Thesis
Organising for integrated solutions : a dynamic capabilities view of digital servitisation in supplier firms
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2025
- Thesis identifier
- T17540
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201789703
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Servitisation and digitalisation are two converging trends reshaping industrial firms and value chains. Many firms worldwide – from global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to small component suppliers – are expanding their service businesses while simultaneously seeking to leverage new and emerging digital technologies. Despite growing research interest, the changes that firms undergo during digital servitisation remain poorly understood, and the specific issue of how firms reconfigure their resource base is underexplored. Moreover, most existing studies focus on OEMs, even though other industrial actors – in particular, component suppliers – are subject to the same forces driving digital servitisation. While the relative advantages and challenges of digital servitisation differ between OEMs and suppliers, little is known about how suppliers specifically navigate this transformation. This study adopts an exploratory, qualitative approach to address this gap. A longitudinal case study was conducted on a parts and components supplier for industrial gas turbines to trace the firm’s transformation into an integrated solutions provider. The empirical observations were analysed through the lens of dynamic capabilities, which provided a valuable focus on change processes within the firm. The process model from this research captures the recursive, multi-level nature of digital servitisation in the supplier context. The findings reveal change patterns of incremental adaptation and continuous renewal of the supplier’s resource base, punctuated by episodes of discontinuity in its strategic goals and managerial capabilities. Two meta-mechanisms – goal-setting and top management team (TMT) reconfiguration – operate alongside sensing, seizing and transforming mechanisms to drive these changes. These mechanisms interplay closely with the use of digital technology in shaping the supplier’s digital servitisation trajectory. By unpacking the digital servitisation journey of a supplier firm, this research extends existing theory in this field and offers actionable insights for practitioners
- Advisor / supervisor
- Smith, Marisa
- MacKay, David J. C.
- Resource Type
- DOI
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PDF of thesis T17540 | 2025-11-25 | Public | Download |