Configurational servitization approach: A necessary alignment of service strategies, digital capabilities and customer resources

International audienceImplementing servitization involves a number of organisational, strategic and operational challenges in manufacturing companies. Servitization is not always successful and failures often result from a misunderstanding of the concept itself and of its conditions of implementation, its heterogeneity being a true challenge for firms.This chapter re-examines the current understanding of servitization and proposes different servitization approaches showing that the focus of servitization can be placed on either the offer, processes, uses, results, degrees or methods of innovation. These approaches are not necessarily exclusive from each other and correspond to different servitized value propositions. Regardless of the definition or the approach of servitization under consideration here, there is a consensus to adopt a customer-centric approach to servitization. Servitization is also closely linked to digitalization, which is itself considered as both a driver and an enabler of servitization.Scholars point out a service paradox, potentially reinforced by a digital one. When implementing a service strategy articulated with digitalization, companies may face a digital service paradox (DSP) as a result of the interplay of these elements.In this chapter, we explain how to operate a configurational approach to servitization, which aligns service strategies with digitalization capabilities and customer resources. This allows us to point to new approaches to successfully implementing servitization.Our main theoretical contribution to the field is an innovative reading of servitization which takes into account the heterogeneity of its approaches, objectives and related servitized value propositions. Considering this multiplicity of situations and paths to success allows us to consider more than one way to overcome the digital service paradox. From a managerial perspective, we help manufacturing companies to implement servitization by proposing an integrative framework based on the configurational approach of servitization: we put forward different combinations of service strategies, digital capabilities and customer resources.Acknowledgment: The authors acknowledge the Coactis research centre and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region for their financial support