Call for Papers: Innovation for Financial Services

A special issue of International Journal of Business Innovation and Research

Financial services play a dominant role in economies and besides their own significance, their proper functioning is essential for the well-being of the entire economy. Financial services face a paradox: they are simultaneously considered a mature industry with few innovation opportunities and yet they display particularly dynamic innovative behaviour.

In financial services, innovation takes the shape of new products and services (e.g. new securities, new payment instruments, online brokerage services), new processes (e.g. credit scoring models, electronic money processing, implementation of SEPA – Single Euro Payments Area), new forms of organisations (e.g. branchless banks, alliances with telecommunications providers and mobile network operators, internal improvement projects, such as lean and six sigma projects for financial services), and new ways of interacting with customers (e.g. Internet banking, use of social networks and smart phone applications).

This special issue focuses on the various forms, extents and distinctive features of innovation, both as processes and as outcomes, in and for financial services. What are the key challenges facing financial services? How can innovation be defined, measured and fostered in financial services? What role may regulation and new technologies play in supporting innovation in this major industry? How can innovation help the simultaneous achievement of long and short term performance goals? Is open innovation the next frontier in financial services?

We invite quality contributions for this issue. Papers can be purely theoretical or theory-driven, or can be empirical work, either qualitative or quantitative. Submissions from academics, consultants and managers exploring innovation in and for financial services are strongly encouraged.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• New business models
• Role of leadership and culture for innovation in financial services
• Open and collaborative innovation
• ICT-enabled innovations
• Regulation: innovation catalyst or hampering factor?
• Chief innovation officers in financial services: role, competencies
• Monetary and non-monetary incentives for innovation
• Knowledge generation and exploitation
• Role of intellectual property and informal protection mechanisms
• Challenges and hampering factors for innovation
• Metrics for innovation performance
• Customer-driven innovation
• Organisational structures and challenges for innovation
• New service development
• Innovation intermediaries
• Social networks
• Crowdfunding
• Resources for innovation

Papers addressing the following contexts are especially welcome:

• Mobile banking and mobile payment systems
• New and emerging business models in financial services
• Sustainability in finance
• The future of financial services

Important Dates
Paper submission: 1 September, 2012
Reviewers' comments: 15 October, 2012

Revised paper submission: 1 December, 2012