Servitisation of an Industry and National Competitive Advantage in International Business: The Case of Taiwan Textile Manufacturing and Sri Lankan Apparel Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

Servitisation studies in extant literature contribute to the resource-based view and relational view where industrial organisation view was largely ignored due to the focus on individual manufacturing units. In international business industry, competitiveness is required to enhance the performance of individual organisations. Following post-positivism epistemology, a multi-case study approach has been employed in this study. The unit of analysis is the network consisting of manufacture, supplier and the customer. Two such units of apparel manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka and two units from textile manufacturing industry in Taiwan were selected. This study establishes the link between servitised industry and national competitive advantage. The collaboration with suppliers, indirect competitors and other partners were identified as critical factors to differentiate a business-to-business (B2B) manufacturing industry in an international business.