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PurposeThe study aims to explore the benefits of service productisation to provide further understanding on the productisation concept as support for business processes and service management. The concept has been deficiently discussed regardless of the potential significance to the whole formed by service products, business processes, information technology (IT), people and data.Design/methodology/approachIn the study, the exploratory empirical evidence is presented from 16 cases, 4 of which are from companies that are globally well-known.FindingsThe key findings of the paper include an overview of the benefits of service productisation and the relation to service offering, service processes and related resources. The concept links to the management of the whole formed by service products, business processes, IT, people and data. The noted benefits seem to be applicable to productisation of different service types, whilst some service characteristics may affect the specific emphasis.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations involve using secondary data, which, however, makes the cases less biased regarding the aims. Primary data are required to gain further insights into the phenomena and the identified benefits.Practical implicationsThe findings provide support for issues that are commonly discussed by practitioners on a concept that is less studied by the scientific literature. Practitioners can work towards organisational efficiency and effectiveness by understanding the benefits of productisation. Understanding service productisation can support the effective management of business processes and work towards prosperity in the service business.Originality/valueThe study is the first one to analyse the benefits of service productisation by exploring the issue through multiple cases and attempting to identify aspects for further attention by the academic community.

Purpose
This study aims to improve understanding of companies' motives and concerns in relation to cooperation through a joint commercial product portfolio.


Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative research method was used to study 17 companies based on two case projects.


Findings
The joint commercial product portfolio is introduced as a new type of co-marketing. The possible business drivers, targeted benefits and perceived challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in relation to cooperation through a joint commercial product portfolio are identified. The companies seem to be motivated by and concerned about similar issues that also apply to other forms of co-marketing.


Research limitations/implications
The study consisted of two case projects in the same country and, thus, share fairly similar business environments and cultures. Therefore, the same results may not be obtained for a study that is conducted in a different location.


Practical implications
Managers of SMEs can benefit from the results of this study by improving their understanding of co-marketing opportunities through the creation of a joint commercial product portfolio with suitable companies. In addition, the results provide managers with insights into the challenges that should be considered when planning marketing cooperation.


Originality/value
The study provides new perspectives on the existing co-marketing literature by discussing the creation of a joint commercial product portfolio as a vehicle to support companies' business objectives. The study contributes to the increasing business-to-business co-marketing literature by presenting the business drivers, targeted benefits and perceived challenges related to SMEs cooperation through a joint commercial product portfolio.

Purpose
This study aims to focus on creating sales capability as part of new product development (NPD). The aim is to define generic requirements for building sales capability as a part of NPD and to propose a necessary process by defining key activities for sales readiness.


Design/methodology/approach
An inductive and qualitative research method was used to construct a sales capability creation process based on a current state analysis in seven companies.


Findings
The results indicate that the status of companies' sales-related planning varies during the NPD, and the related activities are not systematically managed. Considering sales early is necessary to enable a smooth and cost-efficient start of sales, and to avoid unnecessary delays and problems in other functions. At the same time, the companies recognise the need for improvement.


Originality/value
This paper presents a potential process including systematic activities for creating sales capability in conjunction with product development, which is novel to the literature. The proposed process is applicable in aligning industrial company needs.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse current challenges and to articulate the preconditions for data-driven, fact-based product portfolio management (PPM) based on commercial and technical product structures, critical business processes, corporate business IT and company data assets. Here, data assets were classified from a PPM perspective in terms of (product/customer/supplier) master data, transaction data and Internet of Things data. The study also addresses the supporting role of corporate-level data governance.


Design/methodology/approach
The study combines a literature review and qualitative analysis of empirical data collected from eight international companies of varying size.


Findings
Companies' current inability to analyse products effectively based on existing data is surprising. The present findings identify a number of preconditions for data-driven, fact-based PPM, including mutual understanding of company products (to establish a consistent commercial and technical product structure), product classification as strategic, supportive or non-strategic (to link commercial and technical product structures with product strategy) and a holistic, corporate-level data model for adjusting the company's business IT (to support product portfolio visualisation).


Practical implications
The findings provide a logical and empirical basis for fact-based, product-level analysis of product profitability and analysis of the product portfolio over the product life cycle, supporting a data-driven approach to the optimisation of commercial and technical product structure, business IT systems and company product strategy. As a virtual representation of reality, the company data model facilitates product visualisation. The findings are of great practical value, as they demonstrate the significance of corporate-level data assets, data governance and business-critical data for managing a company's products and portfolio.


Originality/value
The study contributes to the existing literature by specifying the preconditions for data-driven, fact-based PPM as a basis for product-level analysis and decision making, emphasising the role of company data assets and clarifying the links between business processes, information systems and data assets for PPM.

PurposeRequirements management has become a challenge for new product development (NPD) as products are getting increasingly complicated and customer segments more fragmented. The purpose of this paper is to provide new ideas for improving requirements management in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative interview study is carried out in the ICT sector to clarify the current challenges in requirements management. The results of the interview study are analysed using a benchmark from the automotive industry. This benchmark is chosen, as the automotive industry is a developed business sector that has streamlined its business processes, including its requirements management.FindingsThe paper shows how ICT can benefit from the experience of the car industry on issues such as managing customer needs throughout the NPD process, overflow of data and communicating requirements with suppliers.Research limitations/implicationsUsing another sector as a benchmark is not a straightforward process and results cannot be directly copied. Fresh ideas are, however, obtainable when a well‐developed benchmark is used and results are applied flexibly. Deeper analysis on individual areas indentified here might be interesting topics for further study.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that managers in the ICT sector should pay more attention to their requirements management and serving the needs of internal customers. The requirements management of the Japanese automotive industry is a potential source for improvement initiatives.Originality/valueThe paper provides new perspectives for the requirements management of the ICT sector by benchmarking the Japanese automotive industry.