Triggering an internal service innovation in manufacturing firms

The importance of a service innovation as a result of increasing competition and customer demands in manufacturing firms has been widely recognized. Especially, a service innovation can be incorporated internally to sustain a firm´ competitive advantage. In the context of manufacturing firms, this study investigates the triggering factors of an internal service innovation and its corresponding implementation strategy. This study adopts a multiple case studies method and examines the critical factors: internal user involvement and top management support. It is found the internal user involvement is neither the trigger nor significantly contributing to an internal service innovation´s success. On the other hand, the top-management support is ascertained to be crucial for such a success; top-down approach is more likely to happen to implement the new internal service. Additionally, a new factor, economic freedom, is found to have a significant impact (positive) on an internal service innovation´s success.