On Evolving New Dominant Logics in the Realm of Research on Services

It always attracts attention if scholars claim for or identify a paradigm shift with a new paradigm evolving and unfolding. Besides the rhetorical dimension of this issue, the Kuhnian (1970) notion of paradigm shifts is still useful to unveil developments in research that might be frame-breaking (e. g. the turn from transaction to relationship marketing according to Jackson 1985, or the notion of “open innovation”, e. g. Chesbrough 2003). Among several debates in this vein, Vargo and Lusch (2004) raised the issue whether there might be a paradigm shift in marketing research from a goods-dominant logic to a service-dominant logic. In several follow-up publications (Lusch/Vargo 2006b; Lusch et al. 2007; Vargo/Lusch 2007, 2008), the authors refined their point of view and gave rise to the impression that something important in marketing might have changed. In a few words and according to Figure 1, Vargo and Lusch (2004) argue that business departs from “traditional” manufacturing acting according to the “make and sell” principle (goods-dominant logic) with suppliers manufacturing products autonomously by using typical input factors (e. g. machines, materials) and selling them afterwards within transactions that are governed by market principles.