ADOPTING A SERVICE LOGIC IN MANUFACTURING: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION AND METRICS FOR MUTUAL VALUE CREATION *

Christian Grönroos, Hanken School of Economics Finland
Pekka Helle, Hanken School of Economics Finland

This article offers an answer to the call for understanding how product manufacturers can move onto a new level of competitive advantage by adopting a service perspective (logic), and for the development of metrics that enhances marketing accountability. The article takes the stance that developing industrial services into a separate business is not enough, but in order to take a quantum leap the whole business should be transformed into a service business. In order to make such a transformation process possible and the outcome of it measurable, the article develops a number of constructs:

Practice matching (enabling the creation of a foundation of service-based business                   engagement)

Mutual value creation and value sharing (enabling the understanding of how                               mutual gains in the engagement can be created and shared between the parties)

Joint productivity and joint productivity gain (enabling measurement of                                         incremental value reciprocally created between the parties)

Metrics are developed and tested in a longitudinal empirical study.

 

This research has been published in the Journal of Service Management, (21)5:564-590