Exploring the microfoundations of servitization: How individual actions overcome organizational resistance

Servitization research has principally focused on the transition of organizational-level strategy, systems, capabilities, and processes for firms to be able to offer advanced services to their customers. Less is known of the underlying microfoundational dynamics of such transitions at the individual-level. Based on a multiple case study of six large multinational industrial firms engaged in servitization efforts, this paper identifies the tactics (i.e., evangelizing, bootlegging, leveraging, and collaborating) that individuals adopt to overcome organizational resistance to servitization. This study also presents the conditions that are necessary for individual employees to adopt these tactics. The present study provides theoretical and practical implications of the microfoundations of servitization, focusing attention on individual-level actions that affect the outcomes at the organizational-level to drive servitization efforts.