What can servitized manufacturers learn from their customers? An empirical investigation in the elevator industry

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to provide insights into the factors that may influence customers’ predisposition to purchase advanced services. Understanding the customer and its processes is vital for the delivery of profitable solutions based on advanced services. However, extant literature has focused on the manufacturer's point of view and only a limited number of empirical studies have investigated how customers promote or hinder servitization. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is based on a customer survey of the elevator industry in Portugal. The 352 customers who answered represent more than 5% of the 140,000 installed elevators in Portugal. A number of hypotheses were developed and tested using the ordinary least squares regression method. Findings: Our findings show that a shift towards advanced services is of high importance in the elevator industry. The data seem to suggest that customers who already buy basic services have a predisposition to adopt advanced services in the future. We found also out that (a) customers who already show high intensity of contracted advanced services in the present have a high predisposition to adopt advanced services in the future, (b) customers in the professional segment show a higher predisposition to hire advanced services than other segments, (c) customers with larger portfolios of equipment under management have higher predisposition to adopt advanced services in the future, and (d) over time, there seems to be a balanced adoption of basic and advanced services, using basic services as a platform rather than providing basic services first to a high extent, followed by advanced services. Originality/Value: This research extends the literature by providing insights into the factors which affect the predisposition of customers to purchase advanced services.