Mastering the Free-to-Fee Service Transition in Business Markets: A Typology, Roadmap, and Agenda for Academic Inquiry

摘要

The purpose of the present research is to deepen our understanding of the phenomenon of free services based on a grounded theory approach, generate insights into how firms can successfully transform free services into revenue and profit sources, and provide an agenda for future academic research in this particularly promising service domain. More precisely, our study has two specific objectives: 1. Our first objective is to create a typology of free services which is useful for analyzing their free-to-fee transformation potential. 2. Our second objective is to thoroughly investigate key aspects of the transition process, including the unique resources and distinctive competencies required.