A Study of the Impact of Manufacturing Servitization on Firms’ Cost Stickiness

Since 2014, China has been actively promoting the transformation of manufacturing servitization, clarifying the importance of manufacturing servitization. This paper investigates the correlation between manufacturing servitization and cost stickiness, supplementing the research on the economic consequences of manufacturing servitization and the influencing factors of cost stickiness. This paper launches an empirical study with a sample of A-share manufacturing companies from 2014 to 2022. The research results show that, first, manufacturing servitization can inhibit enterprise cost stickiness; second, manufacturing servitization affects enterprise cost stickiness through the path of reducing enterprise adjustment costs, reducing managers’ optimistic expectations and reducing enterprise agency costs; third, the negative relationship between manufacturing servitization and cost stickiness is stronger among firms with a low level of internal control, a strong degree of financing constraints, a good quality internal information environment, a strong degree of competition in the market, and firms that are in capital-intensive manufacturing industries; fourth, the role of embedded servitization on enterprise cost stickiness is not significant, while hybrid servitization can have a significant negative effect on enterprise cost stickiness; and fifth, the impact of manufacturing servitization on enterprise cost stickiness mainly lies in the cost of material resources rather than the cost of human resources.