Servitization and the effect of training on service delivery system performance

Manufacturers moving into services must design a service delivery system that can effectively and efficiently support their product-service offerings. Commonly, such manufacturers outsource customer service and support to independent service suppliers, while maintaining the ownership and control of certain service units. Despite the increasing number of studies in service triads investigating ways that may improve service performance and customer satisfaction, the dynamics of mixed-ownership service delivery systems have remained understudied. By deploying the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) framework, and synthesizing insights from research in franchising and the literature on training effectiveness, we hypothesize that manufacturer-led formal training increases the service performance of the entire network, but that outsourced service units choose more suitable training courses and derive comparatively higher performance benefits than company-owned ones. We test (and find support for) our hypotheses within the UK service network of a major commercial vehicles manufacturer, using several panel data regression models and objective measures of training and performance. This study primarily contributes to the literature on servitization and service triads by showing the performance-enhancing capacity of manufacturer-led training. The results have practical implications for the development and implementation of the service operations strategy of servitized manufacturers that support customers through mixed-ownership service networks.