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This paper aims to answer the following two research questions: “What antecedents are required for the innovation of product‐related services?” and “How do the antecedents differ for product‐related services developed during the product development process or during the product usage?”

A multi‐case research design was employed.

Involvement of frontline employees, information sharing, multifunctional teams, funnel tools, information technology, internal organization, and training and education have a similar impact on the success of integrated and separated service innovations. Presence of service champion, autonomy of employees, market testing, and market research have a positive effect on separated, but a negative impact on integrated service innovations. The strategic focus, external contacts, availability of resources, and management support are positively associated with both innovation types, but their importance is essentially higher for separated than for integrated product‐related service innovations.

The external validity (generalizability) of the antecedents could not be assessed accurately.

The explanation of antecedents forms a model that can guide managers who wish to develop product‐related services successfully.

The findings imply that managers contemplating a product‐related service innovation project have to consider the innovation type (integrated or separated) and reframe the antecedents accordingly.

This paper attempts to provide a better understanding of behavioral processes and their impact on the transition from products to services.

Case studies are the main tool of theory development. The paper focuses mainly on German and Swiss product manufacturers, whose products require a high level of customer investment.

The objective was merely to explain behavioral dimension of transition. The paper indicated seven behavioral processes which play a critical role during the transition. Managerial service awareness and role understanding, as well as employee service awareness and role understanding seem to be the right triggers to change the behavioral processes in the desired manner.

The main focus was on the German and Swiss machinery and medical equipment manufacturing industries, and the remarks are limited to these sectors.

The key managerial implications and recommendations can be formulated as follows: establish a “value‐added” managerial service awareness; change managerial role understanding – from traditional customer support to business manager; establish a “value‐added” employee service awareness; and change employee role understanding – from selling products to providing services.

The authors were able to add a complementary perspective to existing literature on the transition process from products to services. For service management theorists, it is suggested that the transition from product manufacturers into service providers is influenced strongly by several behavioral processes. A complete theory of the transition process requires an interdisciplinary theory that integrates service management and human decision making.

The purpose of this paper is both to provide an overview of existing knowledge pertaining to the management of price risks in manufacturing companies from an operations management (OM) perspective and to establish an agenda for future research. Risks related to the purchase prices of industrial consumption factors (raw materials, semi-finished/finished goods, auxiliary materials and operating materials) exert an increasing influence on manufacturing companies’ business continuity and economic sustainability.

A systematic literature review was conducted following the literature search approach of vom Brocke et al. (2009). In total, 138 relevant articles were identified, analysed and synthesised.

The literature review reveals that the existing OM literature devotes little attention to price risks and their management in manufacturing companies. In particular, further empirical investigation is required to support decision-making in various risk contexts.

This paper emphasises that in addition to existing national resource funds and inter-company alliances, alternative concepts are required to secure both stable prices and access to natural resources. Otherwise, in the future, small- and medium-sized companies, along with companies based in countries lacking available resource funds, will not have an opportunity to engage in fair competition.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review to focus on price as a specific supply risk.

Despite the proven benefits of an extended service business, most manufacturing companies find it extremely difficult to increase service revenues successfully.

An extensive benchmarking project was conducted with a variety of firms in order to gain a better understanding of success factors aimed at increasing service revenue in manufacturing companies. By reviewing the first benchmarking findings with companies that struggled to achieve a high level of service revenue, additional insight into how service revenue is influenced by the success factors was gained.

This paper attempts to provide a better understanding of the necessary changes in a firm's activities, organizational structure and culture, and to demonstrate the impact of these factors on service revenue increases.

The findings have some clear limitations. The main focus was on the German and Swiss machinery equipment manufacturing industries, and remarks are limited to these sectors. However, it is recommended applying the findings to other industry sectors which are confronted with similar problems.

The analysis and conclusions have significant implications for both researchers and managers. For service management theorists, this paper suggests that increasing service revenue in manufacturing companies is influenced strongly by several factors. All factors seem to be the right triggers for increasing service revenues in the desired manner. Monitoring these success factors and gaining an understanding of their impact, provides some guidance for managers seeking to create strong growth in service revenue.

This paper offers practical help to achieve high service revenues in manufacturing companies.

Multinational companies have manufacturing operations in various countries; however, there is scarce evidence on how they assess performance of the network-based operations of their factories, called international manufacturing networks (IMN). The purpose of this paper is to propose a process model for the performance assessment of IMNs.

The IMN performance assessment process model was developed from the extant literature and was empirically verified in its congruency and usefulness via a multiple case research. For that, in each case the general process model was derived into a specific application that fit the type of IMN on focus. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the case companies’ reports, profiling forms and interviews, followed by within-case and cross-case analyses.

Evidence suggest that the process model, along with its derivations, is a valuable tool to describe and explain how IMN performance assessment unfolds in real organizational environments. Additionally, three propositions emerged: IMN performance assessment has distinct characteristics depending on the type of IMN adopted, which in turn depends on the company’s internationalization strategy; IMN performance assessment has more strategic value and importance for companies that are globally coordinated and adopt “rooted” manufacturing strategies; and companies design their IMN performance assessment on a trial-and-error basis.

As all case-based research, this paper has generalizability limitations. Thus, next steps may include a large-scale survey and an action research that will develop and implement a full-fledged IMN performance assessment.

The process model and descriptive insights provide a diagnostic tool and subsidies that may encourage managers to review and improve their current IMN performance assessment.

The process model contributes to addressing a 20-year gap concerning how to approach IMN performance assessment in a holistic and systematic manner.