Servitization is seen as the process of increasing value by adding services to products (Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988). It is a means to create value-added capabilities that are distinctive and sustainable over competitors (Baines and Lightfoot, 2013). Authors such as Neely (2008) claim that the process of servitization can be seen as the development of an organization’s innovation capabilities in the sense that, rather than merely offering products, it can provide customers with complete product-service systems (Visnjic and Van Looy, 2013). It is normally configured as a process of innovation as part of the business model of an organization, which would lead to improved performance and customer satisfaction, as well as enhanced competitive advantage (Suarez et al., 2013).

In times of economic crisis, such as the one that many parts of the world are still undergoing, the value chain of goods manufacturers is becoming less attractive as the demand for products becomes increasingly stagnated. Under such circumstances, companies are aware of the value inherent in offering the services needed for running and maintaining the products they manufacture (Wise and Baumgartner, 1999). Davies, Brady and Hobday (2007) indicate that services provide more constant income, higher profit margins and require less asset allocation than manufacturing.

In their approach towards a successful servitization process, companies need to redesign their business model (Baines et al., 2009a). The addition of service offerings to the portfolio of traditionally product-oriented companies is of growing importance, with innovative new business models and novel organizational structure. Icons in this world are companies such as Rolls-Royce Aerospace with Power-by-the-hour, and Xerox with document management. These are all examples of ‘advanced services’ (Baines & Lightfoot, 2013) incorporating maintenance, repair and overhaul contracts where revenue generation is directly linked to the asset availability, reliability and performance.

The servitization of the manufacturing can be considered as an emerging area of research that has attracted an increasing amount of attention in management, marketing and operations literature. Approaches from a variety of disciplines have led to insightful studies on the practical implications for businesses. Figure 1 shows the evolution of publications on the topic of servitization in the period of 1992 to 2015, which has been taken from the multi-disciplinary academic database, Web of Science (WoS). It can be observed an upward trend: in the period 1992-2007 an average of 3 articles were published per year, in the period 2008-2015 an average of 40 articles were published per year.

In terms of the study of servitization, only eight papers exist that seek to provide a review of the literature. Five of these reviews are principally of a qualitative nature (Pawar et al., 2009; Bertokovic et al., 2011; Cavalieri and Pezzotta, 2012; Park et al., 2012 and Beuren, Gomes Ferreira and Cauchick Miguel, 2013) and three of them are quantitative (Lightfoot et al., 2013; Boehm and Thomas, 2013 and Park and Yoon, 2015). There is no general consensus on the theoretical and empirical development of the research. The literature on servitization has been increasing at a notable rate with contributions from different fields and theories, hitherto dominated by studies that use the case study method (Beuren et al., 2013).

Research in the field of servitization has, for some time, taken place in five principal research communities (Baines et al., 2009a): Services marketing, service management, operations management, productservice system and service science management and engineering. The constitution and focus of these communities continues to evolve (Lightfoot et al, 2013).

The servitization of manufacturing has become a common business practice that enables the offering of product-service propositions which best suited to the needs of customers, and in addition, strengthen the position in the supply network and the market (Baines, Lightfoot, Peppard, et al., 2009a). It is a means of creating value added capabilities that are distinctive and sustainable in comparison with competitors (Baines et al., 2009b).

Figure 1 Figure 1 Evolution of publications on the topic servitization

The manufacturing industry has undergone a profound transformation, marked by the contribution of services to turnover (more than 50% in some industries) and by the amount of workers involved in service functions (between 65% and 75%) (Doultsinou, Roy et al., 2009).

When undertaking the servitization process, firms need to move towards a “product-service continuum” (Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003; Neu and Brown, 2005; Gebauer, 2008; Baines et al., 2009a). At one extreme lies the traditional manufacturer who only offers goods, while services are complements or add-ons for their products; turnover and profit are generated principally through the products that are sold and the contribution of services is reasonably low. At the other extreme are the service providers, where services represent the basis of the value creation process and tangible goods are added to satisfy customer needs; these goods represent just a small part of the total value (Gebauer and Friedli, 2005). Firms must define their position along this continuum by offering combinations of products-services. The trend is growing, so that companies today compete on the basis of product-service combinations, seen as solutions to the customer.

In the literature, analysis of business practice about servitization is reflected in studies using case studies. In Table 1 a compilation of studies of cases is presented.

The call for papers in this Special Issue was issued during the autumn of 2015, with a submission deadline of November 30, 2015. The submitted papers were then blind reviewed by at least two reviewers following the Universia Business Review’s guidelines. The call for papers invited submissions on a broad range of sub-topics within the area of servitization, including:

• Theories underpinning servitization strategies

• Servitization as a complement for existing strategies

• Servitization and Customer Relationship Management, customer value perception and client satisfaction

• Servitization, sustainability and product design

• Implications of servitization in business models

• Servitization and supply chain management

• Servitization processes and organizational performance indicators

• Strategic Services Management

• Service Operations Management

• Service System and Service Network Design

• Service Innovation Management

• Advanced business services and practices of/for servitization

• Organizational change processes and models related to the implementation of servitization practices

• Impact of advanced business services, servitization and business model innovation practices for the competitiveness

• KIBS and servitization and Factories of the Future and Advanced Manufacturing development strategies

• Servitization in SMEs and regional development

• Human factors of servitization

• Development of methods and indicators to measure and assess quantitatively the degree of servitization

Tabale 1 Tabale 1 Study of Cases (as link between academic and business practice)

Tabale 1. Tabale 1. Study of Cases (as link between academic and business practice) (Continuación)

High-quality proposals were received, and were initially rejected if didn´t aim to act as a bridge between the academic and the business communities. In general, the topic of servitization is investigated from an approach of business practice, as demonstrated in the work outlined concerning case studies, and this was evident in the submissions. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all who submitted papers to our Special Issue. In addition, we want to thank the reviewers for their time and effort in reviewing the submitted papers in the Special Issue.

The Special Issue resulted in the publication of seven papers. We are convinced that each makes a good contribution to research and practice on servitization. The papers address diverse topics within the area. Conceptual and also qualitative and quantitative papers are included. Together, they enhance our present knowledge on servitization and indicate the way for future research.

The first article titled “Services in product-oriented companies: past, present, and future” by Heiko Gebauer, Simon Joncourt and Caroline Saul, discusses the evolution of servitization, recognising that services in product-oriented companies have become one of the most active research areas in the service domain and that practitioners have become advocates for service business development. Research domain on services in product-oriented companies remains open to a variety of conceptualizations and interpretations such as hybrid offerings, solution providers, and transition from products to services, system suppliers, product-service systems (PSS), servitization. This article reflects on the past, present, and future of service research in product-oriented companies and explores the way in which the literature on services in product-oriented firms has been evolving and taking shape, expose the underlying key concepts, and describe future research directions.

Servitization of manufacturing has become a common business practice that enables clients to obtain product-service combinations adapted to their needs. It enables firms to position themselves better on the market (Baines et al., 2009a). The literature on servitization has increased considerably, fed by different disciplines and theories; to date it has been dominated by case studies (Beuren et al., 2013). Servitization can be defined as an emerging research field, with many interesting opportunities (Lightfoot et al., 2013). Servitization is a cross-cutting theme, and many linkages exist with established topics across engineering and management. Hence, research should be focused to a greater extent on developing empirical studies that will demonstrate the results of the servitization strategy in an objective long-term manner.