Structure, Structure, Structure? Designing and Managing Smart Service Systems as Socio-Technical Structures

Abstract

Since their Ph.D. studies with Jörg Becker at the WWU Muenster, the authors of this article have been involved in designing and managing smart service systems. Smart service systems are value configurations of service providers and service customers that build upon utilizing smart products as boundary objects. They are socio-technical structures that are constituted by two main mechanisms: On the one hand, they can be designed and implemented in processes of (smart) service systems engineering. On the other hand, they emerge as social structures based on the actions performed by people involved in the co-creation of value. As we shall see in this article, both mechanisms are aligned with management principles that Jörg Becker has held dear for many years.