Managing the organisational transition from products to services in a global context

This report describes the case company transition from a product-oriented business with service-oriented subsidiaries towards a service-oriented business in which both the Headquarter (HQ) and the subsidiaries are working together as a whole company in providing safety solutions for the customer. The periods of the transition were divided according to specific activities and changes into: 1.

Pre-transition period specific for creating the focus on services and preparing the type of offerings relevant for the customer needs. 2. The organisation transition with specific attention given to the operational practices that support people involvement in selling, managing the logistics behind and providing the services. 3.

The restructuring period with internal changes in the setup of the division handling the service agreements from the HQ. The implemented actions for keeping the service-oriented focus after the division split are described here. 4. The development period concerning improvement of the service concepts and expansion of the service business.

Due to the starting date of this period, the aspects presented here are current changes and further plans described in the form of expectations. Theoretical insights from strategic management theories and practices related to the growth of the service business are discussed in the second part of the report.

Based on the case analysis, suggestions for further work in the case company are presented as follows: 1. Designing a service blueprint that detail the processes in which the lines of interaction, visibility and the sub-processes that connect units/stakeholders highlight the dependencies and the value stream brought by each unit.

In this way, the service blueprint facilitates the identification of the tensions in the value chain. 2. Designing the Key performance indicators (KPI) based on the service blueprints for conducting the internal evaluation. 3. Focusing on the internal resources of the company that could improve the capabilities portfolio of the company.

As an example, specific training for sales people to help them understand customer concerns and act as a consultants with justified solutions for the customer needs. 4. In the process of implementing changes related to people work roles and responsibilities, understanding the motivation and what helps people to feel empowered in their role could facilitate the description of the strategy in actions and processes that people feel related to and responsible for.