Explaining innovation in tourism-retailing contexts by applying Simon’s Sciences of the Artificial

Purpose – This study aims to use Simon’s theory of strategies to explain Ever Rich’s strategies for introducing innovation. Ever Rich is a very successful duty-free shop in Taiwan that makes profits by improving airport lobby/terminals and enhancing Taiwan’s tourism brand image. This study shows a design artifact to explain Ever Rich’s strategies for introducing innovation. The design artifact is based on Herbert Simon’s classical work of Sciences of the Artificial. The design artifact is also grounded in the theories of customer service life cycle, input-process-output model of strategic entrepreneurship and docility-based distributed cognition. Design/methodology/approach – The authors interviewed the executive management with the pre-determined 14 questions regarding resource inputs, processes of resource orchestration and outputs. Findings – Introducing innovation requires appropriate strategies. Based on Herbert Simon’s research on “Science of the Artificial”, this case shows a design artifact of strategies for introducing innovation. The design artifact is in line with Ever Rich’s corporate philosophy, including training and education of duty-free professionals, customer-oriented services, guarantee stringent quality control of products, newness and innovation and contributions to community. The design artifact, therefore, serves as a source of discovery with benefits for knowledge-building and relationship-building that are useful for students and practitioners. Practical implications – The success of this case and the reasons of success can be an inspiration for others. Originality/value – A significant contribution of the paper is that the design artifact serves as a source of discovery with benefits for knowledge-building and relationship-building that are useful both for students and practitioners.