An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Servitization and Active Aging in Taiwan's Senior Care Market: A Case Study of Fitness Equipment Industry

As advanced medical science, affluent life and the improvement of public health environment, human mean lifetime is extended. The population structure gets older year by year is a facing problem to every countries in the world. On the one way, it's an urgent policy issue need to consider seriously, and on the other way, it also show enormous potential business opportunities of Evergreen care market. Manufacturing servitization is an extension of industrial value chain, its main goals is to create more value to the business model. Through manufacturing servitization, enterprises response to market demand changes with modifying value chain, and even enter a new market which is service-oriented. In this study, the methods of case studies and Service project experience will be applied to investigate deeply both fitness equipment manufacturers and seniors lifestyle and care needs, and to find out how fitness equipment manufacturers could provide service product. Then combining with the WHO (2002) proposed the concept of active aging to develop innovative business model for fitness equipment industries. The results will not only help enterprises to catch the business opportunities of evergreen care market in the future, but can help relative government authorities to draw up future policies for how to support the manufacturing industries reforming and how to provide a integrated, innovative thinking in accordance to the social problem of aging.