Product design and service delivery both affect service performance, and therefore a product support strategy must be defined during design stage, in terms of these two dimensions, to ensure the delivery of “promised product performance” to customers. Furthermore, product support strategy should not only be focused around product, or its operating characteristics, but also on assisting customers with services that enhance product use and add additional value to their business processes. This paper examines various issues such as reliability, availability, maintainability, and supportability (RAMS), etc., which directly or indirectly affect product support, maintenance needs and related costs on the basis of a case study conducted in a manufacturing company. The main purpose of the study was to analyse the critical issues related to the product support and service delivery strategy as being practised by the company, and to suggest means for improvements. On the basis of the case study, the paper presents an approach for design and development of product support and maintenance concepts for industrial systems in a multinational environment. The paper emphasizes that the strategy for product support should not be centred only on “product”, but should also take into account important issues such as the service delivery capability of the manufacturers, service suppliers, the capability of users' maintenance organization, etc.

Purpose -Most advanced durable industrial products need some kind of support to compensate for weaknesses in design or in product exploitation. Aims to examine different scenarios for product support and discusses approaches for development of product support strategy for conventional and functional products. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is based on a case study of a manufacturer of advanced durable industrial production systems. Findings -Traditionally, the customer buys, operates, and maintains equipment used in production systems. Alternatively, the customer can buy the performance, instead of the physical product. In such cases, the manufacturer is responsible for operating, maintaining, and supporting the product in addition to designing and making it. Thus, the long-term profit for both user and manufacturer will depend on the product's designed-in life cycle costs, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and supportability) characteristics, as well as on the effectiveness and efficiency of the product exploitation and support processes. In general, product support is a source of income for the manufacturer. In a functional product scenario, the need for product support is a liability and a cost driver for the manufacturer. Hence, delivery of performance requires a fundamentally different approach for product support strategy. Originality/value -An examination of different scenarios and different approaches for manufacturers' product support strategies.

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The main purpose of the paper is to present a framework for the development of performance-based service strategies for the oil and gas industry in Norway. The framework considers various influencing factors and their attributes, as well as performance factors categorized as critical success factors, performance killers and cost drivers. Design/methodology/approach -A case study has been conducted to map current practices, to validate the influencing factor attributes, and to suggest performance factors. Data have been collected through an e-mail questionnaire, face-to-face interviews, available documents from the industry and a literature survey.Findings -Operators of complex oil and gas production facilities are becoming increasingly dependent on service providers to support their efforts to perform according to demands. When developing a performance-based service strategy one needs to consider influencing factors and attributes. Furthermore, one needs to measure the service delivery process performance and the gaps between required and delivered services, and to periodically reassess the service strategy influencing factors.Research limitations/implications -The research is based on a case study in the Norwegian oil and gas industry, but the results can be adapted for other industries as well. Originality/value -The proposed framework can support practitioners in the oil and gas industry to develop performance-based service strategies and can assist practitioners in reducing costs and improving performance.

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to identify different service innovation drivers, innovation process activities and to understand industrial services innovation management and coordination, as well as to develop a framework for industrial service innovation management and coordination. Design/methodology/approach -The study involved collection of information and data from the literature and the Norwegian oil and gas (O&G) industry. A survey was conducted to get an overview of existing practices and guided interviews were conducted to confirm the findings of the survey. Findings -The study indicates that the market needs are considered the most important innovation process driver, feedback from the customers is the most important activity to encourage service innovations, whilst return on investments is the most important decision-making factor in evaluating innovation feasibility. Employees are the most important source of innovation ideas. Furthermore, interactions between different companies, as well as involvement of customer, employees and suppliers in the innovation process are becoming increasingly important.Practical implications -The study shows that service providers and receivers often collaborate in the innovation processes, and that many of the activities are performed simultaneously. This results in the collaborative parties needing to put resources on managing and coordinating the innovation process in a structured, effective and efficient way. The proposed framework for service innovation management and coordination provides practitioners with a structured approach to manage industrial service innovations.Research limitations/implications -The findings are based on the data collected from a number of companies from the O&G industry in Norway. Originality/value -The paper identifies different innovation process drivers and activities and proposes a modified framework for industrial services innovation management and coordination based on the study analysis, interaction with the practitioners and using available literature on innovation management.

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