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The purpose of this study is to investigate how the internet of things (IoT) contributes to manufacturers' advanced services development and delivery. To better understand the creation of these IoT contributions, the study adopts a socio-technical research perspective, which expands the scope of the investigation and integrates the technological, information and social factors that enable these IoT contributions.

A multiple-case research method was employed to investigate the IoT contribution scenarios of 15 manufacturers who offer advanced services and to examine their dependence on other non-IoT factors, using thematic analysis.

The analysis identified five advanced services value propositions, which are enabled by nine “IoT-enabled information systems (IS) artefacts” that specify the distinct interactions between the technological, information and social subsystems supporting the manufacturers' advanced services value propositions.

The study advances the servitisation research by demonstrating that IoT technology on its own is insufficient for the creation of the IoT contributions. It shows, instead, the need for close interactions with a diverse range of other factors, which are often not considered when developing an IoT strategy. The study also introduces the IS artefact notion as a unit of analysis that constitutes an alternative to the commonly adopted techno-centric perspective used to conceptualise IoT contributions. The study and its findings add to the development of a socio-technical perspective on the IoT in advanced services and thereby suggests a number of theoretical and practical implications.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an input to the production of goods and services. Therefore, a general question is there that “How the labor hour/human resource will be replaced by the artificial intelligence?” To answer this question, the paper considers that both AI and the human resources (HR) are the inputs to the firm and explains the choice between the two with reference to the customer relationship management. The paper derives the individual firms and the industry demand functions of the AI and the HR when both are present in the production of the identical or closely related goods and services. Moreover, the paper also shows the strategic behavior of an individual firm with the industry in selecting the AI and the HR. It has been shown that the individual firm's choice in the industry depends on the choice of the industry leader. The paper explains the supermodular game between the firms in an industry.

Game theory, industrial organization and non-convexity theories have been used in this paper to identify the choice between the HR and the AI in the customer relationship management.

The paper explains analytically the preference and demand for AI in the industry. Individual firm's strategic behavior and decision on choosing AI and the industry equilibrium have been studied logically. Moreover, the paper gives some light on the question of employment in presence of AI. The paper proves that in the presence of AI, labor demand will not be reduced but both will be used.

This work proves for the first time using some logical derivation that AI will not crowd out labor from the market. Moreover, to run AI, labor should also be used. It has been proved that to complete a job with speed and quality, both AI and HR are to be used.