Bootstrapping Product-Service Business: An Experimental Data-Driven Approach

Digital servitization is gradually having the operational impacts in conventional B2B manufacturing firms, because the firms’ operational focus needs to move towards product-service excellence. In this particular scenario, practitioners experience the causality dilemma and are often trapped in so-called servitization paradox. This experimental study intends to demonstrate how to overcome such dilemma. A data-driven approach is used to provide solid evidences about business potentials to be considered when taking on further operational actions. Design science research method is used to develop a product-service platform. Taking with the service-dominant (S-D) logic thinking, we consolidate the heterogeneous data, from the internal ERP system and the external Internet of Things/Internet of Services platforms. The intention is to promote product-service thinking cross the organization through this platform and recognize value-adding tasks to pursue product-service business goals. Our approach was tested with industrial data from a Danish manufacturing firm.