Oxford Seminar 2012

– The Power to Act - Innovation, service logic and human learning

Illustration of the entrance to the historic Old Parsonage Hotel in Oxford, inspired by classic English stone architecture with a heavy wooden door, mullioned windows and symmetrically arranged shrubs at the entrance. The hotel is known for its quiet and exclusive atmosphere, closely linked to Oxford's academic environment and traditions. The motif conveys a sense of history, culture and reflection, symbolising the classical surroundings that characterise seminars, academic conversations and academic immersion in Oxford. The detailed illustration style evokes associations with British university culture, timeless elegance and the distinctive atmosphere surrounding the city's historic colleges and hotels.

Introduction and reflection

The Oxford seminar in 2012 stands out in retrospect as a clear turning point in the seminar series. While previous years had been more characterized by inspiration, theory and case-based learning, this seminar was much more explicitly aimed at implementation. The question was no longer what we know, but why we – despite knowledge, capital and expertise – so often fail to translate insight into lasting value creation.

The seminar connected micro, meso and macro perspectives: from individual leaders and organizations, via design, services and strategy, to institutional frameworks and global entrepreneurial patterns. For us as participants, this was a seminar that challenged comfort zones – not through bombastic claims, but through sober, research-based and practical reflection.

Program overview

Oxford 2012 samlet et sterkt lag av forelesere med tydelig faglig tyngde og komplementære perspektiver:

Tor W. Andreassen
- Professor, BI / tilknyttet Oxford
- Tema: Adopsjon av innovasjon, kundeverdi og psykologiske barrierer
- Fokus på status quo-bias, endowment-effekt og Job-to-be-Done
Richard Cuthbertson
- Oxford Institute of Retail Management (OXIRM)
- Tema: Service Innovation Triangle og kommersialisering av tjenesteinnovasjon
Peder Inge Furseth
- Professor, BI / OXIRM
- Tema: Value-Driven Service Innovation, innovasjonsevne og “Power to Act”
Jonathan Reynolds
- Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
- Tema: Disruptive Thinking, mobilitet, “Death of Distance” og hypermobilitet
Steven DeMello
- CITRIS, University of California Berkeley
- Tema: Disruptive innovation i helse, telehealth og Big Data
Stephen Ezell
- Innovation economics / policy-ekspert
- Tema: Innovation Economics, nasjonale innovasjonsmodeller
- Case: Amazon, Apple, Nokia, Facebook, Xerox, Kodak
Lucy Kimbell
- Designer / akademiker
- Tema: Service Blueprinting og kobling mellom organisasjon og kundeopplevelse

Til sammen ga dette et sjeldent helhetlig bilde av hvorfor verdiskaping i praksis er krevende – og hva som faktisk skal til for å lykkes.

Main academic topics

Tor W. Andreassen – “I want, I want – but I can’t do it”

Andreassen's contribution struck a chord with many of the participants. Drawing on research and observations from Norwegian and international business, he described a paradox:
We have high expertise, good access to capital and high social trust, but yet we often fail when it comes to implementation.

He pointed out that innovation is too often reduced to ideation, strategy documents and intentions, while the real competitive advantage lies in the ability to:

prioritize hard
+change over time
withstand resistance and temporary setbacks

Andreassen challenged the notion that lack of resources is the main problem. Instead, he pointed to leadership, culture and incentives as the brakes. For many organizations, innovation stops when it encounters established structures, measurement systems and power relations. This perspective became a guiding premise for the rest of the seminar.

Illustration of the historic Old Parsonage Hotel in Oxford seen from the outside, surrounded by stone walls, green trees and lush climbing growth along the facade. The classic building with steep gables, stone roofs and traditional English details is inspired by Oxford's timeless architecture and academic environment. The hotel is known as an exclusive and quiet meeting place for reflection, professional conversations and stay in the heart of the university city. The warm watercolour style highlights the historic atmosphere and gives the subject a sense of British elegance, heritage and academic immersion associated with the Oxford seminars and university traditions.

Richard Cuthbertson - Customer Experience as a Strategic Discipline

Cuthbertson built on the execution theme, but from the customer’s perspective, arguing that many businesses say they are customer-centric, but organize themselves in a way that makes it impossible to deliver holistic customer experiences.

Through concrete examples, he showed how:

customer journeys are broken down into silos
responsibility is pulverized
intentions do not match actual perceived value

Customer experience was presented as a management discipline, not a communication tactic. Businesses that succeed are those that are able to connect strategy, technology, processes and people around the customer's actual needs – over time.

This resonated strongly with discussions about both the private and public sectors, and laid a clear foundation for later contributions on service design.

Illustration of the breakfast buffet at the historic Old Parsonage Hotel in Oxford, presented in warm and muted watercolor tones. The image shows an elegant buffet with shelves filled with glasses, bottles, crockery and breakfast dishes in a classic English hotel environment with dark wooden surfaces and soft lighting. On the counter are bowls, bread, juice and small serving signs that create a calm and exclusive atmosphere. The motif conveys the feeling of quiet mornings before seminars and professional discussions in Oxford, where historical surroundings, British hotel culture and academic reflection merge. The image also symbolizes the social meeting points around the seminars, where ideas, conversations and professional inspiration often started already at the breakfast table.

Case studies

Steven DeMello - Economic frameworks and institutional quality

De Mello looked up and reminded the participants that value creation never occurs in a vacuum. Through analyses of economic policy and institutional quality, he showed how:

stable framework conditions
trust in institutions
predictable regulation

is crucial for long-term innovation and entrepreneurship.

His contribution served as an important corrective to simplistic explanations about taxation, regulation, and the “role of the state.” It is not the degree of public involvement that matters, but the quality of governance and interaction between public and private actors.

Stephen Ezell - Entrepreneurship in Practice

Ezell brought the seminar back down to earth. With experience from startups and entrepreneurial environments, he described entrepreneurship as a learning process, not a linear journey from idea to success.

He emphasized:

experimentation
mistakes as learning
perseverance over perfection

Ezell's contribution balanced the more structural perspectives and reminded participants that value creation is always a human project – characterized by uncertainty, choice, and responsibility.

Reflections and discussion

Peder Inge Furseth - When knowledge meets reality

Furseth addressed the gap between academia and practice. He pointed to a well-known but often underestimated problem:

We have more research and insight than ever before, but struggle to translate this knowledge into action.

He challenged both academics and practitioners:

research must become more relevant
practice must become more knowledge-based

The discussions that followed made it clear that innovation is not about a lack of ideas, but about the ability to build bridges between disciplines, sectors and people.

Illustration of the tranquil garden at the Old Parsonage Hotel in Oxford, surrounded by green trees, stone walls and lush vegetation in warm watercolour tones. The image shows guests sitting at small tables under large parasols in the hotel’s intimate courtyard garden, a place known for its relaxed and exclusive atmosphere in the heart of the historic university city. The old stone architecture, the green surroundings and the soft light give the scene a sense of calm, reflection and British elegance. The garden symbolises the breaks between seminars and lectures, where conversations, the exchange of ideas and academic reflection continued in an informal setting among researchers, students and participants in the Oxford seminars.

Illustration of a classic English hotel breakfast served at the Old Parsonage Hotel in Oxford. On the table are fried eggs, bacon, sausages, grilled tomato, mushrooms and traditional black pudding along with coffee, cappuccino, orange juice and small bowls of jam and accompaniments. A bottle of “Oxford Sauce” emphasizes the local and British atmosphere. The image is done in warm watercolor tones that give the subject a calm and exclusive atmosphere from the morning hours before seminars and professional gatherings in Oxford. The breakfast symbolizes the start of a new day of academic immersion, reflection and conversations about innovation, leadership and digital development in a historic setting.

Illustration of the breakfast room at the Old Parsonage Hotel in Oxford, decorated in a classic British style with dark red walls, soft armchairs, wood paneling and framed portraits and pictures that give the room a historic and exclusive atmosphere. The tables are set for breakfast with coffee, crockery and traditional English details, while the warm lighting and muted watercolour tones create a calm and inviting atmosphere. The motif conveys the feeling of early mornings before seminars and lectures, where participants gathered for breakfast, reflection and professional conversations in historic surroundings in the heart of Oxford. The image symbolises the combination of British hotel culture, academic tradition and the social community around the Oxford seminars.

International perspectives

Lucy Kimbell - Service Design and Public Innovation

Kimbell's contribution was among the seminar's most forward-looking. She presented service design not as aesthetics or workshops, but as a systematic method for creating better services in complex systems.

Particularly important was her focus on the public sector:

users as co-creators
services as holistic experiences
experimentation within safe limits

This perspective directly impacted discussions about welfare, digitalization, and public value creation – and is even more relevant today than in 2012.

Jonathan Reynolds - Global Entrepreneurship Patterns

Reynolds concluded the academic contributions with an empirical and sobering look. Based on global data, he showed that entrepreneurship varies significantly between countries – and that culture, institutions and economic structure matter more than individual characteristics.

His contribution served as a reality check:
There is no universal recipe for entrepreneurial success. Solutions must be rooted in context.

Illustration of the lounge area at the historic Randolph Hotel in Oxford, with its high arched ceilings, dark wood paneling, bookshelves and classic English furniture in warm watercolour tones. On the table is a pint of beer next to an open laptop, notebook and pen – a quiet moment for reflection and academic notes after a long day of seminars and discussions. The quiet hotel atmosphere combines British elegance with academic tradition and symbolises the breaks between lectures, where ideas, experiences and impressions were given time to mature. The motif conveys the feeling of Oxford as both a learning arena and a space for reflection, where historical surroundings, conversations and personal immersion went hand in hand throughout the seminars.

What do we take home with us?

The seminar left behind several clear realizations:
Execution is the biggest shortcoming, not ideas
Value creation occurs in the interaction between people and institutions
Customer and user must be real starting points, not rhetoric
The public and private sectors face many of the same challenges

Illustration of the Old Parsonage Hotel in Oxford late at night, surrounded by dark trees, stone walls and warm light from the windows and entrance. The historic building with its classic English stone facades, gables and climbing plants is bathed in soft blue and gold tones that create a calm and almost timeless atmosphere. The image conveys a sense of silence and reflection after long days of seminars, lectures and academic conversations in Oxford. The warm light from the hotel contrasts with the dark evening sky and symbolizes knowledge, community and academic immersion in historic surroundings. The motif connects British hotel culture, university life and the distinctive atmosphere that characterizes Oxford at night.

Relevance today

In light of today's debates about digitalization, artificial intelligence, and public efficiency, Oxford 2012 appears remarkably prescient. Many of the issues we discuss today – implementation, trust, user focus, and interaction – were already thoroughly explored there.

The seminar reinforces the core of The Invisible Capital:
Values are created in interaction – not in isolation.

The professionals behind the Oxford seminars

The Oxford Seminars were more than a series of lectures. They were meeting places between research, business and practice, where leading international professionals contributed insights on innovation, trade, technology, management and value creation. Over the years, participants had the opportunity to meet some of the foremost researchers and thinkers in their fields.

Peder Inge Furseth

Peder Inge Furseth was a central academic driving force behind the Oxford seminars and helped make international research relevant to Norwegian and European businesses. As a professor at BI and academic director of the program, he helped participants put the lectures into a larger context where technology, innovation, business development and people had to be seen in connection.

Through the seminars, he served as a bridge builder between research, business and practice. For many participants, he therefore became more than a professional leader – he also became a mentor who inspired new thinking about innovation, digitalization and commercialization.

Jonathan Reynolds

Jonathan Reynolds is a professor at the University of Oxford and has been a key figure at the Oxford Seminars for many years. He is internationally recognized for his research in commerce, customer experience, innovation and business development.

Throughout the seminars, Reynolds contributed research-based insights into how businesses can create competitive advantage through a better understanding of customers, markets, and value chains. His ability to combine academic rigor with practical examples made him one of the most highly regarded speakers in the seminar series.

Richard Cuthbertson

Richard Cuthbertson has been an important academic contributor to the Oxford Seminars for several years. As a researcher at the University of Oxford, he has worked on topics such as trade, distribution, supply chains, innovation and technological development.

Through his lectures, he helped to connect research and practice, and showed how businesses can meet new challenges through innovation, collaboration and a better understanding of the markets in which they operate.

From studies and seminars to today's professional universe

The studies, seminars and field trips documented on this page are part of the knowledge base behind The Invisible Capital. Topics such as customers, technology, innovation, digitalization and value creation have followed developments over several decades – but the disciplines have also continued to develop.

At The Invisible Capital, we are therefore continuing to work on these questions in our own subject series. Here, we connect previous theory, research and experiences with newer knowledge, new technologies and today's challenges for people and businesses.

Innovation

Innovation is not just about new ideas. Value is created when knowledge, technology and ideas are developed into products, services, processes, organizational forms and business models that are actually used. The series on innovation goes from Schumpeter to modern innovation research and covers, among other things, incremental, radical, disruptive, open and user-driven innovation.

→ Explore the Innovation Series

The customer

The customer is not just the recipient of what the business produces. In a competitive market, the customer is a crucial determinant of whether the business actually succeeds in creating value. The series about the customer goes deeper into customer orientation, customer insight, customer experience, satisfaction, loyalty, trust and the encounter between people.

→ Read the customer series

Value creation

What does it really mean to create value – and who creates it? The series on value creation moves from economic theory and key researchers to a broader understanding of how people, expertise, institutions, businesses and the public sector contribute to value creation.

→ Read the series on value creation

Digitization

Digitalization has evolved from stand-alone technologies to a fundamental part of how businesses work and create value. The Digitalization from A–Z series follows developments through internet, web, e-commerce, search, UX, social, mobile, omnichannel, cloud, data, platforms and digital transformation – up to today’s AI First developments.

→ Read the series Digitization from A–Z

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence represents the next chapter in digital evolution. In our own AI universe, we investigate how artificial intelligence works, how AI finds and uses information, how it evaluates sources and websites, and what the development can mean for people, businesses, and value creation.

→ Go to the articles about artificial intelligence

Relevant literature

Power of Pull

This book describes how modern businesses must move from traditional, hierarchical models to more open, dynamic, and knowledge-driven ecosystems. The authors show how innovation, collaboration, learning, and human engagement are becoming crucial in a digital economy characterized by rapid change. The themes fit very well with the 2012 Oxford seminar, where the lectures dealt with service innovation, customer experience, disruptive thinking, the innovation economy, and the “Power to Act.”