Papers by Simon Davis-Poynter
International Journal of Production Economics, 2016
This paper provides a viable systems perspective of an outcome-based service initiative involving... more This paper provides a viable systems perspective of an outcome-based service initiative involving major manufacturers in the defence industry. The viable systems perspective allowed a coherent structuration of the complex servitization context involving provider and customer organizations. It also unveiled critical relationship mechanisms that enable synergy and facilitate the achievement of co-capability by the organizations involved. Through a case study approach, the research finds that interventions in the customer system reduce variability in the provider system as well as in the service system as a whole. The systemic interventions are implemented via key provider/customer relationships the study identifies. The relationships deal with the high level of internal variety in outcome-based service systems. A typology for the identified relationships is developed, offering a helpful basis for the purposeful planning and design of interactions aimed at developing co-capability. The paper also offers theoretical propositions defining fundamental features of outcome-based service systems. The unique characteristics of these systems addressed in this paper provide particularly useful insights concerning the implementation of this type of servitization initiative not only in the defence industry, but also in other industrial sectors where servitization initiatives involve complex configurations of provider and customer organizations.
Proceedings of the Spring Servitization Conference 2013 – Servitization in the multi-organisation enterprise, 2013
This paper reports on a research investigating organisational transformation of equipment-based s... more This paper reports on a research investigating organisational transformation of equipment-based service providers and customers which are establishing joint capabilities to achieve combined equipment and service outcomes based upon outcome-based contracts. The viable systems theory and the viable system model provide the theoretical ground for investigation of communication processes between key personnel, main activities, organisational structures and the systemic viability of both the provider and the customer to co-create activities to achieve equipment performance, as well as the transformation required by both provider and customer to achieve co-capability in terms of achieving contract performance. Initial findings confirm that contextual variety threatens the stability of the system and challenges co-creation. The findings also suggest that intervening in the customer-controlled supra-system to ensure its structural and systemic stability reduces variability in the system-in-focus. Assisting the customer organisation to transform also implies the provider’s participation in supra-system activities.
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Papers by Simon Davis-Poynter