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Unraveling the practices of "productization" in professional service firms

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  • Jaakkola, Elina

Abstract

Summary This paper studies the practices of "service productization" by analyzing the discourse used by practitioners in small professional service firms. The study makes a contribution by describing practices that managers draw upon to cope with the abstract, elusive nature of the professional service, and by discussing the relationship between the marketing discourse operating in organizations and academic discourse in service marketing, which has seldom been empirically studied. The constitution of three productizing practices is described: (1) specifying and standardizing the service offering, (2) tangibilizing and concretizing the service offering and professional expertise, and (3) systemizing and standardizing processes and methods. It is concluded that managers draw on productization practices to translate the abstract service and its creation into exchangeable objects and controllable processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaakkola, Elina, 2011. "Unraveling the practices of "productization" in professional service firms," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 221-230, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:scaman:v:27:y:2011:i:2:p:221-230
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nikolova, Natalia & Reihlen, Markus & Schlapfner, Jan-Florian, 2009. "Client-consultant interaction: Capturing social practices of professional service production," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 289-298, September.
    2. Sundbo, Jon, 1994. "Modulization of service production and a thesis of convergence between service and manufacturing organizations," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 245-266, September.
    3. Dubois, Anna & Gadde, Lars-Erik, 2002. "Systematic combining: an abductive approach to case research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 553-560, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Harkonen, Janne & Haapasalo, Harri & Hanninen, Kai, 2015. "Productisation: A review and research agenda," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 65-82.
    2. Lehrer, Mark & Banerjee, Preeta M. & Wang, I. Kim, 2017. "When the sky is the limit on scale: From temporal to multiplicative scaling in process-based technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 151-159.
    3. repec:tkp:ijsrsy:v:2:y:2012:i:2:p:109-130 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Janne Harkonen & Harri Haapasalo & Kai Hanninen, 2013. "Productisation: A Literature Review," Diversity, Technology, and Innovation for Operational Competitiveness: Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Technology Innovation and Industrial Management,, ToKnowPress.
    5. Nikolaus Kangas & Hanna Kropsu-Vehkapera & Harri Haapasalo & Tuomo Kinnunen, 2013. "Empirical Aspects on Defining Product Data for Rapid Productisation," International Journal of Synergy and Research, ToKnowPress, vol. 2(2), pages 109-130.
    6. Börjeson, Love & Löwstedt, Jan, 2017. "Accomplish change or causing hesitance – Developing practices in professional service firms," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 185-194.

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