Process of servitization in the publishing industry: the role of new business models

Objeto: El propósito de este artículo es analizar la orientación de las empresas editoriales hacia la incorporación de servicios y el nivel de integración de los mismos en la estructura de la empresa, así como el papel que desempeñan los nuevos modelos de negocio en este proceso. Para ello, en la presente investigación se propone la validación de las escalas de dos variables del modelo planteado: Orientación hacia la incorporación de servicios en el sector editorial y la medición de los nuevos modelos de negocio. Diseño/metodología: Este artículo primero discute la relación entre servitización y sistemas de producto-servicio. En segundo lugar, la relación entre servitización y nuevos modelos de negocio. Y posteriormente se realiza un estudio empírico a 204 editoriales españolas con respecto a estas variables, recogiendo la muestra a través de la Federación del Gremio de Editores de España (FGEE), utilizando como canal de recogida de datos a la plataforma Distribuidor de Información del Libro Español en Venta (DILVE). Aportaciones y resultados: Con el modelo que se plantea en el artículo se consigue establecer el mayor conjunto de determinantes de la servitización, analizando detenidamente el papel que desarrollan en este proceso los nuevos modelos de negocio en la industria editorial. De las diferentes variables analizadas -orientación de la empresa editorial hacia la incorporación de servicios, utilidad de los nuevos modelos de negocio y nivel de integración de servicios- nuestro estudio concluye con la validación de las escalas de las dos primeras variables. El tercer constructo no requiere de validación porque ya había sido previamente realizada en anteriores investigaciones. Al quedar validada la escala orientación hacia la incorporación de servicios para el sector editorial damos por cumplido una de las finalidades de la investigación, pudiendo concluir que esta escala se convierte en idónea como herramienta de medida propia que va a permitir valorar la transformación que está sufriendo el sector editorial. En lo referente a la escala utilidad de los nuevos modelos de negocio, podemos concluir que la utilización de los modelos de negocio es consecuencia directa del rediseño de la estructura empresarial que tiene que implantar la entidad si quiere disponer de una adecuada oferta de producto y servicio. Limitaciones: El estudio no se adentra en el análisis de los datos para obtener conclusiones sobre cuál es el nivel de integración de dichos servicios en las 204 empresas editoriales de la muestra. Este aspecto deberá ser incorporado en posteriores investigaciones. Valor añadido: El artículo sienta las bases de los determinantes de la servitización y de los nuevos modelos de negocio gracias al estudio teórico y a la justificación de las escalas que se han utilizado para su medición. Este modelo puede entenderse como punto de inicio para el desarrollo de numerosos modelos que relacionen la servitización y los nuevos modelos de negocio del sector editorial.Purpose: The purpose of this article is to analyze the orientation of the publishers to incorporate services and the level of their integration into the company structure. Additionally, the role of new business models in the process is analysed. To this end, this research aims to validate two scales of important variables related to the servitization process: Orientation towards services incorporation in the firm, and Importance of new business models in servitization processes. Design/methodology/approach: This article discusses the relationship between servitización and product-service systems. Besides, the relationship between servitización and new business models is studied. Finally, an empirical study using 204 Spanish publishers firms is carried out to validate two variables related to servitization in the publisher sector. Findings and Originality/value: The model proposed sheds light about the set of determinants of servitización, carefully analyzing the role played in this process by new business models in the publishing industry. With regards the variables analyzed -orientation towards incorporating services, use of new business models and service integration-, our study concludes with the scales validation of the first two variables. The third variable does not require validation because it had been previously done in precedent investigations. With the validation of the scale about the orientation towards incorporating services, one of the aims of the investigation is fulfilled. This scale becomes suitable as a measurement tool to better analyse the transformation that is suffering the publishing sector. With regards the utility of the scale about new business models, we can conclude that the use of business models is a direct consequence of redesigning corporate structures that has to implement if firms want to have an adequate supply of products and services. Research limitations/implications: The study does not obtain conclusions about the level of integration of these services in the 204 publishers analysed in the sample. This aspect should be incorporated in future research. Originality/value: The article establishes the determinants of the context of servitización associated to the incorporation of new business models. Besides, it provides novel scales to measure the variables analysed.Peer Reviewe

FDI, service intensity, and international marketing agility

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a nuanced understanding of international marketing agility by connecting organizational capability literature with that of standardization and adaptation. The focus of the research is to clarify whether managing the tension between product standardization and service customization generates an extra premium in international markets. Design/methodology/approach Two disaggregated Chinese data sets, the Annual Survey of Industrial Enterprises and the China Customs Database, are used for developing an econometric model. Export quality improvement is the outcome variable in reflecting the effect of international marketing agility on performance. Findings International marketing agility is reached through upstream FDI intensity, particularly in the context of service FDI. Manufacturing sectors with higher service intensity have more agility, being more likely to generate export quality. Research limitations/implications This study makes three theoretical contributions by clarifying the concept of international marketing agility as an organizational capability generated by manufacturing standardization and service customization; investigating the influence of upstream FDI intensity for export quality while taking into account the industry contexts; and obtaining an enhanced understanding of the service intensity of manufacturing firms on export quality. Originality/value The authors offer a nuanced and contextualized understanding of international marketing agility and explore the complex relationships between FDI, service intensity and export quality

Copyright and creation: Repositioning the argument

Purpose: This paper highlights the challenges and key arguments for digital copyright protection legislation for creative industries. Design/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by independent academics who place the arguments in context based upon literature and market data. Findings: Many of the arguments used against copyright protection laws draw upon flawed analysis. Artistic creators should be treated fairly and their work should be afforded the same protection as other property. Practical implications: Digital legislation warrants review, but not for the frequently cited reasons of "stifling innovation" or "restriction" of others using the work. Rather, artists need better protection for their work and fairer treatment with regards their property rights. Originality/value: The paper provides context and practical insights into the data used to influence policy decision makers, providing a stronger case for legislative review. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Service implementation in manufacturing:An organisational transformation perspective

The topic of servitization of manufacturing continues to gain attention from both the engineering and business research communities. As a consequence, the conceptual foundations of servitization are now becoming better established, and attention is focusing on the processes through which manufacturers go to develop innovative service capabilities that enable them to successfully compete through services. This Special Issue sets out to focus on these transformation processes. In this introductory article we review the selected articles that comprise this Special Issue. We provide a framework to contextualize and understand the research findings reported in the Special Issue and reflect on the contributions of the research to the theory and practice of servitization. Through this process we seek to consolidate the state-of-the-art in this area and identify important, challenging, but potentially fruitful topics for future studies

El papel de los recursos intangibles bajo la lógica dominante de la gestión de servicios

Las investigaciones recogidas en este número especial pueden contribuir al desarrollo de las empresas y de las economías en que operan, proporcionando una mayor comprensión del desafío que supone la servitización y el importante papel de los recursos intangibles en la gestión de este proceso. Los trabajos coinciden en señalar la necesidad de continuar las investigaciones acerca de este proceso, pormenorizando en aspectos relacionados con la aparición de nuevos modelos de negocio relacionados con la servitización y los mayores niveles de rendimiento obtenidos con la correcta gestión de intangibles. En la medida en que el proceso de servitización está afectando a la mayoría de países industrializados, y ante la constatación de la obtención de ventajas competitivas a partir de la gestión de servicios, creemos que este fenómeno de la servitización constituirá un área de gran interés académico para investigaciones futurasPeer Reviewe

Testing service infusion in manufacturing through machine learning techniques:Looking back and forward

PurposeResponding to calls for deeper analysis of the conceptual foundations of service infusion in manufacturing, this paper examines the underlying assumptions that: (i) manufacturing firms incorporating services follow a pathway, moving from pure-product to pure-service offerings, and (ii) profits increase linearly with this process. We propose that these assumptions are inconsistent with the premises of behavioural and learning theories.Design/methodology/approachMachine learning algorithms are applied to test whether a successive process, from a basic to a more advanced offering, creates optimal performance. The data were gathered through two surveys administered to USA manufacturing firms in 2021 and 2023. The first included a training sample comprising 225 firms, whilst the second encompassed a testing sample of 105 firms.FindingsAnalysis shows that following the base-intermediate-advanced services pathway is not the best predictor of optimal performance. Developing advanced services and then later adding less complex offerings supports better performance.Practical implicationsManufacturing firms follow heterogeneous pathways in their service development journey. Non-servitised firms need to carefully consider their contextual conditions when selecting their initial service offering. Starting with a single service offering appears to be a superior strategy over providing multiple services.Originality/valueThe machine learning approach is novel to the field and captures the key conditions for manufacturers to successfully servitise. Insight is derived from the adoption and implementation year datasets for 17 types of services described in previous qualitative studies. The methods proposed can be extended to assess other process-based models in related management fields (e.g., sand cone)

How does music as a digital service affect consumerattitude and behaviour?

Digital technologies allow users to share files, which in some circumstances violates property rights and constitutes consumer misbehaviour. This form of behaviour, often called piracy, is cited as causing revenue loss to the creative industries. Existing empirical evidence is silent on consumer’s individual beliefs and their attitudes towards copyright infringement. A new concept dubbed the ‘Robin Hood’ tendency is developed as a quantitative measure of consumer belief that illegally copying and distributing digital resource is a legitimate form of behaviour. Analytical applications are developed which exploit a unique dataset comprising 18,000 data points for music consumers from ten countries. Results show that digital markets suffer from consumers who demonstrate the Robin Hood tendency and identifies that countries with strong institutions have fewer consumers with this attitude. Furthermore, evidence suggests that copyright law enforcement should be coupled with efforts to educate consumers as to the effect their misbehaviour has content creators

HRM algorithms:Moderating the relationship between chaotic markets and strategic renewal

HRM algorithms can profoundly impact organizations in the digital economy era. In the face of turbulent and complex market conditions, strategic renewal is regarded as one of the most important organizational mechanisms for dealing with market uncertainty and a turbulent environment. However, the existing research remains elusive about the relationship between market-level conditions and firm-level strategic renewal. Our paper addresses this important gap by examining the potential enhancement of agile strategic renewal in high-uncertainty environments through the implementation of HRM algorithms. Drawing on Chaos Theory, we argue that HRM algorithms have the potential to support the self-organization capacity of a workforce, supporting better alignment with changing environments. Using covariance-based structural equation modelling on a survey of over 500 Spanish firms, our findings provide partial support for the modelled hypotheses by showing that the use of HRM algorithms positively moderates the relationship between market turbulence and strategic renewal, but does not appear to moderate the relationship between market complexity and strategic renewal. The study contributes to our understanding of the importance of adopting internal business analytics systems to stimulate agility and align the workforce more effectively with changing environments, but also highlights their less substantive role in deciphering complex external factors.</p

Music business models and piracy

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the scale of illegal file-sharing activity across ten countries and to correlate this activity with country revenues. The work aims to elucidate an under-explored business model challenge which exists in parallel with a music piracy challenge. The study data are drawn from a number of sources, including a data set of a survey of more than 44,000 consumers in ten different countries undertaken in 2010. Following analysis, all findings are validated by a panel of industry experts. Results show that non-legitimate file-sharing activity is a heterogeneous issue across countries. The scale of activity varies from 14 per cent in Germany to 44 per cent in Spain, with an average of 28 per cent. File-sharing activity negatively correlates to music industry revenue per capita. This research finds many consumers are not engaging with online business models. Almost one fourth of the population claim that they do not consume digital music in either legal or illegal forms. This phenomenon is also negatively correlated with sales per capita. Results support the need for policy makers to introduce strong intellectual property rights (IPR) regulation which reduces file-sharing activity. The work also identifies a large percentage of non-participants in the digital market who may be re-engaged with music through business model innovation. This research presents a map of the current file-sharing activity in ten countries using a rich and unique dataset. The work identifies that a country's legal origin correlates to data on file-sharing activity, with countries from a German legal origin illegally file sharing least. Approximately, half of the survey respondents chose not to answer the question related to file-sharing activity. Different estimates of the true scale of file-sharing activity are given based upon three different assumptions of the file sharing activity of non-respondents to this question. The challenge of engaging consumers in the digital market through different business models is discussed in light of digital music's high velocity environment. © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved