Volume : 3, Issue : 1, January - 2014

Servitization: A Global Trends

Rinky Bhatia

Abstract :

Manufacturers are transforming their businesses towards greater service dominance. The literature suggests that service provision can offer a means of differentiation and competitive advantage for manufacturers to operate in global, highly competitive markets. While much has been written about this transformation, there are relatively few studies of the detailed organisational design aspects of combining manufacturing and service operations within one organisation. This paper identifies the organisational design characteristics that are needed when a manufacturer seeks to increase its service provision. Using a longitudinal quasiexperimental design, we explore the organisational changes that took place as one manufacturer shifted to service provision. The paper illustrates how different organisational tensions emerged during the shift to services and how the service teams selforganised in response to these tensions, in advance of management’s decision to re-organise.