Managing servitization in product companies: the moderating role of service suppliers

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study service innovation in product companies (servitization) by considering the relationship (moderation) between product companies and service suppliers.Design/methodology/approachUsing a relational view of the firm, the authors propose that there are three main business dimensions that product companies have to manage in servitization and that the support of service suppliers can moderate the effects of these dimensions on the benefits obtained from the product–service system (PSS) delivered. To test these hypotheses, the authors perform a cross-sectional quantitative survey in 104 Brazilian and Italian product companies.FindingsThe findings show that the three business dimensions are important for servitization while there is a trade-off decision regarding service suppliers’ support since suppliers act differently depending on the PSS orientation (product- or service-oriented).Research limitations/implicationsThe work is limited to the analysis of what should change in a company during servitization and the impact of supplier’s support. Further research is needed to complement this study by analyzing the process and context of the organizational change.Practical implicationsThe research contributes an understanding about how the benefits practitioners can obtain from servitization are strongly influenced by the support of service suppliers and how this influence depends on the PSS orientation of the product company.Originality/valueThis is one of the first quantitative studies to provide evidence of how service suppliers’ involvement affects different servitization business dimensions and the obtained benefits for both product- and service-oriented outputs.