دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی رقابت در بخش های B2B از طریق خدمات پرداخت به ازای استفاده - امرالد 2017

Abstract

Purpose – Despite the opportunities provided by pay-per-use (PPU) services, product companies in businessto-business sectors often fail to compete systematically by using them. The purpose of this paper is to explain how companies can avoid failures when it comes to PPU services. The paper describes the “seizing” capabilities needed to achieve the strategic objectives of PPU services. Design/methodology/approach – The research process is divided into a pilot and an in-depth study. Altogether, 17 companies participated in the study. Findings – The findings reveal that the seizing capabilities depend on the strategic objectives of PPU services. To expand the market share with PPU services, companies need to broaden the customer portfolio for PPU services, to align individual services within the entire service portfolio and to balance profits made by PPU services and other business lines. For strategic objectives such as rapid sales growth early in the market development and new market creation other seizing capabilities are required. Research limitations/implications – The findings are not generalizable, due to the use of a qualitative study. The study is restricted to product companies in the business-to-business sector. Practical implications – Managers often believe that extending and modularizing the service portfolio is beneficial. When achieving sales growth during the market development phase, these capabilities are in fact sometimes counterproductive. Practitioners have to look into the costs and benefits of setting-up their own financing company and working with banks. Social implications – PPU services contribute to a more sustainable consumption and make product design more resource-efficient. Originality/value – The study is original by virtue of systematically studying PPU services, providing a microfoundation for seizing capabilities and developing testable propositions for future research.

5. Discussion and implications

5.1 Implications for academic research

Despite typical limitations of qualitative research, the findings make four contributions to the academic research. First, the findings reveal that companies can achieve three distinct strategic objectives: rapid sales growth in the market development, market share expansion and new market creation in the maturity phase of the product lifecycle. The first strategic objective extends previous arguments that only under uncertain maintenance and high product cost conditions will companies offer PPU services. Six cases actually deploy PPU services for rapid sales growth during the market development, even if product and service costs are relatively low and very certain. In addition, companies in the market development phase are argued to mostly rely on services improving product sales and ensuring product functionality, with PPU services being one option in the service offering. The results suggest that PPU services could actually dominate the service offerings and replace other services completely (Cusumano et al., 2015).

Interestingly, expanding market share is in line with claims that PPU services attract new customer segments (Cusumano et al., 2015; Sundin and Bras, 2005). The strategic objective on new market creation links PPU services to the argument that strategic innovations reshape the existing business model, opening-up uncontested markets, and creating a leap in customer value (Christensen et al., 2002; Matthyssens and Vandenbempt, 2008). Overall, these insights offer systematic evidence on strategic objectives of PPU services. Future research can investigate companies that focus on one objective rather than multiple ones. It would be also useful to investigate how these strategic objectives contribute to the overarching goal of PPU services increasing sustainability (e.g. more sensible consumption, more resource-efficient product design) (Bocken et al., 2014; Manzini and Vezzoli, 2003; Williams, 2007).