Managing sustainable service improvements in manufacturing companies

Purpose – The paper aims to provide a better understanding of how cognitive processes limit service improvements in typical product manufacturing companies.Design/methodology/approach – Case studies are the main tool for theory development. All investigated manufacturing companies have been seeking possibilities to enhance their profitability through services, because their products were mainly in the maturity stage with decreasing margins and profitability.Findings – The objective was to show how companies can overcome the typical “cultural” habits and cognitive processes by offering some guidelines to managers seeking to establish sustainable service improvement programs.Research limitations/implications – The remarks are limited to product manufacturing firms.Practical implications – The key managerial implication is a method to overcome cognitive processes, which limit service improvements.Originality/value – The paper establishes that cognitive processes form several feedback structures that all play...

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