Treble innovation firms: Antecedents, outcomes, and enhancing factors

Drawing on the interplay between strategic ambidexterity, resource-based view, and digital servitization, we conceptualize how the rise of digitalization and service business models in industrial settings have materialized in a distinctive category of innovation-oriented manufacturing firms, labeled as treble innovation firms. We propose that said firms are characterized by simultaneously developing the three types of technological innovation —process, product, and digital service. We use a random and representative survey of 423 Spanish manufacturing firms to analyze antecedents, outcomes, and enhancers of digital service innovation adoption in firms that already possess process and product innovations (i.e., dual innovation firms). We report several findings. First, treble innovation firms epitomize the new norm (rather than the exception), representing 21.7% of all manufacturing firms. Second, product leadership and open innovation breadth increase the probability that dual innovation firms implement digital service innovation. Third, treble innovation firms achieve considerably greater profit margins than dual innovation firms. Finally, treble innovation firms can enhance said profit advantage by adopting resource retrenchment and value migration practices.Spanish GovernmentGovernment of Andalusia A-SEJ-196-UGR20Portuguese Foundation for Science and TechnologyEuropean Commission UID/ECO/00124/2013 LISBOA-01-0145FEDER007722Social Sciences Data Lab 2220

FDI, service intensity, and international marketing agility

This paper aims 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. Two disaggregated Chinese datasets, the Annual Survey of Industrial Enterprises (ASIE) 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. This study makes three theoretical contributions by (1) clarifying the concept of international marketing agility as an organizational capability generated by manufacturing standardization and service customization; (2) investigating the influence of upstream FDI intensity for export quality while taking into account the industry contexts; and (3) obtaining an enhanced understanding of the service intensity of manufacturing firms on export quality

Services in European manufacturing: servinomics explained

Retrieved from: http://bruegel.org/2016/03/services-in-european-manufacturing-servinomics-explained/Making the manufacturing sector more competitive is vital to restore economic growth in Europe. Changing business models to sell services as well as products can provide useful revenue to manufacturers.We thank Andrea Ariu (University of Geneva), IvankaVisjnic (ESADE Business School) and Guntram Wolff for providing comments on early versions of this post. Oscar F. Bustinza and FerranVendrell-Herrero form part of the Horizon 2020- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project called MAKERS: Smart Manufacturing for EU Growth and Prosperity

Treble Innovation Firms: opening innovation frontiers in manufacturing

Manufacturing firms can develop three forms of innovation: product, process, and service. Previous research has mostly analysed service innovation in isolation, whilst this study aims at comparing profit position of firms adopting simultaneously all technological innovations (treble innovation firms). Based on the Resource-Based View (RBV) premises, we argue that treble innovation firms can build on innovation cross-fertilization to develop valuable, rare and inimitable resources that translates in to a higher profitability. Furthermore, consistently with RBV, we also expect treble innovation firms to benefit more from open innovation because they can save considerably more in internal R&D development whilst keeping a differentiated offer. We test our hypotheses on a random and representative survey to 423 Spanish manufacturing firms, for which 22% are treble innovators. Our results support our hypotheses. Hence, we find causal evidence supporting that treble innovation firms obtain supernormal profits. Our results also confirm that open innovation positively moderates the relationship between treble innovation firms and performance, but this moderation is significant only when internal R&D expenditures are low

Service Implementation in manufacturing firms: Strategy, economics and practice

This special issue of International Journal of Production Economics therefore invites contributions in the broad field of servitization with a particular focus on service strategy implementation and its economic evaluation. The guest editors seek submissions with an original perspective and advanced thinking on the topics proposed above and related issues

Unpacking the relationship between digital capabilities, services capabilities, and firm financial performance: A moderated mediation model

Extant research exploring the relationship between servitization, digitalization, and firm financial and market performance provides valuable insights, but yields inconsistent and inconclusive results. This study argues that these inconsistencies arise from the ambiguous nature of servitization. Prior research have operationalized servitization as a business model (service type) or a set of service capabilities, treating these distinct constructs interchangeably. This study, therefore, advanced the proposition that both service capabilities and service type need to be incorporated into an integrated framework. To test this, the research develops and empirically validates a moderated-mediation model for the relationship between digitalization, service type (moderator), service capabilities (mediator) and firm financial and market performance using data from 204 manufacturing firms. The results indicate that service capabilities positively mediate the relationship between digitalization and firm financial and market performance. The moderating effect of the service type on service capabilities and firm financial and market performance are more pronounced for services supporting customers than services supporting products. The findings underline the imperative for manufacturers to develop their digital capabilities to enhance their service capabilities, irrespective of the type of services they offered. The findings contribute by enriching our understanding of the relationship between servitization, digitalization and firm performance.Engineering and Physical Science Research Council through the Digitally Enhanced Advanced Services NetworkPlus funded by grant ref. EP/R044937/

Servitization: allowing better solution delivery and performance for manufacturers of longer lifespan products

Manufacturers are shifting the traditional transactional paradigm by delivering customizedsolutions in a process known as servitization. This study proposes that the competitiveperformance of servitization is higher for firms selling long-lifespan products as they enablebetter customization cost recovery. To test this hypothesis, we analyse the moderating role ofproduct lifespan on the servitization-performance relationship. Through merging a uniquesurvey of Manufacturing Multinational Enterprises (MMNEs) and the Lifespan Database forVehicles, Equipment and Structures (LiVES) a unique sample is created. Analysis of the datashows a positive relationship between servitization and performance. This relationship becomessignificantly stronger for MMNES that sell long-lifespan products. Our findings are robust forcorrelation, regression and structural equation modelling analyses. This study explains whyservitization boosts performance in some industries but has a neutral effect on others. Byincluding product lifespan in the equation, we improve understanding of why servitization is anexcellent mechanism for asset management in industrial relationships

Six Sigma: From a goal-theoretic perspective to shared-vision development

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend understanding of the success of Six Sigma quality management initiative by investigating the effects of Six Sigma teamwork and statistical process control (SPC) on organizational shared vision.Design/methodology/approach: The information used comes from a larger study, the data for which were collected from a random sample of 237 European firms. Of these 237 organizations, 58 are Six Sigma organizations. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.Findings: The main findings show that Six Sigma teamwork and SPC positively affect the development of organizational shared vision. A positive but not significant influence is also observed between shared vision and organizational performance.Research limitations/implications: Positive effects found in this study should be investigated further employing a larger sample of Six Sigma firms and including other variables such as organizational learning. Further, the effects of these variables on performance should be measured with real results from firms to test possible direct and indirect influence on performance.Practical implications: The findings of this study offer a justification of Six Sigma implementation in firms. This study provides us with an in-depth understanding of some structural elements that characterize the Six Sigma methodology, enabling us to provide an explanation for its success.Originality/value: There is little empirical research on the positive effects of Six Sigma implementation and even less that explains the success of Six Sigma initiatives. Our paper contributes to filling this gap. It also contributes to emerging literature on how the development of shared vision affects organizational performance