Organizational change backs innovation. While innovations in service concepts and delivery processes clearly outweighed innovations in organizational support systems, changes in organizational procedures were also important. The most common area of organizational change was in the training and performance expectations of staff. Innovation benefits domestic customers as much as export markets. Most of the innovations described provided a positive benefit for domestic customers as well as in export markets.
Governments are often unaware of innovation among their own services exporting firms.
Responses of no known innovations came only from government ministries, while trade associations in the same countries cited many innovations. The apparent lack of awareness of innovation on the part of government officials may be a cause for concern. An increasing number of countries offer incentives to encourage innovation and help underwrite research and development costs. If the officials responsible are unaware of innovation occurring in their services industries, they may not extend support to the non-technological innovation activities of services firms. Most research on innovation, and services innovation in particular, originates in developed economies, primarily the United States.