To Be or Not to Be the Servitization Dilemma and the Role of Design

Abstract

This article seeks to answer the question of how value proposition is created using a human-centred approach in the context of deservitization, in general, and service dilution, in particular. The article aims to describe the journey of a company which undertook service dilution and used human-centred design to create a new product-oriented value proposition. The study adopted a research through design approach in conjunction with a single case study of an engineering and manufacturing services provider that recently initiated a service dilution process. Within the framework of university-business collaboration, a design project was developed. The main insights of the study pertain to the role of human-centred design as a way of learning and surpassing the pure exploitation of existing capabilities during the service dilution process. Learning by design is also seen as a potential alternative learning process that fuels exploration during the service dilution process.