Developing a New Service for Micro Enterprises in Co-Creation with Customers Using Service Design

Abstract

The purpose of the thesis was to develop a new service for Finnish SME service company to-gether with its customers. The customer group were struggling with the fact that they have limited resources, such as money and knowledge to purchase services available and therefore are lacking a service they badly need. This problematic situation created a perfect opportuni-ty for the case company to start a service design project. The goal was to illustrate and ex-plain the process of developing a new service together with customers by using service design methods and how implementing service design thinking would affect the case company’s service development.

The theoretical section discusses the basic concept of Goods versus Service Dominant Logic, Value Exchange and Value-in-Use, Co-Creation and Service Desingn Thinking. In the study, service design has a major role, but it was seen as an approach or a way of thinking rather than a fundamental theory. Besides the service development, the thesis focused on imple-menting service design thinking into the development work and culture of the case company.

The new service was designed by using the service design process including the phases of exploration, creation, reflection and implementation. Background information and customer insight were gathered using an e-mail survey and phone interviews. Service design methods and tools were used in the development work. As a result, the thesis presented the service design project where the new service was created in co-creation with customers. Another outcome of the thesis was the effect of implementing service design thinking into the devel-opment work.

For further development, a study about the effects and benefits of implementing service de-sign thinking into the service organization’s development culture could be beneficial for the whole service industry where the case company operates.