Welcome to the Vaasa Servitization Workshop 2026! This year, the event explores the rapidly evolving landscape of Servitization, Digital Servitization, Product–Service-Software Systems and Advanced Service Strategies. The workshop brings together researchers, industry experts and thought leaders to delve into diverse theoretical, practical and technological advancements and to discuss transformative developments and emerging perspectives shaping the future of service driven business. 

We are pleased to announce that a Servitization Handbook is currently under planning. The handbook is envisioned to consolidate state-of-the-art research and offer forward-looking insights on the strategic, managerial, technological, and ecosystemic dimensions of servitization. Together, we seek to advance servitization theory and practice and to open new avenues for future research and application across industries.

The workshop will also serve as a platform for developing potential chapter contributions. Participants will receive scholarly feedback and constructive critique to refine their arguments, strengthen their theoretical foundations, and enhance the quality and clarity of their work, with the objective of preparing strong handbook submissions.

Scope of Book

The book aims to offer a comprehensive exploration of servitization and digital servitization, capturing a wide range of perspectives related to service transformation, hybrid value propositions, service-led growth and the integration of digital technologies into advanced service offerings. The volume welcomes chapters that engage with the complexities, paradoxes and multi-layered processes underlying servitization and introduce fresh theoretical, empirical or methodological contributions. We are particularly interested in work that examines how organizations integrate digital technologies, data-driven approaches and service-oriented strategies to create new forms of value, enhance customer interactions and navigate organizational change. 

This Special Issue proposal invites scholars to debate and reflect on central questions shaping the future development of servitization research. We encourage discussions around the roles of digital transformation (e.g., IoT, AI, data analytics, platforms, digital twins, automation), evolving service strategies (e.g., outcome-based services, performance-based contracts, hybrid offerings) and the organizational, managerial and ecosystemic implications of shifting towards service-led business models. Scholars are invited to contribute work that broadens, challenges or advances existing narratives and provides alternative viewpoints, conceptual frameworks or methodological approaches to better understand the evolving nature of servitization. 

The primary objective of this SI is to create a shared platform for examining key issues, emerging trajectories and diverse perspectives in servitization. We welcome submissions that bring forward original ideas, inspire theoretical development and push the field forward. Contributions that offer conceptual innovation, methodological novelty or rich empirical insights are highly encouraged. Submissions may include, but are not limited to the following themes: 

• Servitization and organizational transformation: research examining how firms reshape structures, capabilities, routines, roles and cultures to support serviceoriented strategies. 

• Digital servitization and technology integration: studies exploring how IoT, AI, automation, connectivity, cloud platforms, data analytics and digital infrastructures enable the development, delivery and scaling of advanced services. 

• Product–Service-Software Systems (PSS/PSSS): investigations into hybrid value propositions integrating physical products, software and services, with a focus on design orchestration, lifecycle management and customer interaction. 

• Service platforms and service ecosystems: insights into multiactor systems, digital platforms, ecosystem governance and collaborative value creation across interconnected networks. 

• Advanced service strategies: studies examining outcomebased services, performance-based approaches, predictive services, remote service models and valueinuse–oriented service logics. 

• Managerial and strategic perspectives: work addressing leadership, strategy, capability development, resource orchestration and decisionmaking supporting service-led transformation. 

• Customer relationships and cocreation practices: research on how servitization reshapes customer roles, expectations, interactions and value cocreation dynamics. 

• Microfoundations of servitization: investigations into individual-level behaviors, cognition, skills, learning processes and human factors enabling service transformation. 

• Service operations and delivery systems: analyses of operational challenges in advanced services, including design, delivery, scaling, maintenance systems, remote operations and digital tools for service improvement. 

• Firm transformation pathways and maturity models: studies exploring the trajectories, stages, thresholds and maturity levels involved in moving from product-centric towards servicedominant models. 

• Ecosystemic and relational dynamics: work examining inter-organizational relationships, coopetition, partnerships, supply chain dynamics and orchestration within service ecosystems. 

• Any other topic that advances the theoretical, practical, methodological or empirical understanding of servitization. 

This comprehensive compilation seeks to enrich the servitization discourse by promoting diverse perspectives and encouraging dialogue across disciplines, approaches and methodological traditions. Contributors are invited to submit work that advances theoretical depth, empirical rigor and innovative thinking. Together, we aim to strengthen the foundations of servitization research and support the ongoing evolution of the field for scholars, students, practitioners and industry leaders alike.