تاثیر محیط سازمانی بر خدماتی سازی تولیدکنندگان

The transformation of product-centric businesses towards service provision is claimed to be a viable strategy for manufacturers across industries and sectors. However, previous research on servitization has not paid sufficient attention to explicitly investigating its suitability for manufacturers operating in different organizational environments. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to establish propositions on the contingency factors in the organizational environment that affect the servitization of manufacturers at the industry level. Drawing on the theory of organisational ecology, the propositions include the effects of population density, competing populations, resource dependency, institutional linkages, technology, and political forces. Our study suggests that the operating environment explains at least part of the difficulties in the servitization process, which have been identified in previous studies, but whose causes have remained without full explanation. The study adds to the current understanding of the contingencies of transformation toward service provision and contributes to the managerial decision-making processes related to servitization.

Competition in a variety of industrial sectors has intensified in recent years, partly due to the growth of the emerging economies in Asia and the Middle East. To cope with this challenge, many industrial manufacturers in western economies have responded by focusing increasingly on their customers, seeking to innovate and create products and services that meet customers’ needs more comprehensively to avoid competing solely on a cost basis (Porter & Ketels, 2003). The transformation of a manufacturer’s business strategy towards increasing service provision is conceptualized as ‘servitization’. In the previous literature, servitization has been suggested as a viable strategy for manufacturers across industries (Baines et al., 2009a, Baines et al., 2009c, Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003 and Wise and Baumgartner, 1999). However, we see it compelling to ask whether servitization can be seen as an advisable strategy for manufacturers throughout developed (post-industrial) economies. Also, it would be interesting to see how the differences in operational environment between countries and industries influence the possibilities to servitize. These questions have not received sufficient attention in the industrial management literature to date, as most of the servitization research (Baines et al., 2009a, Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003 and Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988) perceives increasing service provision as an applicable strategy for all manufacturers, irrespective of the industrial sector or operating environment. The aim of the present study is to identify the effects of different organisational environments on the servitization of manufacturing. We suggest that whether a given organisational form or strategy is superior to another depends upon the structure of the organisational environment. Our arguments are derived by applying ecological-evolutionary theory (organisational ecology) to the analysis of the servitization phenomenon (Hannan & Freeman, 1989). We suggest that organisational ecology (Hannan and Freeman, 1984 and Hannan and Freeman, 1989) can add value to the servitization discussion, as servitization embodies a large-scale structural change that is taking place in most developed countries. In doing so, our study aims to advance the servitization discussion by performing a conceptual analysis of the phenomenon through the theoretical lens of organisational ecology. Thus, we apply a well-recognised population level organisation theory to analyse servitization that has previously been discussed in the fields of marketing and operations management almost exclusively in organisation level investigations. In contrast, the aim of the present study is to explore, on an industry level, the effects of the contingencies of the organisational environment on servitization. We suggest that the ability of an industrial organisation to transform its business strategy towards service provision depends upon the organisational environment. The following research question guides the study: How does the operational environment affect servitization at the industry level? To address this crucial question, we conceptually analyse factors in the organisational environment utilizing the perspectives of organisational ecology. Leaning on the selected theoretical perspective, we identify the differences in environmental conditions among various industries and explain how these conditions affect the servitization of manufacturers. To this end, we aim to explain previous empirical findings on firms having a number of pathways through which to achieve servitization (Finne et al., 2013 and Turunen, 2011). We focus on populations of organisations in which individual companies are performing in both product and service businesses. Moreover, we analyse organisational entries into and exits out of the servitized populations. In particular, we address the causes of these entries and exits. In this study, entries are defined as a manufacturer’s move towards offering product-related services or the establishment of a new manufacturer offering product-related services, while exits are defined as a manufacturer’s discontinuation of offering product-related services. The servitization literature has mainly focused on entries of organisations, and exits have received very limited attention. The paper is structured as follows. We begin with a literature review on the servitization of manufacturers. We present the choice of theoretical lens through comparing the applicability of possible organisational theories for our analysis. In the third section, we introduce the key concepts in organisational ecology and contrast these concepts to the servitization phenomenon. Then, we define the servitized population. Thereafter, we move onto presenting the possible modes of entries and exits in the servitization context. In section four, we discuss the effects that the organisational environment has on the servitization of an industry. Our work establishes links between the theory of organizational ecology, servitization phenomenon, and illustrative case examples (cf. Siggelkow, 2007). The fifth section is devoted to discussion of the implications of our research for research and managerial practice. Finally, we provide suggestions for further research.

Understanding manufacturers’ organisational environment is of the utmost importance for managers of industrial organisations to be able to decide on strategic actions and resource allocations, such as to what extent to broaden the offering from pure products towards service provision. A strategic move towards a service business should be based on a careful examination of the operating environment. Our propositions form a conceptual basis for this type of evaluation and help managers to identify the key environmental factors affecting servitization in the industries where their companies operate. One of the most important aspects in managerial decision-making is the global aspect of different functions. The suitability of manufacturing as well as service operations in certain areas needs to be evaluated on the basis of both legitimation and competitive aspects. We believe our conceptual analysis and the developed propositions can help managers improve their understanding of how different environmental conditions around the globe can affect the success of locating their manufacturing and service operations in response to changing the competitive landscape. Our propositions offer a conceptual background with which to analyse how different aspects of the organisational environment cause differences in servitization. In addition, our findings may change the way existing research on servitization is interpreted. Part of the difficulty in servitizing may be explained by environmental circumstances, rather than by mere challenges in managerial decision-making. For future research, the next logical step would be to test empirically the propositions developed here. A comparative analysis between different industries would provide the opportunity to define further how these propositions hold. Our analysis suggests that servitization differs mostly between manufacturers in different geographical industries and, thus, those facing different environmental requirements. Servitization paths between manufacturers within the same industry should differ less. Hence, we encourage comparative research on the servitization of manufacturers in different industries and geographical areas to test our propositions.