Purpose — Manufacturers increasingly harness digital technologies in their servitization efforts. However, the research has mainly focused on higher-level aspects of servitization, often overlooking the role of organizational routines at the firm-customer interface. This especially concerns two key customer-facing functions, service operations and service sales. This study explores how digital service orientation can be induced within these units’ organizational routines. Design/methodology/approach — Survey data from 534 respondents (270 in service operations and 264 in service sales) from a market-leading manufacturing corporation implementing a digital service strategy were analyzed with a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Findings — The analysis uncovers alternative configurations of routine elements that induce digital service orientation in customer-facing units. These configurations combine four core routine elements: technology foresight, adaptability, agility, and rule-bending. Notably, distinct cross-functional patterns—assertive, responsive, and nimble—emerge across service operations and sales. Originality/value — This exploratory study advances servitization research by identifying cross-functional patterns that induce digital service orientation. The findings reveal a surprising degree of homogeneity between service operations and sales, with greater alignment than previously assumed. This study also highlights the role of rule-bending in managing the often overlooked tensions inherent in digital service strategies. Additionally, it points to a more limited role of customer focus, particularly in the context of intermediate services. Practical implications — For managers, the cross-functional patterns offer a useful tool for inducing digital service orientation across customer-facing functions.

Firms regularly seek to exert influence over their operating environments through market-shaping strategies. Such market-shaping strategies view markets as endogenously enacted environments and thus broaden firms' strategic repertoire from merely adapting to the changes in the operating environment to also proactively seeking to induce changes in relevant markets. Past research has delineated the market-shaping concept and identified various shaping activities that may induce market change. However, there is limited understanding of how these individual shaping activities are combined to form effective market-shaping strategies. Against this backdrop, focusing on the contents of market-shaping strategies, the authors put forward six elements of what is being shaped: Changes in offering, pricing, customer-side features, supply-side features, representations, and norms. The findings from a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of 21 case firms reveal how these elements combine into six distinct configurations. These findings contribute to the nascent research on categorizations of market-shaping strategies and research on market formation. For managers, the authors provide normative and nuanced advice on which elements to include in market-shaping strategies, depending on the overall strategic intent.

The infusion of data-driven services in manufacturing provides new opportunities for long-term competitive advantage; however, it also poses new challenges and entails tradeoffs among strategic options. Digital servitization changes intra-firm processes and customer relationships as well as overall ecosystem dynamics. Drawing on an extensive study of ABB Marine & Ports, a market-leading systems integrator, the concept of digital servitization is examined by analyzing its key characteristics, including opportunities and challenges for manufacturers. The resource integration patterns that connect actors and the dual role of technology in both increasing resource integration complexity and in facilitating the coordination of complexity are discussed. Advancing digital servitization requires fostering service-centricity and executing strategic change initiatives for both the internal organization and the broader ecosystem. Firms must undertake three interlinked changes: (1) digital, (2) organizational, and (3) ecosystem transformations. In addition to contributing to the service literature, these findings provide actionable insights for managers.

Two of the most disruptive changes in todays business markets are servitization and digitalization. Their increasing convergence into digital servitization leads to tensions both within and between organizations. The authors investigate such intra-and interorganizational tensions by applying a paradox theory lens. The study draws on 56 depth interviews and multiple site visits from two cases in the aerospace and maritime industries. Linked to the paradoxes of organizing, learning, belonging, and performing, eight tensions emerge from the findings. The intra-organizational tensions include digitally enabled control, digital upkeep, professional identity, and performance priorities. In turn, the interorganizational tensions comprise platform-based coopetition, information superabundance, organizational identity, and data utilization. For practitioners working with digital services, this study suggests an audit of tensions to inform continued formulations of a mitigation strategy.

Traditionally, equipment sales were the main source of revenues for manufacturing firms. The situation has changed, and such firms are undergoing servitization when revenues are increasingly derived from services. In parallel, the digitalization of industries brings novel technologies to the forefront of manufacturers’ agendas. With servitization and digitalization converging, many firms are now undergoing digital servitization. Both internal focus and external focus appear important for digital servitization; yet, the extant research remains scarce, explaining the need to further explore the phenomenon’s intra- and inter-organizational sides. To this end, the present thesis aims to describe and analyze how manufacturing firms manage digital servitization internally and externally.

Building upon the academic literature in industrial marketing and related disciplines, this thesis leverages five appended papers as its empirical foundation. On the intra-organizational side, the empirical findings concern how firms can organize for digital servitization. Specifically, the findings point toward organizing the structure, where a particular emphasis lies on service and product units, especially alongside the spectrum of central/local and front-end/back-end roles and functions. Furthermore, the empirical evidence suggests that organizing the support for digital servitization requires an internal focus on data (together with relevant digital technologies and software), responsiveness, and agility.

On the inter-organizational side, the findings concern how firms can work with their ecosystems. First, working with the vision for digital servitization involves different ecosystem actors, where digitalization-related factors and the timing of relevant initiatives are of importance. Second, working with customers is associated with digital infrastructure for efficient service provision, digital competences of customers, and novel sources and types of value propositions. Third, working with partners requires large-scale, extensive collaboration around digital servitization initiatives, where both commercial and non-commercial actors play an important role. Moreover, the empirical evidence on the inter-organizational side suggests relevant capabilities when working with ecosystems.

In terms of theoretical implications, the present thesis contributes to business marketing research and cross-disciplinary servitization research, belonging to the growing stream of literature that studies intra- and inter-organizational sides of digital servitization. Finally, as managerial implications, this thesis offers suggestions for manufacturers on how to organize the structure and the support for digital servitization, as well as how to work with the external business environment.

Traditionellt sett har försäljning av utrustning varit den främsta inkomstkällan för tillverkningsföretag. I takt med att dessa företag genomgår tjänstefiering har situationen dock förändrats och tjänster har blivit en allt mer central inkomstkälla. Samtidigt genomgår tillverkningsindustrin en omfattande digitalisering, vilket påverkar företagens marknadsstrategier och erbjudanden. Tjänstefieringen och digitaliseringen samspelar, varpå många företag genomgår en digital tjänstefiering. Det har visat sig att internt såväl som externt fokus är av betydelse för den digitala tjänstefieringen, men trots det är forskningen knapphändig och det finns ett behov av att ytterligare undersöka fenomenets intra- och interorganisatoriska sidor. Med den bakgrunden syftar den här avhandlingen till att beskriva och analysera hur tillverkningsföretag hanterar digital tjänstefiering internt och externt.

Avhandlingen bygger på akademisk litteratur inom industriell marknadsföring och relaterade fält. Fem bifogade vetenskapliga artiklar utgör avhandlingens empiriska grund. Intraorganisatoriskt visar resultaten hur företag kan organiseras för att genomgå digital tjänstefiering. Resultaten rör specifikt företagsstruktur, med tyngd på tjänste- och produktenheter samt centrala och lokala roller och funktioner. Vidare tyder resultaten på att det krävs ett internt fokus på data (tillsammans med relevanta digitala teknologier och mjukvara), anpassning och agilitet för att organisera det stöd som behövs för digital tjänstefiering.

Interorganisatoriskt handlar resultaten om hur företag kan arbeta med andra aktörer i sina ekosystem. För det första involverar arbetet med en vision för digital tjänstefiering olika aktörer i ekosystemet. Här är olika faktorer kopplade till digitalisering och timingen av relevanta initiativ av betydelse. För det andra är kundarbetet sammankopplat med en digital infrastruktur för en effektiv tjänsteleverans, digital kompetens hos kunden och nya typer av värdeerbjudanden. För det tredje kräver samarbeten med olika partners ett omfattande arbete kring initiativ som rör digital tjänstefiering. Här spelar både kommersiella och icke-kommersiella aktörer en viktig roll. Vidare belyser resultaten relevanta förmågor för att kunna arbeta med ekosystem.

Avhandlingen bidrar teoretiskt till forskningen inom industriell marknadsföring och den tvärvetenskapliga forskningen om tjänstefiering. Den är en del av den växande litteratur som studerar intra- och interorganisatoriska sidor av digital tjänstefiering. Slutligen bidrar avhandlingen praktiskt genom att föreslå hur tillverkningsföretag kan organisera företagsstrukturen och stödet för digital tjänstefiering, liksom hur de kan arbeta med den externa affärsmiljön.