Gaining insights into the measurement of value in industrial service network

Abstract

Purpose

Nowadays, maintenance companies form networks, where multiple organizations and actors can deliver value to the customers. Current literature does not take into account how the value created by the entire network can be measured. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap by identifying how the value created by the maintenance network as well as the participating individual organization can be measured simultaneously.

Design/methodology/approach

The research has been carried out using the qualitative research approach. The findings of the study are based on literature search as well as research processes carried out in two maintenance service networks.

Findings

The study presents a framework and propositions on how to measure network value in maintenance services. According to the results, the network value can be measured from the following five perspectives: financial capital, i.e., savings or growth; end customer capital such as the end customer satisfaction and recommending customers; network capital, i.e., know-how development and learning; sustainable capital such as business continuity and environmental safety; and relationship capital, such as reputation and new contacts.

Originality/value

Despite the increasing amount of literature on performance measurement in networks, theory is still lacking that reflects the complexity and dynamism when value is delivered to customers through maintenance networks. Significant novelty of the research is based on combining network, service, and value perspectives in performance measurement.

Citation

Saunila, M., Rantala, T., Ukko, J. and Pekkola, S. (2017), "Gaining insights into the measurement of value in industrial service network", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 478-493. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-03-2015-0046