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Digital Service innovation (DSI) plays a fundamental role in the successful transition from product manufacturer or traditional service provider to a provider of digitally-enabled service solutions. Multiple impediments make managing this transformation using digital technologies difficult for firms, their customers and wider ecosystems. Extant knowledge of these digital technology impediments requires synthesizing and mapping.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted. DSI tools and terminology are synthesized via thematic analysis. Subsequently, impediments to DSI for servitization (covering barriers, challenges and tensions) faced by actors across three key innovation phases: strategic planning, design planning and implementation, and four interaction levels (Micro, Meso, Macro-environment, Macro-ecosystem) are mapped via template analysis.

Six impediment categories (external environmental factors, internal firm factors, capabilities, business models and processes, value creation and interaction) encompassing 28 unique impediment types to DSI during servitization are identified. A framework enabling impediment comparison across innovation phases and ecosystem/network interaction levels, revealing that the majority of barriers can be framed as “challenges” was developed.

Whilst literature is emerging relating to digital servitization, there is a lack of research on the role DSI plays in facilitating digital servitization and no comprehensive study of DSI impediments exists. Additionally, consensus around the cross-disciplinary terminologies used is lacking. This study is a structured attempt to map the domain, summarizing the terms, identifying and clarifying impediment categories and providing recommendations for researchers and managers in tackling the latter.

The article aims to focus on the debate around the interplay between product innovation and servitization. Two conflicting approaches characterize the debate, disagreeing as to whether product innovation and servitization are complementary or not.

The authors examine two competing models proposing a direct effect of product innovation on servitization and an indirect effect through digitalization, using the sample of 500 manufacturing firms of a country participating in the European Manufacturing Survey, 2018 edition.

The results reveal that product innovation has no direct effect on servitization. However, the authors found that digitalization capabilities mediate the effect of product innovation and servitization. The present findings reveal that product innovation has a substantial indirect effect on servitization through digitalization capabilities, supporting the approach proposing the complementarity between product innovation and servitization.

The data used in this paper correspond to a single country. The limited geographical sampling frame may likewise limit the generalizability of the findings. Researchers are encouraged to replicate the analysis with data from other countries, and to further enrich the analysis with complementary path options and resulting performance measures.

When applying a capabilities perspective, the authors find that product innovation capability is not directly related to servitization as capability. The present findings point toward the fact that if companies only have product innovation capability, this does not facilitate servitization. If companies have both product innovation capability and digitalization capability, such a situation facilitates servitization, a decision which often falls within managers’ responsibilities.

Existing studies focus on antecedents and/or outcomes of single issues, either product innovation, servitization or digitalization. Only some offer dual associations (product innovation and servitization, digitalization and servitization), and even less position simultaneously at the intersection of the three pillars. Herein lies the novelty of the present approach and analysis, which explains the extent to which product innovation, digitalization and servitization are related.

Absorptive capacity, technological collaboration and servitization are analyzed to establish ways to overcome the balance between products and services in manufacturing companies. A fresh perspective is introduced by presenting a framework for innovation strategy, moving beyond product-based R&D.

The hypotheses are tested using data on Spanish firms in the high-tech chemical and pharmaceutical industries through ordinary least squares regression analysis. The sample consists of 112 manufacturing firms included in the Spanish Survey of Business Strategies.

The results show that absorptive capacity facilitates servitization and that technological collaboration moderates the relationship between absorptive capacity and servitization. The synergies between absorptive capacity and technological collaboration for servitization are recognized from the perspective of open innovation as a way of resolving the trade-off between products and services.

Future research should introduce more sources of collaboration by broadening the value chain perspective. Other approaches to innovation may also be considered, including relationships to process innovation.

The results can provide meaningful guidance for companies to determine the key opportunities of servitization driven by absorptive capacity, and the best ways to leverage open innovation and collaboration strategies to exploit such approaches.

This research enriches theories on servitization, open innovation and innovative behavior. Open innovation strategy should be linked to greater servitization activity and should support an open service strategy. This approach is crucial for building innovation capabilities through technological collaboration.

This paper aims to contribute to overcoming the gap existing in the supply chain literature related to digital servitization by bridging digital servitization with knowledge management and identifying the rise of digital knowledge servitization as a driver for changes in the supply chain business model towards open innovation.

The study follows an inductive grounded theory approach for theory building. To analyse the impact of digital knowledge servitization, in-depth interviews of managers in the main business units of the Volvo Group supply chain ecosystem were carried out.

The results show how the digital servitization process affects the supply chain business model, highlighting the central role of knowledge in the service ecosystem and the rise of the theoretical concept of digital knowledge servitization. In particular, through the Innovation Lab (Volvo Group) study, the paper contributes to bringing together the theoretical knowledge-based view of servitization with the digital servitization concept, which demonstrates the role of this combined perspective in the transformation of the supply chain; this is carried out by introducing a new business model based on open innovation in inbound and outbound processes.

The research offers interesting insights from a managerial perspective, as increasingly advanced and complex digital solutions require shorter times in supply chain management (SCM). Companies need to be able to quickly manage information and knowledge flows deriving from internal and external interactions and involvement with external actors upstream and downstream of the supply chain ecosystem. Therefore, the digital knowledge servitization of the supply chain also highlights implications for managers in terms of human resources management.

The novel research goal is to contribute to the supply chain literature by integrating the digital servitization with the knowledge view and analysing the impact on the inbound and outbound supply chain through the introduction of an open innovation business model.

This study examines the impact of customer involvement (CI), technology strategy, firm internationalization and servitization on product and service innovation performance (SIP) in hybrid offerings. In addition, it investigates the moderating role of digitization and co-creation in the relationship mentioned above.

A research framework was developed through the lens of service-dominant (S-D) logic theory, and the proposed research hypotheses were empirically tested. Primary data were collected via the survey method, and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

Findings of this study suggest that the S-D logic theory effectively explains CI and servitization in hybrid offerings. Furthermore, digitization is a crucial driver of SIP. Additionally, this paper finds that co-creation moderates between servitization and innovation performance of hybrid offerings.

Besides theoretical contributions, this study presents valuable insights to manage service networks during servitization.

First, this work proposes a comprehensive framework of hybrid offerings' driving factors (i.e. CI, firm internationalization, technology strategy and servitization) and their impact on product and SIP. Second, it tests the moderating effects of digitalization and co-creation in the context of hybrid offerings.

Research demonstrates that servitization can achieve competitive advantages for firms; however, many firms are unable to achieve their target values due to various challenges. This study proposes a new model in which open innovation and co-creation are utilized to access consumer knowledge during the servitization process when developing customized services for international markets.

An online survey was used to collect the data from 150 manufacturing firms. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach.

The results indicate that open innovation positively affects servitization strategy. Moreover, consumer co-creation moderates the impacts of servitization on firm performance.

This study confirms the significant role of open innovation and consumer integration in the servitization process, establishing that managers should effectively integrate different stakeholders from the service design stage (through open innovation) to the service delivery stage (through co-creation).

The paper's results prominently advance the present body of servitization literature by showing how the implementation of open innovation improves the servitization process, an issue that has been ignored in previous studies. Moreover, it seeks to resolve the inconsistent results on servitization's effect on performance by indicating the role of consumer co-creation in the servitization–performance link.

For most manufacturing firms, technological innovations are usually the key strategies to gain their competitive advantages. However, competing strategically through service provision is becoming an important strategy for most industries. A growing demand for packaged product and service delivery is blurring the traditional boundaries between manufacturing and service firms. This trend is called “servitization.” Prior research had different perspectives on the relationship between technological innovations and servitization. Some argued that as servitization exerts the innovative convergence of products and services, the possession of appropriate readiness and absorption capacity through technological innovations for a manufacturing firm is critical to the success of servitization. In contrast, some argued that the knowledge gained from developing technological innovations cannot be applied to the creation of services due to the fundamental difference between technology and service. These contradicting arguments motivated the authors to study the relationship between technological innovations and servitization a step further. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

To address the research gap, the authors conducted an empirical study based on the large-scale samples from the second Taiwan Community Innovation Survey (Taiwan CIS). A multivariate logistic regression model was applied in the research.

The authors found that different types of technological innovations, namely product innovation and process innovation, have different impacts on servitization. The innovativeness level of the technological innovation moderates the relationship between technological innovation and servitization. Based on the above findings, this research specifically explains the causes of the contradictory results of the prior research.

The values of this research are twofold. Its academic contribution rests on bridging the literature of innovation and servitization, and on providing a model to clarify the relationships among technological innovation type, level of innovativeness and servitization. Its practical contribution lies in its establishment of a guideline that illuminates manufacturing firms reinforcing service delivery through their existing technological innovation trajectory.

Servitization and research and development (R&D) innovation provide new developmental opportunities for transformation in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the transformative impact of servitization and R&D innovation on the value added of the construction industry, offering new insights into industry transformation and growth.

This study utilizes panel data from Chinese listed construction companies from 2014 to 2022 to empirically investigate the relationship among servitization, R&D innovation and value added in the construction industry. The data analysis is augmented by incorporating text mining techniques to rigorously investigate the interplay among servitization, R&D innovation and the value added within the construction industry.

The research findings indicate that the impact of servitization on value added follows a positive U-shaped relationship, while the influence of R&D innovation on value added exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship. Additionally, innovation investment plays a negative moderating role in the relationship between servitization and value added.

This study reveals a fresh perspective on how construction companies can leverage servitization as a strategic pathway for transformation and competitive advantage. The research also lays a theoretical groundwork for future innovation investment strategies in the construction industry, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach to innovation investments to maximize value added.

Despite the potential influence of data analytics capability on servitization, the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of this influence remains unclear. This study aims to explore how data analytics capability affects servitization by examining the mediation effect of bricolage and the conditional role of innovation orientation.

This study employs the moderated mediation method to examine the proposed research model with archival data and multiple-respondent surveys from 1,206 top managers of 402 manufacturing firms in the Yangtze River Delta area in China.

Bricolage partially mediates the positive relationship between data analytics capability and servitization, and innovation orientation positively moderates this effect.

Manufacturers can leverage bricolage to materialize data analytics capability for servitization. Manufacturers should also pursue an innovation orientation to fully glean the benefits of bricolage in transforming data analytics capability into servitization.

This study opens the black box of how data analytics capability affects servitization by revealing the underlying mechanism of bricolage and the boundary condition role of innovation orientation for this mechanism. It offers valuable insights for practitioners to leverage data analytics to improve servitization through developing bricolage and cultivating a culture of innovation orientation.

This study aims to explore how manufacturing firms master customer lock-in through value creation by servitization innovation strategies from the perspective of asset specificity.

A multiple case study with triangulation fashion is adopted to identify servitization innovation strategies. Several manufacturing firms were investigated, which are distributed in different positions of the value chain. Content analysis and abductive approaches are adopted to analyze the data. Moreover, an in-depth interview and participatory observation were conducted to refine the analysis results.

This study identified four different focusing points of servitization operations. Based on these, the paper further induces an innovative servitization strategy matrix of customer lock-in, concerning communion, intellectual, existential and insubstantial strategies. Furthermore, a conceptual model of customer lock-in by servitization innovation from the perspective of asset specificity is elaborated. It is suggested that companies can use tangible or intangible resources by sharing or storing operations to create servitization value.

This study theoretically proposes a conceptual model to extend servitization innovation as an intangible asset and adopt the new perspective of asset specificity to illustrate the value creation in servitization to generate customer lock-in.