We have all worked in industrial service business or researched servitization for over
20 years and we wrote this book to help managers to make the move into services.
Services are based on intangibles like relationships and trust, and product businesses
are based on physical objects with clearly defined requirements. Product businesses
are, on the whole, separated from the customer, while a service is often delivered
with the customer. This means that senior management deciding the strategic
objective is to "move into services" can lead to failure unless there is guidance for
the management team, which is where this book comes in as it is designed to help
middle management take actions to support the servitization strategy. We recognized
that there are many good strategy books on why service can be good for a productfocused
business, but few provide actionable concrete examples of how, say a
service shop manager, can improve their performance.
The final reason for the book came from the fact that many service leaders come
from the shop-floor workforce. Now, while this has many advantages, such as the
service leaders really understanding the pains of their customers, it can mean that the
leaders view them more as partners or friends than traditional customers. Service
leaders often need more support with the "change management" aspects of
transitioning the business to focus on services, as there can be a tendency for
operational action to overtake strategic thinking. This book is constructed of three
chapters.
