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International audiencePurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the environment-strategy-structure fit in the context of industrial servitization and its impact on the profitability of manufacturing SMEs.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from face-to-face interviews with the CEOs of 184 French manufacturing SMEs. These primary data were complemented by the indicators extracted from a financial database to ensure objective measures of financial performance. Analyses were conducted by means of partial least squares structural equation modeling.FindingsThe research tests the impact of the organizational design (customer interface, service delivery system and service culture (SC)) on financial performance. It also tests the moderating effect on this relationship of servitization strategies adopted by the firm (added services (AS), activities reconfiguration (AR) and business model reconfiguration (BMR)) and the environment in which the firm is situated (industry dynamism, competitive intensity and industry munificence).Research limitations/implicationsThis study considers the coalescence of the environment-strategy-structure to be a driver of firm performance in the context of industrial firms’ servitization. Three specific servitization strategies (AS, AR and BMR) are suggested based on the service offering’s impact on the customer’s activity chain or business model.Practical implicationsThe research proposes some optimal organizational design depending on servitization strategy and environmental factors; for example, SC has a strong impact on financial performance when BMR is adopted.Originality/valueThis empirical study is based on an extended sample of 184 SMEs and provides quantitative support for the claim that good alignment between strategy and organizational design based on environmental factors increases profitability

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Laure Ambroiseis an assistant professor at University of Saint Etienne (France). Her studies focus on consumers and brands relationship. She has published articles in international refereed marketing journals and conferences, especially on brand management (Recherche et Applications en Marketing, Advances in Consumer Research). Her recent research projects cover brand personality transfer and consumer empowerment. Gaëlle Pantin-Sohieris an assistant professor at University of Angers (France). Her research explores the relationship between human and brands. Current projects cover brand personality and brand image creation through personality transfer and product package. She has published in international and French journals as Innovative marketing and Recherche et Applications en Marketing.

The field of research dedicated to brand personality is largely debated on a conceptual and methodological level: theoretical foundations and ontological legitimacy are frequently questioned while measurement scales are often rejected as being mere transpositions of human personality inventories. In addition, some researchers wonder about the relevance of the concept of personality beyond the product itself. In the light of these criticisms, this article aims primarily at questioning the relevance of the personality concept for marketing and discussing its foundations. To address the problem of the influence of the product category on brand personality, the authors propose an inventory specific to brand studies and test it on 14 categories of products and services. The results allow confirming the interest of the proposed scale on an operational plan, in particular thanks to the stability of its structure through the categories of products.