235 research outputs found
Servitization and operations management: a service-dominant logic approach
Authors' pre-print draft; earlier version issued as working paper. Final version published in International Journal of Operations & Production Management. Available online at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/The accepted author manuscript version is in ORE: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/31585Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide further insight into operations management of the
product-service (P-S) transition, known as servitization, and the resulting product service system (PSS)
offerings. In exploring the P-S transition, this paper adopts a service-dominant (S-D) logic view of
value creation, using it as a lens through which to explore value propositions of the P-S transition and
their operations design.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents an in-depth case study of an original
equipment manufacturer of durable capital equipment who, over the last five years, has expanded its
offerings to include use- and result-orientated PSS. The research design uses a multi-method approach;
employing 28 in-depth qualitative interviews with customers and employees and analysis of texts,
documents and secondary data including five years of enterprise resource planning (ERP), call centre
and contract data.
Findings – The paper identifies ten generic P-S attributes that are abstracted into four nested value
propositions: asset value proposition; recovery value proposition; availability value proposition; and
outcome value proposition. In examining the operations design for delivery of these value
propositions, it is found that the role and importance of contextual variety increases as the
organisation moves through the value propositions. Interdependencies amongst the value propositions
and differences in operational design for each value proposition are also found.
Research limitations/implications – The paper investigates PSS through a S-D logic mindset.
First, the paper considers value propositions of PSS not according to “product” or “service” but in
terms of how resources (both material and human) are optimally designed to co-create customer value.
Second, a value co-creation system of nested value propositions is illustrated. In so doing, the findings
have a number of implications for literature on both PSS and S-D logic. In addition, the research adds
to the PSS literature through the identification and consideration of the concept of contextual use
variety.
Practical implications – The paper demonstrates the complexity of the transition from product to
service. Specifically, service cannot be seen as a bolt-on extra to their product offering; complexity
caused by interactions and changes to the core offering require a systems perspective and
consideration of both firm and customer skills and resources.
Originality/value – This paper extends existing literature on the P-S transition and its implications
for operations management. Notably, it takes an S-D logic perspective of value creation and in so doing
highlights the importance and role of contextual use variety in the P-S transition. It also provides
further empirical evidence that the P-S transition cannot be treated as discrete stages but is
evolutionary and requires a complex systems perspectiv
The Energy Density of "Wound" Fields in a Toroidal Universe
The observational limits on the present energy density of the Universe allow
for a component that redshifts like and can contribute significantly to
the total. We show that a possible origin for such a contribution is that the
universe has a toroidal topology with "wound" scalar fields around its cycles.Comment: 11 pages, 1figur
Phantom Field with O(N) Symmetry in Exponential Potential
In this paper, we study the phase space of phantom model with O(\emph{N})
symmetry in exponential potential. Different from the model without O(\emph{N})
symmetry, the introduction of the symmetry leads to a lower bound on the
equation of state for the existence of stable phantom dominated attractor
phase. The reconstruction relation between the potential of O(\textit{N})
phantom system and red shift has been derived.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, replaced with the version to appear on Phys. Rev.
Chaotic scalar fields as models for dark energy
We consider stochastically quantized self-interacting scalar fields as
suitable models to generate dark energy in the universe. Second quantization
effects lead to new and unexpected phenomena is the self interaction strength
is strong. The stochastically quantized dynamics can degenerate to a chaotic
dynamics conjugated to a Bernoulli shift in fictitious time, and the right
amount of vacuum energy density can be generated without fine tuning. It is
numerically observed that the scalar field dynamics distinguishes fundamental
parameters such as the electroweak and strong coupling constants as
corresponding to local minima in the dark energy landscape. Chaotic fields can
offer possible solutions to the cosmological coincidence problem, as well as to
the problem of uniqueness of vacua.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures. Replaced by final version accepted by Phys. Rev.
Systematic Study of Fermion Masses and Mixing Angles in Horizontal SU(2) Gauge Theory
Despite its great success in explaining the basic interactions of nature, the
standard model suffers from an inability to explain the observed masses of the
fundamental particles and the weak mixing angles between them. We shall survey
a set of possible extensions to the standard model, employing an SU(2)
``horizontal'' gauge symmetry between the particle generations, to see what
light they can shed on this problem.Comment: 43 pages, 4 figures (available by postal mail on request), OZ-92/0
Dark energy from conformal symmetry breaking
The breakdown of conformal symmetry in a conformally invariant scalar-tensor
gravitational model is revisited in the cosmological context. Although the old
scenario of conformal symmetry breaking in cosmology containing scalar field
has already been used in many earlier works, it seems that no special attention
has been paid for the investigation on the possible connection between the
breakdown of conformal symmetry and the existence of dark energy. In this
paper, it is shown that the old scenario of conformal symmetry breaking in
cosmology, if properly interpreted, not only has a potential ability to
describe the origin of dark energy as a symmetry breaking effect, but also may
resolve the coincidence problem.Comment: 11 pages, minor revision, published online in EPJ
An accelerated closed universe
We study a model in which a closed universe with dust and quintessence matter
components may look like an accelerated flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW)
universe at low redshifts. Several quantities relevant to the model are
expressed in terms of observed density parameters, and
, and of the associated density parameter related
to the quintessence scalar field .Comment: 11 pages. For a festschrift honoring Alberto Garcia. To appear in
Gen. Rel. Gra
Cosmic coincidence problem and variable constants of physics
The standard model of cosmology is investigated using time dependent
cosmological constant and Newton's gravitational constant . The
total energy content is described by the modified Chaplygin gas equation of
state. It is found that the time dependent constants coupled with the modified
Chaplygin gas interpolate between the earlier matter to the later dark energy
dominated phase of the universe. We also achieve a convergence of parameter
, with minute fluctuations, showing an evolving . Thus our
model fairly alleviates the cosmic coincidence problem which demands
at present time.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figure
Potential-density pairs for axisymmetric galaxies: the influence of scalar fields
We present a formulation for potential-density pairs to describe axisymmetric
galaxies in the Newtonian limit of scalar-tensor theories of gravity. The
scalar field is described by a modified Helmholtz equation with a source that
is coupled to the standard Poisson equation of Newtonian gravity. The net
gravitational force is given by two contributions: the standard Newtonian
potential plus a term stemming from massive scalar fields. General solutions
have been found for axisymmetric systems and the multipole expansion of the
Yukawa potential is given. In particular, we have computed potential-density
pairs of galactic disks for an exponential profile and their rotation curves.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, corrected version to the one that will appear in
Gen. Relativ. Gravit., where a small typo in eq. (13) is presen
Interacting Three Fluid System and Thermodynamics of the Universe Bounded by the Event Horizon
The work deals with the thermodynamics of the universe bounded by the event
horizon. The matter in the universe has three constituents namely dark energy,
dark matter and radiation in nature and interaction between then is assumed.
The variation of entropy of the surface of the horizon is obtained from unified
first law while matter entropy variation is calculated from the Gibbss' law.
Finally, validity of the generalized second law of thermodynamics is examined
and conclusions are written point wise.Comment: 7 page
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