Organizing for solutions: How project-based firms integrate project and service businesses

Abstract

Project-based firms (PBFs) increasingly provide comprehensive solutions that consist of products, product systems and services. In solution businesses, long-term collaborative relationships between solution providers and customers are essential. However, little is still known about how relationship marketing activities should be integrated across organizational units, particularly at the practical level of delivering individual projects and services belonging to complete solutions. In this study, based on a case study of a project-based firm and four of its system delivery projects, we identify eight micro-level integration mechanisms for integrating the activities of the project and service business units at the level of delivering a single solution. The joint participation of both project and service business units in project and service activities over the life cycle of a single delivered system enhances the management of customer relationships between the units, and ensures the continuity of the customer relationship over the system life cycle. The identified integration mechanisms also help PBFs to integrate services into their core business and overcome the problems arising from the discontinuous nature of project business.

Strategy map of servitization

“…While case studies are appropriate tools for exploring subjects that are difficult to replicate (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007;Siggelkow, 2007), the chosen firms are "information-rich" examples that allowed uncommon research access (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007;Yin, 1994) and are worthy of in-depth analysis (Patton, 2002:231). Delivering complex systems involves particular characteristics, such as emphasizing value co-creation (and coproduction) and adopting a lifecycle perspective, while integrating more closely into customers' operations (Artto et al, 2015). These specific characteristics call for a wide range of processes and practices and increase the richness of project-based firms as cases for analyzing the implementation of servitization initiatives.…”

La innovación en el paradigma del marketing relacional

“…Estos escenarios de valor percibido mutuo que establece el MR se constituyen en la motivación de las partes respecto a la adopción de la innovación, sin importar las diferentes naturalezas de las organizaciones que intervienen en el intercambio (Nandonde y Kuada, 2018;Parry y Westhead, 2017;Rosendo-Rios et al, 2016;Zauner et al, 2015). Tales innovaciones se materializan a través de la cooperación y el trabajo en red, y se manifiestan en beneficios como el mejoramiento de la relación con los diferentes stakeholders, lo que asegura su participación de forma activa en las diferentes etapas de la cadena de valor (Artto, Valtakoski y Kärki, 2015; Barroso-Méndez, Galera-Casquet y Valero-Amaro, 2015; Parris, Bouchet, Welty-Peachey y Arnold, 2016) y genera, bajo este escenario, un nuevo rol en el sistema de innovación: "el prosumidor" (Bokek-Cohen, 2015;Potra, Izvercian y Miclea, 2016), que no es otra cosa que reconocer la capacidad de creación de valor que poseen los socios empresariales y el consumidor a través del trabajo colaborativo.…”

Value Co-creation and Leadership: An Analysis Based on the Business Ecosystem Concept

“…The service industry is regarded as a dynamic component that is essential for companies manufacturing and generate value from the customer's perspective. (Ballantyne and Aitken, 2007;Artto et al, 2015;Bao and Toivonen, 2015;Ambroise et al, 2018).…”