The Service Transformation Process: A Research Agenda in the Customer Orientation Interface

Academic and business interests in the service transformation process have risen significantly in recent years. This might be traced back to the fact that transforming from a pure product supplier to a service provider represents a competitive opportunity for many
firms, as they seek to turn away from problems occurring in matured businesses, such as tighter margins and competitive pressure. However, despite the high relevance of the
so-called servitization in research and practice, current literature is scarce in precisely describing the transformation processes from a product-oriented strategy to a customeroriented, service-focused business model.
While several studies have adopted a firm-oriented approach to analyse service transformation, less attention has been paid to a customer oriented perspective. Hence, based on
a broad literature review and in-depth interviews, this paper points out the requirements for and challenges of implementing service transformation successfully in the context of a high level of customer orientation. It becomes
clear that existing research remains predominantly at a conceptual level. Thus, in order to encourage further investigations, a service transformation process research agenda at the market- and service orientation interface
is proposed.