Purpose

This paper aims to assess the existence of, or the risk of running into, a smart service paradox for industrial firms and how to overcome it.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative multiple case study is conducted involving four machine tool builders. The main source of data is formed by semi-structured interviews with service business managers. NVivo software was used to structure the interview harvest.

Findings

The findings reveal that a smart service paradox is a realistic threat for industrial firms, that smart service business development is a supply push affair rather than a matter of demand pull, that two types of permissions need to be granted by prospective users (license to operate and license to charge) and that three intermediate steps need to be undertaken and validated to overcome a smart service paradox: value testing or proofing; value recognition; and value sharing.

Research limitations/implications

This study was vendor-centric and did not involve the industrial customers to whom the smart services were directed. It was based on a small sample, which limits the generalizability of findings to a broader or different (sectoral) context.

Practical implications

Lessons are identified for service managers on how to circumvent a smart service paradox.

Originality/value

This study departs from a value creation-delivery-capture (“business model”) perspective to assess smart service paradox dynamics. By adopting a relational perspective to it, the present paper succeeds in presenting a more granular version of the base business model.

中文翻译：

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机床制造商如何从智能服务中获取价值？避免服务和数字化悖论

目的

本文旨在评估工业公司是否存在智能服务悖论或遇到这种悖论的风险，以及如何克服它。

设计/方法/方法

进行了一项涉及四家机床制造商的定性多案例研究。数据的主要来源是对服务业务经理的半结构化访谈。NVivo 软件用于构建采访收获。

发现

研究结果表明，智能服务悖论对工业公司来说是一个现实威胁，智能服务业务发展是供应推动而非需求拉动，潜在用户需要授予两种类型的权限（经营许可）和收费许可），并且需要采取和验证三个中间步骤来克服智能服务悖论：价值测试或证明；价值认同；和价值共享。

研究限制/影响

这项研究以供应商为中心，不涉及智能服务所针对的工业客户。它基于一个小样本，这将调查结果的普遍性限制在更广泛或不同（部门）的背景下。

实际影响

为服务经理确定了如何规避智能服务悖论的经验教训。

原创性/价值

本研究从价值创造-交付-捕获（“商业模式”）的角度出发来评估智能服务悖论动态。通过采用关系视角，本文成功地展示了基本业务模型的更精细版本。