How Does Manufacturing Strategy Contribute to Servitization Orientation? The Moderating Effect of Firm Size

This study theoretically articulates and empirically validates a model of relationships between a firm’s manufacturing strategy – proxied through competitive priorities – and servitization orientation. In addition, it analyzed the moderating effect of firm size on this relationship. The model was developed and tested through hierarchical regression analysis on the Sixth International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS-VI) data. The results indicate that different manufacturing strategies positively affect servitization orientation. In addition, firm size positively moderates the effect of exploitative manufacturing strategy. This research is one of the first quantitative studies that examine how different manufacturing strategies influence servitization orientation according to firm size.