Understanding the Modularization of Business Services

The Maturity of Firms in Bundling Services

Conference Paper (2017)
Author(s)

Albert Plugge (TU Delft - Information and Communication Technology)

WAGA Bouwman (TU Delft - Information and Communication Technology)

Research Group
Information and Communication Technology
Copyright
© 2017 A.G. Plugge, W.A.G.A. Bouwman
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70305-3_4
More Info
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Publication Year
2017
Language
English
Copyright
© 2017 A.G. Plugge, W.A.G.A. Bouwman
Research Group
Information and Communication Technology
Volume number
306
Pages (from-to)
65-80
ISBN (print)
9783319703046
Reuse Rights

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Abstract

Sourcing literature reveals that large firms bundle or unbundle existing business services by means of modularization to achieve organizational agility. However, one may assume that firms need some degree of maturity to manage the complexity that comes along with bundling modularized services. The aim of our research is to understand how modularization interrelates with firm maturity when bundling business services, a topic that has been given limited attention in sourcing literature. Based on an exploratory research amongst 110 firms we found evidence for the relevance of influencing factors on firm maturity in bundling services. The findings provide evidence that the number of business services and the size of the firm correlate with the maturity of the firm. More specifically, our analysis identified that the type of market in which a firm acts (i.e. private or public) and adding the Marketing business function to a bundle does not increase firm maturity. Our empirical research contributes to sourcing literature as we expanded previous research by taking a more in-depth view on business services while providing up-to-date insights.

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