Manufacturing servitization in the digital economy: a configurational analysis from dynamic capabilities and lifecycle perspective

Abstract

PurposeDespite servitization being widely regarded as an essential catalyst to improve manufacturing firms' survival and competitiveness, how to attain servitization remains debatable. The primary objective of this research is to explore whether or not, how, and when the dynamic capabilities affect servitization in the digital economy background. This research investigates the relationships between servitization and dynamic capabilities by incorporating firm ownership, firm lifecycle stage, digital economy level and environmental uncertainty as contingency factors in the research framework.Design/methodology/approachThis research develops and verifies a conceptual framework for manufacturing servitization by employing the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) in analyzing the secondary longitudinal data from 148 China-listed manufacturing firms involved in servitization from 2015 to 2020.FindingsThe analytical results of fsQCA identify several configurational solutions for the success of manufacturing servitization. Each factor can be an enabler for servitization success despite none of the factors discovered as an absolute condition. Manufacturing servitization success within the digital economy depends on the interactions between dynamic capabilities and contingency factors such as digital economy level, environmental uncertainty, firm ownership, and lifecycle stage.Research limitations/implicationsAll of the construct's measurements in this research adopt secondary data, and further investigation calls for primary data (e.g. survey) for higher validity.Originality/valueThis research extends the current view of servitization by proposing an integrative conceptual framework, allowing manufacturing servitization to be examined more pertinently and comprehensively. Second, the research is an initial attempt that adopts fsQCA in servitization studies. The study sheds light on the mechanisms of attaining servitization by revealing the importance of dynamic capabilities and their interactions with the contingency factors. Third, the research extends the application scopes of dynamic capability theory, firm lifecycle theory, contingency theory, and institutional theory. Fourth, the research findings enrich the understanding of servitization in the digital economy and give business practitioners insights on leveraging dynamic capabilities in different conditions to attain successful servitization under the current circumstances.

Configurations for emerging market firms to achieve a high-level servitization strategy: evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms

“…It refers to the research samples by Oliva and Kallenberg (2003), that is, the machinery manufacturing industry is selected as the sample and includes “general equipment manufacturing industry (C34)', “special equipment manufacturing (C35)', “automobile manufacturing (C36)', “electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing (C38)' and “instrument manufacturing (C40)' in the industry classification code of the CSRC (2012 Edition). The reason is that the machinery manufacturing industry firms in emerging markets tend to compete with developed market firms and enter the developed market by supplying services to user firms to complement imperfect products (Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003; Fang et al ., 2008; Zhan et al ., 2022).…”

“…To better connect management theory with management practice and propose a system framework for strategy implementation, a research framework based on a multitheoretical integration perspective that explores the synergy and complementarity of different theoretical perspectives has attracted increasing attention from scholars (Rajagopalan and Spreitzer, 1997; Zhan et al. , 2022).…”

Guest editorial: Digital transformation strategy and impacts during emergency situations

“…The next paper is from Zhan et al (2023). The authors study manufacturing servitization taking into account the digital economy context and dynamic capabilities.…”

Freight insurance pricing strategy based on an online freight platform

“…In recent years, many industries, including the logistics and freight industry, achieved considerable development with the support of modern digital technologies. Enterprises use digital technologies to empower their development, from intelligent logistics (Liu et al, 2021;Chen et al, 2021a) to manufacturing (Chen et al, 2021b;Zhan et al, 2023;Li et al, 2023), medical emergency management (Lee et al, 2023), supply chains (Liu et al, 2022;Rauniyar et al, 2023) and marketing (Graesch et al, 2021).…”

“…With the development of the freight industry, service capability has become an important characteristic. Servitisation can act as an important catalyst for improving the survival and competitiveness of many enterprises (Zhan et al, 2023), and the technological innovation of intelligent logistics ecological chains will have a positive impact on their service capacity (Liu et al, 2021). Thus, online freight platforms enabled by digital technologies can be regarded as the servitisation transformation of traditional logistics/transportation/freight industries.…”