Investigating a revised service transition concept

This paper seeks empirical validation of a revised conceptual framework of ‘service transition’ that re-interprets the adoption of advanced services by manufacturing firms as a progressive expansion, rather than a shift or migration, of the offering. Using cluster analysis and logistic regression, three groups of firms are identified with respect to the offering of four categories of services, ranging from basic to highly advanced services. Results indicate that advanced services predominantly complement, rather than replace, basic or less advanced services, supporting the revised conceptual framework. In doing so, the paper responds to the call for empirical research that quantitatively validates the conceptual foundations of the field of servitization. Nevertheless, the clusters identified provide a reference scheme to scrutinise potential synergies between sets of services that can complement and leverage each other.