Priorities when looking for servitization in the mechanical engineering industry

The necessity of a holistic framework for servitization and the discussion and classification of the associated measures for the development of a servitization strategy to expand the business areas in mechanical engineering is implicit. This is particularly relevant as servitization must take into account both business models (BM) and organizational change. This paper, therefore, sets out to investigate crucial measures, to implement a servitization strategy, ranked by their importance of implementation. The design of the research is twofold, consisting of a data gathering and data analysis step. While the first-mentioned was carried out through systematic literature research, the second part focused on analysing gathered information, including ranking the conclusions drawn. This was achieved through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). AHP is one of the most comprehensive frameworks that is seen as decision making for several criteria. The method makes it possible to consider the problem both quantitatively and qualitatively. This p+aper suggests that at the beginning of the process of servitization, the focus has to be set on a major change in the mindset of the workforce and the organizational culture to succeed with the servitization model. Besides, significant investments must be made in infrastructure and resources to enable services at all. Defining the services offered is of mediocre importance. Adapting existing processes away from a product-centric view towards a service-oriented view is, in this case, indispensable, but not of the highest relevance. Evidently, the evaluation of services is of less importance during the implementation of servitization. Since the paper is primarily based on literature research and subsequent analytical comparison through the AHP, further research is necessary to extend and validate the framework and measures found. The paper tackles a business problem which importance will continue to increase in the next years, as there will be a need to develop existing strategies towards more service-centric business models: Differentiating oneself from competition and expanding the range of services and products contributes significantly to the long-term survival of companies which is driven by growth and sustainability.