Developing the concept of life-cycle service offering

To extend the previous literature on industrial services, this study develops the concept of the life-cycle service offering by reviewing previous studies and collecting empirical data from seven cases. In particular, the present study develops a framework for life-cycle service offering by synthesizing 11 main categories of services based on an empirical categorization of 1638 services. These categories include administrative services, basic (installed base) services, consulting services, customer services, financial services, maintenance services, operational/outsourcing services, optimization services, research and development services, recycling services, and supply management and warehousing services. The concepts, dimensions and services developed in this study may enable managers of manufacturing firms to better analyze, benchmark, and develop their firms' life-cycle offerings to facilitate value creation and appropriation.