Paradoxes and coping mechanisms in the servitisation journey
研究了产品制造商在向服务化转型过程中遇到的三种悖论（组织、学习、绩效）以及四种应对实践（变革管理、开放沟通、培训项目、数字化），对服务化转型的管理者和学者有参考价值。
Servitisation is conceptualised as product manufacturers' transition towards bundling products and services to offer customers enhanced value. Scholars have raised concerns regarding the potential challenges that firms face during servitisation, often termed servitisation paradoxes. Limited studies have explored the paradoxes experienced during the servitisation journey and the associated coping mechanisms. We utilise the open-ended essay methodology to unravel various paradoxes and coping mechanisms to address the gap. We collected data in two stages—from 69 participants in the first stage and 32 in the second stage. The study's findings reveal three broad paradoxes: the paradox of organising (autonomy and control, efficiency and flexibility, formal and informal information flow, and employee and customer needs), the paradox of learning (prior knowledge and new knowledge), and the paradox of performance (short-term and long-term performance). In addition, we identify four coping practices: change management, open communication, training programmes and digitalisation. The study augments the prior literature by developing a conceptual framework that elucidates the coexistence of numerous paradoxes and coping mechanisms.