Emerging perspectives define markets as continuous, malleable processes that can be shaped through various activities. In this research, the authors address the early phase of such market-shaping processes, developing a conceptual framework and linking the front-end phase to an overall market-shaping process. We propose and develop a fuzzy front end (FFE) concept centered around the market image to reflect market shapings less organized and more exploratory early phase.Nine propositions outline this critical phase and its fundamental dimensions, roles, and characteristics. Finally, by outlining the FFE of market shaping, this article reveals future research directions for elaborating on the concept.

This paper explores the digitalization of business-to-business (B2B) customer journeys, which is recognized as a top research priority, but one that has not yet received substantial academic attention. Due to their complexity, customer journeys are particularly relevant in B2B settings, and this is further emphasized through the increasing use of digital technologies. This paper identifies three key dimensions of B2B customer journeys that are influenced by digitalization. These are the digitalization of touchpoints (i.e., adding digital touchpoints and transforming or facilitating touchpoints), the change of roles in digitalized journeys (i.e., introducing new roles, activating customers, and emphasizing collectivity), and the digitalization of the overall process (i.e., extending, enhancing, and supporting the process). The research is based on an in-depth case study of a B2B firm and four customers. Insights from the research add to the customer journey literature through the exploration of digita-lized B2B customer journeys, providing guidance for academics and practitioners.

The pursuit of growth is a key endeavor of all types of firms, but it is particularly important for SMEs. From a managerial perspective, growing SMEs face a wide range of challenges; this study proposes a broad framework that emphasizes not only the various types of managerial challenges, but also the importance of taking a balanced, broad approach to facing them. In a qualitative study of 44 Swedish SMEs, the researchers identify, map, and aggregate distinct challenges to SME growth, proposing three overarching themes - business model, leadership, and people. Multiple lower-level categories and individual challenges make up each of these themes suggesting that firms that seek to excel in growth should be aware of and manage all three themes in a balanced manner. This research provides insights into each theme and potential consequences for SMEs; it also offers an overarching, integrative perspective on SME growth challenges opening future research avenues.

This paper explores how B2B firms can manage the value creation process at multi-actor touchpoints in the customer journey. We argue that B2B firms can benefit from opening up their touchpoints to multi-actor interactions between the customer, firm, partners and other customers, answering recent calls for broadening the scope of customer journeys to also include such multi-actor touchpoints. In our research we perceive the value creating process as the actors, activities and resources involved in the emergence of value through the customer journey. An ecosystem perspective is adopted to increase understanding of how firms can enhance the value creating process through the B2B customer journey. By empirically examining an industrial ecosystem, our tentative findings point towards the importance of balancing the number of touchpoints as well as designing touchpoints depending on the customer’s needs and requirements to manage the value creation process. 

Business Marketing delivers comprehensive coverage of the theory and practice needed to understand today’s fast-paced B2B markets and how to act on them. Being able to navigate on contemporary markets and include marketing in firm strategy is becoming a key capability for successful firms. The book reflects the latest trends and issues and incorporates recent research insights on how to manage value creation and build competitive advantage. Key concepts, such as value propositions and customer relationships, are discussed and explored as well as illustrated through a rich set of examples from various industries. Business Marketing provides an excellent guide to B2B marketing for students and practitioners alike.

Extant literature on dynamic capabilities hints at the possibility of a wider scope than merely the firm, beyond the individual firm boundary, and thus the existence of interorganizational dynamic capabilities (IDCs). Although IDCs have been acknowledged as a source for sustainable competitive advantage, research on these capabilities remains fragmented and unstructured. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to develop a conceptualization of interorganizational dynamic capabilities. Based on a systematic literature review, a framework with four types of IDCs distinguished by their different locus of control and beneficiary is presented. For each type, the overarching capability themes of orchestration of network resources and governing of network members are described. The article provides a classification of IDCs that avoids comparing ?apples and oranges.? It also elaborates on dynamic capabilities that exist beyond the control of a single firm, and their relationship to other firm-based types of IDCs.

This study explores the potential existence of reoccurring patterns in market-shaping processes by employing a qualitative meta-analysis to analyze 79 case studies on market-shaping. Through the evidence-based synthesis of qualitative data, we extract 20 generalized market-shaping activities that inform and form the foundation of a three-phased market-shaping process. This conceptual framework divides the market-shaping process into the phases of infusion, formation and retention. By applying our conceptual framework to the qualitative dataset, we explore the presence of market-shaping phases and provide further insights into the interdependences and dynamics between multiple, simultaneously occurring, market-shaping processes. By providing a structured market-shaping process, we attempt to reduce the overall complexity of the market-shaping phenomenon and facilitate the operationalization of the phenomenon for further market-shaping research. Additionally, our conceptualization provides practitioners with a framework to analyze the market-shaping efforts of other market actors and support the design of their own market-shaping strategies.

We identify four market-shaping strategies and their related activities that enable a focal market actor to work towards specific market outcomes. The conceptual framework provides firms with a tool for choosing specific market-shaping strategies depending on their market-shaping intention (offensive/defensive) and perception of a market's stability (stable/unstable). Accordingly, and in line with market-shaping literature, the four market-shaping strategies enable a firm to widen, reduce, maintain, or disrupt a market. Whereas previous market-strategy conceptualizations emphasized firm-level outcomes, the four identified market-shaping strategies focus on market outcomes and encompass a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of a firm's strategic actions on a market. Thereby, this study offers new perspectives on the implementation of market strategies in the context of markets as complex adaptive systems. By exemplifying the four market-shaping strategies using four industry cases, we illustrate how market-shaping strategies can appear in practice and demonstrate how firms can strategically leverage and steer market processes to their advantage.

Purpose To successfully create customer value, firms must use coherent market strategies and perform value-creating activities that enable them to develop solutions to customers needs. However, as firms exhibit differences in how they approach value creation, their market strategies will also differ. These differences among market strategies can be described through different combinations of proactivity and responsiveness, representing each firms value-creation logic. This study aims to increase understanding of how firms can improve the effectiveness of their market strategies by considering their associated value-creation logics. Design/methodology/approach The authors conceptualize market strategies as coherent sets of value-creating activities. While the types of activities within a market strategy are driven by a firms strategic orientations, how these activities are performed is influenced by its value-creation logic. With this as the foundation, the authors develop a conceptual typology of archetypal market strategies based on the different value-creation logics that influence them. Findings The authors propose four distinct market strategies - habitual, visionary, adaptive and ambidextrous - representing unique ways in which value-creation logics influence the formation of market strategies. Furthermore, the authors highlight the need for activities to reflect consistent value-creation logics to create coherent market strategies and the authors provide an exploration of the activities that enable firms to implement different types of market strategies. Originality/value The typology expands the concept of market strategy, introducing the idea of a value-creation logic of proactivity and responsiveness, and thus demonstrating the need for more in-depth consideration of the value-creating activities that constitute market strategies to better understand how firms can create superior customer value.

Purchasing professionals arguably choose a price plan that leads to the lowest costs-all else being equal-for their companies when buying services. However, evidence suggests that they prefer flat rates, even where these are more expensive than pay-per-use options. A series of four experiments showed that experienced purchasing professionals tend to exhibit a flat-rate bias in their price plan choices across different business services. The experiments also investigated moderators that intensify or attenuate this bias, which decreased when the flat-rate option was the more expensive alternative but increased with past usage, with upper bound extremes. We also found directional support that the flat-rate bias increases when the buyer-seller relationship is stronger. The experiments also revealed how insurance, convenience, taximeter, overestimation, distrust, and administration effects are related to preferences for flat rates. Beyond their contribution to the pricing literature, these results provide actionable insights for marketing managers and purchasing professionals.

Proactivity is an important driver of firm performance and for the creation of customer value on business-to-business markets. It is however not entirely clear what it is proactive firms actually do to achieve success. By investigating proactive firms' market strategies, i.e. the sets of activities they perform in order to create superior customer value, a holistic overview of the activities involved in proactive market strategies is provided. Through a case study of five proactive firms, proactive activities are identified. Using three strategic orientations—customer, competition, and innovation orientation—unique proactivity profiles are created, reflecting the patterns in the identified proactive activities. Through these profiles, three overarching proactive market strategies are forwarded: market shaping, customer engagement, and innovation leadership. These are proposed to act as generic proactive market strategies, representing coordinated proactive activities driven by multiple strategic orientations and aimed at creating customer value. These generic strategies help us understand of the role of proactivity in crafting high-performing market strategies by representing different routes to success.

Research into market orientation and market shaping shows the potential of proactive firm behavior in achieving superior firm performance. However, these rely on an implicit definition of proactivity, making it difficult to understand the exact role of proactivity in strengthening performance. This study will investigate the role of proactivity in enabling superior firm performance through firms’ market strategies, i.e. understanding how proactive market strategies create success. First, proactivity is delineated into three proactive characteristics: being future-oriented, taking the initiative, and creating change, thus providing a more nuanced view. By using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, this study then will investigate the configurations of different forms of proactivity and market strategies that consistently lead to high performance. Thus, the study will provide a starting point for future studies into the impact of proactivity in strategic marketing.

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate factors that affect the use of value-based selling and the subsequent influences on salespeople’s sales performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Industrial salespeople from five steel manufacturers were surveyed. Scales measure three components of value-based selling: comprehension, crafting and confirmation. Partial least squares path analysis tested the conceptual model.

Findings

Salespeople’s learning orientation has the greatest impact on the use of value-based selling. Managerial support exerts a positive effect on crafting. Salespeople’s experience has a positive impact on comprehension and confirmation. The implementation of value-based selling has a positive effect on sales performance.

Research limitations/implications

The research is cross-sectional, with a small sample size (n = 60). The data were collected from a single source (i.e. salespeople).

Practical implications

The results suggest that value-based selling is a multi-component sales process that requires balancing managerial actions among individual and organizational factors.

Originality/value

This paper presents a broad evaluation of measures and assessments of value-based selling in business-to-business sales settings. The findings provide new elaborations on the theoretical and practical implications of value-based selling and reveal which individual and organizational factors affect the usage of value-based selling.

Being proactive in the approach to the market has been linked to higher business performance. It is still relatively unclear, however, exactly what market activities that a firm perform in order to achieve this proactivity. The goal of this research is to explore how successful proactive firms use proactiveness in their market strategies in order to achieve higher business performance. By using a qualitative case study approach, this study takes a starting point in five successfully proactive Swedish firms and how they develop their proactive market strategies. Findings indicate three proactive themes seen in the firms; proactiveness through customer engagement, through market shaping, and through innovation leadership. The main contributions of the study are (1) a description of how firms use proactiveness to achieve success, (2) a starting point for more detailed studies of proactiveness, and (3) insight for managers as to how to apply proactiveness in their firms.

As the marketing literature increasingly construes markets as malleable entities, research studies of ‘marketshaping’strategies have gained increasing attention in recent years. Those are proactive, deliberate initiativeswhich a firm takes with the aim of re-shaping an operating environment comprising direct customers, customers'customers, and other actors such as its competitors. Our study derives a theoretical framework for marketshapingfrom the existing literature and an in-depth case study of one market-leading firm in the steel industry,which has been working actively in the shaping of a market. Analysis of the responses of a range of experiencedexecutive staff to unstructured and semi-structured interviews shows, among other things, that in order to shapethe market, the firm performed many individual and aggregated activities at three levels of influence – system,market offer and technology – with various actors in the market in focus. These findings are the basis of aproposed activity framework for the proactive shaping of a market: that is, what firms can do in order to shapean existing market, drive growth and create sustainable competitive advantage.

Manufacturers across many industries use service infusion to address the changing customer demands and improve their competitive position. However, understanding the drivers of successful service infusion is a complex process. Using business model and configuration theories, this study conceptualizes and analyzes the interplay of different driver domains for suppliers, customers, and their business relationships. In particular, we analyze how service offering, service pricing, service capabilities, and the service infusion process interact in affecting service infusion success and failure. 137 interviews relating to 25 business relationships are analyzed via configuration analysis, particularly fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Results show that different equifinal configurations exist (i.e., different ways to succeed with service infusion). We also find that more is not always better. For example, service infusion success can be achieved without fully developed service capabilities. In addition, successful configurations are often very similar to those leading to failure. A dyadic analysis demonstrates that customer service capabilities are overall more important than those of suppliers. From these findings, we derive priorities for future research. In particular, our study points toward the need to better understand the interplay between service infusion drivers. Second, we advocate the augmentation of research perspectives in service infusion by taking into account the supplier, customer, and dyadic perspectives. Lastly, the importance of understanding drivers of service infusion failure is highlighted. For managers, our study shows the importance of relational audits as a starting point to deciding on how to infuse services in a business relationship.

Improving energy efficiency is a cornerstone in climate change mitigation, and energy services are portrayed as a promising market-based approach to achieve this. This paper examines the barriers to, and driving forces needed for, the implementation of energy services from the perspective of Swedish local and regional energy companies. This includes an analysis of the resources needed in three phases of energy service implementation, i.e., development, sales, and deployment. The results indicate a supply-side interest in providing energy services, with the major challenges being related to (a) intra-organizational issues such as a lack of strategic direction and intent and (b) a perceived lack of knowledge, interest, and trust on the part of potential energy service customers. The paper concludes with managerial and policy implications on how an increased focus and impact of energy service can be achieved among local and regional companies.

Recent research shows that firms implementing market orientation often exhibit above average business performance (Kumar et al., 2011). The core of the market orientation concept is the idea that firms create superior business performance by focusing on delivering superior customer value (Narver & Slater, 1990), which requires extensive gathering, as well as organizational dissemination, of market intelligence. However, the market environments for most firms are becoming increasingly more complex, through e.g. globalization, shorter product life-cycles, faster imitation cycles, and more fickle customers, just to mention a few influencing factors. Day (2011) describes the need for firms to become more vigilant and develop so-called adaptive capabilities, which refers to becoming better at discovering market developments earlier and being better prepared to respond and adapt to them, i.e. becoming more proactive in managing the market. Thus, market orientation in a more competitive environment must be complemented by even more refined, and proactive, approaches to the market, mirroring results by Frösén et al. (2016), who find that market orientation is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for high business performance. This points towards the need for an extended view of market orientation and proactiveness.

Proactiveness in itself is, however, not a magic bullet for managing increasing market complexity and improving business performance; for example, Chan (2006) demonstrates how the performance of proactive actions is heavily moderated by the degree of awareness of the situation, which also is indicated by Day’s (2011) focus on the need for vigilance and organizational learning. Thus, firms must find the appropriate way to be proactive in order to match their situation, likely requiring different capabilities for different firms.

This paper uses a contingency approach to investigate key factors, both internal and external, as firms reach for proactivity as a way to drive performance. The research is based on qualitative case studies of a number of Swedish firms in highly competitive environments that have been employing proactive market strategies to successfully improve business performance. The cases will be used to identify key factors, such as capabilities and business practices that have been important for these firms in becoming successful in their proactive approaches, and to identify the key challenges they have faced in doing so. The aim is to explore in what ways increased proactiveness in the market strategy of a firm can be used to improve business performance, and to investigate what factors have been deciding in enabling the firm to achieve such success.

The preliminary analyses point toward two things in particular. First, the need for a clear, long-term strategy that provides guidance for managers and salespersons regarding how to work towards future goals, including the need for a well-developed market sensing. Second, the need to build good, long-term relationships, not only with customers, but also with potential customers and various institutional actors is emphasized.

The literature has often proposed a niche market strategy as the means by which producers of commodity-based products (e.g. steel, pulp and paper, and petrochemicals) can counter increasing competition, particularly from low-cost, low-price competitors. That strategy has primarily been viewed as defensive, i.e. the weaker producer builds protective barriers around its product to fend off competition. This paper proposes, on the contrary, that niche marketing can also be used as a proactive, or even aggressive, strategy to enable a firm to outperform competitors in both profitability and growth. The use of a proactive niche market strategy in practice is examined in case studies of three global Swedish steel firms that have achieved above-average profitability over time. We propose, as a result of our analysis, the concept of the proactive niche market strategy as one that employs a mix of five key activities: focusing on the customers' customers; making the effort to become a preferred supplier early in the process; interacting with customers at multiple levels; extending the product offering by adding services; and focusing on the development of “adjacent” products, markets, and applications.

A focus on market orientation in order to improve firm performance has during the last decades been both well, and widely, accepted as a necessity for remaining competitive. Even though the concept has been the focus of much research, recent studies suggest that practitioners find it difficult to interpret the market orientation concept and, subsequently, find it hard to implement in their organizations. The actual implementation of market orientation is also a relatively unexplored area within marketing. The majority of research around market orientation has instead tended to focus on other issues such as to measure and link performance to the development of the actual concept rather than implementation aspects and processes.This article identifies four enabling mechanisms for the implementation of market orientation. It forwards a framework to advance understanding of the actual implementation and effects of market orientation. The framework – consisting of issues focusing on effects on an internal, a customer, and a market level – aims to increase the understanding of how a successful implementation of market orientation can be achieved.Findings are developed through an in-depth longitudinal case study of a B2B firm implementing market orientation. As such, the findings are well grounded in, and provide insights into, managers’ real challenges, as well as offering opportunities to generate new insights for academia. By studying the market orientation implementation process, four mechanisms that enable the implementation is, among other things, identified; 1) Top management as a change champion, 2) A coordinating ICT platform, 3) The redesign of the offering structure (portfolio), and 4) A multi-layered organizational structure.

Energy services play a key role in increasing energy efficiency in the industry. The key actors in these services are the local and regional energy companies that are increasingly implementing energy services as part of their market offering and developing service portfolios. Although expectations for energy services have been high, progress has so far been limited, and many companies offering energy services, including energy companies, are experiencing difficulties in implementing energy services and providing them to the market. Overall, this research examines what is needed for local and regional energy companies to successfully implement energy services (and consequently provide them to the market). In doing this, a two-stage process is used: first, we identify key activities for the successful implementation of energy services, and second, we aggregate the findings to the business model level. This research demonstrates that to succeed in implementing energy services, an energy company may need to renew parts or all of its existing product-based business model, formulate a new business model, or develop coexisting multiple business models. By discussing two distinct business model innovation processes, this research demonstrates that there can be different paths to success.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the subject-specific literature on service and flexibility and derive a conceptualization of the linkages between provider flexibility and customers value creation. Design/methodology/approach - The authors analyze existing perspectives on service and flexibility and propose linkages between provider flexibility and customer value creation. Findings - Drawing on the service logic literature, and utilizing real-world examples, this paper advances propositions and a conceptual model of how flexibility can contribute to value creation. Research limitations/implications - This paper establishes the basis for a practical and applicable flexibility perspective on value creation. It is particularly important for service-oriented providers and other firms operating in dynamic contexts. Practical implications - The propositions and conceptual model offer suggestions on the manner in which provider flexibility contributes to customer value creation. Contextual influences that moderate provider flexibility in value creation are also included. Originality/value - This paper contributes a novel perspective on service, which may serve as the starting point for the development of a more formal flexibility perspective on value creation.

Value propositions are reciprocal resource-integration promises and value alignment mechanisms, operating to and from actors seeking an equitable exchange. In a business triad any change between two of the actors will also affect the relationships with the third actor, thus influencing resource integration and value creation on a value constellation level. The objective of this paper is to conceptualize a triadic value proposition and analyze how service innovation changes the structural, economic, and social ties between the actors in the triad. Through a qualitative empirical enquiry, we study a six-year process in which a multinational industry incumbent enters the service business. Data comes primarily from interviews with respondents from the manufacturer, dealers, and users. As the value proposition evolves over time, the network ties and thus the interdependence between manufacturer, dealer, and user are strengthened. The findings provide firms a better understand of how to involve and collaborate with key actors in order to initiate a discontinuous change on a firm and network level. This is particularly timely given the major difficulties product firms face when intermediaries play a decisive role for the success of their service innovation initiatives.

Purpose: The objective of this research is to explore the implications for the sales function of the infusion of services by formerly product-based firms. In particular, it aims at identifying the changes that need to be made at the sales-function level if the services are to be successfully sold.Design/Methodology: This research is an exploratory qualitative case study. Data were collected by focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with relevant managers in three large multinational companies based in Northern Europe, which were pursuing service-led growth. Findings: The effects of service infusion processes on the sales function could be seen with respect to the three parts of the analytical framework: organization, roles, and competences. The results illustrate the need for a changed perspective with respect to all three parts, if a product-based firm is to be successful in the infusing of associated services into its portfolio of offerings. Analysis of the results identifies key operational initiatives that management needs to understand and implement when corporate and marketing strategies increasingly focus on service-led growth.Research limitations:The study was exploratory and vendor centric, which means that it did not quantitatively assess the results or directly involve the customers at whom the services were directed. Also, the choice of business-to-business firms limits the capacity to generalize the findings. Originality/Value:Whereas relationship-based and value-based selling are approaches more geared to the sales-force level, the study reported in this paper set out to understand fundamental differences at the sales-function level when firms pursue service-led growth. The findings suggest that the realignment of corporate strategy towards an increased focus on services may have far-reaching implications for the sales function.

Det övergripande syftet med detta projekt var att undersöka förutsättningarna för att öka tjänsteinnehållet på den svenska energimarknaden utifrån ett energibolags perspektiv. Mer konkret omfattar rapporten följande:

• Beskrivning och analys av implementeringsprocessen av energitjänster hos ett energibolag; detta skedde genom att följa implementeringen av vissa typer av energitjänster. Målet var att ta fram ett ramverk för hur energibolag kan arbeta för att effektivt implementera och leverera utvecklade energitjänster (checklistor, processteg etcetera) samt nyckelkriterier för att vara framgångsrik i detta.
• Undersökning av vilka typer av avancerade energitjänster som kan utvecklas, och hur (till exempel hur dessa kan paketeras), med utgångspunkt i kundens behov och med kunden som medskapare. Detta skedde genom att identifiera dels de behov och de utmaningar som kunder står inför (oberoende av leverantör), dels de typer av tjänster som har potential att skapa värde (utifrån marknadens behov). Målet var att ta fram en typologi av energitjänster med typiska karaktärsdrag samt även klassificera vilket värde (för både kund och leverantör) som kan skapas. Denna typologi kan användas av energibolag (och andra) vid nyutveckling av tjänster men även vid kundkontakter och strategiutveckling.
• Beskrivning av de framtida affärsmodeller som är möjliga för att ett energibolag på ett effektivt och lönsamt sätt ska ha potential att utveckla, sälja och leverera energitjänster.

Det som gör denna rapport unik är att den ämnar kombinera energitjänsteforskningen med den numera rika flora av vetenskaplig litteratur kopplad till så kallad tjänstefiering. Främst har forskning inom tjänsteinnovation berört tillverkade företags produkt- och tjänsteportföljer. I denna rapport ämnar de rådande teoribildningarna inom forskningsfältet tjänsteinnovationer kopplas till den relativt sätt nya så kallade energitjänstemarknaden men där flera likheter med tillverkande industri finns, till exempel ett traditionellt sett starkt fokus på den produkt som säljs och inte kring tjänster kopplade till produkten.

• Features contributions by leading international authors on the topics of business model and business model innovation
• The first sustained and focused inquiry into the organizational dimension of business model innovation
• Covers areas of business strategy, innovation and organizational change

Business model innovation is an important source of competitive advantage and corporate renewal. An increasing number of companies have to innovate their business models, not just because of competitive forces but also because of the ongoing change from product-based to service-based business models. Yet, business model innovation also involves organizational change process that challenges existing processes, structures and modes of control.This volume features thirteen chapters written by authorities on business model innovation. The specific angle, and the novel feature of this book, is to thoroughly examine the organizational dimension of business model innovation. Drawing on organizational theory and empirical observation, the contributors specifically highlight organizational design aspects of business model innovation, focusing on how reward systems, power distributions, routines and standard operating procedures, the allocation of authority, and other aspects of organizational structure and control should be designed to support the business model the firm chooses. Also discussed is how existing organizational structures, capabilities, beliefs, cultures and so on influence the firm's ability to flexibly change to new business models.

Readership: Researchers and academics in business and management interested in business strategy, innovation and organizational change; Practitioners, consultants and executives involved with implementation of new business models

Both academics and practitioners emphasize the importance for product firms of implementing service-led growth strategies. The service transition concept is well established, namely a unidirectional repositioning along a product-service continuum—from basic, product-oriented services towards more customized, process-oriented ones—ultimately leading to the provision of solutions. We challenge this service transition assumption and develop alternative ones regarding how product firms should pursue service-led growth. Using ‘problematization methodology’, and drawing on findings from thirteen system suppliers, we identify three service-led growth trajectories: (1) becoming an availability provider, which is the focus of most transition literature; (2) becoming a performance provider, which resembles project-based sales and implies an even greater differentiation of what customers are offered; and, (3) becoming an ‘industrializer’, which is about standardizing previously customized solutions to promote repeatability and scalability. Based on our critical inquiry, we develop two alternative assumptions: (a) firms need to constantly balance business expansion and standardization activities; and (b) manage the co-existence of different system supplier roles. Finally, we consider the implications for implementing service-led growth strategies of the alternative assumptions.

Purpose – This article aims to investigate the nature and characteristics of business model elements required for successful service innovation. The authors examine which unique resources and capabilities product-centric firms should develop and deploy to pursue service innovation.

Design/methodology/approach – Data collected from several research projects support iterations across empirical data and theory, in an abductive process. Empirical data come from product-centric firms; interviews and focus groups were the main data collection methods.

Findings – Specific resources and capabilities are needed for the proposed business model elements, as defined by the overarching strategy and structure. Firms can approach the process of service innovation from different starting points and sequences, depending on the context.

Research limitations/implications – Because it takes a synthesizing approach, this research lacks some detail. By taking a business model approach with a holistic perspective, it forgoes detailed descriptions to provide greater breadth.

Practical implications – Managers can use business models as tools to visualize changes, which should increase internal transparency, understanding, and awareness of service opportunities and necessary changes. Dependencies exist among elements; a change in one element likely affects the others. This study provides insights into which efforts are necessary and offers managers a guiding framework.

Originality/value – By providing a multidimensional perspective on service innovation, this study merges various previous research into a synthesized discussion. Combining a resources and capabilities perspective with a business model framework also leads to new insights regarding service innovation and associated activities.

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the role of service modularity in developing and deploying efficient services, while at the same time meeting diverse customer needs. The analysis distinguishes between different service types and sets forth key issues for service modularization, identifying supporting resources (both internal and customer) and associated modular strategies for the different types. Design/methodology/approach - The study design used an exploratory case study approach, focusing on three Swedish manufacturing firms that are moving toward an increased service focus (service infusion). Data were collected through interviews and focus groups, and the collected data were analyzed independently, before being merged and synthesized in a cross-case analysis. Themes and patterns were extracted and linked to the theoretical framework following a systematic combining process. Findings - This study contributes insights to the emerging field of service modularity by investigating process modularization and modular strategies. A framework is put forward outlining modular strategies for four different service types covering both a passive and an active role for a customer. From a theoretical point of view, the role of the customer is added to the discussion to advocate for the necessity of a co-creative perspective in service modularity. Originality/value - This article contributes to the emerging research field of service modularity by providing empirical insights into how modularization and modular strategies can enable more efficient services. Depending on service type, different modular strategies are set forth. This study also highlights the need to recognize customer-specific activities, resources and competencies as pivotal parts of the modular service processes. Such insights are particularly relevant given the established view of service modules as functions of intra-firm activities.

The number of service innovation articles has increased dramatically in the past 25 years. By reviewing 128 articles published between 1986 and 2010, primarily in leading marketing and innovation journals, this study analyzes the progression of service innovation research according to topicality and perspective. The authors summarize prior research by clustering it into three evolutional phases and drawing parallels with the evolution of the wider services marketing field. Overall, the view of service innovation has evolved, from a complement of traditional product innovation to a multidimensional, all-encompassing notion that entails several functions, both within and outside the firm.

Purpose – Service productivity continues to receive ever-greater amounts of attention as service covers a greater portion of the economy. As competition increases, service productivity becomes increasingly important. This study aims to explore the applicability of lean principles in a service context and to conceptualize how these principles impact service productivity.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a conceptual analysis of the six most commonly used lean principles in manufacturing and their applicability to a service context for different types of services. Using this analysis, six propositions are developed to examine the influence of lean on service productivity.

Findings – This study suggests promising synergies, as well as important obstacles, for applying lean principles in services. Standardizing services and increasing reliability in service processes through lean principles can increase efficiency. However, the customer's active role in certain services and, simultaneously, high diversity make the application of lean principles increasingly difficult. Also, customer satisfaction must be considered when improving service productivity, otherwise the positive long-term effects of a lean approach in service will be absent.

Practical implications – These findings are useful for organizations aiming to improve their service productivity. Particularly, lean principles are invaluable to increase efficiency and customer satisfaction for services with low diversity and low customer participation. This paper suggests a direction for the proper use of lean principles for different service types, and how efficiency and customer satisfaction are affected through a lean approach.

Originality/value – This study contributes to the research on service productivity and continues the discussion on prototypic characteristics of service and manufacturing orientations.

The point of departure for this article is the need for product-centric firms to compete in the market by adding services to their portfolio, which requires a greater focus on service innovation if they are to remain competitive. A major challenge associated with the shift from product-centeredness to a product and-service orientation is the management of the essential dynamic capabilities of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring needed for service innovation. The research study reported identifies key microfoundations forming the basis of successful realignment of a firm's dynamic capabilities so as to achieve a better fit with service innovation activities. Eight qualitative case studies of product-centric firms form the basis of the study. The findings make three primary contributions to the body of knowledge. First, they extend the existing literature on dynamic capabilities by specifically discussing microfoundations related to service innovation. Second, the study extends existing work on service innovation into the manufacturing industries by identifying the key microfoundations in that context. Third, the research provides empirical evidence of dynamic capabilities in practice, especially in product-centric settings in which the service context is novel.

Purpose - Information and communication technology (ICT) is a key enabler for new product- and process-oriented services. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how ICT can enable service differentiation and, in doing so, act as a catalyst for a service business orientation.Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on a qualitative, multi-case research design with eight multinational goods manufacturers.Findings - The paper identifies two distinct types of service-oriented differentiation: services in support of the product (SSP) and services in support of the client's actions (SSC). The study finds that SSC have the largest positive impact on firms' service business orientation.Research limitations/implications - Western firms in a limited sample of industries are studied. Furthermore, the service business orientation construct does not include any measurements of service profitability or impact on overall competitive advantage.Practical implications - To various extents, successful firms are likely to pursue both SSP and SSC differentiation traits through ICT. The two options are interdependent and the framework presented helps managers to understand both key specificities and their interrelatedness.Originality/value - The study contributes to theory on service strategies by specifically focusing on the enabling role of ICT for new services and its effects on each of the three dimensions of the service business orientation construct.

Marknadsföring handlar om att stödja kunderna i deras värdeskapande processer. I dag sker det genom att presentera innovativa erbjudanden och genom relationsbyggande i komplexa affärsnätverk. Författarna utgår från aktuell forskning och ger konkreta exempel för att visa hur såväl traditionell produktförsäljning som tjänster och avancerade helhetslösningar kan hanteras.

As product markets mature, firms are increasingly offering industrial services, in order to differentiate themselves and remain competitive. The general strategic view emerging from the services literature is that service infusion in manufacturing industries takes a somewhat unidirectional path from products to service provision. Based on in-depth case study research in the materials handling industry and drawing on Lindblom's (1979) concept of disjointed incrementalism, this study shows how service infusion often takes place in small steps without clearly directed efforts. The study identifies elements of incrementalism central to service infusion and demonstrates how a successful service strategy involves continuous modifications, adaptability, the seizing of ad hoc innovation, a continuous recalibration of opportunities, and the management of intertwining goals. The study introduces the concept of agile incrementalism; this concept aptly describes this contingency approach. The article contributes to a multifaceted and nuanced picture ofservice strategy and the service-infusion process.