Another May and another Spring Servitization Conference (SSC)! Last week, we concluded the 11th edition of the conference and, although we had planned to be in Florence, we ended up on Zoom for obvious reasons. Since its inception, SSC has been dedicated to understanding how organisations can develop and adapt their business models through servitization and advances services. The theme we explored this year was “Servitization: A Pathway towards a Resilient, Productive and Sustainable Future”.
Once again, the conference brought together the worldʼs leading researchers, practitioners and doctoral students to debate and engage with the theory and practice of servitization. During the three days, we had 50+ full paper and poster presentations by over 150 authors, focusing on three main themes: (i) servitization case studies and empirical research, (ii) servitization concept, literature, theory and frameworks, and (iii) ecosystem, value network and digitalisation.
In addition to the academic presentations, and similar to previous years, we had industrial keynotes discussing servitization in practice. On May 10th, Almudena Marcos from Omron talked about how a multinational organisation with a Japanese heritage is transforming from strong product-based business models to those focusing on the outcome. On Day 2, Will Edwards from Domino Printing Sciences presented the journey of the company and discussed the enablers of coding-as-a-service. On the final day, we welcomed Alberto Rostagno from Baker Hughes who provided a fresh viewpoint on service-led strategies in the Oil & Gas industry.
Overall, it was fascinating to see that the research and practice on the topic is progressing so fast (and I believe in the right direction). We have gone over the hurdle of the ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions (e.g., what is servitization, why servitization, why is it important, etc.) and are now firmly in the territory of the ‘how’ questions (e.g., how should we develop service-led business models, how should we incorporate digital technologies to further enhance value creation and capture, etc.).
We wrapped up the conference with the best paper awards and I had the privilege to announce the winners:
> Mira Tayah, Javier Pamplona, Arno
Nijrolder & Christophe Rynikiewicz for the paper titled “Servitisation Model in Energy Efficient Equipment: Implementation Study in The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain”.
> Khadijeh Momeni, Chris Raddats & Miia Martinsuo for the paper titled “Developing Capabilities for Digital Servitization”.
> Siri Jagstedt, Klas Hedvall, Ludvig Lindlöf & Tabea Ramírez Hernández for the paper titled “Agile Management Practices for Solutions Development: Managerial Challenges in An Interorganisational Context”.
> Valentina Forrer, Erica Santini, Filippo Visintin & Enrico Zaninotto for the paper titled “Organizational Solutions in The Servitization and Digital Servitization Journey”.
The servitization community is growing, the topic is maturing, and the landscape is very promising. But there is still lots to be explored and discussed in understanding of how servitization and advanced services could support the economy (and organisations) to become resilient, decentralised, greener, and productive.
… and I repeat what I wrote last year: All being well, we are planning to take the 2022 Spring Servitization Conference to Florence next May for a (hopefully) face-to-face conference in the Italian sunshine!
If you can’t wait that long, join us in the autumn at Servitization Live.
It is a virtual business event dedicated solely to servitization and advanced services. For more information and to register, visit: www.servitizationlive.com
