IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/techno/v127y2023ics0166497223001608.html

Greening as a competitiveness optimizer of servitization

Author

Listed:
  • Lafuente, Esteban
  • Vaillant, Yancy

Abstract

Servitizing firms are increasingly pressured by internal, political and market forces to adopt a parallel green strategy in the hopes of optimizing their competitive response to evolving market demands. But servitization and greening potentially represent divergent shifts in companies' operations and product/service offerings. This study aims to determine whether firms should implement a green investment strategy when already pursuing a complex strategic path of servitization. The study uses the non-parametric ‘benefit-of-the-doubt’ method to compare the competitive efficiency of firms implementing servitized versus non-servitized strategies, and between firms with and without green investment strategies. The study finds that firms pursuing both servitization and a green strategy had higher levels of competitive efficiency compared to those pursuing only one strategy or none at all. The results suggest that the combination of these two strategies generates competitive synergies that optimize overall competitive performance, contradicting the theoretical principles of the resource-based view and complexity perspectives. This result was found to be consistent throughout all analyzed OECD countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Lafuente, Esteban & Vaillant, Yancy, 2023. "Greening as a competitiveness optimizer of servitization," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:techno:v:127:y:2023:i:c:s0166497223001608
    DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102849
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497223001608
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102849?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yancy Vaillant, 2022. "Allocation of entrepreneurial and innovative talent: An economic model based on institutionally-driven relative rewards," TEC Empresarial, School of Business, Costa Rica Institute of Technology (ITCR), vol. 16(3), pages 1-15.
    2. Lovell, C. A. Knox & Pastor, Jesus T., 1999. "Radial DEA models without inputs or without outputs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 46-51, October.
    3. Baines, Tim & Ziaee Bigdeli, Ali & Sousa, Rui & Schroeder, Andreas, 2020. "Framing the servitization transformation process: A model to understand and facilitate the servitization journey," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    4. Suyen Alonso & Juan Carlos Leiva, 2019. "Business competitiveness in Costa Rica: a multidimensional approach," TEC Empresarial, School of Business, Costa Rica Institute of Technology (ITCR), vol. 13(3), pages 28-41.
    5. Christoph Zott & Raphael Amit, 2008. "The fit between product market strategy and business model: implications for firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 1-26, January.
    6. Christine Oliver, 1997. "Sustainable competitive advantage: combining institutional and resource‐based views," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(9), pages 697-713, October.
    7. Koen Decancq & María Ana Lugo, 2013. "Weights in Multidimensional Indices of Wellbeing: An Overview," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 7-34, January.
    8. Sahoo, Biresh K. & Singh, Ramadhar & Mishra, Bineet & Sankaran, Krithiga, 2017. "Research productivity in management schools of India during 1968-2015: A directional benefit-of-doubt model analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 66(PA), pages 118-139.
    9. Khanra, Sayantan & Dhir, Amandeep & Parida, Vinit & Kohtamäki, Marko, 2021. "Servitization research: A review and bibliometric analysis of past achievements and future promises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 151-166.
    10. Vaillant, Yancy & Lafuente, Esteban & Vendrell-Herrero, Ferran, 2023. "Assessment of industrial pre-determinants for territories with active product-service innovation ecosystems," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    11. Cook, Wade D. & Tone, Kaoru & Zhu, Joe, 2014. "Data envelopment analysis: Prior to choosing a model," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-4.
    12. Jovanovic, Marin & Sjödin, David & Parida, Vinit, 2022. "Co-evolution of platform architecture, platform services, and platform governance: Expanding the platform value of industrial digital platforms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    13. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2006. "In Search of Complementarity in Innovation Strategy: Internal R& D and External Knowledge Acquisition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 68-82, January.
    14. Kohtamäki, Marko & Einola, Suvi & Rabetino, Rodrigo, 2020. "Exploring servitization through the paradox lens: Coping practices in servitization," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    15. Erika Sofía Olaya-Escobar & Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent & Oscar Germán Duarte-Velasco, 2021. "What drives researchers to engage in R&D contracts?," TEC Empresarial, School of Business, Costa Rica Institute of Technology (ITCR), vol. 15(3), pages 18-36.
    16. Lafuente, Esteban & Vaillant, Yancy & Rabetino, Rodrigo, 2023. "Digital disruption of optimal co-innovation configurations," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chowdhury, Soumyadeb & Ren, Shuang & Richey, Robert Glenn, 2025. "Leveraging artificial intelligence to facilitate green servitization: Resource orchestration and Re-institutionalization perspectives," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    2. Hendri Ginting & Hamidah Nayati Utami & Riyadi Riyadi & Benny Hutahayan, 2025. "Exploring the Impact of Servitization and Digitalization on Firm Competitiveness and Performance: The Moderating Role of Government Support," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-28, September.
    3. Lafuente, Esteban & Sallan, Jose M., 2024. "Digitally powered solution delivery: The use of IoT and AI for transitioning towards a solution business model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lafuente, Esteban & Vaillant, Yancy & Rabetino, Rodrigo, 2023. "Digital disruption of optimal co-innovation configurations," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    2. Lafuente, Esteban & Araya, Manuel & Leiva, Juan Carlos, 2022. "Assessment of local competitiveness: A composite indicator analysis of Costa Rican counties using the ‘Benefit of the Doubt’ model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Lafuente, Esteban & Ács, Zoltán J. & Szerb, László, 2022. "A composite indicator analysis for optimizing entrepreneurial ecosystems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    4. Lerch, Christian M. & Horvat, Djerdj & Jasny, Johannes, 2024. "When manufacturers turn into digital platform providers: A transformation model to understand the platformization pathway," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    5. Bustinza, Oscar F. & Opazo-Basaez, Marco & Tarba, Shlomo, 2022. "Exploring the interplay between Smart Manufacturing and KIBS firms in configuring product-service innovation performance," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    6. Benoit, Sabine & Merfeld, Katrin & Tunn, Vivian S.C. & Schaefers, Tobias & Andreassen, Tor Wallin, 2025. "The B2B sharing economy: Framework, implications, and future research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Tüselmann, Heinz & Sinkovics, Rudolf R. & Pishchulov, Grigory, 2016. "Revisiting the standing of international business journals in the competitive landscape," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 487-498.
    8. Giuseppe Coco & Raffaele Lagravinese & Giuliano Resce, 2020. "Beyond the weights: a multicriteria approach to evaluate inequality in education," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(4), pages 469-489, December.
    9. Ennen, Edgar & Richter, Ansgar, 2009. "The Whole Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts - Or Is It? A Review of the Empirical Literature on Complementarities in Organizations," MPRA Paper 15666, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Weiyu Wang & Maria João Guedes, 2025. "Timing and experience in global markets: unraveling the impact of servitization on new manufacturing venture survival," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-27, December.
    11. Alkaraan, Fadi & Elmarzouky, Mahmoud & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose & Gulko, Nadia, 2025. "Maximising sustainable performance: Integrating servitisation innovation into green sustainable supply chain management under the influence of governance and Industry 4.0," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    12. Francisco Javier Blancas & Ignacio Contreras, 2025. "Global SDG composite indicator: A new methodological proposal that combines compensatory and non‐compensatory aggregations," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 158-176, February.
    13. Yong Chen & Zhengjie Wu & Wenchao Yi & Bingjia Wang & Jianhua Yao & Zhi Pei & Jiaoliao Chen, 2022. "Bibliometric Method for Manufacturing Servitization: A Review and Future Research Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-26, July.
    14. Tüselmann, Heinz & Sinkovics, Rudolf R. & Pishchulov, Grigory, 2015. "Towards a consolidation of worldwide journal rankings – A classification using random forests and aggregate rating via data envelopment analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 11-23.
    15. Juan Aparicio & Magdalena Kapelko, 2019. "Enhancing the Measurement of Composite Indicators of Corporate Social Performance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 807-826, July.
    16. Kohtamäki, Marko & Brekke, Thomas & Naeem, Rimsha & Sjödin, David & Parida, Vinit, 2025. "Managerial practices shaping the transformation towards artificial intelligence-enabled product–service systems," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    17. Jia, Yibo & Cui, Li & Su, Jingqin & Wu, Lin & Akter, Shahriar & Kumar, Ajay, 2024. "Digital servitization in digital enterprise: Leveraging digital platform capabilities to unlock data value," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    18. Bilgili, Tsvetomira V. & Kedia, Ben L. & Bilgili, Hansin, 2016. "Exploring the influence of resource environments on absorptive capacity development: The case of emerging market firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 700-712.
    19. Kapoor, Kawaljeet & Bigdeli, Ali Ziaee & Schroeder, Andreas & Baines, Tim, 2022. "A platform ecosystem view of servitization in manufacturing," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    20. Filosa, Clara & Jovanovic, Marin & Agostini, Lara & Nosella, Anna, 2025. "Pivoting B2B platform business models: From platform experimentation to multi-platform integration to ecosystem envelopment," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C6 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:techno:v:127:y:2023:i:c:s0166497223001608. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01664972 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.