While chasing links through the internet, I ran across the following quote from Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. I thought it was particularly apt considering we are currently combing through the materials collected from last weeks Service Design Symposium in preparation for sharing with you.

“We have no patent on anything we do and anything we do can be copied by anyone else. But you can’t copy the heart and the soul and the conscience of the company.”  

Services are about processes and implementation, but they are also about passion and quality. In other words, barriers to entry in the business of services aren’t formed on the foundation of IP alone.

More on the service design front in a bit.