CTF Newsletter no 2, 2019, from CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University, Sweden

CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University, Sweden, is one of the world´s leading research centers focusing on service management and value creation through service. We develop and conduct research projects in close collaboration with service businesses, manufacturing companies, and public-service providers. Our newsletter will keep you updated on our research activities.

TWO OPEN POSITIONS AT CTF: PROFESSOR AND SENIOR LECTURER IN MARKETING
CTF, seeks a Professor and a Senior Lecturer in Business Administration with specialisation in marketing to further develop and strengthen CTF's research in the field. Learn more about the positions: 

• Professor in Marketing 
• Senior lecturer in Marketing

TAKE OUR ONLINE COURSE "SERVITIZATION"
The online course will start in August 2019. Servitization, also called service infusion or service-product systems, is a highly important issue for many manufacturing companies around the world. If servitization is important and crucial for your organisational development, then this course is for you. Read more.

CTF RESEARCHERS AND INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS IN CAMBRIDGE
Digital services and platforms were in focus when CTF and Cambridge Service Alliance held a seminar at Cambridge University. Researchers and industrial partners presented current projects and future challenges. It was a successful event where academia and practitioners met to exchange experiences and insights. Read more.

RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM ON MARKETING ETHICS AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Researchers from Europe and North America met at Karlstad University to discuss the broader perspective of Marketing ethics and CSR with a focus on the role of positive and normative marketing ethics, and the change in business ethics due to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain Technology at “The 7th Pat Murphy International Symposium on Marketing Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility”. Read more.

SWEDISH INNOVATION INDEX SHOWS THAT IKEA IS SWEDEN’S MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANY
Ikea is the most innovative company on the Swedish market followed by MTR Express and Netflix in second and third place. This is according to the Swedish Innovation Index, a new index which focuses on innovation from the customers’ perspective. Read more.

MIT SPRING CONFERENCE AT KARLSTAD UNIVERSITY
On March 27-29, the Swedish research school of Management and IT (MIT) held the 2019 Spring Conference at Karlstad University, hosted by CTF and Karlstad Business School. One hundred PhD students, supervisors, alumni, and the management group gathered at the conference to take part of seminars and doctoral presentations, and to network. Read more.

TRANSPORT RESEARCH PRESENTED AT AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
On March 28-29, researchers Katrin Lättman and Margareta Friman participated in the BEST Annual Seminar 2019 in Helsinki, Finland, where they presented current research on the travel habits of different life stages, with focus on the elderly. Read more.

CIM BEST REVIEWER AWARD TO LARS E. OLSSON
Congratulations to Lars E. Olsson, Associate professor of psychology at CTF, for the CIM Best Reviewer Award 2018! Read more.

NEW PUBLICATIONS:
Here is a selection of our latest publications. All our publications are listed at ctf.kau.se/en.

• DIRECTORS' REPORT - CTF 2018 ANNUAL REPORT 
  We have an increasing awareness regarding our environment. According to the United Nations panel for assessing the science related to climate change (IPCC), global warming needs to be reduced by 1.5 degrees, which requires substantial changes of organisational and individual behaviour. Currently, 1.3 billion tons of food – the equivalent of 30 percent of the world’s agricultural production – is thrown away. A very important initiative that targets these issues is Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals. How, then, is CTF assisting in meeting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals for a better world? Read more.

• NEW BOOK EXPLAINS SERVICE INNOVATION Service innovation is a concept that, for the last decade, has received increased attention both among academics as well as practitioners. But it is not easy to understand what the concept means, and why it is important. This new book discusses and explains service innovation based on contemporary research at CTF. Read more.
  Kristensson, P., Magnusson, L., and Witell, L. (Eds.) (2019). Service Innovation for Sustainable Business: Stimulating, Realizing and Capturing the value from Service Innovation. World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd.

• HYBRIDITY AS FLUID INDENTITY IN THE ORGANIZATION OF ASSOCIATIONS
  This chapter addresses the issue of hybridity in non-profit organizations formally run as non-profit associations (NPA) and the case of Swedish Friskis & Svettis. It does so by examining and discussing how organizational legitimacy is managed under what is commonly referred to as “marketization”. In contradiction to previous research, we show how the hybrid position of the NPA in the market not only enacts a struggle upon the organization but also leads to a flexibility that is actively utilized in the management of organizational identity and legitimacy. In so doing, the chapter draws attention to two key organizational strategies that help to explain how Friskis & Svettis is able to utilize its hybridity in order to maintain legitimacy in the market: adaptation and activation, which creates a fluidness in which the organization is able to maintain and incorporate multiple organizational identities.
  Fyrberg Yngfalk, A., Yngfalk, C., (2019) Hybridity as Fluid Identity In the Organization of Associations. Managing Hybrid Organizations. (pp 109-128). Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

• NEW MEASURING TOOL FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF GAMIFIED SERVICES
  In a recent study, researchers Johan Högberg and Erik Wästlund have developed a new tool that can measure users’ experiences while using a gamified service. Read more.
  Högberg, J., Hamari, J. and Wästlund, E. (2019). Gameful Experience Questionnaire (GAMEFULQUEST): an instrument for measuring the perceived gamefulness of system use, User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, Vol. 28, pp. 1-42.

CTF newsletter is sent to a mailing list and is published on Mynewsdesk. You can subscribe or unsubscribe, and thus remove your email address from the list here: https://www.kau.se/ctf/newsletter-ctf .