The Role of Soft Factors in Implementing a Service-Oriented Strategy in Industrial Marketing Companies

TLDR: In this article, the authors focus on two important soft factors, corporate culture and human resource management, that are necessary for a successful implementation of a service-oriented strategy in industrial marketing companies and analyze the mediating role of these two soft factors in the causal chain leading from a serviceoriented strategy to organizational performance.

Abstract: It has been recognized that in today's highly competitive industrial markets, one of the few ways left to gain differentiation from competitors is by offering value-added services. To do so, however, requires a service-oriented strategy and the active implementation of this strategy which includes significant internal changes in management philosophy and approach. Unfortunately, no study has examined the implementation aspects of a service-oriented strategy. In this context, our research focuses on two important “soft factors,” corporate culture and human resource management, that are necessary for a successful implementation of a service-oriented strategy in industrial marketing companies. We analyze the mediating role of these two soft factors in the causal chain leading from a service-oriented strategy to organizational performance. We find that the soft factors play an important mediating role in the link between a service-oriented strategy and organizational performance.