Network Management and Service Systems - The Case of German and Swiss banks

Service science views companies as service system entities that interact with other entities to create value. In today's networked value chains competition is no longer among companies, but among networks that may be regarded as service ecologies. Following service science each entity comprises a dynamic configuration of re-sources and structures, thus a variety of design aspects needs alignment within these ecologies. To manage service ecologies this article suggests to link insights from network management with service science. A multi-dimensional framework consistently describes the organizational aspects of network management among service system entities as well as the required processes to align activities between service system entities and the possible information systems to support network management. The framework emerged from a design-oriented research project based on eleven interviews with managers from financial service providers in Germany and Switzerland.