How can manufacturers of capital goods succeed in service business development? What are the potential network approaches for manufacturing companies planning on extending their service business? Over the last decade, the business environment of capital goods manufacturers has changed dramatically. Few capital goods manufacturers are able to outrun the competition with pure product-related technologies and innovation alone. For this reason they have added services to products as a way of responding to eroding margins and the loss of strategic differentiation through product innovation and technological superiority. Based on over twelve years of research, this book provides academics and business professionals with a thorough overview of the strategies available for value creation through service business development. It features case studies and covers a wide range of topics, including emerging issues such as service business in small and medium-sized companies, business innovation through services and the impact of rapidly growing Asian markets.

'This book presents a parsimonious integration of the vast research done on service business development over the last two decades. The authors provide solid advice for service development not only based on the existing research, but also based on years of detailed empirical work. The resulting framework covers from internal capabilities, to the industry partners that different business models require to succeed, and addresses the concerns and challenges of SMEs as well as international networks of service providers.' Rogelio Oliva, Texas A&M University
'A unique thought provoking insight on how to develop the service business. It is a must-read!' Bo Edvardsson, Karlstad University, Sweden
'Based on sound empirical research, this timely and high quality book documents the why, what and how of service business development for companies in the increasingly commoditized capital goods industry.' Stephen W. Brown, Arizona State University
'This book brings together over a decade's worth of work on how manufacturing firms can create value through services. Packed with detailed insights ranging from the strategic to the operational, this book will be an invaluable reference source for researchers and managers alike.' Andy Neely, Cranfield School of Management and Cambridge Service Alliance
'… an interesting reference … Students can find a complete overview of the topic that provide[s] them with a basic set of concepts, whilst managers can use it as a tool to compare their current situation against the proposed solutions … Worth[y] of notice are the several examples taken from real cases that add value to the chapters' content by describing best practices. In this way, readers less used to theoretical reasoning can better grasp the topic being investigated [with] immediate evidence of how concepts take shape in reality. The reading is also supported by a lot of tables summarising the provided guidelines explained in detail in the text … enjoyable …' Donatella Corti, Production Planning and Control

Thomas Fischer has been a research associate at the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St Gallen. His research interests lie in service business development, service innovation and the internationalization of the value chain in manufacturing companies. He completed his Ph.D. in 2010. Heiko Gebauer is Associate Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) and at the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St Gallen. His research focuses on service and innovation management in infrastructure sectors, service business development in manufacturing companies and value creation in public transit services. He is also an adjunct professor at the Service Research Center at the Karlstad University in Sweden. Elgar Fleisch is Professor of Technology Management and Director of the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St Gallen. He is also Professor of Information Management at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ). His research focuses on the economic impacts and infrastructures of ubiquitous computing. He is co-chair of research of Auto-ID Labs, co-founder of several university spin-offs and serves as a member of multiple management boards and academic steering committees.