Purpose This paper aims to identify the paradoxical tensions that manufacturing companies face along their servitization journey at different organizational levels and interfaces between levels. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this aim, a variable-oriented case study approach has been taken, which considers the stages as impact variables. The single, in-depth, longitudinal case study is about a multi-unit manufacturing company in which a specific business unit developed the servitization strategy. The research adopts the categorization of paradoxes proposed by Smith and Lewis (2011) – learning, belonging, organizing and performing – encompassing both intra- and inter-category tensions. Findings The comprehensive perspective adopted has allowed us to represent the competing demands faced by firms in advanced services-related innovations. Specific tensions of learning, belonging, organizing, performing or combinations thereof were found at different stages of the servitization journey (exploration, engagement, expansion), and at different levels of analysis, at the focal business unit or at the interfaces between this level and the project team, the corporate level and the ecosystem. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first attempt to address the issue of paradoxical tensions in servitization with an overarching methodology that considers organizational levels, journey stages and paradoxical tensions simultaneously.
Paiola et al. (Mon,) studied this question.