Servitization: Critical factors for successful implementation

As manufacturing businesses operate in an ever more competitive environment, where products are easily commoditized, servitization has become a popular strategy to differentiate from competitors. However, many manufacturers seem to struggle with introducing services to their core offering successfully. Thus, the aim is to develop a conceptual framework to recognize the importance of given factors which inhibit a profitable implementation of service offering in the manufacturing industry and to assess the importance and frequency of them occurring. A hypothetical model was developed to provide an effective guidance for companies during the implementation. Therefore, this paper should be seen as an extension of the current literature with regard to servitization implementation, as it offers an insight through the development process of servitization. Related literature and interviews results provide support for the hypothetical model