The purpose of this paper is to analyse the challenges in the servitization journey of product-centric firms from an ecosystem perspective, considering both intra-firm and inter-firm levels. Prior research addresses the challenges of servitization in many sectors from different perspectives. However, the majority of studies primarily focus on the provider of an offering. There is a lack of in-depth studies on analysing servitization challenges from the broader set of network actors including customers, suppliers, and sub-suppliers at the intra-firm and inter-firm levels. A multiple case study method was used to analyse five product-centric firms from different industries that were engaged in servitization. At intra-firm level, our analysis shows that 'coordination' is a major challenge for the provider, supplier, and sub-suppliers, and that 'uncertainty' and 'risk' is a major challenge for the provider, customer, and supplier. At inter-firm level, 'partnership management' found to be a most significant challenge for provider, customer, supplier, and sub-suppliers. The study contributes to the discussion of the relational view approach for servitization research.

The purpose of this study is to explore the current available practices of feedback loops at different phases in the industrialization process. Although literature highlights the impact of feedback loops for both product and production systems development, there is limited research about how firms utilize the concept of feedback loops in the industrialization process. Based on a case study at a railway component manufacturing company, the paper presents the identified feedback loops and mechanisms that are working well and not working well within the industrialization process. Further, it explains a practical method to improve the current or establish new feedback loops. The paper contributes to the discussion on the application of lean and agile approaches to the industrialization process where feedback loops act as enablers.

In today’s market conditions, manufacturing companies are under pressure to constantly launch new products or product variants to the market in short intervals. Introduction of new products poses managerial implications on the existing production systems and their processes. Hence, the production and operations organisations are increasingly involved in the early phases of new product development since they are responsible for the product introduction and delivery. The project management of product introduction therefore play a significant role in the success of new product development. The existing literature covers a wide range of issues and disturbances in the product introduction process in different industries. However, little research exists on the management of product introduction from a project management perspective especially from the viewpoint of operations. Based on a case study at a manufacturing company in heavy-duty vehicle industry, this paper examines key challenges in managing product introduction projects in the production and operations organisation. The study identified seven types of projects in relation to the product introduction. Further, nine key challenges are identified in the management of product introduction projects which are associated to the resources, time-readiness and schedule, gated administration, ways of working, communication and time-sharing, learning, business cases, co-ordination and alignment, and competences. The study contributes new insights into project management in operations by deepening the understanding on the issues associated to the product introduction projects.

Research shows that effective marketing and R&D interface is pivotal in a company's new product development performance and future competitiveness. The increased popularity of social media promised to enhance interaction, collaboration, and networking between the two functions. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the key activities, infrastructure requirements, and potential benefits of social media in the marketing and R&D interface. This study aims to advance the current understanding of social media engagement strategies, which facilitates improved marketing and R&D interfaces and ultimately NPD performance for manufacturing companies. Based on a multiple-case study in two manufacturing companies, this study first presents the role of social media in facilitating improved marketing and R&D interface within a B2B context. Second, it presents the adoption process of the social media engagement strategy for an evolving marketing and R&D interface. The adoption process is divided into three phases, namely coordination, cooperation, and coproduction, to provide detailed insights regarding full-scale social media engagement. Taken together, the study provides novel insights into industrial marketing management literature by exemplifying the role of social media and proposing a systematic social engagement strategy for improved marketing and R&D interface in the manufacturing industry.

In this paper we report on an attempt to let students, companies, and organisations themselves discover the kinds of technologies that could be useful when co-producing knowledge in a Master’s-level course in innovation and design. Traditionally, and for various good reasons such as security and stability, universities have had certain online tools and systems for collaboration, while companies and municipalities have had others. These systems support internal communication within organisations but do not necessarily enhance communication with external contacts. This use of different systems creates barriers to the iterative, recurring, convenient, non-hierarchical, and open online collaboration needed in an innovative design process involving multiple stakeholders. During a ten-week Master’s-level course in innovation and design in 2016 and 2017 the 38 students divided into five project groups established contact with five companies and organisations and could choose their own online tools in dialogue with them. This paper presents the students’ and organisations’ emerging practices during the process based on observations and reflective evaluations conducted during and after the course. The results are discussed in light of how socio-material assemblages formed in this special setting and how the results might be used to improve the teaching of online literacy in design collaboration. The result indicates that for co-production of knowledge in innovation and design projects, three new social media literacies would be useful: meta communication, peak performance, and design awareness.

Service-dominant logic (SDL) provides a conceptual understanding of and widens the view on value creation in service innovation for product-centric companies. However, empirical research linking SDL and service innovation is still limited albeit expanding. This study provides insights beyond existing discussions on product and service dimensions using the theoretical lens of the value logic perspective. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to examine how value can be understood, targeted, and created in the pursuit of service innovation by product-centric manufacturing companies. Building on a previous investigation of two multinational product-centric manufacturing companies, this paper identifies and develops a theoretical model to describe the space shift in service innovation with four different kinds of value logics, namely, product-based value logic, service-based value logic, virtual-based value logic, and systemic-based value logic. Using a digitalization-driven new service innovation, namely the My Control System, which is a web-based service delivery platform, this paper describes space shifts to enhance value through four value logics as efforts. Further, challenges associated with different value logics are described in terms of complexity traps and service gaps. The study also contributes to bridging the gap between SDL theory and practice by developing a midrange theoretical model for value creation as a specification and amendment to SDL that supports SDL-guided service innovation and servitization in practice.

In today’s market conditions, manufacturing companies are under pressure to constantly launch new products or product variants to the market in short intervals. The introduction of new products poses managerial implications on the existing production systems and their processes. Hence, the production organisations are increasingly involving in the new product development since the beginning of the project as they are responsible for the product introduction. The project management of new product introduction therefore play a significant role in the success of new product development. The existing literature covers a wide range of issues and disturbances in the product introduction process in different industries. However, little research exists on the management of new product introduction projects from a project management perspective especially from the viewpoint of production. Based on a case study at a manufacturing company, this paper examines the challenges in managing new product introduction projects in the production organisation. The study identified nine key challenges in the management of new product introduction projects which are associated to the resources, time-readiness and schedule, gated administration, ways of working, communication and time-sharing, learning, business case, co-ordination and alignment, and competences.

Prior research has identified the reuse of past experiences as a remarkable driver for achieving high levels of maturity for both product and production systems. Many companies put effort into capitalizing their own experiences through nurturing feedback loops and learning mechanisms at different phases in the new product introduction process. Although literature highlights the impact of feedback loops on the performance of new product development, there is limited research about how firms utilize the concept of feedback loops in the new product introduction process. The purpose of this study is therefore to explore the current available practices of feedback loops at different phases in the new product introduction process. This study was performed in close collaboration with a global manufacturing company that is responsible for the introduction of new products. The paper presents the identified feedback loops and