Manufacturers forming successful complex business services

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to isolate and characterize organizational factors that enable the formation of high‐performing business services in product manufacturing firms.Design/methodology/approach – This study employed a case research design. In total, 32 depth interviews were conducted with 11 different managers from a Global 100 information technology manufacturing firm. These managers were directly responsible for forming a highly successful business service. All interviews were tape‐recorded, transcribed, and the resulting 500 pages of interview data were open‐coded in QSR NUDIST. A case report was reviewed by study participants to enhance construct validity.Findings – The general conclusion is that forming high‐performing business services in product manufacturing firms stems largely from managers' ability to create internal alignment among several organizational factors that collectively “fit” conditions in the market.Research limitations/implications – This study does not provide th...