Servitization – The Holy Grail? Considering The Strategic Dark Sides of Servitization

Abstract

Relevance of the phenomenon being studied In highly competitive manufacturing markets, evermore firms offer goods through services as opposed to sell them directly. These servitization strategies are implemented by manufacturers to sustain competitive advantage and to survive in the market. Consequently, servitization has gained significant traction over the last few years in academic research. On the one side, early literature put forth consent in suggesting that manufactures should servitize their offerings to generate growth beyond their goods base (e.g. Quinn, 1992; Wise & Baumgartner, 1999). On the other side, more recently, ambiguity emerged on the success of servitization (e.g. Kastalli & Bart Van Looy, 2013; Benedettini, Swink, & Neely, 2017; Valtakoski, 2017). Indeed, scientific literature increasingly calls for further research on the threats of servitization. Specifically, critical questions remain yet to be answered on the strategic threats on servitization and how research can advice manufactures in designing appropriate implementation strategies of servitization.