The energy sector is facing unprecedented changes as technology development and new expectations are necessitating action. As a result of market changes, incumbent companies as well as new ones within the sector are now seeking new business opportunities to cope with changes and position themselves for the future. The term servitization has been identified as a key to successfully being able to cope with these changes. It describes the transition from a product-oriented value proposition towards a service-oriented value proposition and has become attractive as a strategy due to economic, market and competitive arguments. Despite many clear advantages, the phenomenon of servitization comes with great challenges. To this day, no successful full-scale servitization initiative can be identified within the energy sector in Sweden, that is to say, a situation where a company completely has shifted its offering. The thesis therefore sets out to facilitate the development of a servitization endeavor by examining previous research work within the field of servitization and co-creation. These topics are considered by taking a systems perspective because of the characteristics of the given case, where components such as generators, power lines, transformers, electrical equipment companies, utility companies, data centers and regulatory authorities are part of a larger whole. The theoretical material is applied to better understand a potential receiver of a service offering, a potential customer in the energy sector that is: Data centers. More specifically, the thesis discusses and seek to identify the needs and interests that the customer segment data center seeks in a future energy related service offering and other important factors for a servitized offering. This in turn can be seen as a response to the servitization literature, which clearly promotes that all servitization efforts should start with understanding the customer. Findings show that the largest challenge of servitization has much to do with the abstract nature of the term. In contrast to a tool that can be used relatively mindlessly, servitization constitute a complex whole where things like organizational capacity, culture and common interests must co-exist. The case study has mapped out the needs and wants of the customer segment and suggests recommendations to succeed accordingly. The thesis makes in particular three contributions. First, the three theoretical topics of servitization, co-creation and systems thinking have been integrated to extend the understanding of the connection between these, as well as the challenges linked to the topics. Secondly, a deeper understanding of the data center sector has been provided, more specifically, which critical factors the segment considers in the context of the study. Thirdly, the thesis contributes with suggestions concerning areas for improvement or areas where business development can take place, which also was what first caused us to do the study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mdh-44821 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Lindgren, Markus, Östgren, Marcus |
| Publisher | Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för ekonomi, samhälle och teknik, Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för ekonomi, samhälle och teknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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