Typology for Modular Service Design: Review of Literature

This paper presents a typology for modular service design. The authors review engineering, manufacturing, and service research literature and develop three key concepts for service modularization: service module, service architecture, and service experience. Thereafter these key concepts are further decomposed into detailed constructs. Basing on the reviewed literature, they develop a common typology for modular services. The authors argue that their typology provides a foundation for the development of modular service design methods. The authors also expect that it is important to recognize how customers perceive the service. They propose that service experiences can be characterized by value creation, role perception, personalization, and task complexity and by how the customers experience the particular services.