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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.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of marketing of information products and services in university libraries in Kenya.

The paper utilises literature surveys of currently published articles and the researcher's professional experience.

Marketing is a basic and essential management process for promoting information products and services in university libraries in Kenya, but it is not given the attention it deserves and/or is poorly coordinated. Marketing avails university libraries the unique opportunity to provide quality, and demand‐based and user‐oriented information products and services.

The paper used mainly literature surveys of currently published articles and the researcher's professional experience.

The paper offers reasons, strategies or initiatives and recommendations on how to make university libraries the destination for the user population. In this respect, university libraries should be proactively involved in marketing of information products and services to the user population.

University libraries in Kenya should involve themselves actively in marketing and promotion of information products and services to the information audience. This helps to create awareness among the user population leading to increased use of information products and services in the libraries.

The paper highlights various marketing initiatives of making university libraries in Kenya the destination for the user population. Also, the paper explores recent innovative strategies for marketing information products and services. Marketing helps university libraries to: market and promote information products and services, provide innovative products and services, understand the needs and demands of the information audience or user population, plan service provision, and provide efficient and effective information products and services.

Libraries are subscribing to many expensive information products/services available through information aggregator/provider services. It is a concern for them, as well as these services, to get users (also referred to as consumers) to fully exploit the products/services, and especially new and innovative additions and features. This paper aims to address this issue.

The paper is written against the background of research from information behaviour as well as a touch from marketing as reported in the library and information science (LIS) literature.

The paper reveals that to improve the use of information products/services, and especially new products/services and features, libraries, especially academic libraries, as well as information aggregator/provider services, need to address consumers on various levels. In the case of academic libraries, the librarians, faculty members, and students (under‐graduate and post‐graduate) should be included. To appeal to the seriousness and entertainment facets of the lives of consumers, a variety of targeted competitions and prizes can be used.

Although publications have appeared on using innovative methods such as Web 2.0 and collaboration with students to market products/services, the authors are not aware of articles focusing on competitions and prizes specifically addressed at the serious and entertainment facets of the lives of consumers.

Examines the little attention given to services in the marketing literature, concluding that products versus services as a taxonomy, is difficult to sustain and likely to be dysfunctional. Argues the need to develop multi‐dimensional taxonomies that include market characteristics, relating results to the firm's marketing strategy. Proposes to stir discussion of the applicability of this separation of products and services, with particular reference to the characteristics used to make this distinction. Contends that, in terms of marketing, services are not differing too much from products, and develops this contention. Concludes that the literature relating to the distinction between products and services is found wanting and more work needs to be done.

Reports on content‐analysis research of television commercials for products, services and retail outlets attempting to discover whether the objectives or strategies used differ. Uses three frameworks for evaluation of the product and service advertisements. Finds that services, product and retail marketers are using different advertising strategies. Notes that many of the differences seem to be concerned with the heterogeneity, simultaneity and intangibility of services and discusses implications for managers of these findings.

Employs content analysis of advertisements for both products and services in 13 major newspapers. Seeks to understand how advertising information on service providers is integrated into service advertising strategy. Suggests that service advertising is far more likely than product advertising to contain information about contact people. Offers ways of improving the advertising strategy of service marketers.

How does business model design play a role in enabling manufacturing firms’ services? This study aims to investigate the impact of two distinct types of business model design, namely, efficiency-centered business model design (EBMD) and novelty-centered business model design (NBMD), and their effects in balanced and imbalanced configurations, on two types of services: product- and customer-oriented services.

Using matched survey data of 390 top managers and objective performance data of 195 Chinese manufacturing firms, this study uses hierarchical regression, polynomial regression and response surface analysis to test the hypotheses.

The results show that while EBMD positively affects product-oriented services, NBMD positively affects customer-oriented services. Both types of services exert a significant influence on firm performance. Furthermore, the degree of product- and customer-oriented services increases with an increasing effort level with a balance between EBMD and NBMD. Asymmetrical, imbalanced configuration effects reveal that the degree of product-oriented services is higher when the EBMD effort exceeds the NBMD effort, and the degree of customer-oriented services is higher when the NBMD effort exceeds the EBMD effort.

This study enriches the understanding of designing business models to facilitate service growth in manufacturing firms, ultimately benefiting firm performance. In addition, exploring balanced and imbalanced configurations of EBMD and NBMD offers new insights into business model dual design research.