Solution providers’ strategic capabilities

Purpose Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this study aims to analyze solution providers’ strategic capabilities that facilitate above-average returns. Design/methodology/approach The study applies a qualitative comparative case method. In addition to an extensive set of secondary data,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of business & industrial marketing 2017-01, Vol.32 (5), p.752-770
Main Authors: Huikkola, Tuomas, Kohtamäki, Marko
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brand loyalty
Business models
Collaboration
Competition
Competitive advantage
Customer services
Industrial markets
Innovations
Manufacturers
Manufacturing
Marketing
Operations management
Software
Strategic management
Studies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this study aims to analyze solution providers’ strategic capabilities that facilitate above-average returns. Design/methodology/approach The study applies a qualitative comparative case method. In addition to an extensive set of secondary data, the results are based on interviews with 35 executives from nine leading industrial solution providers, their strategic customers and suppliers. The analyzed solution providers were identified based on quantitative survey data. Findings By observing six distinctive resources and three strategic business processes, the present study identifies seven strategic capabilities that occur in different phases of solution development and deployment: fleet management capability, technology-development capability, mergers and acquisitions capability, value quantifying capability, project management capability, supplier network management capability and value co-creation capability. Research limitations/implications The study develops a generic model for the strategic capabilities of servitization. Application of the developed model to different contexts would further validate and enhance it. Practical implications Managers can use the developed model to benchmark, identify, build and manage solution providers’ strategic capabilities and associated practices. Originality/value The study develops a valuable conceptual model based on the comparative case data. Case firms were selected for the study based on a representative quantitative data set. The results were verified and triangulated with external data.
ISSN:0885-8624
2052-1189
2052-1189
DOI:10.1108/JBIM-11-2015-0213