Ferran Vendrell-Herrero

University of Birmingham · Birmingham Business School

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how firms manage their product and service offerings, integrating supply chain management (SCM) and demand chain management (DCM) strategies. Adding services to the product portfolio of a firm may bring benefits to an organisation, but requires a reconsideration of the supply chain management app...

Previous empirical research suggests that university spin-offs under-perform in economic terms compared to other new technology-based firms (NTBFs) in their early years. The usual explanations suggest a lower capabilities endowment of university spin-offs compared to other NTBFs. Using a longitudinal Spanish dataset we compare the evolution of firm...

Nested methodological approaches for cluster policy evaluation: an application to the Basque Country, Regional Studies. This paper explores the evaluation of cluster policies designed to support cooperation and networking. It examines the case of the long-running Basque policy, where support is provided for ‘cluster associations’. It first examines...

The capability to generate new knowledge and to create new firms differs across regions. Our study is an attempt to test the extent to which differences in such capabilities are associated with regional competitiveness. Using data from Spanish NUTS2 regions for the period 2000–2004, our results show that a higher capacity of a region to simultaneou...

Since the rise of music on the internet the record industry has reported falling total sales revenues. This has occurred at a time when technology has radically increased choice, availability and the opportunity for the consumer to purchase music. To date, pay-per-unit music sales channels have been more successful than music subscription services....

HRM algorithms can profoundly impact organizations in the digital economy era. In the face of turbulent and complex market conditions, strategic renewal is regarded as one of the most important organizational mechanisms for dealing with market uncertainty and a turbulent environment. However, the existing research remains elusive about the relation...

Purpose Responding to calls for deeper analysis of the conceptual foundations of service infusion in manufacturing, this paper examines the underlying assumptions that: (i) manufacturing firms incorporating services follow a pathway, moving from pure-product to pure-service offerings, and (ii) profits increase linearly with this process. We propose...

Organizational learning begins with experience. However, it remains an open question whether firms learn from a particular type of experience: exporting. This study aims to speak into this debate by examining when learning by exporting occurs. Our core thesis is that the timing of learning by exporting depends on a firm’s home market economic devel...

Purpose This paper aims to deepen the understanding of the interconnection between hybrid product–service offerings and firms' internationalization strategies, focusing on market entry, export performance and subsidiary strategy development. Design/methodology/approach The approach involves reviewing and summarizing the existing body of research i...

This book of abstracts summarizes the proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Business Servitization (ICBS 2023), held at TBS Education – Barcelona, Spain. On this edition, the conference places a special emphasis on the focal theme: AI Platforms for Digital Servitization and Solution Delivery.

Purpose The implementation of Smart Manufacturing (SM) is deemed a key enabler in the enhancement of manufacturing competitiveness and performance. Nevertheless, SM's repercussion on consumer perceptions and the contextualization of SM's performance-enhancement effects remain undetermined and have yet to be clarified. This study analyzes the effect...

This article draws on responsible innovation (RI), hybrid organizations, institutional rigidity, and national innovation systems (NISs) to assess and contextualize the innovation performance of for‐profit firms seeking to resolve grand challenges (GCs). The extant research on RI lacks the theoretical underpinnings to profile the unique characterist...

This book of abstracts summarizes the proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Business Servitization (ICBS 2022), held at Hotel Ilunion, Malaga, Spain. On this edition, the conference places a special emphasis on the focal theme: Servitization as a springboard for enhancing Sustainable manufacturing.

There has been growing interest in service-augmented products and the subsequent formation of product-service innovation (PSI) ecosystems. Hence, the objective of this paper is to empirically address an unexplored aspect of PSI ecosystems research by offering answers as to whether territories develop more performant PSI ecosystems in terms of manuf...

As the importance of servitization and service-augmented solution delivery grows into a mainstream phenom- enon for manufacturers, offering theoretically founded avenues to solve their specific internationalization challenges is necessary. The study addresses the internationalization paradox faced by servitized manufacturers generated by the specif...

By drawing on a business model lens, this study proposes that the competitive performance of servitization is higher for manufacturing firms selling long-lifespan products since they better develop the key elements required for transitioning towards integrated Business to Business (BtoB) solutions delivery. Additionally, the study argues that the m...

Drawing on the interplay between strategic ambidexterity, resource-based view, and digital servitization, we conceptualize how the rise of digitalization and service business models in industrial settings have materialized in a distinctive category of innovation-oriented manufacturing firms, labeled as treble innovation firms. We propose that said...

Purpose This article seeks to characterize and assess a new type of resilient, socially conscious and competitive enterprise that simultaneously encompasses open and social innovation – aligning both business and social outcomes – and which will gain increasing importance in post-pandemic competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach A mixed method...

Prior research suggests that firm productivity and export activity are mutually reinforcing. Highly productive firms are more likely to enter the export market (i.e., self-selection), and upon doing so, achieve greater productivity levels over time (i.e., learning-by-exporting). We consider how a critical yet unexamined, factor impacts this relatio...

Purpose Existing innovation frameworks suggest that manufacturing firms have traditionally developed a complementary model of technological innovations comprising process and product innovations (e.g. Oslo Manual). This article presents digital service innovation as a novel form of technological innovation that is capable of enhancing the performan...

Purpose Global value chains (GVC) incorporate internationally fragmented sources of knowledge so as to increase global competitiveness and performance. This paper sheds light on the role of Industry 4.0 technological capabilities in facilitating knowledge access from international linkages and improving firm productivity. Design/methodology/approa...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to distinguish clearly between industry (ILC) and product lifecycle (PLC) models and to elucidate their different ramifications for organizational learning and knowledge. Design/methodology/approach The authors examine existing knowledge on ILCs and PLCs to highlight the differences and similarities and develop...

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, and counter to the mainstream literature, we propose and empirically show that two knowledge resources can be substitutive (rather than complementary) for each other. Our test focuses on the interplay between managers’ and workers’ knowledge stock, considered as knowledge resources that firms can appl...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a history-based framework of servitization and deservitization. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on three history-based management theories, i.e. industry lifecycle, strategic pivoting and strategy restoration, to develop a conceptual framework of how servitization and deservitization pivo...

Drawing on the disciplines of operations management and international business theories, this paper evaluates the effect of bundling products and services on a firm’s export intensity. After surveying more than 4,000 German SMEs, we report several findings. First, bundling is a relatively rare activity, which is unevenly spread over sectors. Second...

Drawing on the digital organization of production leading to Smart Systems, this article analyzes the factors influencing the adoption of product analytic capabilities as well as the optimal smart product capability configuration. In this way, the interplay between smart products, firm internationalization, offer hybridization, and firm performance...

The growing trend to develop product–service innovation (PSI) in manufacturing industries has forced firms to consider the real impact of adding services to their sales portfolio. Literature has shown that PSI implementation has heterogeneous effects on performance as it depends on the service development choice and the specific industry in which f...

From the perspective that a region’s industrial development mostly builds upon existing local capability endowments to form a trajectory of related diversifications, we argue that regions with a strong technology-based knowledge-intensive business service (T-KIBS) sector potentially have resource-based relatedness in their ‘knowledge space’ allowin...

This paper examines how different forms of accumulated exploitable knowledge—i.e., export experience with the current firm and past entrepreneurial experience—stimulate export destinations, defined as the number of foreign markets where businesses sell their products/services. The proposed hypotheses are tested on a unique sample of Costa Rican ent...

Territorial servitization is the analysis of how manufacturing firms and knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) sectors collaborate in working towards a renaissance of manufacturing competitiveness within regions of developed economies. This editorial note provides four insights. First, it sums up the existing body of knowledge on the topic. S...

Drawing on the literature examining asymmetric information issues emerging in public procurement, this research examines the interplay between current firm productivity and perceived corruption in determining the probability of firms to obtain government contracts. This study proposes that, in the absence of corruption, firm productivity is the mai...

Purpose The aim of this paper is to conceptualize the notion of international marketing agility. Design/methodology/approach The approach adopted is to review and create a synopsis of the existing body of research on strategic agility and develop a conceptualization on how international marketing agility (IMA) should be analyzed. Findings Interna...

This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by providing a systematic review of over 500 academic articles across 27 management journals over a 27‐year time frame. There appears to be a mixture of empirical and conceptual articles, with a larger proportion being empirical but an increasing number lean...

Drawing on the ambidexterity and organizational design theoretical lenses this article analyzes the interplay between R&D team structure, firm’s Information Technology (IT) processes deployment and innovation outcomes. The evidence presented herein upholds the importance of IT and R&D team structure for strategic decisions and to better exploiting...

This research examines firm boundary configurations for manufacturers' product-service offerings. We argue that the building of a product-service ecosystem through collaboration with service providers in certain types of business services can increase performance as a result of the superior knowledge-based resources coming from specialized partners...

This paper examines the impact over international propensity of past negative entrepreneurial experience for those who re‐enter into entrepreneurial activity; referred to as resilient serial entrepreneurs. We first hypothesize on the effects over entrepreneurial re‐entry that such negative past experience may have and highlight the link between the...

This study evaluates how non-performing loans and different types of board turnover—which we link to performing directorship (natural turnover) and non-performing directorship (forced turnover)—impact the economic performance (ROA) of banks. The proposed model and hypotheses, based on the conformance and performance roles of boards, are tested on a...

The analysis of how the development of knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) sectors in certain territories contributes to rebuild the competitive advantage of manufacturing businesses – a process described as territorial servitization – has increasingly drawn scholarly and policy attention. The collection of nine papers in this special issue...

Purpose This study aims to investigate the importance of relational and conditional knowledge by assessing how service and signaling competences affect manufacturing firms’ productivity. These relationships are explored in the context of Africa, where, paradoxically, firms selling abroad must satisfy different market demands than firms that serve...

This study tests whether strategic ambidexterity improves Product-service innovation (PSI) outcomes for manufacturing multinational enterprises (MMNEs). It also tests successful pathways to develop PSI properly by organizing exploitation and exploration activities. Data from a survey of 338 MMNEs are analysed through Structural Equations Modelling....

The growing industrial concern about sustainability challenges has driven vehicle and auto parts manufacturers to adopt service capabilities as a way to maintain competitiveness in compliance with environmental regulations. As a result, automakers have progressively integrated digital and green service initiatives to support operations and address...

Research is needed on effective servitization by multinational enterprises. This study examines whether Manufacturing Multinational Enterprises (MMNEs) can obtain better servitization outcomes by partnering with Knowledge Intensive Business Service (KIBS) firms and or by internationalizing their service function. In addition, the paper analyses the...

Purpose: Whilst substantial evidence from low corruption, developed market environments supports the view that more productive firms are more likely to export, there has been little research into analysing the link between productivity and exports in high corruption, developing market environments. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to te...

Established theory suggests that firms experiment with business models in dynamic contexts. However, the relationship between business model experimentation and organisational performance remains unclear. For this purpose, we propose an assessment of the economic value of business model experimentation in dynamic contexts by defining the unit of an...

The purpose of this paper is to unveil the existing complexities in the relationship between product-service innovation (PSI)-or servitisation-and firm performance that arise from the mismatch between theoretical predictions and empirical evidence. Whilst theoretical work suggests that there are a number of advantages for implementing PSI, quantita...

This paper investigates whether and to what extent a strategy where content is made available to consumers through different channels over time, named Windowing business models, may be appropriate for releasing television programmes. By initially exposing consumers to a controlled quantity of free content greater value can be captured at later sta...

The mainstream servitization literature mostly describes the success of manufacturing firms in integrating services for their corporate clients. However, the literature is relatively silent on how territories capitalize on the potential interconnectedness between manufacturing firms and the knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) sector. The an...

The topic of servitization of manufacturing continues to gain attention from both the engineering and business research communities. As a consequence, the conceptual foundations of servitization are now becoming better established, and attention is focusing on the processes through which manufacturers go to develop innovative service capabilities t...

This article investigates, through the country-of-origin effect and value-in-use lenses, how the implementation of digital services creates opportunities for cultural industries to expand internationally. We argue that intrinsic attributes of cultural content such as the capacity to entertain are difficult to parameterize because they are somewhat...

For manufacturing firms, the integration of advanced services into their customer offerings has become a crucial decision. Such commercial decisions require weighting the risks and rewards of implementing a business model based on advanced services. While academic experts acknowledge uncertainty of returns on investment despite potential advantages...

Treating the intersection of the strategic partnerships, R&D intensity and servitisation literatures, this study explores empirically whether external collaborative service development and provision and industrial R&D intensity help to unpack the complex relation between product-service innovation (servitisation) and performance. We argue that manu...

http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=7071

This paper focuses on the internationalization of SMEs located in geographically isolated contexts like Latin America. We argue that strategic priorities towards foreign markets, Foreign Market Focus (FMF), as well as “Outward Looking Competences” (OLC) are important factors in enhancing productivity, and ultimately achieving a sustainable competit...

Previous research has defined resilience as a desirable characteristic for an organization and its members to possess when circumstances adversely change. Resilience is analysed through different perspectives as organizational responses to external threats, organizational reliability, or employee strengths. However, the role of resilience in enhanc...

This study draws on literature at the intersection of servitization, digital business models and supply chain management. Work empirically explores how digital disruption has affected Business-to-Business (B2B) interdependencies. Dematerialization of physical products is transforming the way firms are positioned in the supply chain due to a reducti...

This paper explores the validity of national, regional or global strategies in the provision of a music industry product service system. Quantitative analysis of cross-section data from over 70,000 respondents from 15 geographically spread countries identified a homogeneous group of so-called ‘Out of Touch’ consumers characterized by a shared attit...

Digital technologies allow users to share files, which in some circumstances violates property rights and constitutes consumer misbehaviour. This form of behaviour, often called piracy, is cited as causing revenue loss to the creative industries. Existing empirical evidence is silent on consumer’s individual beliefs and their attitudes towards copy...

Purpose – The unobserved benefits of digital technologies are described as digital dark matter. Product service systems (PSS) are bundles of products and services that deliver value in use; which is unobserved but generates benefits. This article empirically quantifies digital dark matter within product service systems and correlates that measure w...

New evidence is provided supporting the benefits of innovative service channel linking. The findings indicate that strategies that facilitate the dynamic interaction of customers through link channels are more effective at generating revenue growth than traditional ‘push’ strategies based upon analysis of passive customer demand. The results provid...

The essence of this Special Issue is to explore, develop and disseminate for exploitation a multi-level and dynamic approach to understanding digital business model implementation, internationalization and impact. This special issue of Strategic Change calls for papers that illuminate the digital business models that are deployed and implemented b...

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-production-economics/call-for-papers/special-issue-on-service-implementation-in-manufacturing/

Music industry revenues are highly correlated with firm profitability, which on average is below the risk-free bank interest rate after the digital disruption.

Internet use provides an increasing amount of data that has potential value for managers and policy makers but, without a precise understanding of the meaning of data, erroneous conclusions may be drawn which could adversely affect future decisions made by managers.

Las investigaciones recogidas en este número especial pueden contribuir al desarrollo de las empresas y de las economías en que operan, proporcionando una mayor comprensión del desafío que supone la servitización y el importante papel de los recursos intangibles en la gestión de este proceso. Los trabajos coinciden en señalar la necesidad de contin...

ENGLISH: Economic and management textbooks are often difficult-to-digest for students. The links between theoretical developments and practical implications are not clear enough. This book proposes a unified approach, integrating mainstream economic and management literature to the storyline of three entrepreneurial projects in the new digital econ...

A productive human capital is a necessary but not sufficient condition for regional economic growth. An additional condition is the adequate allocation of talented people in innovative entrepreneurial activities, which according to previous literature have a higher social value than traditional ones. Using a large and representative sample of small...

Purpose – This paper highlights the challenges and key arguments for digital copyright protection legislation for creative industries. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by independent academics who place the arguments in context based upon literature and market data. Findings – Many of the arguments used against copyright pr...

Significant growth in online file-sharing activity associated with widespread access to broadband internet, coincided with a decline in reported revenues from incumbents of the information industries, which include music and film companies. Two strategic approaches proposed to recapture these revenues are stronger legislation to deter illegal file-...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to estimate the scale of illegal file‐sharing activity across ten countries and to correlate this activity with country revenues. The work aims to elucidate an under‐explored business model challenge which exists in parallel with a music piracy challenge. Design/methodology/approach The study data are drawn fro...

Purpose: To explore the role played by policies for co-operation and networking, such as cluster initiatives. We empirically examine not only the direct effect of cluster initiatives on firms’ innovation performance, but also potential moderation and mediation effects with regards effort in other internal innovation activities. Methodology: We ana...

The role of R&D investment on firm’s performance is not clear from a theoretical perspective. While the effort in R&D activities conducted internally helps firms to develop the ability to identify, assimilate and apply external knowledge successfully (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990), such activities are costly (Nonaka, Toyama and Nagata, 2000) and...