Challenges for going downstream

Manufacturing companies are increasingly offering services related to the products that they supply and building capabilities to exploit better the installed base. This move downstream requires new skills to understand and manage the demand and supply networks of industrial services. However, not much research has been published on demand and supply management of such services. As it appears that leading edge companies are ahead of the academic work on industrial service provision, we approached the topic through an explorative study and interviewed representatives from five companies to determine their conceptions of the demand–supply network management of industrial services. The interviews showed that, although companies are providing industrial services, many aspects related to the supply and demand of the services are still poorly understood. This paper presents the issues raised by the company representatives that should be addressed with further research.