Territorial servitization is the analysis of how manufacturing firms and knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) sectors collaborate in working towards a renaissance of manufacturing competitiveness within regions of developed economies. This editorial note provides four insights. First, it sums up the existing body of knowledge on the topic. Second, it quantifies and maps the territorial servitization activity in Spanish regions. Third, it presents and reflects on the collection of five papers in this special issue, which bring new insights into how geographical proximity, innovation systems, and KIBS heterogeneity benefit our understanding of territorial servitization. Finally, the study provides a number of yet unresolved topics that deserve further academic attention.
Established theory suggests that firms experiment with business models in dynamic contexts. However, the relationship between business model experimentation and organizational performance remains unclear. Barriers to empirical analysis exist as experimental business models are normally utilised by new market entrants and the unit of analysis to test a business model in dynamic contexts extends beyond traditional firm boundaries. To overcome these barriers, we propose an assessment of the economic value of business model experimentation in dynamic contexts by defining the unit of analysis at the industry level. Analysis draws upon a unique panel dataset from the recorded music industry composed of 414 observations from 32 countries for the period 1998-2010. Evidence is provided of the relationship between sales format diversity, taken as a proxy measure of business model experimentation, and industry revenues as the measure of value captured. Both measures have been validated by industry experts. The results show two optimal modes for maximising value capture in dynamic contexts. First, if a dominant format exists, a 'network' effect becomes prevalent which has a positive impact upon revenue. Second, when firms engage in experimentation leading to a highly diversified set of business models the industry sector becomes better able to capture value from diverse and changing consumer needs.
The purpose of this paper is to unpack the existing complexities in the relationship between product-service innovation (PSI) and firm performance that arise from the mismatch between theoretical predictions and empirical evidence. Whilst theoretical work suggests that there are a number of advantages for implementing PSI, quantitative firm-level evidence is not conclusive about the positive effects of this type of innovation on firm performance. By reviewing the relevant publications dealing with the PSI-performance relationship, their methodological approach, the novel constructs validated, and the role of mediators/moderators found in the servitization literature; we argue that further contextualization is needed to solve this puzzle. Additionally, this work systematically organises the different methods and variables used to assess the PSI-performance link, guiding scholars on the choice between different methods and measures. This work enumerates various streams of future research to discover unexplored fields to better ground this relationship, including the development of solid configurational theories, appropriate fit between theory and measurement techniques, and new sampling strategies for performing longitudinal studies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.