Introducing Industrial Services for Lifting Equipment to New Markets: Focus on China

The present study focuses on industrial service related strategies and opportunities to introduce industrial service to developing markets. In recent years, companies that manufacture products with potentially long life-cycles have started to question whether it is possible to turn industrial services, traditionally seen as being after sales support and a cost centre, into a profit centre generating additional revenues. There is also a challenge for large global industrial companies to utilize corporate experience in the service business when introducing industrial services to developing markets. Exploiting service-related strategies creates opportunities for providers to increase sales volumes with potentially higher margins and steady cash flows. The research problem of the present study can be expressed as the question; How can a global organisation take advantage of corporate tacit knowledge accumulated over time in mature markets to introduce an industrial service concept to new markets. By solving this research problem, the study strives to contribute to research on industrial services business model development. The objectives of the study are:. 1. to identify what are the elements of the business model and what are the possible strategies for developing the service business in a product-oriented organization. 2. to develop a generic framework to support the global organization in analysing the business model in mature markets and developing a service business model to enter new markets. 3. to apply the proposed framework to analyse the service business model of a global industrial organization with both a strong product and service business in mature markets. 4. to apply the developed framework to design strategies for entering new markets. This literature study examines the research on industrial services and business model development. Based on theoretical concepts a new research framework for the service business model is presented. The framework proposes the study of the service business model in two main dimensions: "Customer-Oriented Service Offer" and "Customer-Oriented Processes and Structures". The empirical study uses this framework to analyse the service business model of a global company in a mature market, and to develop the service business model for entering a new market. The action plan for entering the Chinese market and recommendations for further research are presented