Abstract
Companies producing large capital goods often extend their goods offerings with various project-related services. However, they often struggle with properly productizing these services due to a limited understanding of which customer needs the services fulfill. To solve this problem, a service configurator was developed to identify challenges in the context of a delivery project and to match them with appropriate services. The configurator enables value-driven selling and ultimately establishes a tighter relationship between a salesman and a customer by guiding negotiations and real-time reflection on the optimal scope split between the parties. This elevates the role of the customer from a passive receiver to an active co-creator of the solution. An online version of the tool was also developed and tested with a case company.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aharoni, Y., Tihanyi, L., & Connelly, B. L. (2011). Managerial decision-making in international business: A forty-five-year retrospective. Journal of World Business, 46(2), 135–142. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2010.05.001.
Bask, A. H., Lipponen, M., Rajahonka, M., & Tinnilä, M. (2011). Modularity in logistics services: A business model and process view. International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 10(4), 379–399. doi:10.1504/IJSOM.2011.043463.
Brady, T., Davies, A., & Gann, D. M. (2005). Creating value by delivering integrated solutions. International Journal of Project Management, 23(5), 360–365. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2005.01.001.
Cooper, M. J., & Budd, C. S. (2007). Tying the pieces together: A normative framework for integrating sales and project operations. Industrial Marketing Management, 36(2), 173–182. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2006.03.005.
Edkins, A., Geraldi, J., Morris, P., & Smith, A. (2013). Exploring the front-end of project management. Engineering Project Organization Journal, 3(2), 71–85. doi:10.1080/21573727.2013.775942.
Forza, C., & Salvador, F. (2002). Managing for variety in the order acquisition and fulfilment process: The contribution of product configuration systems. International Journal of Production Economics, 76(1), 87–98. doi:10.1016/S0925-5273(01)00157-8.
Galbraith, J. R. (1973). Designing complex organization. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Gray, J. R. (1999). A bias toward short-term thinking in threat-related negative emotional states. PSPB, 25(1), 65–75. doi:10.1007/BF02985213.
Greene, J. (2013). Moral tribes: Emotion, reason, and the gap between us and them. New York: Penguin Books.
Hellström, M. (2014). Solution business models based on functional modularity—The case of complex capital goods. Journal of Service Management, 25(5), 654–676. doi:10.1108/JOSM-07-2013-0198.
Hellström, M., Wikström, R., Gustafsson, M., & Luotola, H. (2016). The value of project execution services: A problem and uncertainty perspective. Construction Management and Economics. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GWdGQnfAXCmhGMsHruB2/full#.VyJ3KsA3Ju4.mendeley
Jarzabkowski, P., & Kaplan, S. (2015). Strategy tools-in-use: A framework for understanding “technologies of rationality” in practice. Strategic Management Journal, 36(4), 537–558. doi:10.1002/smj.2270.
Kowalkowski, C., Windahl, C., Kindström, D., & Gebauer, H. (2015). What service transition? Rethinking established assumptions about manufacturers’ service-led growth strategies. Industrial Marketing Management, 45, 59–69. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.02.016.
Liinamaa, J., Viljanen, M., Hurmerinta, A., Ivanova-Gongne, M., Luotola, H., & Gustafsson, M. (2016). Performance-based and functional contracting in value-based solution selling. Industrial Marketing Management, 59, 37–49. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.05.032.
Müller, R., & Turner, J. R. (2007). Matching the project manager’s leadership style to project type. International Journal of Project Management, 25(1), 21–32. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.04.003.
Rahikka, E., Ulkuniemi, P., & Pekkarinen, S. (2011). Developing the value perception of the business customer through service modularity. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 26(5), 357–367. doi:10.1108/08858621111144415.
Ramirez, R. (1999). Value co-production: Intellectual origins and implications for practice and research. Strategic Management Journal, 20(1), 49–65.
Riitahuhta, A., & Pulkkinen, A. (2001). Design for configuration a debate based on the 5th workshop on product structuring. Berlin: Springer.
Rogoll, T., & Piller, F. (2003). Konfigurationssysteme für Mass Customization und Variantenproduktion: Strategie, Erfolgsfaktoren und Technologie von Systemen zur Kundenintegration. Munich, Germany: Think Consult.
Salvador, F. (2007). Toward a product system modularity construct: Literature review and reconceptualization. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 54(2), 219–240.
Savolainen, P., & Ahonen, J. J. (2014). Knowledge lost: Challenges in changing project manager between sales and implementation in software projects. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), 92–102. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.04.003.
Turkulainen, V., Kujala, J., Artto, K., & Levitt, R. E. (2013). Organizing in the context of global project-based firm: The case of sales-operations interface. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(2), 223–233. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2012.08.004.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1–17.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. London: Sage.
Winch, G. M. (2015). Project organizing as a problem in information. Construction Management and Economics, 33(2), 106–116. doi:10.1080/01446193.2015.1021703.
Acknowledgments
We are very grateful for the collaborative disposition of our case company and for the cooperation with members of their staff: this constituted the core of our research. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge Dr. Magnus Gustafsson for providing relevant and important insights. Finally, the collaboration of our programmers, Mr. Mikael Sand and Mr. Robert Syring, is gratefully acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hellström, M., Sifontes Herrera, V.A., Wikström, R., Långstedt, J. (2017). The Service Configurator—How to Optimally Split Project Scopes. In: Vesalainen, J., Valkokari, K., Hellström, M. (eds) Practices for Network Management . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49649-8_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49649-8_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49648-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49649-8
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)