The Organizational Response to Remote Service Delivery, A Competence-Based Exploration of Remotability in the Capital Goods Sector

Schriftenreihe innovative betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung und Praxis, Band 513 340 pages. Fueled by the arrival of the Internet, modern technologies have been gradually relaxing the need for physical proximity between service providers and service objects, which has long been considered a major burden for global service delivery. The utilization of remote service delivery, in particular, puts service providers in the promising position to offer service elements to service objects at any given location and at any given time. Naturally, this raises vital questions for theory and practice alike. How does the nature of remote service delivery differ from that of traditional service delivery? What does it take for organizations to capitalize on the peculiarities of remote service delivery? Following these considerations from a managerial point of view, the author seeks to elucidate and clarify the extent and competence-based means to which business entities address the nature of remote service delivery in the light of their organizational competitiveness. On this note, the thesis sheds particular light on value creation in the context of maintenance-related remote service delivery in the capital goods sector and embraces an explorative approach to the phenomenon under investigation, thereby drawing from a sound combination of conceptual and empirical work. Conceptually, the thesis embeds the organizational response to remote service delivery in the research stream on competence-based competition and structures it along the concept of dynamic capabilities and a corresponding categorization into sensing, seizing, and reconfiguration in the light of remote service delivery. Empirically, the thesis employs qualitative research methods and a multiple case study design in order to mirror the theoretical considerations against evidence from the field and assess the organizational response to remote service delivery in real-life contexts. In the end, the thesis does not only enrich the academic landscape, as it clearly enhances the understanding of value creation and organizational competitiveness in the face of remote service delivery, but further comprises a number of highly relevant implications for business practitioners. After all, the findings of the investigation indicate that the extent and competence-based means to which business entities in the capital goods sector momentarily address the peculiarities of remote service delivery vary substantially and potentially leave room for competitive advantages.