Servitização : práticas e impactos em empresas de manufatura

Abstract

Organizations of various sizes and segments, once oriented exclusively to the manufacturing and commercialization of products, are now inserted in a new business context, where add services and solutions to the manufactured goods is synonymous of competitive advantage. This conception is well known as servitization of manufacturing. The servitization strategy enhances value to the product, inhibits entrance of new competitors and, therefore, provides better long­term financial results. However, shifting from a product­focused organizational culture to a service­centric strategy requires adequate alignment of traditional practices and operations used by organizations. In this way, this research aimed to propose an analysis of the servitization practices and their impact on manufacturing organizations. Thus, a review of the literature was carried out addressing the concepts of manufacturing, services and their relations, as well as the theoretical concepts of servitization. To this end, six main practices and operations used to deliver services were identified. Given this context, the follow study comprises a qualitative exploratory research of multiple cases performed in four manufacturing companies in the automotive segment. Through in­depth interviews along with professionals directly related to the delivery of services, acting in the engineering, front­office, back office and information technology departments, was possible to analyze how each company organizes its facilities, activities and servitization operations and subsequently relate it with theoretical concepts. By the results acquired, was possible to propose a guidance for implementation of the servitization practices, considering the context and peculiarities of the research environment. Finally, it is suggested for future studies the replication of this examination in companies belonging to different segments, as well as using professionals from other departments, as a way to validate the findings and refine the proposed implementation guidance.