Hanken researcher releases book on service strategy
For some time now there has been significant growth in the field of services. Even traditional product companies, like Kone and Wärtsilä, are building thei
r competitive advantage on selling services and product-service combinations. Over half of the trucks built by Toyota Industries in Sweden are rather leased by monthly contracts than actually sold. Companies sell lighting instead of lamps and flight hours instead of airplane engines.
“We have been studying service journeys made by companies for many years and have published a large number of scientific articles, but they are never read by people working in industry. This is why we decided to collect the results in a book of practical steps”, says Christian Kowalkowski.
The book consists of 12 independent but related chapters. This means that any company can take on board the parts it specifically needs. The book is written for business developers, consults and decision makers in industry and stems from over a decade of research and co-operation with enterprises. Kowalkowski has worked with manufacturing industry in both Finland and Sweden and analysed how they could improve their competitiveness. Among the companies he studied was ABB, Husqvarna, Toyota Industries and Volvo.
The end of every chapter presents a check-list with ten critical questions.
“They are all a result of our research and highlight the challenges that companies must deal with in order to make progress. Hard factors such as resources and abilities are often emphasised, but in our book we also shine the spotlight onto soft factors, such as culture, leadership and change processes”, Kowalkowski continues.
Christian Kowalkowski came to Hanken as Assistant Professor six years ago and he works with both research and teaching. He divides his time between Helsinki and Linköping, where he is Associate Professor of Industrial Marketing. Wolfgang Ulaga is the leading expert in service strategies in the US, AT&T Professor of Services Leadership and Co-Director of the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University.
More information about the book here
