ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief introduction to the evolution of service theory over the last half-century. Since the early 1950s, an alternative body of management theory has developed, however, concerned with the service economy. Initially, the specific focus of this work was upon services marketing and then latterly developed into a broader focus on service management. The traditional model of service management and marketing (SMM) contained important elements of the understanding of the nature of services, as outlined earlier. Service Logic, as elaborated in contemporary SMM theory, has eight key elements. Depending upon the service ecosystem that they are operating in, firms will offer different value propositions, in the form of different combinations of resources that they believe will be attractive to their customers. The assumption of much traditional SMM theory was predicated upon the direct interaction of service staff and service customers.
