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There is an extensive research literature on servitisation and the related field of product-service systems that has emerged independently from different fields including engineering, management, design and environmental studies. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a structured literature review to explore, identify and synthesise the multi-disciplinary research challenges in the journey towards servitisation.

The research approach is a systematic literature review using key word searches and citation tracking for research reported between 1990 and 2013 in research databases that cover the fields which have generated the body of knowledge.

One of the key findings from the extant literature on servitisation is that it suffers from three fundamental weaknesses. First, numerous studies are conceptual in nature with limited practicality. Second, there are relatively few empirical studies, and often the findings relate to a single case study based on the insights of a limited number of senior managers. Third, often the dynamics are insufficiently studied in these organisations because data for most cases are collected post-event.

Based on the literature review and its shortfalls, this paper proposes a holistic framework of eight themes that require further attention from academic researchers in order that a more complete conceptual understanding of servitisation is developed to support practice.

Each theme in the framework has an associated list of questions that can be addressed through research and presented to managers as a challenge agenda to improve their servitisation efforts. That servitisation is associated with differentiation and competitive advantage makes this a valuable approach for managing corporate performance.

Research from multi-disciplinary sources is synergised in order to develop an overarching servitisation agenda that transcends domain-based boundaries. This paves the way for an approach to servitisation that is coherent and harmonious.

Every year the think‐tank, the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, produces a survey which highlights the major areas of risk which financial institutions are worried about. This article charts the findings of the latest survey and finds, amongst other things, that regulation is now seen as a risk.

Describes six levels of TQM adoption (or lack of it) which are termed uncommitted, drifters, tool pushers, improvers, award winners and world‐class. The levels are not necessarily the stages which organizations pass on their TQM journey, rather they are characteristics and behaviour which organizations display in relation to TQM at one point in time. Finds that the levels can be used as a positioning model to aid organizations in identifying their weaknesses and help them in taking the next steps forward in the continual challenge of continuous improvement. The characteristics underpinning the six levels are also helpful in highlighting different perceptions of progress at different levels of the organization, with respect to continuous improvement. Argues that the characteristics of the more advanced adoptions should provide the requisite inspiration to those less advanced to highlight the type of issues to which attention needs to be given.

The UMIST Quality Management Centre is involved in four main activities: (i) research into Total Quality Management, (ii) the operation of a TQM Multi‐Company Teaching Programme involving eight industrial collaborators at any one time, (iii) the Centre houses the Ford Motor Company Regional Training Centre for training suppliers in total quality excellence and statistical process control, and (iv) TQM consultancy, including the Q‐Share initiative. This latter activity is carried out by Q‐MAS Ltd. (a campus based company in which UMIST has a significant shareholding).

Research carried out at the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology over a ten‐year period has led to the authors identifying six levels of TQM adoption. The article examines all six in detail, moving from level one: uncommitted, through to level six‐ world‐class. Agues that the levels are not inevitable for every organization as it progresses through a TQM project, but they do indicate common characteristics and behaviour in relation to TQM. Focuses on Uncommitted, Drifters, Tool pushers, Improvers, Award winners and World‐class organisations, giving examples of activity typical to each category. Concludes by inviting managers to consider the six levels of TQM adoption and place their organization in one of them.

Following research on the subject of TQM, the authors decided that what was lacking was a framework for the introduction and development of the process for continuous quality improvement.

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