Call for Papers


10th International Conference on Business Servitization (ICBS 2023)
9-10 November 2023, Barcelona, Spain


Focal theme: AI Platforms for Digital Servitization and Solution Delivery

Hosted by: TBS Education - Barcelona, Spain

Rational
Manufacturers of capital goods are moving from selling products to providing solutions. They depart from the traditional concept of designing, manufacturing, and selling products to offering higher-value customized solutions in response to specific customer problems. Consequently, the ability to transition from product to solution delivery is increasingly important for the competitiveness of manufacturers. Digitalization has facilitated the delivery of service-based solutions by enabling productive capabilities through distance monitoring, control, optimization, and automation. In this way, servitization represents an accessible means of customization for manufacturers that allows them to more easily transition from a product to a solution business model. Digital servitization can thus permit manufacturers to obtain competitive advantages by introducing product-services systems on the firm's data-driven knowledge of its customers.

Among the digital technologies that are increasingly changing production and the competitive landscape, artificial intellegence is becoming the new operational foundation of business, altering how firms interact with technology. Broadly speaking, AI can support three essential servitization needs for customized & scalable solution delivery: automating business processes, providing cognitive insight through data analysis, and stimulating cognitive engagement through AI recommendation and collaboration systems that increase personalization. As such, AI algorithms provide internal (to the company) and external (to the customer) benefits in a servitization path.

AI platforms can be a fundamental factor for manufacturers in this process since they facilitate the implementation of AI-enabled functions by simplifying AI adoption. As such, AI platforms can facilitate, to a large extent, the digital servitization and consequent solution delivery capacity of manufacturing firms. They can do so since AI platforms can be used to automate the typical tasks requested in digital servitization. These platforms can significantly help increase the diffusion of AI applications and the development of data-driven models and advanced services in the digital servitization domain, allowing manufacturers to open up new solution delivery capabilities and attain better economic and competitive outputs. 

This year's edition of the International Conference on Business Servitization (ICBS) aims at debating and shaping such critical questions for the future development of the field. Accordingly, the focus of this year is set at the intersection of three increasingly essential topics for servitization that have not yet been sufficiently linked in academia: AI platforms, digital servitization, and solution business models.

ICBS is a conference traditionally targeted to business professionals, policy makers and researchers. While the focus of this year’s conference will be “AI Platforms for Digital Servitization and Solution Delivery”, as in previous editions the organizers also endeavour to connect works related to other relevant issues linked with servitization such as: business engineering, strategy, business models, international business, operations management and supply chain management. The conference will engage current research on the emerging field of servitization, which focuses both on theoretical developments and on practical applications of the methods and techniques. The conference aims to provide a platform to the researchers and practitioners from both academia as well as industry to meet & share the cutting-edge developments in the field of servitization. 

Topics 

Special sessions on specific topics are also encouraged. Topics of interest mainly include, but not limited to:
  • AI, Servitization & Solution
    • AI potential for servitization-based solution delivery
    • AI platforms supporting the servitization of manufacturing companies
    • AI for autonomous service-based solutions
    • AI for digital service innovation
    • AI and digital servitization as tools and methods for maintenance services
    • Digital servitization for solution delivery
    • Servitization for customization with scale
    • The economic consequences of AI and servitized-based solution delivery
    • The production economics of AI, industry 4.0, and digital technologies
    • Smartness and problem-solving in manufacturing, logistics, and services
    • Platform as a Service (PaaS) for servitization
    • Practical implementations of digital servitization
    • Field data and information management for advanced services development
    • Future directions for AI-based servitization research
    • Critical assessments of AI potential for servitization-based solution delivery
    • Case Studies bringing insight to the research at the intersection between AI platforms, digital servitization, and solution business models
  • Business models and strategy 
    • Partnerships, strategic alliances, outsourcing, joint-ventures, M&As and servitization 
    • Advanced business services and collaborative practices in business model innovation 
    • The internationalization of product-service offering
    • Digital service innovation 
    • Financial, legal and risk aspects of services
    • Talent management, human resources, and recruitment needs
    • Resilience, agility, ambidexterity and other firm capabilities 
  • Supply chain management and marketing 
    • Servitization and collaborative supply chain management 
    • Internet of things and linking channels 
    • Product-service innovation processes and organizational performance indicators 
    • Servitization and customer value perception
    • Green Supply chain management and product-service innovation
    • Servitization and customer value perception 
    • Servitization role on business ecosystems and networked production systems
  • Business engineering 
    • Industry 4.0 - Hybridization of the physical and digital worlds
    • Internet of things, Cloud Computing, and Sensors enabled services
    • Service system and Service network design 
    • Tools and toolkits for engineering servitization processes
    • Smart manufacturing, big data and machine learning for services development
  • Territorial Servitization 
    • Economic assessment of the impact of collaborative product-service innovation on the firm and territorial competitiveness 
    • What are the antecedents, moderators/mediators, and outcomes of knowledge-intensive service-manufacturing collaborations on organizational resilience and performance? 
    • Conceptualization and provision of evidence on collaborative approaches to cluster and industrial district policies formed by multi-sector, including manufacturing and service, firms. 
    • Do KIBS firms offer opportunities for local manufacturing SMEs to outsource service provision? And for multinationals to reshoring their production to the home country? Which is the relevance of geographical distance when it comes to transferring knowledge from service to product firms?


    Meeting venue

    The meeting venue TBS Education in Barcelona, Spain.
    At least one of the authors must register and participate in the meeting once a paper is accepted. For more information concerning the meeting venue and registration details including fees, please visit the website: http://www.servitization.org/

    Important dates

    • Deadline for introducing extended abstracts (max 1000 words): July 17, 2023
    • Notification of acceptance: July 24, 2023
    • Date of conference: 9-10 November 2023

    Paper submission guidelines

    Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the OmniaScience link: http://www.omniascience.com/conferences/
    Extended abstracts MUST adhere to the guidelines outlined in the "Extended Abstract Template" provided via the below link. Extended abstracts can be submitted ONLY in English. All academic presentations MUST be held in English.
    Download Extended abstract template