Conference article

Integrated product service offerings (IPSO) have the potential of obtaining better margins; profitability and less environmental impact. Becoming a service provider implies significant changes in the way companies do business; considerable changes within the organization and changes with the relationships to external actors. This paper aims to contribute to the research concerning these changes when companies start to provide IPSOs. Changes within the organizations have been necessary for all the companies studied and especially the sales staff since trust; transparency and long-term relationships with the customer is crucial. Support from the top management is also of importance as well as working in cross-functional teams. Changes are also needed in the service organization and amongst the retailers. Apart from the change in the provider-customer relationships little has been done in including other external actors; but the companies see potential in doing so in the future to expand and develop their IPSOs.

Integrated product service offerings organization; IPSO; organizational change; external actors