A maturity model for the servitization of product-centric companies

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the servitization phenomenon of product-centric companies, by identifying the resources, capabilities and organizational aspects needed to successfully deploy a servitized business model (BM).Design/methodology/approachBy adopting a literature-based approach, this paper develops a servitization maturity model (SeMM) aimed at assessing and positioning companies in the servitization journey. The paper also illustrates the model application to two small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a machinery and a forklift truck company.FindingsThe SeMM identifies a set of 85 critical requirements that are used to evaluate the servitization level of product-centric companies, through a specific five-stage measurement scale. The requirements are categorized into: five maturity dimensions (organizational approach, process management, performance management, tools, capabilities) and nine BM Canvas components. The empirical application exemplifies how the SeMM can support managers in identifying and bridging the gaps in their servitization journey.Originality/valueThe SeMM adopts an original bi-dimensional approach and provides an operationalization of the servitization process through the identification of specific critical requirements framed on established BM and maturity dimensions taken from the literature. Moreover, the model responds to a call for research to develop practitioner-oriented tools and guidelines to support the servitization process, in particular for SMEs, and to the need to go beyond to measures of servitization based on indicators about number of services offered or their turnover.

Human-centred design in industry 4.0: case study review and opportunities for future research

“…The next research interest is to provide supporting design frameworks (RR6) that facilitate the design process by providing systematic thinking—the use of the integrated novel design methods (innovation matrix, application space mapping, QFD) and Lean initiatives (avoidance of valueless reworks and activities)—towards economic sustainability (Lee & Abuali, 2011 ; Pezzotta et al, 2018 ). Other studies focus on design solutions for complexity and uncertainty: incomplete information regarding human requirements (Haber & Fargnoli, 2019 ); the changes in human preferences (Lin, 2018 ); decision making on different design alternatives for mass customization towards manufacturability (Mourtzis et al, 2018 ); interaction requirements among non-human—smart manufacturing devices/tools, core enterprise business systems (ERP, SAP)—and human actors (manufacturers, designers, users) (Mostafazadeh Davani et al, 2018 ; Song et al, 2016 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ); adaptation of design processes to the context of small-and medium-sized enterprises (Adrodegari & Saccani, 2020 ; van Lopik et al, 2020 ). These studies tackle different problems scattered across life-cycle design phases, useful to consider in relation to further research to address the relevant problems in a comprehensive way.…”

“…This limitation is followed by the lack of generalizability (RL2) showing the insufficient evidence of the extent to which findings from one study in one context can be applied and reproduced to other contexts. Specifically, 56% of the case studies are constrained and required to be tested by further quantitative methods to prove the transferability of their observed results to other usage contexts (Adrodegari & Saccani, 2020 ; Haber & Fargnoli, 2019 ; Kong et al, 2019 ; Witschel et al, 2019 ). The next limitation is categorized as incomplete solutions to implement the proposed models (RL4)—accounting for around 30% of the case studies—claiming the quality of the proposed models will depend on other external factors.…”

“…This is manifest in the substantial body of literature providing signposts of theoretical frameworks and models, implementation methodologies, and case studies in cross-disciplinary contexts. The scope of the research is extensive: customer-centric business models associated with customer involvement in design (Adrodegari & Saccani, 2020 ; Grieger & Ludwig, 2019 ; Saha et al, 2020 ; Santos et al, 2018 ); smart design engineering in which the users and emotional interactions are empowered (Benabdellah et al, 2019 ; Pereira Pessôa & Jauregui Becker, 2020 ); technology design in which users are centred (Chen & Duh, 2019 ; Rogers et al, 2019 ); interaction designs among operators and smart manufacturing components (Klumpp et al, 2019 ; Rossi & Di Nicolantonio, 2020 ); human-centred designs for product development (Chen et al, 2016 ; Wu et al, 2013 ); data processing by which humans remain the first design consideration of a data-driven approach (Crabtree & Mortier, 2015 ; Victorelli et al, 2020b ); sustainability in social-technical manufacturing contexts, including social robotic interactions with humans (Bednar & Welch, 2020 ; Leng & Jiang, 2017 ; Richert et al, 2018 ; Streitz, 2019 ).…”

Business Model Flexibility and Software-intensive Companies: Opportunities and Challenges

“…The part of this transformation included either offering current products as services or creating services on top of the current software-intensive products. In many aspects, Ericsson followed the servitization transformation of the business environment [47]. Data Collection and Analysis Methods.…”

Servitization maturity model: developing distinctive capabilities for successful servitization in manufacturing companies

“…First, the proposed maturity model provides a comprehensive framework of distinctive capabilities for servitization based on the systematic literature review. A few models focused on the entire capabilities for servitization, such as (Alvarez et al, 2015;Adrodegari and Saccani, 2020), while some important capabilities were missing in these existing models.…”