New Service Development: From Panoramas to Precision

New service development (NSD) is essential if organisations are to survive and grow. Yet the process can be complex, time consuming, costly and often unsuccessful. Services involve customers as co-producers i.e. they are present in the service system/production process. Consequently effective NSD focuses on designing service prerequisites that meet consumer needs and requirements. Additionally, other stakeholder groups may have their own expectations of the service. A number of models/approaches have been developed, however, which can assist managers and others in developing new and improved services. This paper argues that a panoramic, or holistic, approach to NSD and a high level of precision at the micro level, will combine to provide a more successful service design and NSD process. Five models from the new product/service development literature are used to illustrate how the approach can be applied to a complex multi-faceted service such as a hospital.