If Service Innovation has an anatomy, is it then alive?

The headline question might seem far fetched, but the language used to describe Service Innovation is full with innovative analogies. Reading the paper "Exploring value propositions and service innovation: a service-dominant logic study" by Skålén, P., Gummerus, J., von Koskull, C., & Magnusson, P. (2015), we are imperceptibly served with words like anatomy, creation, resources and adaptation. They all also are used in describing the concept of life. This is of course a play with words - which by the way is a creative way of making associative innovations. So lets play along for a bit.

In what way is Service and Service Innovation alive?

I'll just restrict myself to Services B-B and B-C, to make the associations clearer. So, lets pretend Services are alive. They thrive when delivered, so in a way they consume resources like manpower and electricity, and they deliver experiences, satisfaction or physical attributes. Obviously a Service can be copied, like Dolly the cloned sheep, but Service Innovation is how they reproduce. Everybody has heard the saying "Necessity is the mother of invention". In the living Service context it would mean that problems or needs is what the reproductive process (Service Innovation) is aiming for, while consuming its resources and producing the Service babies.

Linking back to the Skålén - Gummerus - von Koskull paper, a value proposition would be a service on display. The three aggregates of practices that constitute and fulfill value propositions, provision, representational and management and organizational practices, would be the living service in action, its genes and feeding practices respectively.

Types of innovation and is corresponding life analogy

Anders Gustafsson, professor at the Service Research Center at Karlstad university, presents a model related to Doblin’s ten types of innovation (see picture below).

In the above model, and listening to Anders Gustafsson presenting it, you can figure out that streamlining a Service is like holding it on a leash; brand innovation is to brush up the service and make it more attractive; experience innovation is to alter what and how the Service consume resources; and finally social innovation actually has many similarities with a pet dog: it's a nice companion and you meet lots of people when you are out walking the dog.

Is this meaningful?

OK, I must confess it has been a nice time trying to find useful analogies - but I at the same time have learned some more about these concepts. However I think there really is a deeper meaning, taking concepts like evolution, genes, reproduction (mixing of genes) etc. into account. It should be used carefully, for explaining. But possible life can give something back. Perhaps this analogy can provide some deeper understanding and new discoveries?