ABSTRACT
Simply explained, service innovation is a “scientific idea” that aims to improve the productivity of the service industry by integrating an engineering idea. Other countries started with this concept long before, such as Germany and the United States. In Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced a policy in 2007.1
Professor Nagamachi has been fully involved in this area since 1969, when he started as a student, and achieved some great results from the stakeholders and employees. One day in that year, the general secretary of the trade union of the Tenmaya Hiroshima department store in Okayama requested him for consultation in the office of Hiroshima University. In this department store, managerial employees were also involved as labor union members, and they seemed to be worried about their employees’ work motivation.
