
Marko KohtamäkiUniversity of Vaasa · Department of Management
Marko Kohtamäki
Professor
I am open to scientific collaborations and co-authoring. In case interested, send proposals to marko.kohtamaki@uwasa.fi
About
181
Publications
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Introduction
I work as a Strategy Prof @ University of Vaasa and a visiting prof @ LTU. I do research on digital servitization, strategic practices, business models, organizational change, and strategic alliances. I've published in Strategic Management Journal, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, International Journal of Management Reviews, International Journal of Production Economics, Long Range Planning, Technovation, IMM, JBR...
Additional affiliations
January 2019 - present
May 2019 - December 2022
October 2012 - present
Publications
Publications (181)
This paper aims to review how different approaches to social inquiry (e.g. positivist, postpositivist, interpretive, postmodernist and critical theory) have been used in strategy research and how these main paradigms engage with strategy. In a fragmented domain , debates typically match paradigms to schools of thought and use the paradigm concept,...
Strategy-as-practice (SAP) has become one of the most vibrant areas of contemporary strategy research in the past two decades. As the field has grown significantly , we have witnessed an emergence of distinct streams of research within the SAP research community. Thus, it is time to take stock of this body of work to better understand the structure...
Manufacturers are increasingly struggling with the transition from products to product-service-software systems. Our study takes stock of the current research on servitization and digital servitization to investigate the challenging transition process from product to more complex product-service-software systems. We examine how does the digital ser...
The present study extends the discussion on product manufacturers' digital servitization toward smart solutions by outlining and reviewing the existing literature on digital servitization and smart solutions. We focus on potential configurations based on technologies, business models, and ecosystems to understand how this transition can be managed...
The present study intends to extend the discussion about digital servitization business models from the perspective of the theory of the firm. We utilize four theories of the firm, the Industrial Organization (IO), Resource-Based View (RBV), Organizational Identity (OI), and Transaction Cost Approach (TCA) to understand digital servitization busine...
Digitalization is increasingly recognized as a strategy that enables firms to achieve financial performance. However, current literature does not provide ample evidence on how digital orientation influences service innovation in the hotel industry. This study employs the dynamic capabilities perspective within the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MO...
This study intends to scrutinize the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Product-Service Innovation (PSI). The literature on AI enabled PSI, other related innovation business models, product-service systems, and servitization has grown significantly since 2018; therefore, there is a need to structure the literature in a systematic manner and ad...
Fail fast and learn fast” is a principle commonly advanced to quickly grow and scale startups and SMEs. However, the literature lacks detailed insights into how such learning is organized. The paper aims to investigate how knowledge-intensive SMEs learn from failures through organizational learning processes. To answer this question, we present in-...
The proliferation of industry platforms has disrupted several industries. Firms adopting a platform business model have experienced a substantial expansion in size and scale, positioning themselves as the foremost valuable entities in market capitalization. Over the past two decades, there has been a substantial expansion in the body of literature...
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how customer participation in new service development (NSD) and customer relationship management (CRM) technology can improve the NSD performance of manufacturing firms. Additionally, the paper examines CRM technology usage to understand how it impacts new service performance both individually and jointly with cus...
Originally confined to the governmental sector, the space ecosystem has recently undergone a transformative shift with the private sector’s penetration redefining the established dynamics. Concurrently, the advent of digitalization and the influence of the capitalist mindset have contributed to a further reshaping of the space ecosystem. This conve...
This study explores the potential of AI to enable circular business model innovation (CBMI) for industrial manufacturers and the corresponding AI capacities and dynamic capabilities required for their commercializa-tion. Employing an analysis of six leading B2B firms engaged in digital servitization, we conceptualize the perceptive, predictive, and...
Purpose
This paper studies the Digital Service Innovation (DSI) concept by systematically reviewing earlier studies from various scholarly communities. This study aims to recognize how recent advances in DSI literature from different research streams complement and can be incorporated into the growing digital servitization literature to define bett...
Manufacturing firms struggle to break away from their pre-existing business models, offerings, routines, and capabilities. The present study used path dependency as a theoretical lens to investigate a single longitudinal case study of a leading manufacturing company based on in-depth interviews with senior executives and managers. The analysis cont...
We will get through this together– rhetoric as a sensemaking practice in managing a pandemic In a poorly managed crisis situations, inconsistent management produces cacophony, ambiguity and anxiety that disrupts optimal thinking and action. At best, consistently used rhetorics can help the handling and management of the pandemic. This study approac...
The present study examines the alliance learning literature in these uncertain times, which highlights the importance of alliance learning that takes place across organizational boundaries within a variety of business ecosystems. The study builds on a literature review of 198 articles and uses bibliographic coupling to identify four sub-streams of...
Research on big data analytics has been burgeoning in recent decades, yet its relationship with strategy continues to be overlooked. This paper reviews how big data analytics and strategy are portrayed across 228 articles, identifying two dominant discourses: an input-output discourse that views big data analytics as a computational capability supp...
Inter-unit collaboration in transnational multinational corporations (MNCs) is central to unlocking MNCs' competitive advantage. We find that managing multilevel interaction of macro-level (social structures within and outside the MNC) and micro-level (individual interpretations and behaviors) factors ensures the implementation of strategic goals r...
CFP for an SI on "Strategy in the digital transformation era"
By entering outcome-based service (OBS) relationships, industrial service providers and their customers realign their business interests to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. The move towards OBS represents a shift from transactional to relational interaction between the providers and their customers. Thus, the changed relationship is bound to e...
The present study analyzes how a product manufacturer alters its strategic capabilities to become a smart solution provider by employing its dynamic capabilities. We scrutinize how a manufacturer facilitates strategic change by realigning its strategic capabilities and processes from a focus on technical product-development capabilities to product-...
Purpose
The present study intends to foster understanding of how a traditional manufacturer can utilize the “simple rules” approach of managerial heuristics to facilitate its smart solution development (SSD) process.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses an in-depth single case research strategy and 25 senior manager interviews to understand...
This special issue (SI) aims to discuss future ways to develop the field, including the debate on alternative theoretical lenses, opportunities for theory development, the interplay between servitization-related fields and approaches with which to address key research questions/issues in the field. In this context, this guest editorial integrates s...
Purpose
The present study sets out to understand how a manufacturing company in the maritime industry utilized creative design principles and developed service design routines to advance digital servitization (i.e. the transition to offering smart product-service-software systems–PSS) and realize subsequent positive growth outcomes.
Design/methodo...
The present study scrutinizes how an incumbent solution provider executes smart solution development (SSD). We aim to contribute to digital servitization research, which primarily focuses on either product, service, or software development, thus overlooking the integrative aspect of SSD. We unfold the holistic SSD development process in a single ca...
Complex transitions, such as servitization, require in-depth investigation to understand the changes taking place during the transformation. Practice-theoretical perspective can provide an interesting lens to understand the details of the changes taking place. This study presents a specific lens, Schatzki’s practice theory, to understand servitizat...
Manufacturing firms are increasingly adopting a strategy known as 'servitization' to add services to existing product-based offerings to stimulate additional revenue and growth. While the emerging research domain of servitization is mobilizing relevant knowledge across academic establishments, the present study aims to perform a comprehensive bibli...
Manufacturers have shifted their focus from products to smart solutions in search of higher returns and additional growth opportunities. This shift, described as servitization, or lately as a digital servitization, is not a simple process. Academic study has revealed that its issues are complex, problematic, contingent, and even paradoxical, involv...
The servitization domain consists of over three decades of multi-disciplinary research on service activities in industrial contexts. Servitization literature combines different research streams that share a set of critical concepts. Existing meta-analytical studies have organized information content of sub-streams, homogenized theoretical propositi...
Because research on outcome-based service offerings (OBS) is very case study oriented, we lack empirical knowledge of OBS provider profitability in general. Drawing upon an unbalanced panel dataset (n = 1566, N = 14,756), we found that an average OBS provider manufacturer has a 4.40-percentage-point higher gross margin than an average non-OBS manuf...
Purpose
The business intelligence (BI) research witnessed a proliferation of contributions during the past three decades, yet the knowledge about the interdependencies between the BI process and organizational context is scant. This has resulted in a proliferation of fragmented literature duplicating identical endeavors. Although such pluralism exp...
Outcome business models (OBMs) guarantee and deliver economic and operational results for customers. The risk transfer from customer to provider enables the emergence of new value drivers, such as mutual learning. However, if the outcome-based service (OBS) customer learns the operational capabilities, based on which they are willing to rely on the...
Equipment manufacturers are currently utilizing new digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, or Big Data, for new digital offerings. However, these offerings seldom enhance revenue, because companies struggle with business model (BM) dynamics. By analyzing 27 companies through an explorative case-study app...
The present study analyzes how servitization delineates a manufacturer's boundaries. Based on interviews with 57 senior managers and extensive secondary data collected from four global solution providers, this study contributes by revealing how servitization shapes firm boundary decisions and repositioning practices. First, the results demonstrate...
This study intends to unpack the interaction effect between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and absorptive capacity (ACAP) by analyzing the organizational micropractices of six highly profitable companies to identify three practices and nine micropractices that drive the positive profit outcomes from EO and ACAP. To identify 6 cases, the present s...
White paper fokusoi autonomisiin järjestelmiin ja liiketoiminnan muutokseen
Purpose: The present study intends to extend the discussion about digital servitization business model configurations and the journey towards digital servitization business model. Technology companies are moving towards the digital servitization, e.g., business models that bundle products, services, and software systems in ways we have not seen bef...
Purpose
The business intelligence (BI) literature is in a flux, yet the knowledge about its varying theoretical roots remains elusive. This state of affairs draws from two different scientific communities (informatics and business) that have generated multiple research streams, which duplicate research, neglect each other’s contributions and overlo...
R&D offshoring involves the relocation of in-house R&D activities to subsidiary units located in other countries, often associated with low-cost engineering work, to meet global operational requirements. The main motivation behind R&D offshoring by global technology companies is usually to utilize local resources, knowledge, and competencies provid...
Organizational ambidexterity is the simultaneous act of exploiting existing competences and exploring new opportunities. Prior studies suggest that resource-constrained SMEs cannot successfully pursue simultaneous interorganizational ambidexterity but need to rely on functionally separated alliances (i.e., alliances based on their value chain funct...
In this paper, we explore how manufacturing firms and their customers co-create digital service innovations in an attempt to address the digitalization paradox. We present empirical insights from a case study of four manufacturers and their customer relationships. The results suggest that value co-creation in digital servitization is best managed t...
The present study investigates the effect of the interaction between digitalization and servitization on the financial performance of manufacturing companies. We challenge the simple linear assumption between digitalization and financial performance with a sample of 131 manufacturing firms and hypothesize a nonlinear U-shaped interaction effect bet...
Purpose
This study aims to present an integrated framework and investigate the enabling roles of governance mechanisms (i.e. contract, interdependence, trust and communication) in the choice of effective conflict resolution strategies (CRS) that in turn facilitate buyer–supplier relationship (BSR) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Web...
Purpose
This study aims to present an integrated framework and investigate the enabling roles of governance mechanisms (i.e. contract, interdependence, trust and communication) in the choice of effective conflict resolution strategies (CRS) that in turn facilitate buyer–supplier relationship (BSR) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Web...
The study analyzes the coping practices that emerge when a manufacturer of standardized products and add-on services expands to provide customized solutions. Based on a comparative case study methodology conducted across four case companies, and an analysis of extensive documentary data, the study challenges the dichotomous ‘either-or thinking’ in...
CFP on "Moving toward autonomous solutions: The role of Product-Service-Software Systems"
Call For Papers for Handbook in Servitization
In this article, the authors extend the current literature on servitization by taking a configurational perspective, aiming to understand the interplay between the drivers (conditions) that lead to certain equifinal outcomes of servitization. By taking stock of the servitization literature using the contingency theory of strategy as a foundational...
To attract new companies and a talented workforce in a way that increases income streams, cities are searching for strategic capabilities by using a variety of strategic practices. The present study participates in the theoretical debate between micro- and macro-strategizing by focusing on the interplay between the city organization and its institu...
In global technology companies, the headquarters typically expects the R&D subsidiaries to have high performance in terms of R&D project time and cost, but in the same time high innovation capabilities are expected. On the other hand, the R&D subsidiaries typically have their own interests in maintaining their positions in the company's product dev...
The current study introduces the concept of new product and service portfolio (NPSP) advantage by creating and validating a three-dimensional measurement method that reflects novelty, meaningfulness and superiority – the three characteristics of NPSP advantage. Based on industry-wide homogeneous generalizable quantitative data from 108 manufacturin...
The ability of manufacturing companies to offer advanced services and achieve superior financial performance remains an open question in the servitization literature. One central question relates to how providers govern customer relationships to realize profits through servitization. This study addresses this question by unraveling the complex rela...
The number of studies concerning outcome-based contracts (OBCs) has gradually increased over the past decade, with a focus on servitizing companies. The mutually beneficial baseline logic behind such contracting provides a fascinating area for research because, for instance, it facilitates overcoming the service paradox through network-driven value...
This study investigates the different strategic orientations available for technology companies that provide smart solutions to their clients. We conceptualize eight archetypes of approaches employed by technology companies to develop smart solutions based on three strategic orientations: 1) entrepreneurial, 2) technology, and 3) market (customer)....
Purpose
This paper aims to identify a manufacturer’s abilities to develop, build, sell and deliver Internet of Things (IoT) services.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a qualitative comparative case method that uses multiple sources of data, including executive interviews and secondary data, to understand a manufacturer’s IoT capabilities....
This edited book intends to provide knowledge on tools and practices of servitization to facilitate the formulation and implementation of servitization-based strategies, service infusion and manufacturing service transition globally. Including 22 practically relevant contributions, this book aims to help scholars and practitioners seeking to facili...
This chapter focuses on the paradoxical tensions companies face when servitizing their business model. We utilize the paradox theory, and reconstruct the Smith and Lewis (2011) model for servitization context, to enable companies to analyze and understand the paradoxical tensions they encounter when implementing the service transition. We outline t...
This chapter sheds light on the different business models of manufacturing companies that have servitized their business operations. This chapter presents four distinctive yet simultaneously pursued business models for servitized manufacturers: (1) the product business model, (2) the service-agreement business model (3) the process-oriented busines...
Drawing on the case of a global servitizing company in the ship power industry, we use a Porterian toolkit for analyzing the implications of industry power and its consequences on firm vertical (re)positioning within the value system. Whereas repositioning has been seen as a way of moving closer to customers and obtaining new competencies, strategi...