Background and scope of the special issue

The term "innovation" is nowadays used in almost every context in daily life. Here, we follow the definition put forward by Dasgupta and Gupta (2009): "Innovation is typically understood as the successful introduction of something new and useful, for example, introducing new methods, techniques, practices, or new or altered products and services." Therefore, today, maybe more than ever before, it is important for companies to continuously build up sustainable competitive advantages by offering innovative products and services. Most products are a combination of goods and services and the continuum of services varies according to domination of tangible or intangible elements (Shostack, 1987). Herein, we consider services as a broad term covering acts, efforts, or performances exchanged from the producer to end-user without ownership rights (i.e. banking, retailing, education, health care, catering, accommodation, etc.). The aim of this special issue is to advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of the innovation origins and its manifestations in the service sector.