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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the service infusion literature explains competitive advantage through services. The four strategic management theories – competitive forces, the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, and relational view – are applied in the analysis. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review analyzes the links between the service infusion and strategy literature. Findings – The review reveals that although discussion of service infusion applies strategic management concepts, the stream lacks rigor with respect to construct definition and justification. Additionally, contextual variables are often missing. The result is an over-emphasis of contextually bound measures, such as technology, and focal actors. Research limitations/implications – The growing trends toward social networks, co-specialization, actor dependency and shared resources encourage service infusion scholars to focus on network-related and relational capabilities, co-opetition, open business models, and relational rent extraction. Furthermore, service infusion research would benefit from considering strategy-based theoretical discussions, constructs, and constraints that would improve the scientific rigor, impact and contribution. Originality/value – This paper represents a systematic attempt to link the service infusion literature with strategic management theories and thoroughly analyzes the knowledge gaps and possible misconceptions.

PurposeThis study aims to enhance the theoretical foundations of servitization research by establishing a theoretical connection with complexity management. The authors develop a conceptual framework to describe complexity management mechanisms in servitization and digital platforms' specific role in allowing synergies between complexity reduction and absorption mechanisms.Design/methodology/approachA theory adaptation approach is used. Theory adaptation introduces new perspectives and conceptualization to the domain theory (servitization, with a focus on the role of digital platforms) by informing it with a method theory (complexity management).FindingsThis study provides four key contributions to the servitization literature: (1) connecting the servitization and complexity-management terminologies, (2) identifying and classifying complexity-management mechanisms in servitization, (3) conceptualizing digital platforms' role in servitization complexity management and (4) recognizing digital platforms' complexity-management synergies.Originality/valueThis study highlights that by using digital platforms in servitization and understanding the platform approach more thoroughly, companies can gain new capabilities and opportunities to manage and leverage complexity.

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the debate related to the strategic role of information in the industrial service business, that is, whether information is a resource that could and should be protected. The connection between manufacturers’ servitization and management strategy literature is used in the analysis. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study on five new entrants to the industrial service market. Findings The results of the study provide new insights on both the characteristics and boundary conditions of new entrants’ approaches to strategically benefitting from information resources. Instead of aiming to possess and control data, the case companies prefer the access to large data volumes over exclusive access, render the question of data ownership to be largely irrelevant and perceive that the strategic relevance of information lies in novel data combinations. Practical implications The study provides a contemporary perspective on the prevailing information resource protection doctrine in the context of industrial services. Most importantly, the results challenge the hitherto unquestionable strategic relevance of customer relationships in Internet of Things (IoT)-driven service businesses. Furthermore, the results identify the need for flexible organizational structures that aim to leverage the complexity of the market environment. Originality/value Through providing a theoretically grounded and empirically backed contemporary perspective on the role of information in IoT-driven service businesses, the study expands the strategic understanding of industrial service providers.

Global competition and commoditization of product offerings have posed difficulties to the manufacturing industry in recent decades. Many companies have responded by \"servitizing\" – changing the business focus from manufacturing to service provision. This transition, which was already seen to be demanding, has grown more complex due to digitalization and increasing information intensity in service-driven manufacturing. New kinds of service offerings are made possible – but at the same time diversifying customer needs, complex inter-firm networks and rapid pace of technological development escalate the challenges. The change emphasizes the relevance of strategy-related discourse, as different market conditions require different strategic approaches and related organizational structures. However, although there has been a great deal of research regarding servitization during the last three decades, systematic approaches from a strategy perspective remain scarce. In this study, a strategy approach is deployed with a systematic literature review and four qualitative multi-case studies. It is found that service-driven manufacturers are moving toward a systemic perspective in service business. The strategic role of technological resources in solutions is decreasing. Complex socio-technical relationships are preferred. Service networks are seen to hold strategic potential related to forming new resource and capability combinations, and fostering co-specialization. Furthermore, platforms are identified as potential offering and organizational structures to address the new strategic requirements. It is reported that organizing service networks with platforms provides firms a way to leverage network complexity. In addition, service-driven manufacturers seem to construct platforms to allow strategic flexibility in a dynamic environment.

This article proposes a new approach for assessing the value derived from using a service offering (i.e., value-in-use) through the utilization of \"social platforms.\" We define a social platform as an adaptable digital service environment that enables the co-creation of value through social interactions with other service systems. By reviewing the relevant literature, detailed propositions are built based on the integration of theoretical concepts, thereby combining the literature on service-dominant logic, platforms, and social media. The primary argument of the article is that embedding social platforms in a company's services may result in more efficient retrieval and understanding of customer insights, better management of customer intelligence, and ultimately higher value-in-use.