Business Development in Interfirm Collaborations: Proposing a Theory of Social Creativity in Service Networks

Recent research has determined that new perspectives concerning business development and innovation are needed in the service network literature. In response, we propose a conceptual, theory-building study that sheds light on the following research question: ‘How can we mobilize actors in a service network and create ideas for interfirm collaborations that aspire to deliver business development and innovation?’. To answer this question, we build a new theory by introducing social creativity into the service network literature, which represents a new contextual arena. Our study’s key contribution is the creation of a normative theory of ‘social creativity in service networks’. The theory explains how to design and organize an event (or a series of events) in which service network actors can convene to create new ideas that stimulate business development and innovation.