Contrasting Theoretical Grounds of Business Process Modeling and Service Blueprinting

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine and contrast the theoretical grounds of modeling business processes in general and service blueprinting. Modeling typically aims at developing an explicit representation of part of reality to understand, to change, to manage, and to control that part of reality. Service blueprinting is a mapping technique for visualizing service systems. The existing literature includes plenty of knowledge of modeling and service blueprinting, however very little knowledge exists of their similarities and differences. Clearly, there is a need to contrast the theoretical grounds of these two streams of literature. The present article responds to this need. The article is based on an extensive literature analysis on modeling business processes as well as on service blueprinting. First, this article discusses the general principles of the modeling of business processes and systems. Then, it discusses service blueprinting, which can be understood as a specific type of a business process modeling tool developed for services context. As a research implication, this article contrasts several aspects of modeling of business processes in general and service blueprinting. The results of this study help in understanding the characteristics and applicability of both fields. They also facilitate the exchange of ideas between the two research areas.