Using a paradox lens: a study into the challenges facing an established Servitization provider.

The current zeitgeist for servitization within manufacturing emphasises the need for manufacturers to balance the contradicting demands of production and service elements in the effort to deliver customised solutions. This emphasis on juxtapositioning two contradictory logics can however result in competing intra-organisational demands which are not always capable of a finite solution, often resulting in tensions and conflictions many managers struggle to navigate. Using a case study methodology this study identifies frequent and critical challenges facing an established servitization manufacturer and challenges the traditional binary “either/or” approach to their solution by viewing the challenges through a paradox lens to highlight their often simultaneous, interconnected, and interrelated nature and offering paradox theory as an alternative narrative to reframe such tensions. The conceptualisation of paradoxes within organisational challenges has remained relatively unexamined in servitization studies, resulting in an oversimplification of underlying challenges facing manufacturer’s delivering a servitization strategy. The study applies an exploratory, holistic single case design utilising semi-structured interviews to explore challenges experienced by 31 senior managers; employing paradox theory as a conceptual lens to better understand the contextual particulars individuals were drawing on to describe and construct their experiences of intra-organisational challenges. The study then undertakes a comparative analysis of extant literature against empirical data from the case study to identify which challenges present in the case study appear recursive and identifies what tensions within them contribute to such an outcome. The study generated five key insights at the individual level of analysis. First, the empirical confirmation of a conceptual typology presenting a holistic and contextual model that captured the challenges facing an established servitization organisation, as observed from its own senior management’s perceptions. Second, the identification of ten recursive challenges. Third, the analysis of the recursive challenges resulted in the identification of ten paradoxical tensions as causal agents underpinning their cyclical nature and are not currently associated with the servitization perspective. Fourth, the observation that the recursive tensions are interconnected and interrelated often spurring other paradoxical tensions; and fifth, paradoxical tensions contain within them multiple temporal dimensions which can affect the nature not only of the tension but actors perceptions; again, this is a view not associated with servitization studies. The study offers four theoretical contributions to knowledge. First, the study extends the servitization knowledge base by addressing its lack of contributions from paradox theory. Second, the study challenges the traditional simplistic assumptions concerning servitization challenges arguing that such generalisations to be deeply flawed and lacking contextual understanding. Third, the study identified ten recursive challenges with ten novel tensions acting as causal agents for their sustainment and identifying such tensions as interconnected and interrelated; thus, can spur other tensions. Finally, the study introduces a novel perspective in discussing servitization challenges by introducing how socially constructed temporal perspectives can not only shape an individual’s perspective on challenges identified but also shape their responses.