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2025/2026  BA-BSEMO2511U  Service Management Foundations

English Title
Service Management Foundations

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for Service and Markets
Course coordinator
  • Adriana Budeanu - Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL)
Main academic disciplines
  • Innovation
  • Experience economy
  • Service management
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 26-06-2025

Relevant links
Learning objectives
By the end of the course, the student should be able to:
  • Demonstrate a good understanding of the importance of services for economy, organizations and individuals
  • Explain and discuss concepts and theories presented through the course
  • Be able to articulate and explain the relevance of service management perspectives in the context of specific sectors (tourism, culture) or socio-economic phenomena (digitalisation, innovation)
  • Apply concepts and models presented throughout the course to concrete examples, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their choice
Examination
Service Management Foundations:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Active participation

The completion of this course is based on active student participation in class. The course will be considered as passed if the students participation - based on an overall assessment - in the class activities fulfill the learning objectives of the course. The individual student’s participation is assessed by the teacher.
The student must participate in A combination of assignment and presentation
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Grading scale Pass / Fail
Examiner(s) Assessed solely by the teacher
Exam period Winter
Make-up exam/re-exam Oral exam
Duration: 20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Preparation time: No preparation
Examiner(s): If it is an internal examination, there will be a second internal examiner at the re-exam. If it is an external examination, there will be an external examiner.
Description of activities
A combination of assignment and presentation: Active participation is used as the exam format of this course. Assessment of student performance will be done throughout the course, in the form of 6 group and/or individual activities that will be released in class. To pass the exam, each student must successfully complete 4 out of the 6 assessment activities released during the course.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

This course introduces students to notions reflecting and explaining the significance and diversity of services in contemporary digitalised and globalised markets. As service businesses face many challenges and opportunities, managers require advanced knowledge and skills necessary for evaluating the importance of factors that (re)shape business environments. The teaching in this course concentrates on discussing how specific service characteristics and organizational factors contribute to attaining success. 

 

The course consists of 4 modules addressing: (1) general introduction to service management, (2) service management in the context of tourism and culture sectors, (3) management of digital services, (4) management of service innovation. Each module provides a succinct yet comprehensive introduction to general notions relevant for the study program (service management) and its relevance for fields of specialized knowledge represented by three profiles provided throughout the study (tourism and culture, digitalization and innovation). The main objective of the course is to discusses and relate the importance of services to the context of each field of study (see 2, 3, 4 above). 
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • Classic and basic theory
  • New theory
  • Teacher’s own research
  • Models
Research-like activities
  • Analysis
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
  • Peer review including Peer-to-peer
Description of the teaching methods
The course is foundational for the rest of the study and by the end of it, students are expected to be able to articulate how and justify why service management is important in the context of specific sectors (tourism, culture) and in relation to specific phenomena (digitalisation, innovation). Therefore, one key goal in this course is to offer students through various class activities with multiple opportunities to practice and develop their argumentation skills.

The course is thus different in its structure and exam format than other courses. The course includes lectures, guest speakers and interactive exercise classes. A series of small assignments will be released in class throughout the course in the form of group and/or individual activities. Students should expect workload (i.e. assignments) during classes and sometimes in between classes. Correspondingly, there will be NO final exam at the end of the course. Students will be evaluated based on 1) whether the student has been actively engaged in the learning activities and complete the assignments; and 2) whether the learning objectives have been satisfactorily fulfilled by the end of the course.

The exam format of this course is active participation. Different from the traditional final exam at the end of the course, the assessment is integrated into the learning journey throughout the course and distributed through a series of structured learning activities and assignments, supported by continuous feedback. The goal is to foster a proactive and engaging learning environment that minimizes exam stress, enhances deep learning and prioritizes the application of knowledge.
Feedback during the teaching period
By participating in class exercises, students practice and strengthen their argumentation skills, in oral and in writing. Feedback (from the teacher and peer-to-peer feedback) will be given throughout the course on hands-on exercises, case discussions or group presentations. The teacher will be available during office hours to give feedback or answer questions from students. It is the student's responsibility to book time for this type of feedback with your teacher
Student workload
Actively participating during lectures, class activities and exercises 38 hours
Preparation for class individually and in groups 166 hours
Expected literature

Expected readings may include: 

 

Frei, F.X. (2008).  The four things a service business must get right. Harvard business review, 86(4), 70-80.

 

Sampson, S. E., & Froehle, C. M. (2006).  Foundations and implications of a proposed unified services theory. Production and operations management, 15(2), 329-343.

 

Barcet, A. (2011) Innovation in services: a new paradigm and innovation model. In: Gallouj, F. and Djellal, F. The Handbook of Innovation and Services, ch.2. pp. 49-67

 

Reckwitz, Andreas (2014) ‘Creativity as Dispositif’. In Hubert Knoblauch et al. (eds.), Culture, Communication and Creativity, Peter Lang.

 

Steyaert, Chris and Christoph Michels (2018) Creative Cities. In Timon Beyes and Jörg Metelmann (eds.), The Creativity Complex: A Companion to Contemporary Culture. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 177-183

 

Bilton, C. (2007) Management and Creativity: From Creative Industries to Creative Management. Introduction, chapters 1-2

 

Steyeart, C. & Michels, C. (2018). Atmosphere. In: The Creativity Complex. [T.Beyes & J. Metelmann [Eds.]. Bielefeled: Transcript

 

Groys, B. (2018). Curating in the Post-Internet Age. In: e-flux Journal #94

 

Holt, R. & Hjorth, D. (2016). It´s entrepreneurship, not enterprise: Ai Weiwei as entrepreneur. Journal of Buisness Venturing Insights (5): 50 – 54

 

Erdem, E. (2014) Reading Foucault with Gibson-Graham: The Political Economy of “other Spaces” in Berlin.

 

Wirtz, J., Kunz, W. H., & Paluch, S. (2021). "The far-reaching impact of transformative technologies on service management: The role of AI and robotics." Journal of Service Research, 24(4), 514–532. 

 

Holmlund, M., Van Vaerenbergh, Y., Ciuchita, R., & Yrjölä, M. (2020). "Digital platforms as service ecosystems: A relational view." Journal of Business Research, 115, 278–288. 

 

Rha, J. S., & Lee, J. (2022). "Digital transformation trends in service industries." Service Business, 16(4), 1105–1137. 

 

Sjödin, D., Parida, V., Kohtamäki, M., & Wincent, J. (2020). "An agile co-creation process for digital servitization: A micro-service innovation approach." Journal of Business Research, 112, 478–491. 

 

Huang, M.-H., & Rust, R. T. (2021). "A framework for collaborative artificial intelligence in service." Journal of Service Research, 24(1), 16–36. 

 

Maione, G., & Loia, F. (2022). "Digital transformation in service firms: The role of dynamic capabilities and data-driven culture." Journal of Service Management, 33(4/5), 593–616. 

 

Bettencourt, L.A. (2010). Customer needs that drive service innovation. In Bettencourt, L.A., Service innovation: how to go from customer needs to breakthrough services, Ch. 1. McGraw-Hill Publishing.

 

Foss, N.J., K. Laursen, T. Pedersen. 2011.  Linking customer interaction and innovation: The mediating role of new organizational practices. Organization Science 22(4), 980-999. 

 

Berry, L. L., Shankar, V., Parish, J. T., Cadwallader, S., & Dotzel, T. (2006). Creating new markets through service innovation. MIT Sloan management review, 47(2), 56. 

 

Gustafsson, A., Snyder, H., & Witell, L. (2020). Service innovation: a new conceptualization and path forward. Journal of service research, 23(2), 111-115.

 

The final list of readings will be uploaded on Canvas prior to the start of the course.

Last updated on 26-06-2025