Abstract:
The aim of the paper is analysis the linkages between the types of services (product-centric and
knowledge-centric services) that manufacturers deliver to their customers and their (manufactures)
network capabilities configurations. The present study intends to contribute to the servitisation
literature by drawing from the resource-based view and configuration theory to investigate which
components of network capabilities are most important to enable manufacturers to develop and
deliver services. Manufacturers are moving from selling products to providing solutions, offering
innovative combinations of products and services. Literature begin to highlight importance of
different capabilities for product–centric service provision such as operational capabilities,
digitalization capabilities, dynamic capabilities, network management capability and service
innovation capability. Buyer-supplier relationships are critical for successfully providing services.
Nonetheless, buyer–supplier relationships in servitised contexts have received little research
attention until recently. Furthermore, many researchers study the abovementioned capabilities and
their sub-components in isolation from one another. To explore the causal relationships a
DEMATEL technique is adopted. The DEMATEL method has been successfully applied to many
research fields with the purpose to render sophisticated problems and transform complex systems
into structurally causal and effect relationships. Research approach is based on interviews (n = 15) in
five manufacturing companies and data collected at four company workshops. Using sample data
from Polish manufacturers it must be concluded that not all industrial services require the same
configurations of network capabilities. When moving from product-centric to knowledge-centric
services, the establishment of relationship-specific adaptations and cooperative norms increases.
