1.
Gebauer, Heiko, et al.
(författare)
Match or Mismatch : Strategy-Structure Configuration in the Service Business of Manufacturing Companies
2010
Ingår i: Journal of Service Research. - : Sage. - 1094-6705 .- 1552-7379. ; 13:2, s. 198-215
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
A new trend seems to be emerging for multinational manufacturing companies to make a strategic reorientation into becoming service providers. For some companies, such as Kone and IBM, the revenues from services are 50% or more of their total sales. Despite the increasing interest in exploring various aspects of the service part of the business in manufacturing companies, existing research has not focused on the interdependencies between different service strategies and organizational designs. This article studies different service strategies in manufacturing companies and highlights the organizational design necessary for implementing each service strategy. The service strategies explored are aftersales service providers, customer support service providers, outsourcing partners, and development partners. Each service strategy is supported by organizational design factors related to the service orientation of corporate culture, the service orientation of human resource management, and the service orientation of organizational structures. This research concludes that a specific strategy-structure configuration is needed in order to succeed with a chosen service strategy
2.
Gebauer, Heiko, et al.
(författare)
Competitive advantage through service differentiation by manufacturing companies
2011
Ingår i: Journal of Business Research. - : Elsevier. - 0148-2963 .- 1873-7978. ; 64:12, s. 1270-1280
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
This paper examines the relationship among the complexity of customer needs, customer centricity, innovativeness, service differentiation, and business performance within the context of companies that have made a service transition from pure goods providers to service providers. A survey of 332 manufacturing companies provides the basis for the empirical investigation. One key finding is that a strong emphasis on service differentiation can lead to a manufacturing firms strategies for customer centricity being less sensitive to increasingly complex customer needs, which can increase a firms payoff for customer centricity. In contrast, the payoff from innovativeness appears to be higher if the firm focuses its resources on either product or service innovation; that is, a dual focus does not work well. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for researchers and managers.