Complex products such as manufacturing equipment have always needed maintenance and repair services. Increasingly, leading

Purpose: Research suggests that to structure for servitization, organizations should separate their front-and back-end units by reference to high versus low contact activities. However, these prescriptions are overly simplistic and largely based on anecdotal evidence that fails to account for context. This research addresses the need to explore the design decisions taken by organizations in support of servitization.Design/methodology/approach: A large-scale exploratory case study was conducted, consisting of embedded cases in three divisions of a UK-based, global manufacturing firm. Findings:Each division provided different combinations of offerings (i.e. product-, use-and result-oriented). The findings suggest that front-end / back-end configurations differ according to the offering and can exist concurrently within the same organization, challenging the assumption that different configurations within an organization are not possible. The findings show that underlying contextual factors, such as the complexity and temporality of the offering, as well as the power of the customer, have implications for the structuring of servitizing organizations. Research limitations:This is a context-specific, qualitative case study conducted within a large original equipment manufacturer, yet the findings are analytically generalized. Originality/value:In identifying the relevance of different design decisions in terms of customer contact, decoupling of activities and grouping of employees, the findings challenge the extant view that organizations simply split activities between the front-and back-end functions. The research identifies an additional design configuration -Integrated Project Teams -involving a dominant customer dictating organizational interfaces. This research exposes the need for further investigation into how to organize for servitization in projectbased contexts.

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Purpose – This paper aims to adopt service-dominant logic (SDL) to empirically explore network configurations resulting from the provision of goods, goods and services, and solutions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a single, in-depth, exploratory case study in a truck manufacturer and its supply network. An abductive approach is adopted. In total, 54 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Findings – Three value propositions are clearly discernible within the truck provider. These range from a truck to a “solution”. These propositions have different supply network configurations: dyadic, triadic and tetradic. The extent to which different network actors contribute to value co-creation varies across the offerings. Research limitations/implications – This paper is based on a single, in-depth case study developed in one industrial context. Whilst this represents an appropriate approach given the exploratory nature of the study, further empirical investigation is needed across different industries. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first to empirically examine supply networks using SDL. A rich understanding of the challenges faced by a truck manufacturer in providing different value propositions and the resulting network configurations are discussed. In so doing, evidence is provided of a more complex, tetradic network configuration for solutions, with varying degrees of interplay between actors in the flow of operand and operant resources to create value.

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