Corporate venturing dynamics and patient involvement in service innovation

: an exploratory study of private sector hospitals in Northern Greece

Abstract

Innovation and entrepreneurship are dynamic and holistic processes that are not restricted to the initial activity of a new undertaking. Many studies link and draw parallels between, not only corporate entrepreneurship and innovation but also innovation and the ability to enhance an organisation’s competitive positioning and to provide outstanding value to its customers. However, a lack of research has been identified regarding the synergy between innovation and entrepreneurship, noting that the synergy between the two concepts helps organisations to prosper. Likewise, continuous service innovation has been described by many authors as the most valuable means for companies to achieve long-term success and organic growth. It is also suggested that for service firms to achieve even greater success, a customer-orientation perspective should be adopted. Although many studies concerning the service sectors and in particular service innovation have been carried out, they have rarely been conducted in the context of healthcare, and in particular, that of mental healthcare. Also, few studies have focused on the interaction and involvement of patients in the development of new health services. The study contributes to the related literature by providing conceptually developed and exploratory-based research, examining the Greek mental healthcare sector. The study contributes in two significant ways: It develops (1) a useful conceptual framework, which introduces a new perspective to the literature of both innovation and entrepreneurship, and (2) the new business model, which presents the means by which patients contribute to opportunities identification, illustrating their participation in the development process. More specifically, this study investigates the influence of user involvement on new health service development and presents the means by which the outcome can enhance a hospital’s entrepreneurial activity. On one hand, this study advances previous service innovation theory by associating with the entrepreneurship theory, while on the other, extends previous knowledge regarding the benefits of customer participation in new health service development.

Date of Award	Nov 2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Portsmouth
Supervisor	Paul Trott (Supervisor) & Chris Simms (Supervisor)