The externalisation of services and the adoption of service logic are topics that have received increasing attention recently, both among academics and practitioners. Whereas the adoption of service logic is associated with approaching the customer through various sorts of services and solutions, the externalisation essentially means leaving part of the customer interface to an external firm. However, empirical research focusing on such externalisation projects is lacking. This thesis addresses this gap by exploring problems encountered during the externalisation of basic product services at an industrial firm that is also adopting service logic. The thesis integrates several cross-sectional, retrospective, and longitudinal case studies. The studies were conducted at different point in time over more than three years at SysCo – the fictitious name of an industrial firm adopting service logic and externalising basic services, and also the employer of the author of this thesis at the time of the study and many years before. The thesis consists of five papers and an integrated synthesis, discussion and extension. One conclusion of the research is that unless the change approach and the problems encountered during the externalisation are taken seriously, the externalisation may be difficult to effectuate. A fundamental reason for this is that the simultaneous and complex adoption of service logic influences the externalisation and makes it more difficult to plan and carry out in a linear and top-down manner. The thesis contributes with knowledge about externalisation problems and their sources. Externalising services may be likened with walking a tightrope between industrial and service logics. The thesis contains advice that may guide managers responsible for such balancing acts. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005

The purpose of this master thesis is to use marketing theory on the library’s activities. The marketing theory used is the 4Ps; product, price, promotion and place, as it's presented by Philip Kotler. Because the library can be seen as a service oriented organization Christian Gronroos theory of marketing in the service industry also has been used. A case study of the public library in Broby was made to illustrate how the public libraries’ activities can appear in the light of marketing theory. The library went through a dynamic development during the case study, due to the fact that the library moved to a new location. The staff and their manager are aware of that they work in a certain context. Their target groups have special needs and the groups get their information from certain places which the library take advantage of. They also use the institutional channels in the public sector such as the public schools to get their message out. According to marketing theory the context is essential to be able to adapt the products you promote and how you do it. Price has long not been an issue for the libraries’ services but price can also be non-monetary. Its important to know what this price consist of to be able to lower it. It might also depend on the context. The staff believes in the importance of the services that the library provide to the community and promote it to their users. But the employees feel that there is a misconceptions of the  library as a collection of books, which they want to change. Because the library offer intangible goods, services, it is hard to change, because the most tangible the library offers are the books. To be able to grasp the service the user therefore focus on these. To get away from this the library can materialize the library’s services in other ways which takes the focus away from the books.