Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the transition process of servitization. Servitization has generated a considerable body of research and industry engagement. Yet, most of the studies associated with this topic were in the descriptive approach based on case studies, and few were in the prescriptive approach based on the derivation of propositions or hypotheses by surveys. To fill this gap, we conducted a questionnaire survey of the General Machinery-Equipment Manufacturing Industry in Japan. As a result of the exploratory analysis, we extracted four factors (customer retention, organizational readiness, the commitment of servitization, and organization support). Then, we proposed five propositions related to the transition process of servitization. In helping to clarify the transition process, our findings suggest a prescriptive model deal with the complexity of servitization and emphasize the significance of exploring discontinuous changes in the process.