Service strategies within the manufacturing sector: benefits, costs and partnership

This paper develops a typology of service maneuvers achieved by manufacturing companies. This typology is based on two dimensions: service specificity (split into customer service, product services and service as a product) and organizational intensity (tactical, strategic or cultural). The paper reviews the benefits and costs associated with service maneuvers and discusses their interplay with the typology A collaborative option is proposed as an original strategy for supporting the challenging process of implementing a service maneuver, and the costs of running this option are developed in the light of the typology.