Re-imagining the Use of Data Standards for Retail Products: The Case of GS1 Through a Service-Dominant Logic

Though technological advancements offer a host of emergent opportunities, they also introduce fresh challenges for organizations. To overcome these challenges, organizations need to be sensitive to the evolving business needs and growing expectations of the customers. In this research-in-progress paper, through the case of GS1, we demonstrate that even for a seemingly stable business, there is a need to continuously evaluate the influence of changes in the situating technological environment, which may lead to changes in the societal demands. GS1, a non-profit organization that develops and maintains global standards for business communication is redefining itself in the face of e-commerce impacted supply chains and evolving customer needs. We posit that organizations need to espouse a service dominant logic mindset, which can help them continually assess and redefine their business models to address the evolving ecological requirements. Our ongoing work aims to identify a set of lessons for firms to tackle this perpetual challenge.