Approach for organizational service climate creation: Action research in a Japanese monitor maker

In matured manufacturing industries, many companies are trying to change their business model by adding the concept of service, which is a process of value co-creation between provider and recipient. The value proposition based on value-in-use is a key direction for corporate business success. In a manufacturing company, technical personnel should have not only technology oriented thinking but also service oriented thinking to generate new value propositions. Therefore, there is a need to create a service climate in organizations. This paper proposes a methodology to transform the way of thinking and support for knowledge co-creation with others about new corporate value propositions. We combined service dominant logic (SDL) with business model generation methodology to make a new method for a service climate creation. We conducted action research by introducing the method to twenty-five technical personnel in a Japanese monitor maker and obtained data including feedback about its availability and the impact for corporate business models. This study will help personnel to generate a service-based innovation concept, thereby promoting servitization in manufacturing companies.