Product-Form Strategy and the Macro Structures of Service Ecosystems

Recent conceptual advances in macromarketing suggest that to understand the service ecosystem, we need to study the interactions and interconnectedness at different levels. Relatedly, recent work in product-form strategy suggests environmental and technological factors may influence decisions about where to position a product or service. We categorize these “what to sell” decisions into four principal product-forms—know-how, components, systems, and solutions. We develop a framework to suggest how the macrostructure of the service ecosystem shapes and gets shaped by the product form the firm chooses to offer in a market. Additionally, we explore the impact of this product-form framework across service ecosystems that are representative of marketing systems. We illustrate these interactions in the market for cookies by focusing on one firm—Pillsbury—that simultaneously offers all four product forms. We conclude by drawing implications for future research directions in the area.