The influence a manufacturing organization's culture has on the formulation and implementation of the institution's servitization strategy

摘要

The primary aim of the research on which this paper is based was to gain a better understanding of the influence that a manufacturing organisation's culture has on the servitization process. With this in mind the concept "organisational culture" and its impact on the servitization process was analysed. Also investigated was the question of if companies are giving the necessary attention to organisational culture as a dimension of management in implementing a servitization strategy. The research methodology constituted a literature review combined with a survey that took the form of a narrative inquiry, therefore implying the study to be qualitative and analytically-descriptive in nature. A South African company operating within the gate access security industry served as a case study in order to draw a correlation between theory as reflected in the literature and practice. The research findings revealed that the company is aware that organisational culture needs to be transformed or realigned, but although efforts are currently being made to realign the organisational values and beliefs, little evidence appears to be evident that reflects a significant shift in the culture of the institution. A further aspect addressed in the research study is the question of the impact that the servitization process has in terms of the skills required. It was found that a service orientated institution required a different skills set to that of a purely manufacturing institution. The need for a so called T-shaped skills profile appears to emerge from the servitization process.