Service transformation calls for a revolutionary strategic mindset within service firms. Service firms aspire to achieve a distinctive vision through service transformation, often engaging technology and digitalization as critical partners in creating long-term firm success in the market by nurturing enhanced customer and stakeholder benefits. Therefore, it is imperative for us to examine, understand, and seek ways in which transformation can be utilized effectively by service firms. A new conceptualization is proposed that highlights how service transformation can follow many strategic paths, ranging from a relatively minor linear evolutionary reformation of service offerings to a cyclical and ongoing complete creative destruction and reincarnation of the firm. This manuscript first proposes an organizing framework to understand the internal and external factors that have the potential to render service transformation achievable, as well as the range of internal and external outcomes that can result from successful transformation. We then draw upon theories of evolution to delineate the process of transformation over time in service contexts, resulting in a conceptual model of service transformation that articulates three viable pathways to service transformation, which we call the “3Rs of Service Transformation” – reformation, renovation, and reincarnation. We define and provide examples of these three paths of service transformation and identify situations and contexts in which each approach may be most appropriate for certain firms. We conclude with a discussion of future research directions.

服务转型需要服务公司内部具有革命性的战略思维。服务公司渴望通过服务转型实现独特的愿景，通常将技术和数字化作为关键合作伙伴，通过培养增强的客户和利益相关者的利益，在市场上创造长期的公司成功。因此，我们必须研究、理解和寻求服务企业有效利用转型的方法。提出了一种新的概念，强调服务转型如何遵循许多战略路径，从相对较小的服务产品线性进化改革到周期性和持续的完全创造性破坏和公司的轮回。这份手稿首先提出了一个组织框架，以了解有可能实现服务转型的内部和外部因素，以及成功转型可能产生的内部和外部结果的范围。然后，我们利用进化理论来描绘服务环境中随时间推移的转型过程，从而得出服务转型的概念模型，该模型阐明了三种可行的服务转型途径，我们称之为“服务转型的 3R”——改革、革新，和轮回。我们定义并提供了这三种服务转型路径的示例，并确定了每种方法可能最适合某些公司的情况和背景。我们最后讨论了未来的研究方向。