دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی مسیر دستیابی به نتیجه: فعل و انفعال از استراتژی بازار خدمات و مدل های کسب و کار باز - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

Firms in a variety of manufacturing sectors as well as the software industry have increasingly embraced services alongside their product portfolios in order to improve financial performance. Yet, the key question “How do service market strategy change and the accompanying business model change interact, and how does their interplay affect value creation?” remains open. Relying on twelve case studies of firms that have shifted towards providing highly advanced services (e.g. outcome-based contracts), theoretical propositions concerning the interplay of market strategy and business model on value creation are derived. The firms studied report two interdependent changes: first, they evolve the market strategy from provision of pure products to provision of services and then outcomes, in order to achieve a better fit with customer needs and to grow their service businesses. Second, they rely increasingly on partners and suppliers to provide new activities that are outside their competence base. This 'open business model' allows them to grow their new service businesses effectively and efficiently. At the same time, however, the shift to a service market strategy requires enhanced accountability to customers and increases the threat of penalties in the case of failure, while reliance on partners and suppliers leads to loss of control over the activity system and increases the threat of failure due to third party dependency. Thus, this paper finds that the success of firms that shift to services and outcomes hinges on their ability to balance the trade-off between increased value (i.e. growth, efficiency and effectiveness) and increased uncertainty associated with service market strategy/open business model interplay.

5. Conclusion and discussion

The market strategy and business model changes by manufacturing firms and software providers seem to exhibit two concurrent tendencies. On the one hand, firms change their market strategy by expanding the scope of their services, extending the timeline of services and guaranteeing the performance of both product and services. As a consequence, the manufacturer´s activity system is enlarged with additional activities that are delivered either internally or through outsourcing to suppliers (if more efficient delivery is needed) or through collaboration with partners (if additional competencies are required). This enlarging and opening up of the business model generates value through economies of scope (internally), through greater cost effectiveness (by commoditized suppliers) and by introducing innovation (through partnerships). Indeed, these two interlinked changes help manufacturers and software providers to create value by growing, and doing so efficiently and effectively. Yet, at the same time, these firms accept greater accountability in terms of customer outcomes and, thus, customer-oriented uncertainties and risks (operational-, dynamic-, and performance-related). This is coupled with relinquishing control over the activity system to suppliers and partners, and accumulating associated risks and uncertainties (internal, supplier and partner uncertainty). This two-fold increase in the potential for value creation and uncertainty is labelled, ‘the accountability spread’. It is argued in this paper that a firm embarking upon this journey needs to consider where it wants to place itself in relation to this risk-reward trade-off, and what kinds of capability it possesses that will allow it to materialize the potential for value creation whilst containing the uncertainty. Judicious identification of appropriate levels of accountability spread in combination with management's capacity to actualize value creation potential and to curb uncertainty represent key capabilities in the shift to services.