Establishing the Core Principles of Servitisation for Application Outside Manufacturing

Abstract

Typically considered as being limited to the manufacturing sector, servitisation involves the transition from a product-based to a service-based offering. If the UK is to be an international leader in the adoption of servitisation business models, other sectors must be considered. The EPSRC-funded Digitally Enhanced Advanced Services (DEAS) Network Plus comprises researchers and practitioners working collectively across various disciplines and different sectors. The work of the network has illustrated that manufacturing is an exemplar, rather than the only model that could be followed, and that it would be beneficial if DEAS principles could be established that are not specific to a particular sector or discipline. Although there is an existing body of research there is minimal agreement on the key concepts and terms, making the topic inaccessible to researchers from disciplines outside servitisation. A broad range of disciplines need to come together especially given the reliance on digital transformation. Following reviews of existing research and the DEAS work to date, this paper discusses the principles of servitisation that could, and should, be applied to sectors outside manufacturing. Further work will make use of these principles in establishing a common terminology framework, in the form of an ontology of servitisation.