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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the servitization phenomenon of product-centric companies, by identifying the resources, capabilities and organizational aspects needed to successfully deploy a servitized business model (BM).

By adopting a literature-based approach, this paper develops a servitization maturity model (SeMM) aimed at assessing and positioning companies in the servitization journey. The paper also illustrates the model application to two small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a machinery and a forklift truck company.

The SeMM identifies a set of 85 critical requirements that are used to evaluate the servitization level of product-centric companies, through a specific five-stage measurement scale. The requirements are categorized into: five maturity dimensions (organizational approach, process management, performance management, tools, capabilities) and nine BM Canvas components. The empirical application exemplifies how the SeMM can support managers in identifying and bridging the gaps in their servitization journey.

The SeMM adopts an original bi-dimensional approach and provides an operationalization of the servitization process through the identification of specific critical requirements framed on established BM and maturity dimensions taken from the literature. Moreover, the model responds to a call for research to develop practitioner-oriented tools and guidelines to support the servitization process, in particular for SMEs, and to the need to go beyond to measures of servitization based on indicators about number of services offered or their turnover.

This 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.

A 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).

This 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.

This 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.

The paper seeks to fill a research gap that concerns empirical studies on value‐based pricing in durable consumer goods. It aims to analyse the relationship between value for the customer and market prices in the washing machines market.

The customer value of a sample of 129 washing machine models is assessed through the conjoint analysis technique. It is then compared through a regression analysis to the market prices of the products.

The regression analysis reveals that the alignment between price and value for the customer is limited (only one of the two subsamples presents a positive dependence among the variables).

The study lacks explanatory power about the reasons for the misalignment between price and customer value in the investigated sector. The results, moreover, refer to a specific product category and a specific national market, although their representativeness as a mature durable in a mature market suggests a broader relevance of the implications. The size of the samples of the empirical research is also limited.

The paper provides an example and guidelines to practitioners on how to implement a customer value assessment. It provides practitioners a deeper understanding of the consequences of misaligned pricing, and of the potential of understanding the actual value sources for the customers.

The study empirically assesses the relationship between value for the customer and market prices of a category of mature durable goods. The results support the claim that value‐based pricing, although believed to be superior to other pricing policies, is still not established as a prominent practice. Moreover, the findings contribute to the discussion on the value of environment‐related attributes and their lifecycle monetary impact on the customers. It also identifies another possible obstacle to the adoption of value‐based pricing, i.e. the structure of the market, to be added to the ones reviewed in the literature.

To analyse the role of after‐sales services in manufacturing contexts, and the related after‐sales performance measurement systems.

An exploratory case study research was performed in the automotive, household appliance, IT and consumer electronics industries. The sample is made up of 48 firms with after‐sales operations in Italy.

The role attributed to after‐sales activities in the IT and consumer electronics and household appliance industries shows an orientation to improve company image, customer satisfaction and retention (marketing focus). A different situation characterises the companies studied in the automotive industry. In most firms, however, measurement systems are quite simple and short‐term oriented, especially in the IT and consumer electronics and household appliance industries. The measurement of non‐financial performance emphasises effectiveness rather than efficiency, and the automotive industry, on the whole, presents more advanced measurement systems, together with more integrated strategic management of after‐sales. The household appliance industry, on the other hand, due to the significant presence of SMEs, is characterised by less sophisticated performance measurement systems.

Provides a representation of current empirical practices in after‐sales role and performance measurement, a topic insufficiently covered by conceptual and empirical research.

Product-service systems (PSSs)’s popularity has expanded significantly throughout recent years. The purpose of this paper is to integrate products and services to achieve functional results that augment the offering’s value. Nevertheless, the intangibility of services hinders the diffusion of PSSs: services are characterized by imprecisions and ambiguities that render the assessment and prioritization of customer requirements problematic. An inadequate evaluation of the latter leads to an inconsistent PSS design that results in the customer dissatisfaction.

To address these concerns, the paper proposes an approach integrating the quality function deployment for product-service systems (QFDforPSS) method with Thurstone’s Law of Comparative Judgments. This approach was tested at a manufacturer in the medical sector seeking to improve his market stance through a PSS model.

Although the case study is based on a limited sample, the results achieved highlight the importance of the flow of information between the PSS provider and the customers (i.e. the PSS receivers) in the healthcare sector. The proposed approach can facilitate the company in collecting information even in the case of incomplete answers to surveys and questionnaires providing a practical method to handle the uncertainty due to incomplete data.

The study represents one of the first applications of the PSS approach in the healthcare sector, introducing a novel integration of easy-to-use management tools to augment the understanding of customer needs and expectations.

This paper aims at examining the impact that COVID-19 pandemic and its related work implications have on the relationship between lean implementation and service performance.

The author surveyed service organizations that have been implementing lean for at least two years and remotely maintained their activities during the COVID-19 outbreak. Multivariate data techniques were applied to analyze the dataset. This study was grounded on sociotechnical systems theory.

The findings indicate that organizations that have been implementing lean services more extensively are also more likely to benefit from the effects that the COVID-19 had on work environments, especially in the case of home office. Nevertheless, social distancing does not appear to mediate the effects of lean services on both quality and delivery performances.

Since the pandemic is a recent phenomenon with unprecedented effects, this research is an initial effort to determine the effect the pandemic has on lean implementation and services' performance, providing both theoretical and practical contributions to the field.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 on the Turkish manufacturing sector by using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods on a sectoral basis. In this way, the sectors that had the highest negative effects of COVID-19 will be determined. Thanks to the findings to be obtained as a result of this study, it will be possible for decision-makers to develop strategies that may differ on a sectoral basis at the point of combating the pandemic.

The negative effects of COVID-19 were revealed by a large literature search. The importance levels of the factors determined within the scope of finance, supply, production and workforce were determined by the AHP method. Then, the TOPSIS method was used to determine which sectors were more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, based on these factors.

The findings of this study obtained reveal that the most important negative effect of COVID-19 was on businesses in terms of reduced sales caused by domestic sales and export. Again, the findings show that the sector most affected by COVID-19 is automotive, which shows that the least affected sector is the pharmaceutical and medical equipment sector.

Primary data was used to determine the criteria weight. Therefore, there is a possibility that the answers are not objectively evaluated. The findings are limited to the criteria that was used, the views of the professionals and AHP-TOPSIS methods. Studies that use more criteria and different decision-making methods can have different results.

The manufacturing sector is at the forefront of the sectors affected by the global bottleneck caused by COVID-19. In this study, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Turkish manufacturing sector are discussed on a sectoral basis. Studies in the literature have revealed that the effects of pandemics such as COVID-19 vary between sectors. For this reason, it is important to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 from a sectoral perspective. Thanks to this study, it is thought that it will be possible to take measures that may differ between sectors to combat the negative effects of COVID-19.

This paper aims to analyze the moderating effect of technological turbulence caused by artificial intelligence on the relationship between the traditional knowledge management strategies of personalization (tacit knowledge) and codification (explicit knowledge), and organizational improvisation, which refers to the firm's ability to generate ideas and respond to changes in the technological environment in real time. Until now, individuals have played a key and indispensable role in organizational improvisation since they are the owners of tacit knowledge and users of explicit knowledge.

The research model was tested in a sample of firms from sectors in which the adoption of intelligent robots is growing.

Both personalization and codification have a positive and significant influence on improvisation, the former to a greater extent. Nevertheless, when technological turbulence caused by artificial intelligence occurs, the relationship between personalization and improvisation is weakened, whereas the link between codification and improvisation is strengthened.

Contrary to the pre-digital literature consensus, explicit knowledge is becoming the new major driver of organizational improvisation, while tacit knowledge sharing is losing strength and relevance. This finding may be a first indication that intelligent robots are the new exponents of improvisation for their ability to respond to changes in the environment in real time because of a combination of explicit knowledge, beyond being a mere support tool for humans.

Industry 4.0 technologies are promising to increase manufacturing companies' performance through the new knowledge that such digital technologies allow to create and manage within the firm boundaries and through customer interactions. Despite the great attention on the Industry 4.0 adoption paths, little is known about the relationships with previous waves of digital technologies, namely, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and how different groups of both types of technologies link to knowledge and its related performances.

The study employed a quantitative research design using a survey method. Submitting the questionnaire to entrepreneurs, chief operation officers or managers in charge of the operational and technological processes of Italian manufacturing firms, 206 respondents stated that their firm has adopted at least one of the seven Industry 4.0 technologies investigated.

The findings of the study highlight the positive relationship between ICT and Industry 4.0 technologies in terms of both intensity and groups of technologies (Web-based, Management and Manufacturing ICT; Operation, Customization and Data-processing 4.0), and how technologies affect knowledge-related performances in terms of products and processes, job-learning, product-related services and customer involvement.

This study is one of the first attempts to link groups of ICT to groups of Industry 4.0 technologies and to explore the effects in terms of knowledge-related performances as a measure of technology use. The study shows strong path dependency among ICT, Industry 4.0 and knowledge performance, enriching the literature on technological innovation and knowledge management.