Title: Product-service innovation and performance: unveiling the complexities

Authors: Oscar F. Bustinza; Ferran Vendrell-Herrero; Emanuel Gomes; Esteban Lafuente; Marco Opazo-Basáez; Rodrigo Rabetino; Yancy Vaillant

Addresses: Business School, University of Granada, Campus Cartuja s/n, Granada, 18011, Spain ' Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15-2TT, UK ' School of Business and Economics, NOVA University, Campus de Campolide, 1099-032, Lisboa, Portugal ' Department of Management, EPSEB, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC Barcelona Tech), Av. Doctor Marañón 44-50, 08028 Barcelona, Spain ' Deusto Business School, University of Deusto, Hermanos Aguirre 2, 48014 Bilbao, Spain ' School of Management, University of Vaasa, Wolffintie 34, 65200 Vaasa, Tervahovi C318, Finland ' Toulouse Business School, 20 Boulevard Lascrosses, 31068 Toulouse, France

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to unveil the existing complexities in the relationship between product-service innovation (PSI) - or servitisation - and firm performance that arise from the mismatch between theoretical predictions and empirical evidence. Whilst theoretical work suggests that there are a number of advantages for implementing PSI, quantitative firm-level evidence is not conclusive about the positive effects of this type of innovation on firm performance. By reviewing the relevant publications dealing with the PSI-performance relationship, their methodological approach, the novel constructs validated and the role of mediators/moderators found in the servitisation literature, we argue that further contextualisation is needed to solve this puzzle. Additionally, this work systematically organises the different methods and variables used to assess the PSI-performance link, guiding scholars on the choice between different methods and measures. This work enumerates various streams of future research to discover unexplored fields to better ground this relationship, including the development of solid configurational theories, appropriate fit between theory and measurement techniques and new sampling strategies for performing longitudinal studies.

Keywords: product-service innovation; PSI; servitisation; performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBE.2018.095819

International Journal of Business Environment, 2018 Vol.10 No.2, pp.95 - 111

Received: 13 Jul 2018
Accepted: 09 Sep 2018
Published online: 22 Oct 2018 *

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