Removing the fuzziness from the fuzzy front-end of service innovations through customer interactions

Customer interaction in new service development has a positive impact on the performance of new services. In addition, prior studies recognize the importance of the fuzzy front-end stages of new service development. Yet, the researchers have not taken the next step to explore the relationship between these two key areas of service innovation. To address this critique of the literature, the process of customer interaction in the fuzzy front-end of new service development is investigated by conducting a rigorous qualitative field research involving 26 financial services firms. The findings suggest that the fuzzy front-end can be much less 'fuzzy' if customers are involved in the front-end stages of new service development. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.