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The authors empirically examined the theoretically recognized industrial linkages between manufacturing and services from the trade perspective. In particular, they confirmed the trade effect of manufacturing on services, given that global value chain fragmentation pervades and splits manufacturing and services segments separately in developed and developing countries.

Based on observations of 47 countries with manufacturing and service trade data from 1990 to 2020 and with gravity model specification, the authors primarily used the Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) estimation with multiple levels of fixed effects. Considering that many zero values are included in the dependent variable and potential endogeneity, other methods such as Tobit regression, Heckman estimation and two-stage least squares estimation (2SLS) are used. Subsample estimation also supplemented the empirical research.

The results showed that manufacturing trade is a stepping-stone rather than an obstacle to service trade. This finding exhibited significant robustness under different model specifications, instrumental variable estimation and subsample checks. Moreover, in contrast to the north–north country ties, manufacturing trade between northern and southern countries has played a prominent stepping-stone role; meanwhile, manufacturing trade among core–peripheral countries has a considerably more significant impact than the outcomes of core–core and peripheral–peripheral countries.

The authors provided direct clarification and revealed that trade in manufacturing remains the demand basis for service trade. As trade in manufacturing and services are typical phenomena of transnational production linkages, the authors suggested exploring the underlying role of global value chain (GVC) fragmentation and the offset and even barrier effect of biased institutional arrangements on GVC fragmentation.

Many manufacturers are transforming into manufacturing service industry to enhance their value creation. Adopting the value‐added chain model, this study aimed to conduct four case studies, including Acer, Giant, TSMC and Eternal, to verify the high‐valued strategies and the common characteristics of service provisions.

Four case studies, including Acer, Giant, TSMC and Eternal, were conducted to verify the high‐valued strategies and the common characteristics of service provisions. Specifically, these companies are selected from different industry and value chain position to enhance the robustness of the research findings.

This study concluded that the manufacturing firms strengthen their position as system integrator. The provision of high‐valued services is orientated toward the integration of the value chain stages according to the industry and business model. The companies are going to upstream or downstream, outsource non‐core manufacturing activities, and sell some manufacturing assets. The high‐valued service strategies provided the manufacturing firms with new approaches to compete in a rapidly changing economy. The findings also provided the direction for the emerging economies in confronting with industrial structure transformation.

This study focuses on the transformation of four manufacturing firms toward providing high value‐added services. The results conclude that manufacturing firms can integrate forward and backward stages in the value‐added chain, and provide the knowledge‐based services including R&D, marketing, information system, branding, financial and after‐sale services to enhance the market value of their products. This study argues that the high value‐added service strategies can be a great opportunity for the manufacturers.

This paper aims to examine both the cointegrating and causal relationships among inward FDI and the host country's employment in manufacturing and services sectors.

This paper applies autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework to test the cointegration and causality patterns using Singapore as a case.

Apart from the presence of a unique long‐run relationship, the findings also show evidence of long‐run causality, running from employment in manufacturing and services to FDI inflows, and from FDI inflows and services employment to manufacturing employment. Furthermore, there is evidence of short‐run causality showing strong FDI‐employment and employment linkages, predominantly from the manufacturing to services.

One likely area of future research is to extend this paper by using disaggregated data, e.g. FDI inflows by sector (manufacturing and services), and employment by the respective sectors.

Manufacturing and services have been regarded as the “twin engines” of growth for the Singapore economy. As the economy is moving up the value chain from downstream to upstream activities, a significant proportion of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been attracted to the manufacturing and services sectors. The present study provides useful policy implications towards promoting foreign investment in emerging areas of and manpower development in both sectors of the economy.

This paper explores the possible interactions between FDI inflows and employment in manufacturing and services sectors as well as the employment linkages between manufacturing and services in Singapore.

The aim of this study is to gain important insights on integration oriented servitization identifying essential dimensions of effective structures, coordination approaches and management controls adopted by manufacturing firms that integrate forward towards distribution, sales and services.

The study adopts a theory-guided qualitative abductive methodology to conduct a comparative case-study of two manufacturing firms in the same industry integrating forward to enhance servitization but with significantly different performance outcomes. The findings are uncovered from a broad spectrum of primary and secondary data spanning two decades.

The consistently high-performing firm puts equal emphasis on production and downstream distribution, sales and services and motivate individuals to engage in entrepreneurial efforts to develop combined product-services offerings that are valued by customers. The underperforming firm prioritizes operating efficiency driven by engineering prowess and managed through planning, standardization, authority and central controls.

The study is based on two representative firms operating in a specific industry context, which has ramifications for the generalizability of results and calls for replication studies to substantiate and extend findings.

Forward integration from manufacturing into distribution, sales and services represents a specific servitization strategy that needs structure and particular coordination approaches to be effective in complex dynamic product-markets. The characteristics of the outperforming case company provide useful insights on effective integrated servitization efforts.

Forward integration is a commonly adopted strategy among manufacturing firms that constitute the backbone of modern economies and effective governance of these integration oriented servitization efforts has important implications for societal value creation.

This study builds on rationales from management science including economic theory, corporate strategy and different micro-foundational lenses and thereby hone recent calls for broader theoretical foundations to enlighten studies of the servitization puzzle.

Compares, contrasts and assimilates the contributions of the TQM manufacturing and service quality management literatures. A manufacturing model of TQM is proposed, and then developed and enhanced in the light of concepts, tools and techniques which have emerged from the service quality literature. Examination of the core TQM precepts in the light of the service literature highlights certain key asymmetries and differences between the manufacturing and service literatures on quality management, both being characterised by different strengths and weaknesses. While the manufacturing literature is practitioner oriented and highly evangelical and universally prescriptive in tone, the service quality management literature adopts a more measured and academically rigorous approach, although it is arguably less successful in generating practical solutions for management. While the service quality management literature has clearly been enriched and significantly influenced by the TQM manufacturing literature, it is now contributing to the conceptual development of the core precepts of TQM and nurturing a sensitivity to the contingencies which render their application appropriate. Indeed, as the performance characteristics of services increasingly contribute to the success of manufacturing organisations, the issue in future may well be the conceptual transferability of TQM from service to manufacturing.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the efficient use of remote monitoring systems (RMS) to create business value for industrial services in manufacturing firms. A business view to RMS is a key prerequisite for the successful application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in industrial services.

A qualitative multiple-case study was conducted in six engineering companies. The main source of data was semi-structured interviews with 16 managers.

The findings highlight the role of RMS in enabling manufacturing firms to collect data from customers to complement their limited knowledge about their customers. The study demonstrates the business value of using RMS in industrial services and the necessity of capturing the business value through advanced IT technologies.

The qualitative research design and choice of six target companies limit the findings to business-to-business manufacturing firms. Further, the focus is on the manager’s viewpoint. The findings imply new business value through an efficient use of RMS to complement direct customer contact.

The study draws attention to the skilled use of advanced RMS and information and communication technology as a prerequisite for the successful application of the IoT in manufacturing firms that provide services for complex solutions and customers dispersed globally.

The research shows that using information collected through RMS is an important factor in creating business value in a manufacturing firm’s customer relationships. The study contributes by integrating RMS into the customer information collection process to increase the amount, validity and quality of data.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a cross-enterprises framework to achieve a higher level of sharing of knowledge and services in manufacturing ecosystems.

The authors describe the development of the emerging open manufacturing and discuss the model of knowledge creation processes of manufacturers. The authors present a decentralized framework based on blockchain and edge computing technologies, which consists of a customer layer, an enterprise layer, an application layer, an intelligence layer, a data layer, and an infrastructure layer. And a case study is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the framework.

The authors discuss that the manufacturing ecosystem is changing from integrated and centralized systems to shared and distributed systems. The proposed framework incorporates the recent development in blockchain and edge computing that can meet the secure and distributed requirements for the sharing of knowledge and services in manufacturing ecosystems.

The proposed framework provides a more secure and controlled way to share knowledge and services, thereby supports the company to develop scalable and flexible business at a lower cost, and ultimately improves the overall quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of manufacturing services.

The proposed framework incorporates the recent development in edge computing technologies to achieve a flexible and distributed network. With the blockchain technology, it provides standards and protocols for implementing the framework and ensures the security issues. Not only information can be shared, but the framework also supports in the exchange of knowledge and services so that the parties can contribute their parts.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse econometrically determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) in Indian manufacturing plants with a focus on the influence of services input on productivity.

Plant-level data drawn from Annual Survey of Industries for the years 1998-1999 to 2012-2013 are used for the estimation of TFP at plant-level by applying the Levinsohn–Petrin methodology. Econometric models are estimated to explain variations in plant-level TFP. The explanatory variables used are services input intensity (split into manufacturing services purchased and other services), the share of information communication technology (ICT) assets in total fixed capital stock, the share of contract workers in total workers and the share of imported materials out of total materials used, with plant size taken as a control variable. Model estimation is done by applying the fixed effects model.

Econometric results indicate that services input and ICT intensity have a significant positive effect on productivity of manufacturing plants in India. Use of imported materials raises productivity, whereas the use of contract workers in place of regular workers tends to lower productivity. The impact of imported materials on TFP of manufacturing plants seems to be relatively bigger for labour-intensive, low technology industries.

Care has been taken for TFP measurement. Analysis of the impact of services input on TFP has been undertaken for Indian manufacturing using plant-level data for the first time.

In recent years, total quality management (TQM) has been applied extensively in service organisations. Several studies have been undertaken to compare the TQM implementation levels in services and manufacturing. However, none has differentiated the service categories adequately. This paper compares the TQM implementation levels in Singapore’s service and manufacturing productivity leaders after differentiating the services and controlling for extraneous factors. The analysis makes use of secondary data obtained from the pioneer batch of 240 organisations in the Singapore Quality Award programme. The service organisations are found to have a significantly lower level of TQM implementation than the manufacturing‐oriented service and the manufacturing organisations. The findings provide decision‐makers an indication of the areas that should be addressed to boost TQM in the service organisations. They also support the argument in the theoretical literature that the various service categories should be differentiated to yield meaningful results and suggest appropriate policies.

This paper aims to disentangle the mechanism linking digital servitization and manufacturing firm performance. The contributions of the service networks and slack resources are analyzed.

Drawing on a survey of manufacturing firms that have implemented or are implementing digital service projects in China, this paper examines the mediation effect of service networks and the moderated mediation effect of slack resources to capture the role of service networks and slack resources in the relationship between digital servitization and manufacturing firm performance.

Both basic and advanced digital services can equally contribute to manufacturing firm performance. Service networks mediate the relationship between basic digital servitization and manufacturing firm performance. No moderated mediation effect of slack resources is found, but slack resources negatively moderate the effects of basic digital services on service networks and positively impact service networks.

The mediating mechanism of service networks in the relationship between digital servitization and manufacturing firm performance is theorized, and it is clarified that service networks mediate the association between basic digital services and manufacturing firm performance but not advanced digital services. Additionally, there is no significant difference in performance implications when manufacturing firms provide basic versus advanced digital services, answering the call for research on the various types of digital servitization. This paper also identifies firms’ slack resources as the boundary conditions under which basic digital services influence service networks and the positive impacts of slack resources on service networks, bridging the network literature, organizational slack literature and digitalization literature under the framework of service ecosystem research.