Abstract | As products become more commoditised, manufacturing companies are increasingly endorsing a service–led growth strategy, in order to deliver sustainable competitive advantage and differentiate themselves. However, the prior body of servitization research falls short to fully capture the complex interrelationships between different internal and external drivers for servitization and how these factors could impact on firm performance. In order to address these shortcomings this paper argues that a mono-theoretical perspective in tackling the servitization phenomena is not adequate to model the drivers of servitization and their effects on firm performance. Thus this paper attempts to integrate pertinent concepts and theoretical perspectives that revealed significant when reviewing the state-of-the art. The main aim of this paper is to develop a theoretically grounded conceptual framework for assessing a firm’s internal and external servitization drivers, and examining their effects on a firm’s performance. The proposed framework conceptualises the relevant constructs and components, to establish proposition statements and the cause effect relationship between independent and dependent variables that affect servitization at the firm-level and also takes a holistic perspective of servitization strategies impact on firm performance. So this paper attempts to achieve novelty by identifying factors that account for most of the variance in the servitization construct. Absorptive capacity, industry clock speed, open innovation, co-creation of value, service orientation of organisation culture, and perceived risk are postulated as potential antecedents of the servitization of manufacturing. This conceptual study intends to contribute to the current understanding of the relevant contingencies and organisational enablers (or hinderer) in the transition towards service provision and aims to enhance managerial decision-making processes regarding servitization. |
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