Manufacturing Enterprise Service-oriented Implementation Of The Strategy And Its Impact On Performance

For the globalization, increasing competition, changing of the customers'need mode and decreasing of transaction costs resulted from rapid technology development; servitization has been one of important tendencies of today's manufacturing all over the world. So the study on service in manufacturing forms has been a main topic of management since the ninties of the last century. However, by so far, the main research objects of servitization of manufacturing are enterprises in developed countries.The study on this field in our country is still on initial stage. From existing literatures, there are more theoretical studies than empirical studies. Few scholars discussed the process mechanism of servitization strategy systematically, including specific mode of the service transition in manufacturing forms, the antecedent and outcome variables of servitization strategy and the effect of this strategy on performance. This will make theoretical studies lack of empirical foundation and be not helpful for building and developing the theories of servitization strategy systematically. So this paper will do the theoretical and empirical research on the specific mode, antecedents of servitization strategy and influence mechanism of this strategy on performance in order to enrich the research of this field.Based on the theory of servitization and existing literatures, the concept of servitization and theretical basis, characteristics and specific mode of servitization strategy are analyzed first]y in this study.Then the influencing factors of servitization strategy are discussed by using the method of multiple regression.thirdly, through the exploratory case study and normative analysis, a conceptual model that reveals the influence of the servitization strategy on enterprises'performance is bulit. At last, multiple regressions are used to analyze the effect of servitization strategy on performance. So far, the mechanism of manufacturing firms to achieve the competitive advantage in microcosmic level is revealed.The conclusions of this study are:1) the essence of servitization strategy is innovations of organizational capabilities and processes. That is to say, by organizing the value activities and reengineering service process, manufacturing forms can transform their resources, technologies and capabilities into support elements in the course of customers'value formation; 2) the relevant influencing factors of servitization strategy are discussed. By empirical research,we can find that brand,firm size,staff quaity and technology complexities have a positive effect on the servitization strategy of firms;3)the mode of servitization can be divided into four forms from simplicity to complexity or low level service to high level service:"Product plus service", "Value-added service", "Integral solution programme"and "Out of manufacturing",the four forms all have positive effects on the market performance; 4) servitization strategy has a positive effect on firms'market performance but not obvious relevance with financial consequences. Our explanations are:the implementation of this strategy is helpful for strengthening the relationship between firms and customers, meeting the demand of customers well, increasing customers'satisfaction and loyalty rapidly and setting a good image, so the strategy can get instant results on market performance; but the effect of this strategy on financial performance will be a long-term process because of its challenges to the resources and capabilities of firms. To make matter worse, the strategy might have a negative impact on financial consequences because of additional service investment. What is more, we find that envoirment dynanmics and staff quality have moderator effect on the relationship of servitization strategy and market performance, but the direct effect of firm size on market performance surpass its moderator effect.This paper points out the mechanism manufacturing firms achieve the competitive advantage from servitization strategy, and try to make some innovation in the following Points:1) based on the theoretical analysis, the theoretical framework of servitization strategy is complemented and improved. Meanwhile, the concepts of service and servitization are clarified, and the essential relationships between them are revealed. So far,the mechanism of single firm to achieve the competitive advantage in more microcosmic level is revealed; 2) some important factors which have influences on the servitization strategy are proposed exploringly,and some advices for the firm about how to improve their performance by servitization strategy in the context of transition economics are given; 3)four specific modes of servitization strategy are identified, their connotations and logical relationships are analyzed and the positive effects of these four modes on market performance are confirmed by empirical research; 4) combining with the strategy management theory and marketing theory,the way that servitization strategy influences the firm performance is revealed finally and the moderator effect of envoirnment dynanmics and staff quality on the relationship is found. So the theoretical foundation will be built to study the implementation of servitization strategy dynanmically.