Does the Servitization Strategy Improve the Performance of Manufacturing Enterprises in China?

Abstract

There is a controversy of the relationship between servitization of manufacturing and business performance in the literature. Based on the data of Hu-Shen A-share listed manufacturing enterprises in 2013, this paper examined the relationship in the above with the traditional servitization level variable(SERL) and the servitization decision variable(SERD), which was generated in a dynamic perspective of strategic decision, to measure the servitization strategy. The empirical results showed that the servitization decision was positively correlated with the market performance (Tobin’s q), and the servitization level was negatively correlated with the financial performance, including return on assets (ROA), economic value added change rate (EVAC) and earnings per share (EPS). Further, we discussed the results from the signal theory and diversification discount theory.