2025/2026 BA-BSEMO2511U Service Management Foundations
English Title | |
Service Management Foundations |
Course information |
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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
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Course coordinator | |
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Main academic disciplines | |
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Teaching methods | |
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Last updated on 26-06-2025 |
Relevant links |
Learning objectives | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
By the end of the course, the student should be
able to:
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Examination | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.
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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). |
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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
Research-like activities
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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. |
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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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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. |