributed co-produced service expertise; further work on embodied expertise/labour; research on services and manufacturing; modifications to national statistics and a critical analysis of the relationship between knowledge and business, and professional services.

    Services, innovation, employment and organisation: research gaps and challenges for the next decade · 2012 · DOI

  • Although creating business value from interacting with customers in the electronic marketplace is far from being a new academic proposition (Amit & Zott, 2001; Armstrong & Hagel, 1996; Zeithaml, 1988), the concept warrants closer study from the perspective of e-commerce management (Jiang, Chan, & Tan, 2010; Yadav & Varadarajan, 2005a, b) in an attempt to reconcile limited and contradictory findings resulting from a variety of deficiencies.

    The Business Value of Interactivity Managing Customers in the Electronic Marketplace · 2011 · DOI

  • Noting that the industry has suffered continual decline in the twenty years since we published our paper, we suggest that the case still raises issues that remain open questions in the field despite the significant efforts by management researchers in recent years to understand the sources of industrial decline and revitalization.

    Competitive Groups as Cognitive Communities: The Case of Scottish Knitwear Manufacturers Revisited · 2010 · DOI

  • In the very first edition of the Journal of Marketing Management, Keith Blois examined the influence of customers and competitors in the new product development process, concluding that the widely referenced process models were insufficient for capturing external inputs central to the progress from the generation of ideas to eventual market launch and growth.

    Relational resources and competences for radical product innovation · 2009 · DOI

  • Research limitations/implications The results point at two areas, where additional research on market orientation is called for: a better conceptualization of market intelligence and theorizing on most cost effective ways of being market oriented, including implications for the distribution of market oriented activities among value chain members.

    Market orientation of value chains · 2005 · DOI

  • Recent theorizing, primarily emphasizing the application of organizational behaviour theories to TQM, has begun to provide greater clarity, but much work remains to be done.

    Theorizing TQM: An Austrian and Evolutionary Economics Interpretation · 2000 · DOI

  • Whether or not these features were intended specifically for remanufacturing could not be determined, but they proved to be enablers for remanufacturing business models by enhancing value creation and delivery.

    How do design-related remanufacturing barriers and enablers affect business models? A retrospective analysis of remanufacturing cases · 2026 · DOI

  • The study addressed a gap in the literature by examining how multiple dimensions of digital transformation jointly shaped performance outcomes among Romanian sportinggoods retailers, a sector rarely analysed in empirical research.

    Digital Ecosystems in Sport Retail: Performance Determinants · 2026 · DOI

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96 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 1,510 Service and Product Innovation papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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