Selected studies on (digital) service strategies
| Source | Service | Digital | Studied phenomenon | Focal construct | Type of outcome | Main sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davies et al. (2006) | X | Organizational capabilities and structures necessary when transitioning toward integrated solutions | Firm’s structures and capabilities | – | Manufacturing and service, case study, five cases/firms | |
| Tuli et al. (2007) | X | Relational process view on customer solutions; supplier and customer variables affecting solution effectiveness | Relational processes constituting a solution | – | Manufacturing and other industries, interviews and focus groups, N = 29 supplier firms and 25 customer firms | |
| Antioco et al. (2008) | X | Organizational parameters and service business orientations that explain relative product sales and service volume | Service business orientation | Firm performance (sales; service ratio) | Manufacturing, survey, N = 137 respondents (service managers, directors, and vice presidents) | |
| Brax and Jonsson (2009) | X | Establishing integrated solution offerings | Integrated solution offerings | – | Manufacturing, case study, two cases/firms | |
| Gebauer et al. (2010) | X | Different service strategies in manufacturing firms, and org. designs for each strategy | Service strategies and org. design factors | Firm performance (service differentiation) | Manufacturing, survey, N = 106 firms and 89 strategic business units | |
| Ulaga and Reinartz (2011) | X | Key success factors for designing and delivering combinations of goods and services | Firm’s resources and capabilities | Firm performance (assessed qualitatively) | Manufacturing, interviews, respondents from 22 firms | |
| Baines and Lightfoot (2014) | X | Practices and technologies employed in the delivery of advanced services | Operations configuring | – | Manufacturing, case study, four cases/firms | |
| Macdonald et al. (2016) | X | Customers’ assessment of solution quality as antecedent to value; value in use resulting from the solution | Solution quality and value in use | – | Manufacturing, interviews, N = 36 respondents | |
| Worm et al. (2017) | X | The relationship between a customer solutions offering and profitability, the conditions affecting it, and the underlying mechanisms | Customer solutions offering | Firm performance (return on sales growth) | Manufacturing, survey and secondary data, N = 175 firms | |
| Raja et al. (2018) | X | Servitization design decisions in terms of customer contact, decoupling of activities and grouping of employees | Organizational design for servitization | – | Manufacturing, case study, three embedded cases in a single firm | |
| Colm et al. (2020) | X | Governance tensions associated with and varying over the course of solution development, and matching mechanisms to those tensions | Governance matching | – | Manufacturing, single case study | |
| Bigdeli et al. (2021) | X | Root causes of various servitization-related challenges | A firm’s internal and external boundaries | – | Manufacturing, case study, 10 cases/firms | |
| Salonen et al. (2021a) | X | The interplay of individual and org. conditions for salespeople’s engagement in solution selling | Salespeople’s solution selling engagement | Alternative outcome (employees’ engagement) | Manufacturing, survey, N = 233 respondents from a single firm | |
| Andersen and Bering (2023) | X | Integration oriented servitization and dimensions of effective structures, coordination and controls | Forward integration into distribution, sales and services | – | Manufacturing, case study, two cases/firms | |
| Heirati et al. (2024) | X | Organization architectures for servitization, and how firms align them for high financial performance | Organization architecture | Firm performance (perceived financial performance) | Manufacturing, survey, N = 161 firms | |
| Karatzas et al. (2023) | X | Relationship between servitization and individual employee-level outcomes | Level of service infusion | Alternative outcome (front-/back-end employee satisfaction) | Manufacturing, secondary data, N = 201 firms | |
| Chen et al. (2021) | X | X | Changes in the business model for digital servitization | Business model change | – | Manufacturing, single case study |
| Hsuan et al. (2021) | X | X | Strategic trajectories of product–service–software configurations | Digital servitization trajectories | – | Manufacturing, case study, 15 cases/firms |
| Struyf et al. (2021) | X | X | Reasons for struggles with digital servitization | Digital servitization obstacles | – | Manufacturing, case study, two cases/firms |
| Momeni et al. (2023) | X | X | Operational capability development mechanisms to facilitate digital servitization | Operational capabilities | – | Manufacturing, interviews, respondents from 15 firms |
| Kowalkowski and Ulaga (2024) | X | X | How firms can leverage the potential of subscriptions for growth | Subscription offers | – | Manufacturing and other industries, interviews, N = 15 firms |
| Heirati et al. (2025) | X | X | Interplay between servitization, org. capabilities, contextual factors, and performance | Advanced servitization | Firm performance (perceived financial performance) | Manufacturing, survey, N = 151 |
| This study | X | X | How digital service orientation can be induced within service operations and sales units’ organizational routines | Digital service orientation | Alternative outcome | Manufacturing, survey, N = 534 respondents (270 in service operations and 264 in service sales) |
| Source | Service | Digital | Studied phenomenon | Focal construct | Type of outcome | Main sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X | Organizational capabilities and structures necessary when transitioning toward integrated solutions | Firm’s structures and capabilities | – | Manufacturing and service, case study, five cases/firms | ||
| X | Relational process view on customer solutions; supplier and customer variables affecting solution effectiveness | Relational processes constituting a solution | – | Manufacturing and other industries, interviews and focus groups, | ||
| X | Organizational parameters and service business orientations that explain relative product sales and service volume | Service business orientation | Firm performance (sales; service ratio) | Manufacturing, survey, | ||
| X | Establishing integrated solution offerings | Integrated solution offerings | – | Manufacturing, case study, two cases/firms | ||
| X | Different service strategies in manufacturing firms, and org. designs for each strategy | Service strategies and org. design factors | Firm performance (service differentiation) | Manufacturing, survey, | ||
| X | Key success factors for designing and delivering combinations of goods and services | Firm’s resources and capabilities | Firm performance (assessed qualitatively) | Manufacturing, interviews, respondents from 22 firms | ||
| X | Practices and technologies employed in the delivery of advanced services | Operations configuring | – | Manufacturing, case study, four cases/firms | ||
| X | Customers’ assessment of solution quality as antecedent to value; value in use resulting from the solution | Solution quality and value in use | – | Manufacturing, interviews, | ||
| X | The relationship between a customer solutions offering and profitability, the conditions affecting it, and the underlying mechanisms | Customer solutions offering | Firm performance (return on sales growth) | Manufacturing, survey and secondary data, | ||
| X | Servitization design decisions in terms of customer contact, decoupling of activities and grouping of employees | Organizational design for servitization | – | Manufacturing, case study, three embedded cases in a single firm | ||
| X | Governance tensions associated with and varying over the course of solution development, and matching mechanisms to those tensions | Governance matching | – | Manufacturing, single case study | ||
| X | Root causes of various servitization-related challenges | A firm’s internal and external boundaries | – | Manufacturing, case study, 10 cases/firms | ||
| X | The interplay of individual and org. conditions for salespeople’s engagement in solution selling | Salespeople’s solution selling engagement | Alternative outcome (employees’ engagement) | Manufacturing, survey, | ||
| X | Integration oriented servitization and dimensions of effective structures, coordination and controls | Forward integration into distribution, sales and services | – | Manufacturing, case study, two cases/firms | ||
| X | Organization architectures for servitization, and how firms align them for high financial performance | Organization architecture | Firm performance (perceived financial performance) | Manufacturing, survey, | ||
| X | Relationship between servitization and individual employee-level outcomes | Level of service infusion | Alternative outcome (front-/back-end employee satisfaction) | Manufacturing, secondary data, | ||
| X | X | Changes in the business model for digital servitization | Business model change | – | Manufacturing, single case study | |
| X | X | Strategic trajectories of product–service–software configurations | Digital servitization trajectories | – | Manufacturing, case study, 15 cases/firms | |
| X | X | Reasons for struggles with digital servitization | Digital servitization obstacles | – | Manufacturing, case study, two cases/firms | |
| X | X | Operational capability development mechanisms to facilitate digital servitization | Operational capabilities | – | Manufacturing, interviews, respondents from 15 firms | |
| X | X | How firms can leverage the potential of subscriptions for growth | Subscription offers | – | Manufacturing and other industries, interviews, | |
| X | X | Interplay between servitization, org. capabilities, contextual factors, and performance | Advanced servitization | Firm performance (perceived financial performance) | Manufacturing, survey, | |
| This study | X | X | How digital service orientation can be induced within service operations and sales units’ organizational routines | Digital service orientation | Alternative outcome | Manufacturing, survey, |
Source(s): Created by the authors