
Abstract Many services are difficult to understand and communicate, and as a result, difficult to position, differentiate, and sell. While important, understanding services as well-defined products has hardly received research attention although doing so offers a host of potential benefits. This conceptual article makes the following contributions. First, it synthesizes the literature to develop a better understanding of service productization as a process that transforms variable, ad-hoc services and service products into well-defined service products (i.e., ‘productized services’). Second, it advances that well-defined service products are (1) specified (i.e., have a formalized value proposition and are configured, standardized, systemized, and often also modularized and bundled), (2) branded (i.e., have a name, symbol, or design, and are identifiable by these linguistic, visual, and tangible cues), (3) and priced (i.e., have clearly stated, communicated, and committed prices that can include rate fences and tiering). Third, this article advances managerial practice by exploring the concepts and tools available to productize services and outlining managerial benefits and potential drawbacks of highly productized services.
330, 650, ta512
330, 650, ta512
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 29 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Top 10% | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
