Pathways towards Servitization: A trans-national study of Organisational Transformation

Lead Research Organisation: Aston University
Department Name: College of Business and Social Sciences

Abstract

Manufacturing organisations in developed western economies are increasingly shifting from traditional product-based offerings towards service-oriented business models. Firms such as Rolls Royce, GE, Xerox and Siemens are remaining competitive by creating additional value to their customers through the services they provide, and taking a share of this value. Over the years, providing services embedded within products' offerings has gradually become a fundamental business constituent for manufacturing organisations.

Understanding the organisational transformation required to operate in this way has been an enduring challenge to both researchers and practitioners, and only a few notable contributions address the topic. Some prominent scholars have set out the benefits of, and barriers to, undertaking the transformation , while others describe the state of being a 'servitized' manufacturer and the impact this delivers, but few really deal holistically with the dynamics of the process of transformation itself, or distinguish what is particular about servitization over general organisational change. Although there are significant literature and theoretical frameworks in the general field of organisational change, no models exist to explain the servitization transformation process.

This project addresses this gap by consolidating the servitization knowledge base from the perspective of organisational change. Our integrative approach in this project will complement our goal of conducting a broad and inclusive study of the servitization transformation, which leads to identifying the stages of transformation, the key factors and forces that influence such transformation, and the key tasks and decisions in each stage. The purpose of the project is, therefore, to document the transformation of a manufacturing organisation as it moves towards competing through advanced services. In order to do this, the following research questions will be addressed:

(i) What stages might an organisation expect to go through as it progresses towards servitization? What are the critical decisions and activities that occur in each stage? (Process)
(ii) What are the principal factors and forces that affect progression through these stages? (Context)
(iii) How do these stages and forces interplay as a model to demonstrate pathways towards servitization? (Content)

Planned Impact

In addition to the academic audiences outlined above, this research is expected to have a direct impact upon three separate non-academic groups, as well as the general public interested in manufacturing issues.

The findings will have direct relevance, and provide strategic guidance, to the executives of those firms that are currently moving towards competing through advanced services and servitization. Product-focused manufacturing firms have realised that in a turbulent financial environment, servitization can certainly assist them in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. However, due to the influence of different factors including organisational structure, customer demands and behaviour, market saturation, the triadic nature of service supply chains, and diffusion of innovation, the most challenging question is "how should we transform?". By developing and proposing the pathways, actions and decision points that will lead them towards servitization, this project will greatly impact such firms.

The development of the pathways will be informed by the established adopters of servitization, and the analysis of their transformation journey will, in turn, provide them with a more rationalised understanding of the ongoing process of servitization. These companies have followed emergent, organic strategies and now find themselves to be seen as exemplars of servitized firms. In all cases, they are continuing to evolve and develop their services strategies, and the systematic capturing of the stages that they have been through will assist them in revisiting some of the decisions and actions that have been taken, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their future plans and projects.

Finally, the findings of the proposed research are likely to have practical implications for those parties helping both large and small firms to address their sustainability and scalability. Having surveyed 76 SMEs we identified that the principal barriers to their transformation towards servitization were financial and contractual complexities. Financial sector companies (e.g. banks) and legal firms have, in recent years, become much more interested in supporting these companies with servitization. This project will help these parties to understand what servitization is, how organisations approach it, and what stages organisations will go through. It will also help the companies to understand in which stage(s) of their transformation they most need the help from third parties such as banks and lawyers.

These impacts are expected to be delivered towards the identified groups through: (1) direct contacts with the case organisations throughout the study, (2) dissemination workshops, and (3) engagement and presentations in industry conferences and events.
 
Title The Advanced Services Transformation Roadmap 
Description Manufacturers increasingly see services as a core component of their competitive strategy. Of particular interest are 'advanced' services, such as outcome and availability contracts, that can deliver longer term relationships with regular cash-flow from customers. But transforming a product-focused organisation to deliver services effectively is fraught with challenges. Our Roadmap is the result of an in-depth investigation into these challenges, and how these have been overcome by manufacturers who are successfully competing through advanced services. It is a tool for executives to prepare for service transformation and helps to navigate and overcome the obstacles on the journey to servitization. 
Type Of Art Image 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact The roadmap has been used by more than 20 large multinational manufacturers as well as more than 100 SMEs in West Midlands, all involved in servitization, and in order to understand and examine (i) the stages that they might go through as they progresses towards servitization, (ii) the critical decisions and activities that occur in each stage, (iii) the principal factors and forces that affect progression through these stages, and (iv) the ways in which these stages and forces interplay as a model to demonstrate pathways towards servitization. 
URL https://www.advancedservicesgroup.co.uk/as-transformation-roadmap
 
Title The Service Transformation Game (Snakes & Ladders) 
Description A board game based on the classic game snakes and ladders that facilitates the understanding of, and engagement with, the advanced services transformation roadmap, and the inhibitors and enablers of servitization. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The board game has been used in workshops with businesses large and small to help executives understand the potential benefits and risks of undertaking a servitization. 
URL https://www.servicetransformationgame.co.uk/
 
Description The main objective of this project is to formalise our understanding of organisational change processes and pathways taken by manufacturers to become servitized and ultimately compete through advanced services. Through extensive engagement activities with several leading manufacturers (both multinationals and SMEs), we further validate the Advanced Services Transformation Roadmap developed as one of the main objectives of this project. The roadmap explains how the servitization journey unfolds and that: - Servitization can be explained as four macro-stages of organisational change: Exploration, Engagement, Expansion and Exploitation. - Progress, both between and within these macro-stages, is significantly influenced by four sets of forces relating to the market, technology, value network, and the characteristics of organisation itself. - Progress from one macro-stage to the next may initially appear to be structured and unidirectional, but contained within these stages are sub-processes, which are characteristically organic, unstructured and iterative. - Servitization can be characterised as a business growth model with multiple crises or tipping points which need to be carefully managed for progressive transformation. The development of such a roadmap has led us to identify and address key gaps in our understanding in different related areas including:

(i) Activities, resources and capabilities required to develop and deliver advanced services. We identify IoT-enabled features to help manufacturers improve service efficiency, enhance product performance, expand services portfolio, and increase customer satisfaction. We examine how product-use data influences different network actors; how capturing such opportunities is impacted by key barriers; and how network capabilities can overcome these barriers.

(ii) Influence of internet of things (IoT) on advanced services development and delivery. We adopt a socio-technical research perspective to study the IoT scenarios of 15 manufacturers offering advanced services. We identify several value propositions enabled by various IoT-enabled information systems artefacts that specify the distinct interactions between the technological and social subsystems supporting the advanced services value propositions.

(iii) The diverse IoT-enabled outcomes and processes manufacturers undergo to create these outcomes to enable servitization. We identify these processes by drawing on the core principles of affordance perception and affordance actualisation. We analyse case scenarios of six manufacturing firms to develop a framework explaining the realisation of IoT-enabled opportunities that help manufacturers manage IoT contributions and actualisation efforts required to advance servitization.

(iv) The importance of stakeholder (internal and external) engagements. We explain activities, resources, and partnerships manufacturers deploy to create and deliver value with Servitization. We develop a toolkit, called Stakeholder's Journey by using organizational storytelling for encouraging managers to empathize with their stakeholders to increase stakeholder engagement in servitization. (V) The role of platform ecosystem in the development of advanced services. We identify the social and technical aspects that account for the complex interdependencies stemming from platform-oriented actor interactions. We then develop an analytical framework accounting for the technical core, actors, structural boundaries and tasks of a servitization-based platform ecosystem. Drawing from the collective experiences of senior executives from seven large manufacturing companies, we decipher servitization challenges, and pivot our learnings around structural boundaries.

(vi) The implications that servitization has on organisational boundaries. We explain how servitization disrupts long-established internal and external boundaries of product-focused manufacturers by drawing on experiences of ten multinational manufacturers to develop an integrative framework based on theoretical notions of power, competency and identity boundaries. We offer insights into the root causes of various servitization-related challenges, and identify the management interventions that servitizing manufacturers can employ to address these many different servitization challenges.

(vii) The internal and external context factors that impact servitization. We develop a framework that integrates a multi-stage conceptualisation of servitization with a focus on the context factors that support/oppose manufacturers' transformation towards services. Drawing from experiences of 17 small- and medium-sized manufacturers, we recognise servitization as a multi-stage transformation process, with each stage exposed to different context factors, and show how their different impact different manufacturers, depending on where they are in their servitization journey.

(viii) The evolution of product-service systems (PSS) in the context of industry 4.0. We identify the main trajectories that would shape a future scenario in which PSS and Industry 4.0 would merge to enable businesses offer new value to their customers in the Industry 4.0.

(ix) The experiential problems and challenges of 'Servitization Paradox'. We study the past trends and extant patterns/themes in the servitization strategy research area, evaluate contributions, summarise knowledge, thereby identifying limitations, implications and potential further research avenues.

(x) Lastly, we are also looking into how a digital prototype might be developed to support co-creation in developing future advanced services for 'Heat as a Service'.
Exploitation Route The research undertaken by this project offers a myriad of outcomes of practical worth for the service-aspiring officials, who can adapt our learnings to the servitization initiatives (see below) undertaken within their organisations. We put together some of our outcomes here:

- By developing a transformation roadmap, our research shows that organisations employing servitization can typically expect the process to unfold through four stages of organisational change - exploration, engagement, expansion and exploitation. We clarify typical activities and associated contextual factors for each stage that executives within such organizations should find particularly helpful in understanding - the characteristics of such stages alongside the factors that together are the key to success with services. - Our analysis suggests, these characteristics and priorities of an organisation at the earlier stage of maturity are very different to the later, and recognition of such distinctions are important when executing popular management techniques such as benchmarking.

- We also learn from our research that practitioners should be mindful of the time required to progress through these four stages, as it may take decades for a company embarking on a servitization programme to achieve the capabilities typical of the later stages of maturity.

- On the basis of such data, we deduce that in the early exploration stage of a servitization programme, executive sponsorship (support from key management) is likely to have the most influence on progress related to services. Furthermore, in developing a comprehensive roadmap of servitization challenges, we show how customers are instrumental in the manufacturer's learning and evaluation of services, but at the same time, their increasing dependence on customers is a threat to their service transformation. To minimise the impact of customer abandonment in the joint servitization efforts, we advise manufacturers to engage with a wide-ranging customers right from the early exploration and engagement stages.

- In extending the learnings from our work on organisational boundaries, we show how important it is for managers to evaluate the market against their internal capabilities and servitization goals to create an adept scenario of value creation for the customers and value capture for the firm itself. We also show how flexibility is key in scaling up the service business, and how managers should continually monitor and alter their service strategy to cushion risks to business. More so, we alert managers to prepare for initial setbacks, as very few personnel understand servitization until brought to a pivot point by someone with a mandate to change the product-focused company culture and mindset. More specifically, we suggest actions such as - in assisting the front-end sales teams with the arduous task of selling services, managers can build service contracts in a way that they become a product, involving an element of business as an aftersales offer and service capability.

- In another research direction, we look at how platform ecosystems are raising fear of disruptions and displacements amongst businesses. The businesses do not fully understand what platforms and ecosystems mean, but mostly envision these to be technology. Our review on the topic clarifies that technology is only one of the many components that goes into building an ecosystem. We frame insights to help businesses understand the different network actor roles (platform leader, complementors, etc.), and in turn, identify other businesses to pursue collaborative innovation. We also collate insights on platform competition that businesses can apply to outline strategies for the management and orchestration of their service-focused platforms.

- Our work on Business Model Innovation (BMI) shows SMEs can achieve BMI through different combinations of managerial orientation, innovation culture and BMI capabilities (sensing customer needs, sensing technological options, conceptualizing and experimenting, collaborating and developing a BMI strategy). Here, we are also able to deduce that increasing uncertainty may reduce the capability of SMEs to develop long-term managerial orientation, but with absence of long-term managerial orientation, focusing on capabilities for conceptualization and experimentation or sensing customer needs could be a successful recipe for BMI in a post-Covid-19 future. - In exploring opportunities from IoT for advanced services, we show that IoT should not be managed in isolation. As the contributions of IoT technology are enabled by a variety of technical, information and social resources and activities, it is critical to align their management to effectively capitalize on the IoT investments. It is key to prioritize the value propositions to guide the IoT developments. The diverse resources and activities required to support a value proposition makes their retrospective development and integration difficult. Several of the essential sub-systems take a long time to be developed, and so, the managers should already formulate those value propositions to ensure the necessary subsystems are available when required in the future. Development of critical data resources and relationships may also take a long time.

- Our further work in this direction identifies key IoT features for IoT-enabled servitization, which allows IoT vendors to drive their offerings and revenue models based on the affordances that can be enabled by their products. We also suggests possibilities for vendors to offer upgrades and add-on features for their installed base to enable affordances that their customers want to perceive and actualise. Internally, for manufacturing firms, we provide a framework for the IT departments to drive their IoT-integration projects based on the outcomes they want to achieve.
Sectors Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology,Transport
 
Description The non-academic impacts to date have been focused towards practitioners and senior executives in manufacturing. We are committed to raising awareness about servitization and organisational transformation, and the processes required to compete through advanced services. This has been achieved through keynote presentations and talks at different industrial events (listed in the engagement section), hands-on workshops, and running practitioner-researcher-focused events. More recently, we made significant contributions to the World Servitization Convention (WSC) which brought together global business leaders to engage and accelerate the adoption of servitization, with researchers and practitioners from around the world. From debating leading practices in servitization, business models, and digital technologies, to organisational and societal innovations, our research outputs were shared with international leaders in the field. Our work is not just focused on businesses, but also on furthering the servitization-focused academic community, and we do so via the annual Spring Servitization Conference (SSC) - in 2022, the conference consolidated research findings on how organisations can develop and adapt their business models through servitization and advanced services. For the upcoming Spring Servitization Conference 2023, we will be focusing on the impact of servitization on the grand challenges and understanding of how organisations can develop and adapt their business models through servitization and advanced services to build a resilient, productive and sustainable future. Furthermore, the ESRC grant has enabled the research team to engage with more than 10 large multinational manufacturing firms, and 30 SME manufacturers to further refine the Advanced Services Transformation Roadmap. As a result, we have defined a portfolio of concepts, frameworks, models and tools that enable businesses to better understand, evaluate, and where appropriate accelerate their adoption of servitization. Our contributions include - the servitization transformation roadmap, services staircase, and business model framework for services. The outcomes of these have been systematically captured in the mini-guides that manufacturers are using in their organisations to support their servitization initiatives. These guides specifically cover the topics of - performance advisory, business models, service visioning, customer value proposition, customer segmentation, storytelling, value networks and business model blueprint, and generally include templates and editable worksheets that executives and managers can use to evaluate their servitization-related strategies. The mini-guide on performance advisory (the provider uses digital technologies to monitor product use and offer intelligence to the customer on how to gain more value from those products) covers the viability of this type of service and its potential to create and capture value. A mini-guide on business models applies a business model framework to explain customer value propositions, revenue models, delivery system characteristics and the basis for competitive advantage associated with advanced services. In the service visioning mini-guide, we look at challenging organisational changes necessary to realise servitization, and explain how to create a vision for a servitizing manufacturer. We also have a mini-guide for manufacturing businesses setting out to understand and create customer value propositions for advanced services. Another mini-guide on contracts and financing explains the principal components of a contract for advanced services and offers guidelines on good practices. With the customer segmentation mini-guide, we present a segmentation technique to show how to identify customer segments so manufacturers can offer targeted service innovations for those segments. In the storytelling mini-guide, we design storytelling as a valuable tool for fostering stakeholder engagement to equip executives with an understanding of how to create compelling story content, and tailor this for the purpose of servitization. Since 2021, we have developed and published several hands-on miniguides, including the value network mini-guide that focuses on crafting a bespoke Value Network for advanced services. Another mini-guide in development is focused on the Business Model Blueprint that will help businesses visualise and communicate their service-led business model. The tools for both these mini-guides are being co-developed with companies, who already envision the value in using the Business Model Blueprint and Value Networks as key instruments for steering their servitization efforts in the right direction. While the tool for Value Networks is being co-developed with Legrand (division specialising in assisted living and monitoring), the business model blueprint is being co-developed with Domino (service guaranteeing uptime and accuracy of coding machines). By doing so, we accomplish the following: firstly, the senior executives and managers are more confident in applying the outputs of these mini-guides, as they have been co-developed around real service offerings tackling complexities that most servitizing managers are familiar with; secondly, such co-development ensures the mini-guides uses the language and examples that best resonate with an industry audience. We also use roundtables, and events such as WSC and SSC as an opportunity to arrange walkthroughs that present thought leadership and allow us to engage with business leaders in disseminating the learnings from our mini-guides. Furthermore, our engagements with SME manufacturers have enabled us to translate and validate the proposed model and pathways to servitization in the SME context, and to reflect on the relevant economic and social consequences of their actions. We have developed a book that compiles thirty case studies of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) focused on manufacturing and technology, who are innovating their capabilities to compete through services rather than products alone. This book documents the processes of servitization being applied in practice. The case studies show how the theory, concepts and tools of servitization can be directly applied, translated or used to inform business strategy and actions and which have resulted in commercial impact. The cases presented herein are inspired by Advanced Services and although they are not clinical examples of these concepts, they demonstrate how a shift towards these business models can deliver impact. In compiling these cases, our goal has been to illustrate the value of servitization to businesses. In this book, the thirty SMEs increased their revenues by £9.9m and employed an additional 89 members of staff as a result of them servitizing. We are also working on the second case study book for the SME Partnership, which will contain 10 case studies linked to the key issues facing the industry today and focusing on how servitization will support businesses with these challenges: recovery and growth, resilience and robustness, carbon NetZero and beyond, productivity, digital exploitation, local value capture and regionalisation, exports and international trade supporting an ageing society and enabling innovation.
First Year Of Impact 2018
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Other
Impact Types Cultural,Societal,Economic,Policy & public services
 
Description Advanced Services Growth: Developing Strategies for Improved Growth in Manufacturing SMEs
Amount £1,446,400 (GBP)
Organisation European Commission 
Sector Public
Country European Union (EU)
Start 01/2019 
End 01/2022
 
Description Digital Servitization Demonstrator
Amount £1,692,640 (GBP)
Funding ID TS/T011165/1 
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2020 
End 09/2022
 
Description Digitally Enhanced Advanced Services (DEAS) Network Plus Call
Amount £100,000 (GBP)
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2019 
End 03/2020
 
Description Newton Fund
Amount £2,020,000 (GBP)
Funding ID BB/S020993/1 
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2019 
End 03/2021
 
Description Understanding how servitization can impact UK economic productivity and environmental performance
Amount £1,512,864 (GBP)
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2022 
End 06/2025
 
Description 2018 Spring Servitization Conference 
Organisation Copenhagen Business School
Country Denmark 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I was one of the co-chairs of the 2018 Spring Servitization Conference in Copenhagen Business School (14,15 & 16 May 2018). As part of my duties, I was in charge of (i) selecting and assessing the quality of the venue, (ii) identifying the right industrial and academic keynote speakers, (iii) developing the call for papers and the theme of the conference, (iv) promoting the conference in social media and other networks, (v) managing the review process both at the abstract and full submission stages, and (vi) helping the organising committee during the conference.
Collaborator Contribution Dr Thomas Frandsen and Dr Jawwad Raja of Copenhagen Business School were two of the co-chairs of conference. They were also in charge of organising the conference, and similar activities mentioned above.
Impact The key output of the conference was the conference proceedings which was co-edited by the conference chairs.
Start Year 2018
 
Description 2019 Spring Servitization Conference 
Organisation Linkoping University
Country Sweden 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Similar to last year, I am one of the co-chairs of the 2018 Spring Servitization Conference to be held at Linkoping University in Sweden (13,14 & 15 May 2019). As part of my duties, I am collaborating with the host co-chairs in (i) selecting and assessing the quality of the venue, (ii) identifying the right industrial and academic keynote speakers, (iii) developing the call for papers and the theme of the conference, (iv) promoting the conference in social media and other networks, (v) managing the review process both at the abstract and full submission stages, and (vi) helping the organising committee during the conference.
Collaborator Contribution Professors Christian Kowalkowski and Daniel Kindström are two of the co-chairs of conference. They were also in charge of organising the conference, and similar activities mentioned above.
Impact No output as of yet.
Start Year 2019
 
Description 2022 Spring Servitization Conference 
Organisation University of Brescia
Country Italy 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Similar to previous years, I am one of the co-chairs of the 2022 Spring Servitization Conference to be held Florence, Italy (9-11 May). As part of my duties, I am collaborating with the host co-chairs in (i) selecting and assessing the quality of the venue, (ii) identifying the right industrial and academic keynote speakers, (iii) developing the call for papers and the theme of the conference, (iv) promoting the conference in social media and other networks, (v) managing the review process both at the abstract and full submission stages, and (vi) helping the organising committee during the conference.
Collaborator Contribution I collaborate with four other co-chairs including: Prof Tim Baines (Aston University), Prof Mario Rapaccini (Florence University), Prof Nicola Saccani and Dr Federico Adrodegari (University of Brescia) who were also in charge of organising the conference, and similar activities mentioned above.
Impact There will be a conference proceeding that will be published in May 2022.
Start Year 2021
 
Description 2022 Spring Servitization Conference 
Organisation University of Florence
Country Italy 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Similar to previous years, I am one of the co-chairs of the 2022 Spring Servitization Conference to be held Florence, Italy (9-11 May). As part of my duties, I am collaborating with the host co-chairs in (i) selecting and assessing the quality of the venue, (ii) identifying the right industrial and academic keynote speakers, (iii) developing the call for papers and the theme of the conference, (iv) promoting the conference in social media and other networks, (v) managing the review process both at the abstract and full submission stages, and (vi) helping the organising committee during the conference.
Collaborator Contribution I collaborate with four other co-chairs including: Prof Tim Baines (Aston University), Prof Mario Rapaccini (Florence University), Prof Nicola Saccani and Dr Federico Adrodegari (University of Brescia) who were also in charge of organising the conference, and similar activities mentioned above.
Impact There will be a conference proceeding that will be published in May 2022.
Start Year 2021
 
Description 2023 Spring Servitization Conference 
Organisation University of Vaasa
Country Finland 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Similar to previous years, I am one of the co-chairs of the 2023 Spring Servitization Conference to be held in Helsinki, Finland (8 and 9 May 2023). As part of my duties, I am collaborating with the host co-chairs in (i) selecting and assessing the quality of the venue, (ii) identifying the right industrial and academic keynote speakers, (iii) developing the call for papers and the theme of the conference, (iv) promoting the conference in social media and other networks, (v) managing the review process both at the abstract and full submission stages and (vi) helping the organising committee during the conference.
Collaborator Contribution I collaborate with four other co-chairs including Prof Tim Baines (Aston University), Prof Marko Kohtomaki (Vaasa University), Prof Rodrigo Rabetino (Vaasa University) who were also in charge of organising the conference, and similar activities mentioned above.
Impact There will be a conference proceeding that will be published in May 2023.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Advanced Services Partnership 
Organisation BAE Systems
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We have engaged at the senior management level to enhance the understanding of servitization in the company and the organisational transformation required to move towards advanced services. We have also worked closely with the companies in order to design and develop new business models around advanced services, and helped them to test and validate their customer value propositions.
Collaborator Contribution The companies have given us access to the ways in which they carry out their day to day operations. Also, we have received regular updates about the journey towards servitization.
Impact There are several white papers under development as the result of the research with the companies.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Advanced Services Partnership 
Organisation Corin Group PLC
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We have engaged at the senior management level to enhance the understanding of servitization in the company and the organisational transformation required to move towards advanced services. We have also worked closely with the companies in order to design and develop new business models around advanced services, and helped them to test and validate their customer value propositions.
Collaborator Contribution The companies have given us access to the ways in which they carry out their day to day operations. Also, we have received regular updates about the journey towards servitization.
Impact There are several white papers under development as the result of the research with the companies.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Advanced Services Partnership 
Organisation DHL
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We have engaged at the senior management level to enhance the understanding of servitization in the company and the organisational transformation required to move towards advanced services. We have also worked closely with the companies in order to design and develop new business models around advanced services, and helped them to test and validate their customer value propositions.
Collaborator Contribution The companies have given us access to the ways in which they carry out their day to day operations. Also, we have received regular updates about the journey towards servitization.
Impact There are several white papers under development as the result of the research with the companies.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Advanced Services Partnership 
Organisation Daimler AG
Country Germany 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We have engaged at the senior management level to enhance the understanding of servitization in the company and the organisational transformation required to move towards advanced services. We have also worked closely with the companies in order to design and develop new business models around advanced services, and helped them to test and validate their customer value propositions.
Collaborator Contribution The companies have given us access to the ways in which they carry out their day to day operations. Also, we have received regular updates about the journey towards servitization.
Impact There are several white papers under development as the result of the research with the companies.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Advanced Services Partnership 
Organisation Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We have engaged at the senior management level to enhance the understanding of servitization in the company and the organisational transformation required to move towards advanced services. We have also worked closely with the companies in order to design and develop new business models around advanced services, and helped them to test and validate their customer value propositions.
Collaborator Contribution The companies have given us access to the ways in which they carry out their day to day operations. Also, we have received regular updates about the journey towards servitization.
Impact There are several white papers under development as the result of the research with the companies.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Advanced Services Partnership 
Organisation Ishida Europe
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We have engaged at the senior management level to enhance the understanding of servitization in the company and the organisational transformation required to move towards advanced services. We have also worked closely with the companies in order to design and develop new business models around advanced services, and helped them to test and validate their customer value propositions.
Collaborator Contribution The companies have given us access to the ways in which they carry out their day to day operations. Also, we have received regular updates about the journey towards servitization.
Impact There are several white papers under development as the result of the research with the companies.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Advanced Services Partnership 
Organisation Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd.
Department Yanmar Europe BV
Country Netherlands 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We have engaged at the senior management level to enhance the understanding of servitization in the company and the organisational transformation required to move towards advanced services. We have also worked closely with the companies in order to design and develop new business models around advanced services, and helped them to test and validate their customer value propositions.
Collaborator Contribution The companies have given us access to the ways in which they carry out their day to day operations. Also, we have received regular updates about the journey towards servitization.
Impact There are several white papers under development as the result of the research with the companies.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Autumn Advanced Services Partnership Roundtable 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact 13-15 October 2020: Advanced Services Partnership Roundtable including keynote from Greg Parker, Senior Director, Product Management and Business Development at Johnson Controls. Reports from partners about: developing a Heat-as-a-Service demonstrator, using Augmented Reality to deliver services, how to transition to a services mindset and structure.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Facilitating workshop/Executive eduction (Mondragon Corporation, Spain) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact I developed and facilitated a three day executive education on 'Service-led Business Models' for 30 industrial companies in the Basque Country. The course was carried out at the Mondragon Corporation, San Sebastian, Spain.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Industrial Partner Assembly 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact 8 July: Partner assembly discussing topics of the project partners' choice: Accessing customer data, getting cross-functional engagement in a services mindset, and services supply chains
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Interview 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was interviewed (and quoted) for an article on titled "The Big Promise of Everything-As-A-Service". The article published by Forbes AI in September 2018. The article has been read 30,218 times as of today (21 Feb 2019).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.forbes.com/sites/insights-intelai/2018/09/21/the-big-promise-of-everything-as-a-service-...
 
Description Interview with Natwest 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact I was interviewed for an article for Natwest Live on Manufacturing: how to work smarter, not harder.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://natwestbusinesshub.com/content/aee6bd6a-eb10-b21a-a200-0cddf29d3c16
 
Description Interview with Natwest 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact I was interviewed by Natwest Live on an article titles Manufacturing and the shift to servitization
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://rm.natwest.contentlive.co.uk/content/manufacturing-and-the-shift-to-servitisation
 
Description Interview/Writing 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was interviewed and later helped in the writing of a piece that was later published by The Field Service Digital (FSD). FSD belongs to ServiceMax by GE. The talk focused on 'How Do We Do It?': Charting a Course to Servitization.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.servicemax.com/uk/fsd/charting-a-course-to-servitzation-advanced-services-group
 
Description Invited Keynote Talk (Industrial Meeting) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact I was the keynote speaker at Philips Global Customer Services Marketing Meeting in Best, The Netherlands. This was part of a week gathering from all of the sales and marketing executives at Philips Healthcare to develop their services strategy for the coming year. My talk focused on Servitization, advanced services and outcome-based contracts in Healthcare. I also ran a hand-on workshop with the attendees to frame their current service offerings against a business model framework that we have developed based on our research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Invited Keynote Talk (Industrial Workshop) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact I was one of the invited academic keynote speakers for an industrial workshop organised by Lulea University of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. The workshop was around 'Profiting from Digitalization' and my talk focused on Digitally-enabled Performance Intelligence Services. The attendees were all senior executives from industrial companies such as ABB, Volvo, Sandvik, and Saab.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35CtDgQ31Ko
 
Description Invited Talk (Academic Seminar) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact I gave a presentation on "What do we really mean by servitization?" at an academic seminar held at the Westminster Business School in London.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Media article on Platform Ecosystems: a new opportunity for Servitization 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact An article that Dr Kawal Kapoor wrote for the Field Services News on the importance of platform ecosystem in servitization.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/platform-ecosystems-a-new-opportunity-for-servitization
 
Description Mini guide Walkthrough Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 28 October 2020: Miniguide walkthrough on the topic of customer segmentation for servitization
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Podcast (How servitization can transform manufacturing) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact I recorded a podcast as part of Aston Means Business podcast series. I discuss how servitization can help manufacturers improve financial sustainability.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://open.spotify.com/episode/7wqt5AsKxA4XdtSNIz9QaL?si=_KkAMpj3Q-e4fy5n7wnYkQ
 
Description Presentation (Henley Business School) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact I gave an invited presentation at the quarterly research seminar series organised by Henley Business School, University of Reading. The presentation focused on servitization in manufacturing: a business model perspective.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Presentation (Industry) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Kawaljeet Kapoor, the post-doc Research Fellow on this project, gave a talk at the Advanced Services Partnership Winter Roundtable in Washington DC. Her talk focused on platforms and platform strategies, and the impact of such strategy/approach on organisations moving towards servitization.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Servitization mini guide walk through webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact 25 June 2020: Launched new series of 'miniguide walkthrough' webinars for industrial companies, with first webinar focused on the services transformation journey and accompanying mini guide. Mini guides are our business-facing publications encompassing research, models and practical toolkits to enable business change.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Spring Advanced Services Partnership Roundtable 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact 9-11 June 2020: Spring Roundtable; first time running this online. With a keynote from Rolls-Royce and updates and discussion from all partners
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description The Advanced Services Partnership Winter Round Table (Sweden) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We hosted our industry Partnership Winter Roundtable in Feb 2022. Taking place at Tetra Pak HQ in Lund, Sweden, the Roundtable brought together over 50 senior executives who have worked closely with ASG on their services transformation initiatives. Prof Tim Baines presented on the scaling of advanced services and hosted an interactive workshop on organisational transformation. Dr Ali Bigdeli and Dr Andreas Schroeder presented the current evidence of the impact of servitization on productivity and net-zero. The event was rounded off with a benchmarking tour of Tetra Pak's facility and progress updates from all partner companies. Attendees were drawn from companies such as Tetra Pak (packaging), Omron (industrial automation) and Domino (printing). The Advanced Services Partnership provides academic insights, advice and peer learning to an exclusive community of like-minded executives.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description The Advanced Services Partnership, Birmingham 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Roundtable was hosted by Legrand on 7 and 8 May 2019 and was themed around the Voice of the Customer. Colleagues from Legrand helped us design and deliver an exercise looking at the way in which actively listening to, and understanding, customer pains and gains can help us jointly create a Customer Value Proposition.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description The Advanced Services Partnership, Paris 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Roundtable was hosted by Thales on 28 and 29 Jan 2020, with the theme Aligning Service and Digital Innovation. We were delighted to welcome delegates in person from seven partner companies, and two further partners participated virtually.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description The Advanced Services Partnership, Worcester 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Roundtable was hosted by Mazak on 8 and 9 October 2019, with the theme Demystifying the contractual aspects of advanced services. We were delighted to welcome delegates from all nine partner companies, as well as guests from Alstom, JCB and Omron.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description The World Servitization Convention 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The World Servitization Convention was designed to raise awareness and adoption of servitization and advanced services. The Convention will brought together researchers and practitioners from around the Globe to experience and debate the leading practices in servitization, including the business models, digital technologies, organisational and societal innovations that are coming together to accelerate this phenomena. It included an exhibition from leading manufacturers, with a conference programme featuring presentations and workshops from international leaders in the field. The was delivered virtually using a dedicated conference environment complete with lobby, auditoriums, exhibition hall and networking function. It created an experience that mirrors as close as possibly a physical event. This platform enabled an international reach well beyond that which could be achieved with a physical event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.advancedservicesgroup.co.uk/wsc2020
 
Description Webinar on Organisational Transformation towards Servitization 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact One hour online webinar on how Goodyear have innovate their business models towards becoming an advanced services provider. We were joined by the Managing Director of Truck Replacement Sales at Goodyear Tyres.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Winter Advanced Services Partnership Roundtable 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 8-10 February 2021: Advanced Services Partnership Roundtable including keynote from Russell Masters, VP Digital Services at Rolls-Royce. Also with reports from partners about: developing an understanding of customer need for services using the Advanced Services Group's customer visit and empathy mapping tools and techniques; developing advanced services pilots; implementing the Advanced Services Group's business model blueprint and value networks models to develop strategic approach and planning and focus and clarify thinking and action plans.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was part of a wider group from the Advanced Services Group (Aston University) who developed and delivered several hand-on workshops for a multinational defense contractor (the name is withheld due to confidentiality). The workshops focused on (i) identifying and mapping services-related offering within different business lines, and (ii) mapping the maturity of each business line in their transformation towards servitization.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Since April 2018, we have conducted 2 industry focus group workshops with 4 large multinational manufacturers in order to address the objectives of the research project. These companies could be identified as established adopter of sevitization strategy. The main focus of the workshops has been to (i) understand the transformation pathways that have taken place as the organisation servitized and adopted advanced services, and (ii) develop a resultant theoretical framework that demonstrates the organisational transformation towards servitization. We will carry out more workshops with these companies as well as those companies that have recently started their transformation journey to enrich and deepen the developed framework by recording, comparing and contrasting the actual decisions, their processes and contexts, taken by a cross-section of staff who are actively involved in the execution of servitization strategies within the companies currently moving towards the adoption of servitization.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019