A systematic approach for new service concept generation: Application of agent-based simulation

•This paper aims at suggesting a new approach to creating the most promising service concept.•The model applies agent-based simulation to understand the future status of a service system.•The modeling reflects the future trends of various customer responses and firms’ strategies.•A case study on a healthcare industry is performed to verify the utility of the proposed approach.

In new service development (NSD), a concept design that influences the direction of other activities is considered as a crucial stage. Although several methods exist, most of them cannot reflect responses of future potential customers because they assume that customers have the same responses in the future. Therefore, by using agent-based simulation (ABS) that can understand the future status of a service system, this paper suggests a new approach to creating the most promising service concept. The proposed approach considers the future trends of various customer responses and service concept strategies of firms by using ABS, generating a more accurate concept. By applying the suggested approach to a healthcare industry, its practicability and utility are verified. The novel approach based on the agent-based simulation method, which has customer, service provider, and competitor agents, is expected to be useful for service providers in a competitive market.