Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the service economy
| Autor | Datis Khajeheian |
| Cargo | Guest Editor University of Tehran |
| Páginas | 6-8 |
6
AD-MINISTER
AD-minister Nº. 30 january-june 2017 pp. 268 · ISSN 1692-0279 · eISSN 2256-4322
EDITORIAL: ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND
INNOVATION IN THE SERVICE ECONOMY
The service sector serves as a key indicator of an economy and as a nation’s economy develops, the importance
of services also continues to grow. Based on the latest World Bank report, in 2014 the share of the service
sector in the North American economy was 78% and in the OECD the percentage recoded was 74.2%. This is
considerably higher than the average outlook of the service sector in low income countries, as they recoded a
percentage of 47.5% and middle income countries who recorded a percentage of 55.5%. In Iran, the share of
the service sector has increased from 48.5% in 1995 to 52.4% in 2014. In comparison with the Middle Eastern
average of 46.2%, the Iranian economy is more service-oriented than the other regional economies.
Also manufactured products today have a larger amount of service component compared to decades ago.
Many products have been transformed into and are sold as services. The price of many products has dramatically
decreased, while the cost of many services has been raised. As a result, the traditional distinction of product-
service has been blurred and we live within economies that are characterized by the servitization of products.
Based on this importance, the service markets are a vital portion of a modern economy, especially when
it comes to a developing economy such as Iran. For an economy that suffers from a history of inefficiency,
unproductivity, disadvantaged in manufacturing, recently freed from strong international sanctions that aims
to join the international economy and take a share of the international and regional markets, the service
sector is a key for economic development. Most of recent entrepreneurial activities in the country occur in the
service sector, especially in communication technology sub-sector. In 2010, 49% of the nation’s employment
was in the service sector (World Bank, 2017) and it is estimated that there is an increase in the percentage.
Recent investments have been also in education and technical training for service markets (Ministry of Labor
of Iran, 2016).
As a result of these identified impacts of the service sector to economies, this special issue is a collection
of academic articles that addresses the various aspects of the service economy, mostly in the Iranian context.
Papers in this special issue highlight the relationship between entrepreneurship and/or innovation in organizations
that operate in a service economy. The 12 papers included in this special issue are authored by 30 academics
from 14 higher education institutions locates in 5 different countries, namely Iran, Germany, Denmark, Egypt and
Turkey. The diversity of author's nationalities is also visible in this issue which have Iranian, German, Japanese
and United Kingdom authors. Three papers are co-authored by a collaboration of researchers from different
nationalities (Iranian-German, Iranian-Japanese, Iranian-British). The diversity in the geographical, institutional
and academic background provides valuable insight into the subject of entrepreneurship and innovation. In
service economics, gender equality is an important issue, therefore with 16 male and 14 female authors, this
special issue is well balanced from this perspective. Also gender issues, such as women entrepreneurship are
covered in this special issue.
The diversity of methods is another characteristic of the selected papers. Empirical and theoretical papers
are present in this collection and both quantitative and qualitative approaches have been adopted by the different
authors. Quantitative methods such as Structural Equation Modeling, AHP, Regression model and multivariate
regression analysis as well as qualitative methods such as the Delphi, thematic analysis and the bibliographic
method have been employed in the papers for this issue.
This issue begins with two theoretical papers. Aidin Salamzadeh and Professor David A. Kirby explain how
startups grow. Their findings stress the importance of opportunity and identification of an idea as a starting point
towards pursuing new venture creation. Then Sara Yousefikhah, a Sociologist, contributes with the subject of
sociology of innovation. She adopts the perspective of the social construction of technology and sheds light on
the social aspects of technology and how human behavior shape technology implementation.
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