Knowledge sharing dynamics in service suppliers' involvement for servitization of manufacturing companies

Abstract

Manufacturing companies that adopt the servitization strategy usually show lack of knowledge regarding the service offering associated to their manufactured products. Acquiring external knowledge from service suppliers can be a way to tackle this problem. The objective of this study is to understand how manufacturing companies aiming at a servitization-driven business model innovation (BMI) integrate such knowledge from service suppliers. We focus on different types of collaboration that can occur and on the knowledge sharing (KS) dynamics of this collaboration. We employ a multiple-case study approach to analyze nine BMI processes from companies that transformed their traditional business model (BM) to a servitized BM. As a result, we obtain a theoretical framework that presents six possible KS dynamics for the servitization design by originally combining two main approaches for servitization-driven BMI (i.e. productoriented and service-oriented product-service systems) and three main configurations of relationships with service suppliers based on traditional new product development classifications of buyer-supplier integration (i.e. white, grey and black box configurations). Implications of combining a BMI and a buyersupplier KS perspectives to investigate the process of servitization for manufacturing companies are then discussed.

Knowledge sharing in collaborative new product development: a study of grey box supplier involvement configuration

“…Knowledge sharing with external suppliers is a key factor for the NDP success (Petersen et al, 2005;Ayala et al, 2017;Enrique et al, 2018). Many authors contributed in expanding the understanding about how knowledge flows among individuals and organizations.…”

“…In this work, we adopt the knowledge sharing model proposed by Carlile (2004), which has been already used in prior research for the study of knowledge sharing with suppliers (e.g. Le Dain & Merminod, 2014;Ayala et al, 2017). Carlile (2004) proposes a model for the knowledge sharing analysis, encompassing different boundaries to overcome, when people and organizations intend to share knowledge.…”

“…When different agents are sharing knowledge in the syntactic layer, Carlile (2004) calls such process knowledge transfer. Generally, knowledge transfer can be done and comprehended through simple documents, technical specifications, drawings or e-mails (Ayala et al, 2017;Carlile, 2004;Le Dain & Merminod, 2014). The semantic layer is the second in terms of complexity.…”

“…It represents the barrier of sharing knowledge that happens due to the lack of communication clarity or ambiguous meanings that can exist between different agents. Knowledge sharing under such conditions occurs when e-mails, data or phone calls are not enough for agents to comprehend one another, and meetings or more extended explanations are necessary for avoiding misunderstandings (Ayala et al, 2017;Carlile, 2004;Le Dain & Merminod, 2014). Knowledge sharing in such conditions is called translation.…”

Modelo Conceitual Para a Servitização Do PDP Através Da Transferência De Conhecimento Interfuncional

“…Fica claro, assim, que a empresa precisa dispor de conhecimentos relacionados às duas parcelas da oferta. Uma forma de fazer isso é através da colaboração com fornecedores de serviços Ayala et al, 2017). No entanto, ao terceirizar completamente qualquer uma das parcelas da oferta a empresa corre o risco de perder competitividade no mercado (Porter, 2008) ou deixar que seu conhecimento sobre elas se torne obsoleto.…”