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Confronted by lower product sales prospects, increased margin pressures and customer demands for free service support, many firms are entering the service business. Yet most of these firms will be unable to scale their service operations to develop a viable stand‐alone services capability. In the rare cases where they are successful in establishing a services business it will often fail to deliver the expected profit margins. However, when properly planned and executed, a products to services business transformation generates impressive results. this paper aims to investigate this issue.

The paper defines how to scale services business. Key challenges and mitigation approaches as well as case studies are provided to effectively execute on services transformation. Various challenges and their effects are examined separately. Several tactics to overcome some of the key challenges identified.

When managed properly, new services businesses can deliver solid economic value to the top and bottom line. In order to capture this value, managers must look at services through a very different lens, understanding that this is a fundamentally different business model than their existing product business. It is recommended managing the entire services value chain to realize the full benefits of creating independent services revenue stream, increased product pull‐through, and deeper customer relationships.

By considering various obstacles a company faces in scaling services business, the paper provides insight into what strategies may be effective as established companies deal with balancing existing product‐centric business while scaling services business.

Identifies several unique challenges facing Western firms in marketing business services in the economies of Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia, Poland, the former East Germany and Russia. Derives several managerial recommendations to meet these challenges. Identifies experts on these economies and employs a modified Delphi technique to identify expert recommendations for constructing a business services marketing strategy targeted to Central Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the balanced scorecard methodology in web services quality. A balanced scorecard framework is developed for web services quality by identifying critical success factors that make up the business objectives, measures, targets, and initiatives.

The framework of web services quality applying the balanced scorecard methodology is developed by integrating the theory of balanced scorecard and web services. Then, case studies with two organizations in the agricultural industry are deployed to test the framework of the balanced scorecard.

The findings of the exploratory case studies suggest a cyclic process that was created with the use of the balanced scorecard approach to evaluate the quality of web services applications and in order to integrate quality and to provide a strategic map and indicate how information will be disseminated so that the potential use of web services can be attained.

The study contributes to practitioners as they will have a system which will provide them with timely, cost‐effective, scalable, manageable, and reliable feedback on their strategic performance. Further, the balanced scorecard gives a holistic view of the firms by simultaneously examining its performance from four perspectives; namely learning and growth, internal business processes, customer, and financial perspectives.

Unlike previous research that uses the balanced scorecard to measure the economic impact on the firm. This paper discusses the role of the balanced scorecard methodology in improving the service quality of firms using web services. Further, it provides lessons learned, as in measures that firms can be aware of in the quality of the services they provide.

To co-create value through dynamic collaborations, enterprises and their suppliers need to orchestrate the integration of complementary resources when providing business services. As such enterprises' strategic decision to apply a plural sourcing strategy to establish dynamic collaborations with their suppliers implies that both in-house and outsourced business services should be bundled into a business services portfolio. However, the antecedents that affect a business services portfolio have rarely conceptually been identified.

Drawing on resource orchestration theory, the authors theoretically developed and empirically validated a business services portfolio conceptual model. The model aims at explaining the critical antecedents to a business services portfolio based on a unique data set, comprising 121 international enterprises with variation in the degree of outsourcing, size, geographies and maturity. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to examine the relationships among the antecedents and a business services portfolio.

The findings show that the antecedent, i.e. plural sourcing strategy, modularised business processes and customer orientation have a direct and significant effect on the enterprises' business services portfolio orchestration. The results of the mediation test indicate that modularised business processes fully mediate the relationships between three independent variables with the orchestration of business services portfolio.

This study is the first to analyse the impact of plural sourcing strategy, modularised business processes and customer orientation on the business services portfolio orchestration from a plural sourcing context. Additionally, it examines the mediating role of modularised business processes in the relationship between the antecedents and business services portfolio orchestration.

Many manufacturing firms entrust partners to provide services on their behalf. However, it is not clear whether and when firms can capture the potential value advantages of outsourcing business services. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of different types of business service outsourcing on firm value.

The paper uses event study methodology to estimate the impact of business service outsourcing announcements on abnormal returns of publicly traded manufacturing companies in Europe.

External service outsourcing that directly affects the company’s customers leads to more favorable outcomes than internal service outsourcing. This effect is contingent on the strategic outsourcing intention, the service’s reliance on technology, and the choice of the outsourcing partner.

Findings show that firm value depends critically on the service value it delivers to customers. Future research could explore further contingency variables, and investigate the role of service outsourcing networks and relationships.

The insights of this study help managers to decide why, how, and to whom they should outsource their business services, as well as how to justify their outsourcing decisions, and how to communicate them toward the financial markets.

This research sheds light on the value implications of outsourcing decisions. Two types of business service outsourcing are distinguished, namely, internal and external. Furthermore, the study enhances our understanding of a contingency perspective on service outsourcing decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on how small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) from the capital goods manufacturing sector develop the service business. Assuming the service business development depends on contingency factors, the paper aims to explore how SMEs align external environment, strategy and organizational design.

A multi‐case study design on capital goods manufacturers from Italy, Sweden and Switzerland was employed.

Service strategy formation and implementation in SMEs depend on their value chain position and the business environment. Suppliers with few customers selling directly to customers increasingly offer logistic and repair services as well as R&D‐oriented services. In contrast, OEMs selling through distributors do not primarily extend the services offered, but rather reconsider service process configuration together with distributors. Altogether, the paper describes four different service responses to specific combinations of value chain position and business environment.

The findings are limited to the capital goods manufacturing industry.

Whereas previous research neglects how SMEs develop the service business, this article offers key insights in the interrelationship among the value chain position and the business environment as well as the service strategy formation and implementation.

For successful servitization, manufacturing firms must understand how their customers adopt new services. The purpose of this paper is to explore customers’ readiness for a manufacturer’s new services to complement its goods. The goal is to increase knowledge of the aspects that manufacturers should consider when bringing new kinds of services to market.

A qualitative case study design is used to analyze readiness for services and interest in service adoption in three customer firms of a manufacturer. The interview data were collected from 14 persons at customer sites and were content analyzed.

The results show that readiness – a concept that is often used in the field of technology – is relevant also for the service adoption process. In a business-to-business context, readiness for service adoption concerns the individual and organizational levels, and hence a new dimension of organizational culture and habits had to be added to the concept that originally focuses on individuals. People consider different factors when making consecutive decisions during the service adoption process and these factors can vary even within a company. The cornerstone for new service adoption is the customer firm’s actual need for the service.

The results offer new knowledge about service adoption in a business-to-business context by taking a customer firm’s perspective. They, thus, complement previous studies on the supplier perspective of servitization and service adoption in consumer business. The contributions help manufacturers focus their efforts when bringing new services to market.

The paper aims to explore how dynamic capabilities of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring shape the way in which service business is developed in a broad range of capital goods industries.

The paper takes an interpretative multiple‐case study approach. It seeks to develop primary organizing themes around the key dynamic capabilities and support them with research propositions.

The findings suggest that companies either exploit or explore the opportunities when it comes to service business development. Moreover, dynamic capabilities differ between the two approaches and predict which way a company chooses.

Research limitations are mainly due to the nature of qualitative research. The dynamic capabilities identified here are by no means exhaustive; rather, they indicate directions for future research.

The research findings provide guidance to managers as to how the strategic shift towards services is influenced by dynamic capabilities.

Despite difficulties associated with service business development, the literature remains relatively silent on dynamic capabilities. However, dynamic capabilities are essential to the strategic shift towards service business.

The purpose of the paper is to assess the state of the business development services (BDS) market in Chengdu, with a view to identifying demand and/or supply side deficiencies, which public policy might help to address.

The data are drawn from two surveys undertaken in Chengdu between November 2005 and January 2006.

The research shows there are small firms that are active users of BDS, reflecting the emergence of non‐state owned enterprises in the city. The survey also shows evidence of unfulfilled latent demand, with a particular reference to sales and marketing advice and helping firms to access sources of finance. In addition, the survey of BDS providers shows that some are sensitive to the needs of small firms, although the latter are typically under‐represented in their client base.

The findings suggest that the BDS market in Chengdu is underdeveloped from a small business perspective, which can be illustrated by pointing to both demand‐ and supply‐side deficiencies. It can be argued that this is an important policy issue, if small enterprises are to fulfil their potential contribution to local economic development, particularly in relation to the development of non‐local sales.

This research adopts an “evidence‐based” approach to inform policy development.

An updated version of the original (1985) text, the book covers all aspects of marketing and selling bank services: the role of marketing; behaviour of customers; intelligence, planning and organisation; product decisions; promotion decisions; place decisions; price decisions; achieving sales. Application questions help to focus the readers' minds on key issues affecting practice.