In this article, we provide in-depth insight into the process of adopting service design (SD) by a large service organization. We use an inductive interpretive approach and draw on rich longitudinal data collected in one of the world's major telecommunication companies that undertook a series of SD initiatives to improve its innovation capability. We find that instead of merely bringing new services, SD has far-reaching consequences for organizations, prompting significant changes in the organizational mindset and routines. Building on the institutional logics perspective and acknowledging the role of individuals' institutional work, we identify the macro-level and micro-level mechanisms of the organizational logic transformation that SD induces. Interestingly, the effects are bidirectional, as the organizational context has a considerable impact on SD as an innovation practice. As this study shows, managers and other practitioners can effectively overcome organizational hindrances to the adoption of SD by creating an SD-based corporate language, realigning key performance indicators, and facilitating learning and experimentation.

SummaryPurpose -This paper describes the development and evaluation of a process model to transform brand strategy into service experiences during the front end of New Service Development (NSD). This is an important yet poorly understood transformation that occurs early in service development projects. The paper describes the theoretical basis for this transformation, and introduces a process model that has been developed to understand and assist with this. Further, it describes early evaluation results and reflections upon its use.Design/methodology/approach -A research through design approach using participatory co-design led to the development of the new process. The development was iterative, together with service providers. The process model was evaluated using a combination of qualitative methods, including interviews, observation and participatory observation.Findings -This work underlines the importance of aligning the customer experience to the company brand and suggests how this can be achieved. A key element in this is the development of a service personality and consideration of service touch-point behaviours through a combination of analytical work and experience prototyping. The suggested process model has received positive evaluation when used in commercial projects, in terms of brand congruence, project team cohesiveness and experiential result. The work advocates tighter integration between brand management and NSD, and has identified multiple issues regarding the content of a service brand strategy. These include the ways in which a brand department should communicate its brand strategy, and how it should be involved in NSD projects to ensure brand alignment.Research limitations/implications -The evaluation of the model has limitations, both in terms of number of cases and downstream/long term effects. This should therefore be considered an initial evaluation of the model, requiring further verification.Practical implications -The paper describes a three stage experience-centric process that improves brand alignment in projects. Further, the work shows that brand specifications for services should increasingly focus upon desired customer experiences, service touch-points and touch-point behaviours rather than the current focus upon visual identity.Originality/value -This is the first paper to suggest a process that transforms a brand strategy into customer experiences during NSD. It also adds original insights into the transition from brand to concept, bridging branding, service design and NSD.Keywords Design, Brand, Customer experience, New Service Development Paper type Research paper IntroductionThe area of customer experiences as an emerging area of competitive advantage is now clearly documented (Johnston and Kong, 2011, Pine and Gilmore, 1998, Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004. Research is now beginning to explore the relationship between customer experience and Service Dominant Logic (Sandström, Edvardsson, et al., 2008) and between customer experience and the NSD (New Service Development) pr...

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