ABSTRACT
This powerful framework is however broad enough to include other innovative patterns, which are more specifi c but relevant as well, even if scarcely mentioned both in empirical research and in theory. New products can be generated, for instance, not only by a creative effort pursued by teams in laboratories or by individuals, but also by mixing well-established techniques with other, additional elements as, for instance, in the case of services (an analogue perspective, even if not exactly the same, is provided by von Tunzelmann and Acha 2005). ‘Service’ is, in its turn, a very broad conceptual category, which includes elements such as quickness in delivering, fl exibility in producing and the capability to design, develop and adapt customer-oriented specifi c solutions (generally starting from general-purpose technologies), to maintain ‘in stock’ a wide range of specifi c-purpose products ready for use, as well as to be able to provide the customers themselves with the technologies and the knowledge necessary to utilize the products they need (e.g., machine tools). Service component(s) can be expected to include a relevant, and growing, proportion of the ‘new’ product value added; this explains why increasingly the most dynamic and
‘innovative’ fi rms are moving towards the inclusion of service contents into their products (von Hippel 2005, esp. Ch. 9).
