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The concepts of customer relationship management (CRM) and knowledge management (KM) both focus on allocating resources to supportive business activities in order to gain competitive advantages. CRM focuses on managing the relationship between a company and its current and prospective customer base as a key to success, while KM recognizes the knowledge available to a company as a major success factor. From a business process manager’s perspective both the CRM and KM approaches promise a positive impact on cost structures and revenue streams in return for the allocation of resources. However, investments in CRM and KM projects are not without risk, as demonstrated by many failed projects. In this paper we show that the benefit of using CRM and KM can be enhanced and the risk of failure reduced by integrating both approaches into a customer knowledge management (CKM) model. In this regard, managing relationships requires managing customer knowledge – knowledge about as well as from and for customers. In CKM, KM plays the role of a service provider, managing the four knowledge aspects: content, competence, collaboration and composition. Our findings are based on a literature analysis and six years of action research, supplemented by case studies and surveys.

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Besides selling tangible products, manufacturing companies have also started to compete by offering product-related services throughout the product lifecycle. In this context, the recent rise of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) and smart, connected equipment paves the way for additional opportunities for the service business among the lifecycle and pivots of traditional maintenance, repair and overhaul (M RO) service business. Based on 11 case studies, we investigate service innovations driven by digitalization and CPSs and their impact on the service ecosystem. We identify affordances that effectively exploit the new technological capabilities in existing and future service scenarios.

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PurposeEven though a lot of publications focusing on shared service center (SSC) exist, there is no unique understanding of the term “SSC”. The aim of this paper is to obtain an overview of definitions of the term “SSC” and an overview of relevant literature. It also aims to derive a common understanding with the help of SSC characteristics frequently mentioned. Furthermore, it seeks to identify important differences in the definitions and show their implications for the SSC concept.Design/methodology/approachAn extensive literature review was the basis for this research. An online database containing the most important journals had been scanned for SSC definitions. Furthermore, the most cited books had been analyzed.FindingsThere is no unique understanding of SSCs in science and practice. A standardized definition of SSCs is not established. The different definitions vary in many ways. Nevertheless, some characteristics that define the term SSC are mentioned in most publications, including consolidation of processes within the group, delivery of support processes, cost cutting as a major driver, focus on internal customers, alignment with external customers, separated organizational unit and operation like a business. Although there is a common understanding about SSC in parts, fundamental differences were identified, especially between SSC definitions for public and private sectors. These differences have several impacts on the understanding and application of the SSC concept.Research limitations/implicationsThe most relevant publications have been considered, but probably not all publications with definitions of the term “SSC”. Future research must include more publications as well as the perceptions of practitioners. Furthermore, the perception of SSC management and staff has not been analyzed.Practical implicationsOwing to the fact that many different definitions for SSC exist, people dealing with a SSC are confused about the meaning of the term – confusion which is likely to result in ambiguity concerning research interpretations. The differences in definitions should be known to understand practical implications like different requirements in governance or regulation.Originality/valueSome research in the area of SSCs has already been conducted. Nevertheless, neither extensive literature overviews of existing definitions nor comparisons of these definitions for the term SSC exist. The discrepancies in definitions and their implications have not yet been considered.

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