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Towards an operations strategy model of servitization: the role of sustainability pressure

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Abstract

Servitization requires an important strategic shift to drive changes in the operations of manufacturing firms. Using a large-scale survey, the purpose of this paper is (1) to build and validate an operations strategy model of servitization confirming previous case study findings on servitization as a strategic action and (2) to explore the role of sustainability pressures in, and the sustainability performance effects of, pursuing service-based operations strategies. To reach these objectives, a dataset including the responses of 735 manufacturing plants from 21 different countries is analyzed using the PLS-SEM method. The results indicate that the sustainability pressures of stakeholders can push manufacturers to adopt a service-based operations strategy, materializing in the provision of both basic (product-oriented) and advanced (customer-oriented) services (BAS and ADS). Our analysis further indicates that while offering BAS is a precondition for ADS provision, only ADS can offer a competitive edge for manufacturers, both in terms of service and sustainability-related operational performance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Economics and Business Management in Hungarian Language, Babeș-Bolyai University, Teodor Mihali street, no. 58–60, 400591, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Levente Szász & László Seer

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  1. Levente Szász
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  2. László Seer
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Correspondence to Levente Szász.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 7 Indirect effects between model constructs
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Table 8 Total effects between model constructs
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Szász, L., Seer, L. Towards an operations strategy model of servitization: the role of sustainability pressure. Oper Manag Res 11, 51–66 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12063-018-0132-0

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