The Impact Mechanism of Differentiated Data Endowments on Digital Servitization of Manufacturing Enterprises: Based on the Longitudinal Case Study of SANY Group

Abstract

In the digital economy era, the operating logic of manufacturing enterprises has changed from product-driven to service-driven, and digital servitization has become an important realization path of the service-driven logic. To gain insight into the emerging phenomenon of digital servitization, this paper selects SANY Group as the case companyto analyze the connotation and composition of digital servitization and reveal the impact mechanism of differentiated data endowments on digital servitization of manufacturing enterprises. This paper finds the following: (1) The digital servitization of a manufacturing enterprise usually goes through three stages: product + service, product × service, and product-service integration, which are also known as digital extended services, digital customized services, and digital ecosystem services; (2) differentiated data endowments that are mainly based on product data, user data, and platform data constitute the key driving factor for the digital servitization of manufacturing enterprises; (3) data affordance behaviors, which mainly include data-pipeline affordance behaviors, data-insight affordance behaviors, and data-governance affordance behaviors, offer the key path for differentiated data endowments to influence the digital servitization of manufacturing enterprises. This paper deconstructs the digital servitization modes and constructs a theoretical model that describes the transmission among differentiated data endowments, data affordance behaviors, and digital servitization. It offers new perspectives and pathways for research on digital servitization, as well as valuable managerial insights for Chinese manufacturing enterprises seeking to overcome growth limitations and expand their value creation space through digital servitization innovation.

Keywords

digital servitization / differentiated data endowments / data-pipeline affordance behaviors / data-insight affordance behaviors / data-governance affordance behaviors

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Higher Education Press