Over the last decades, studies have found that transformational drivers affect how firms innovate their business models (Chesbrough, 2010; Massa et al., 2016). In markets in which physical products become commodities, the servitization of business models is a transformational driver for firms (Wise & Baumgartner, 1999). For its part, digitalization increases the potential to reshape business models through novel use cases of technology (Yoo et al., 2010). Recently, digitalization was found to extend the opportunities from servitization through digital technologies as digital servitization (Paschou et al., 2020). Digital servitization describes a firm’s shift from product-centric offerings to service-centric offerings with the help of novel IT assets (Naik et al., 2020). The manufacturing industry provides promising examples of firms with portfolios of physical offerings that might undergo such a transformational shift (Baines et al., 2017).
So far, digital servitization research focuses primarily on four topics: re-defining the notion of servitization in the context of digitalization, identifying digital servitization value drivers, linking the transformation to specific technologies, and deriving how novel service offerings arise (Paschou et al., 2020; Zhou & Song, 2021).
Despite the breadth of digital servitization research, how firms can shift to service-centric offerings remains unclear (Kohtamäki et al., 2019). Specifically, research lacks studies on the prerequisites and mechanisms that link theory with evidence on achieving IT-enabled service innovation (Paschou et al., 2020). Further, how firms must organize to build and operate IT-enabled services around these technologies remains unclear (Paschou et al., 2020). In a recent report on the manufacturing industry, practitioners confirm these gaps and associate them with a lack of managerial and technical knowledge (Illner et al., 2020).
A theoretical lens that helps to address these shortcomings is the knowledge-based theory. It suggests that knowledge is the primary rationale, so that a firm benefits from its assets (Grant, 1996b; Nonaka, 1994). The knowledge-based theory understands a capability as a directed application of knowledge in a firm’s activities (Grant, 1996b; Nonaka, 1994). In the context of digitalization, firms require IT capabilities based on knowledge of how to capitalize on IT assets (Lee et al., 2015). Digital servitization research finds that IT capabilities are critical for identifying, adapting, and exploiting IT-enabled service innovations (Johansson et al., 2019). Still, little extant research informs firms that undergo digital servitization about which IT capabilities can help to strengthen their competitive advantage (Coreynen et al., 2017).
Even though IT capabilities may be necessary for success in innovating IT-enabled services, the required knowledge needs to be disseminated effectively throughout an organization (Foss et al., 2014; Grant, 1996a; Nonaka, 1994). The organizational control theory offers a theoretical perspective about knowledge dissemination mechanisms, which can be horizontal or vertical (Ouchi, 1979). Horizontal knowledge dissemination mechanisms depend on codifying processes in rules or measuring process outputs through indicators, while the locus of exerting these rules and indicators determines the vertical knowledge dissemination. The IT innovation and IT governance literature refers to these knowledge dissemination mechanisms as formalization of IT activities and centralization of IT decision-making (Weill, 2004; Winkler & Brown, 2013; Zmud, 1982). However, how to orchestrate knowledge, particularly for IT capabilities, in firms that undergo digital servitization is not yet clear (Kohtamäki et al., 2019; Münch et al., 2022; Sjödin et al., 2020).
Against this background, this dissertation addresses how manufacturers organize their IT capabilities while encountering the transformational drivers of digital servitization by answering the following overarching research question:
How can manufacturers organize their IT capabilities to capitalize on digital servitization? (References to be found in the full text):List of abbreviations in synopsis............................................................................................................V
Part I: Synopsis of the dissertation..........................................................................................................11
Motivation.......................................................................................................................................12
Research design...............................................................................................................................22.
1Conceptual approach and research objectives....................................................................22.
2Research methodologies and methods................................................................................4
3Structure of the dissertation.............................................................................................................5
3.1Systematization of the papers.............................................................................................5
3.2Paper1: Revisiting the concept of IT capabilities in the era of digitalization....................7
3.3Paper2: Short and sweet –Multiple mini case studies as a form of rigorous case studyresearch...............................................................................................................................9
3.4Paper3: Linking IT capabilities and competitive advantage of servitized business models..........................................................................................................................................11
3.5Paper4: From selling machinery to hybrid offerings –Organizational impact of digitalservitization on manufacturing firms................................................................................11
3.6Paper5: Manufacturers’ IT-enabled service innovation success as a multifacetedphenomenon: A configurational study..............................................................................13
3.7Paper6: The missing piece –Calibration of qualitative data for qualitative comparativeanalyses in IS research......................................................................................................14
3.8Paper7: Prerequisites and causal recipes for manufacturers’ success in innovating ITenabled services................................................................................................................16
4Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
4.1Resultssummary...............................................................................................................19
4.2Contributions....................................................................................................................20
4.2.1Theoretical contributions......................................................................................20
4.2.2Methodological contribution................................................................................21
4.2.3Practical contribution............................................................................................21
4.3Limitations and future research........................................................................................22
5References.....................................................................................................................................24
Part II: Papers of the dissertation...........................................................................................................29
Paper1: Revisiting the concept of IT capabilities in the era of digitalization.......................................30
Paper2: Short and sweet –Multiple mini case studies as a form of rigorous case study research.......41
Paper3: Linking IT capabilities and competitive advantage of servitized business model..................64
Paper4: From selling machinery to hybrid offerings –Organizational impact of digital servitization on manufacturing firms......................................................................................................................80
Paper5: Manufacturers’ IT-enabled service innovation success as a multifaceted phenomenon: A configurational study...................................................................................................................108
Paper6: The missing piece –Calibration of qualitative data for qualitative comparative analyses in IS research........................................................................................................................................119
Paper7: Prerequisites and causal recipes for manufacturers’ success in innovating IT-enabled services.....................................................................................................................................................136
Overview of the digital appendix on CD.............................................................................................174
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:83490 |
| Date | 13 February 2023 |
| Creators | Brosig, Christoph |
| Contributors | Strahringer, Susanne, Wiener, Martin, Technische Universität Dresden |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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