ABSTRACT
Although services are now the dominant form of economic activity and change in advanced economies, researchers are still grappling with the ‘peculiarities of services’ (Barras, 1986), which makes their analysis challenging and different (Miles, 2005; Preissl, 2000). Thus services often come in intangible forms, have simultaneous production and consumption (which leads to the inability to store service products) frequently with the direct involvement of the customer (Howells, 2010, p. 70). The distinctive nature of these peculiarities in particular can be seen when considering services in relation to economic change and development, leading to different approaches towards conceptualisation and change. Many of those leading such developments in these fields have come from Economic Geography backgrounds in both International Business (see, for example, Enderwick, 1987; Roberts, 1999; Buckley & Ghauri, 2004; McCann, 2011) and innovation (see, for example, Daniels, 1983; Howells & Green, 1986; Moulaert & Gallouj, 1993; Tether, 2005; Love, Roper & Hewitt-Dundas, 2010; Bryson, Daniels & Warf, 2013; Meliciani & Savona, 2015; Freel, 2016)
