Suchergebnisse

PurposeThe business-to-business (B2B) marketing literature is heavily focused on the manufacturing sector. However, it is the B2B service sector that shows the highest growth in gross domestic product (GDP). Beyond a vibrant stream of literature on servitization, the B2B literature has neglected drawing on the wider service literature. This paper aims to examine recent streams of service research that have promising implications and research opportunities for B2B marketing.Design/methodology/approachTogether, the author team has decades of research, managerial and executive teaching experience related to B2B marketing and services marketing and management. The observations and reflections in this paper originate from this unique perspective and are supplemented by insights from 16 expert interviews.FindingsThe authors identify and discuss in this paper four broad and related themes from the service literature that can stimulate B2B research and practice. First, the authors highlight the implications for capturing value in economies with their rapidly increasing specialization and related growth in B2B services. Specifically, the authors explain where B2B firms should focus on to gain bargaining power in the value chains of the future. Second, an additional strategy to enhance a B2B firm's power to capture value is servitization, which allows firms to get closer to their customers, increase their switching costs and build strategic partnerships. The authors explore how firms can use service productization to enhance their chances of successful servitization. Third, servitization is expensive, and productivity and scalability are often a challenge in B2B contexts. These issues are tackled in a recent service research stream on cost-effective service excellence (CESE) where the authors derive implications for B2B firms. Fourth and related to CESE, latest developments in intelligent automation offer exciting opportunities for B2B services to be made more scalable.Originality/valueThis paper is based on the unique perspective of the author team and a panel of experts and connects major streams of service research to the B2B literature.

PurposeThis article aims to introduce the service function concept, as well as why and how it can be a useful concept for addressing service management challenges in industrial firms.Design/methodology/approachTwo in‐depth case studies of global industrial firms enabled a thorough understanding of the roles of the service function entities and interdependencies between them.FindingsAlthough the service organization is most likely the key entity, it is only one part of the service function; other organizational entities are to be seen as part‐time service functions.Research limitations/implicationsA finer‐grained conceptualization would enable a better understanding of the front‐ and back‐office entities involved in the service processes.Practical implicationsThe concept can be useful when communicating the importance of services and the inter‐relatedness between the service organization and other parts of the firm, which generates a better internal understanding of the service processes. The alignment between service offering and organization can be elaborated by mapping where service development, sales, and production take place, what the ideal configuration would be, and the roles played by different parts of the service function.Originality/valueThe service function is a novel concept and is particularly relevant for industrial firms that offer services. It highlights the fact that it is erroneous to equate services with the activities of the service organization. Instead, a more holistic approach to the management of service offerings is needed.

Service innovation is a key source of competitive differentiation across firms and markets. Despite growing attention from practitioners and academics alike, systematic scholarly inquiry into service innovation's diverse theoretical foundations has to date been limited. This article explores different approaches to service innovation and proposes a typology of four archetypes, each informed by a distinct theoretical perspective and by different underlying assumptions. Process-based and output-based archetypes focus on value-adding phases and output value, respectively. Experiential and systemic archetypes have attracted less attention but become central for firms seeking to cocreate phenomenologically determined value within the service ecosystem. The article also contributes to service innovation research and practice by bringing together the existing archetypes, which were previously treated separately. Juxtaposing these archetypes and emphasizing value and value cocreation, the article proposes an integrative view of how novel value cocreation can be enhanced in service innovations. Finally, we develop an agenda for future research, encouraging researchers and managers to plan service innovations systematically, deploying each archetype in value cocreation, and combining them within an integrative approach.

PurposeThe paper aims to provide a better understanding of the interrelatedness of customer and service orientations in the organizational structures of capital goods manufacturing companies.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative, multi‐case research design was employed using 36 European capital goods manufacturing companies.FindingsThis article explored four different patterns of how companies move from being product‐focused to service‐focused, and from having an organizational structure that is geographically focused to one that is customer‐focused. The four patterns are termed as follows: emphasizing service orientation, service‐focused organizational structure, emphasizing customer orientation, and customer‐focused organizational structure.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the study is based on 36 case studies, the external validity (generalizability) of the findings could not be assessed accurately.Practical implicationsThe description of the four organizational approaches offers guidance for managers to restructure their companies towards service and customer orientations.Originality/valueThe article links the relatively independent discussions of service and customer orientations in the context of organizational structures. The four patterns provide a better understanding of how capital goods manufacturers integrate increased customer and service focuses in their organizational structures.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the rationale for choice of suppliers and the influence these decisions have on the firm's capabilities.Design/methodology/approach– The authors examine the choice of in-house operations vs buying maintenance in the Swedish mining industry through a qualitative case study approach.Findings– The findings reveal a strong tendency to outsource maintenance.Research limitations/implications– This in turn has a strong influence on the firm's capabilities and long-term competitive advantage and sustainability.Practical implications– Based on the empirical findings, the authors comment on the strength and weaknesses of the different outsourcing and attempt to find practical solutions that assist the firm in creating competitive advantage.Originality/value– The unique contribution of this study is that it extends prior firm capabilities studies by investigating the impact of capability loss specifically in complex, intricate maintenance processes in a dynamic industry.