A Business Model for a New Type of Maintenance Agreement for a Heavy Machinery Manufacturer
Pulkkinen, Juha (2024)
2024
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024051511996
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024051511996
Tiivistelmä
The case company has slowly evolved from an equipment manufacturer to a strong service provider along with the equipment business. During the past years growth of service business has been remarkable and currently standardizing the offering is given more attention. The company has a history of significant field service involvement. However, despite a good level of customer service and field service presence, there is a recognized need for improved ease of doing business. The company aims to enhance proactive service sales, particularly with an extensive selection of service agreements. The objective of the thesis is to develop a new business model focused on structured and profitable sales of maintenance services for new equipment to complement the company's service offerings.
The study adopts a design research approach and encompasses four stages. Firstly, a literature review is conducted to assimilate existing knowledge and best practices, enabling a comprehensive understanding of servitization process and business models used in service business. The subsequent stage involves a current state analysis, where the strengths and weaknesses of the case organization and its operations regarding the new maintenance agreement are evaluated. The weaknesses found are elaborated and prioritized on the third stage. The stage includes the creation of an initial business model, utilizing a conceptual framework to address identified weaknesses. The final stage comprises a validation round of the initial business model, resulting in an improved solution. Additionally, recommendations for the next steps are provided.
The outcome of this study is a business model to support developing the new type of service agreement. Weaknesses on the business model were found and suggestions on how to improve the issues before launching the product are given. The recommended next steps are valuable insights for the case company on the path to a more standardized service product offering.
The study adopts a design research approach and encompasses four stages. Firstly, a literature review is conducted to assimilate existing knowledge and best practices, enabling a comprehensive understanding of servitization process and business models used in service business. The subsequent stage involves a current state analysis, where the strengths and weaknesses of the case organization and its operations regarding the new maintenance agreement are evaluated. The weaknesses found are elaborated and prioritized on the third stage. The stage includes the creation of an initial business model, utilizing a conceptual framework to address identified weaknesses. The final stage comprises a validation round of the initial business model, resulting in an improved solution. Additionally, recommendations for the next steps are provided.
The outcome of this study is a business model to support developing the new type of service agreement. Weaknesses on the business model were found and suggestions on how to improve the issues before launching the product are given. The recommended next steps are valuable insights for the case company on the path to a more standardized service product offering.