This paper broadens the current understanding of the empowerment phenomenon within the service ecosystems framework. We reviewed and critically analysed extant literature on empowerment theory and noted that the micro-level conceptualisation of empowerment heavily relies on forms of power grab/power share/power transfer to achieve outcomes of power symmetry, also called the state of empowerment. We go beyond current understanding of empowerment as a micro-level (enabling) phenomenon, proposing and arguing for a macro-level conceptualisation, coined integrated empowerment, in which each entity/participant within a given ecosystem is imparted with the required autonomy (power) to participate in a way that enhances overall health of the service ecosystem. Integrated empowerment creates/constructs episodes of service provisioning, and service provisioning is only possible because of integrated empowerment. This paper prompts future research exploring the concept of integrated empowerment and contributes to current understanding of the empowerment phenomenon and its integral role in service provisioning.

The purpose of this paper is to advocate reorientation of current managerial practices in the light of growing reliance on Big Data strategies by contemporary firms, to make them more consumer-centric in nature. Big data strategies by their very nature and modalities lead to heightened levels of information asymmetry which by default have the capacity to disempower the very user that contributes towards the data driven insights. The fundamental driver for writing this paper is not to criticise big data strategies per se, but to suggest; it is merely a tool which can be equally used for consumer entrapment, as well as consumer empowerment. This paper wishes to contribute to the intellectual debate among academics, policy maker, and practitioners alike; en-route for a type of big data-driven managerial orientation that balances the consumers' right to market-based transparency, and the enterprise's need for economic viability.

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Issue addressed: One of the biggest concerns for human health in the 21st century is the ever-increasing rate of obesity and its associated budgetary implications for publicly funded health care service provisioning. This study at the outset explores the multifaceted nature of food-related consumption choices and outcomes of obesity, and later offers suggestions to improve the existing interventional strategies to curtail the epidemic. Methods: A total of 24 participants were recruited through poster invitations placed around the greater metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand. Participants shared their health care intervention program experiences through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed in keeping with traditions of constructivist grounded theory. Findings: Analysis revealed various concurrent individually acting and ecologically mediated processes which led to obesogenic outcomes as a result of social actors' (participants) engagement in acts of (food-related) consumption practices. Conclusions: This study helps to illustrate the underlying, multifaceted processes that lead to obese individuals feeling defeated or disempowered and categorically willing, yet unable to bring about healthy changes in their lives. We hope this study will prompt health care practitioners to take a holistic approach while conceiving and deploying health care intervention programs. So what?: Current health care interventional programs are not achieving optimum solutions for those in need. All future programs need to acknowledge the roles played by an individual, as well as ecological factors, while deploying client-centric intervention solutions. Perhaps these programs are in need of a team-based approach to offer a truly "wrap-around" service provisioning strategy, rather than the traditional oneon-one consultative approaches in use at current times.

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