Lars Witell

Match or mismatch : Strategy-structure configurations in the service business of manufacturing companies

A new trend seems to be emerging for multinational manufacturing companies to make a strategic reorientation into becoming service providers. For some companies, such as Kone and IBM, the revenues from services are 50% or more of their total sales. Despite the increasing interest in exploring various aspects of the service part of the business in manufacturing companies, existing research has not focused on the interdependencies between different service strategies and organizational designs. This article studies different service strategies in manufacturing companies and highlights the organizational design necessary for implementing each service strategy. The service strategies explored are aftersales service providers, customer support service providers, outsourcing partners, and development partners. Each service strategy is supported by organizational design factors related to the service orientation of corporate culture, the service orientation of human resource management, and the service orientation of organizational structures. This research concludes that a specific strategy-structure configuration is needed in order to succeed with a chosen service strategy.

Idea Generation Customer Co-creation versus Traditional Market Research Techniques

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand the differences between proactive and reactive market research techniques during the development of new market offerings. The study focused on the financial and innovative performance of traditional market research techniques, such as focus groups and in-depth interviews, in comparison to more co-creation-oriented techniques that are designed to capture customers value-in-use. Design/methodology/approach - The study was a two-stage process. Study I, an empirical investigation of 195 development projects in European companies, examined how these companies use different market research techniques and how this relates to the profit margins of new products and services. Study II designed an experiment with 50 users of a consumer good and evaluated the contribution of different market research techniques, based on the degree of originality and customer value. Findings - Significant differences were found, in terms of both content and originality, between the technique based on customer co-creation and the two traditional market research techniques (Study II). These findings can help to explain why the relationship between the use of market research techniques and profit margin (Study I) is stronger for co-creation techniques than it is for traditional market research techniques. Originality/value - Despite empirical evidence that the application of market research techniques based on co-creation can lead to original ideas, there is a lack of valid studies regarding how co-creation techniques perform in relation to more traditional methods of collaboration with customers.

Customer co-creation in service innovation : a matter of communication?

Purpose - Customer co-creation is becoming increasingly popular among companies, and intensive communication with customers is generally seen as a determinant of the success of a new service or pro ...

Kano's Theory of Attractive Quality and Packaging

Purpose- To explore the impact of packaging on customer perceptions of quality.Design/methodology/approach - Sees representing quality as additional to packagings function of product protection, d ...

Classification of quality attributes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the different approaches to the classification of quality attributes deliver consistent results. Design/methodology/approach – The inve ...

Two Decades of Using Kano's Theory of Attractive Quality: A Literature Review

Over the past two decades, the multidimensional model of quality attributes that is often referred to as “Kanos theory of attractive quality” (Kano et al. 1984) has gained increasing exposure and acceptance among academics and practitioners alike. Despite this, no research has provided a systematic review of the subsequent development of this theory since its introduction. The aims of this study are: a) to synthesize and organize the extant literature on the subject; and b) to suggest areas that require further research. A review was conducted of 33 papers related to the theory of attractive quality. The content of these papers was analyzed and theoretical and methodological research themes were identified. The study revealed several interesting developments with respect to methodological issues. Many of these, however, lack sufficient scientific rigor to be accepted as valid contributions to the further development of the theory of attractive quality. The findings of the study also provide guidance to managers on how to incorporate the latest development of the Kano methodology available in product development and customer satisfaction studies. The study aims at helping current and future researchers, and practitioners employing the Kano methodology, to examine their methodological decisions in detail.

Co‐creation and learning in health‐care service development

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a model for patient co-creation and learning based on diaries for use in health-care service development. In particular, the study aim ...

Service innovations in manufacturing firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe certain critical dimensions related to service innovation in manufacturing firms. The paper focuses on dimensions related to the service transition, the offering and the development project.Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case study was conducted in order to trace specific service innovations and to explore critical dimensions and events throughout their development. A total of 16 interviews were held, covering service innovations in SKF, Volvo Buses, and Volvo Trucks.Findings – Each of the three service innovations studied are examples of recombinative innovations. While there are some differences in terms of what is innovative, a common theme is the bundling of technology and services. Recombinative innovation opens up the possibility to combine standardization and customization, which has been identified as a success factor for services in manufacturing companies.Originality/value – Although a large number of manufacturing firms a...

Service Innovation and Customer Co-development

Customer co-development is a core concept to understand service innovation . Our point of departure is that there is an untapped business potential from customer co-development, i.e. integration of customers, throughout the service innovation process. From a service logic perspective, the customer has an important role both in service production and service innovation. Most of the focus thus far has been on the role of the customer in production. We argue that there should be a relationship between the role of the customer in service production and the potential role of the customer in service innovation. When there is a change in the process of service production it ought to be followed by a change in the service innovation process. Customers can be integrated as interpreters and translators during various phases of the service innovation process. Companies must be able to understand and manage various customer roles as they complement one another; close and in-depth integration of customers throughout the innovation process is important but at the same time also challenging.

Internalisation or externalisation? : Examining organisational arrangements for industrial services

Purpose - Manufacturing firms primarily organise service provision internally, externally or through a hybrid arrangement. This paper aims to analyse how firm-, offering-, and market-specific facto ...