Failure-to-service may lead industrial business to bankruptcy: drivers and ways to mitigate them

Abstract

In recent decades, the service strategy has increased in importance both in scientific research and on the agendas of industrial organizations. Service can help such companies to diversify their offerings, avoiding commoditization as well as increasing operational results. However, failures in the service process may generate significant negative impacts on these organizations. This case study investigates the drivers that contributed to the failure in service delivery in the industrial organization. Such drivers ultimately bankrupted the profit organization. The article uses the qualitative exploratory methodology and a unique, in-depth case study. The findings reveal the following drivers: assigning the operation to inexperienced employees; lack of ability to implement organizational needs; organizational alignment; and knowledge of how to disable complex operations. Also, the study contributes to the construction of a framework to mitigate such drivers. The framework is structured in service operation, decommissioning, and implementation.