During their transition to servitization, some industrial firms choose to establish
alliances with new partners or strengthen their relationships with historical partners. These
companies rethink the management practices of their alliance portfolios in line with a new
strategic orientation.
This study seeks to identify the contextual factors that hinder the development of new
alliance portfolio management capabilities necessary to advance servitization within
organizations.
Through an exploratory qualitative research approach and a single case study focusing
on the historical alliance portfolio of an industrial firm undergoing servitization, we identified
three key barriers to the development of new alliance portfolio management capabilities: the
absence of a defined strategy for the alliance portfolio, a strong product-centered strategic
orientation within the portfolio, and insufficient consideration of partners' evolving strategic
directions.
Our study enhances the understanding of alliance portfolio management in a
servitization context by emphasizing the need for companies transitioning to servitization to
rethink their alliance portfolio management capabilities.
It also offers practical recommendations for firms seeking to servitize, encouraging
them to evolve their alliance portfolio practices, as failing to do so could directly hinder the
successful implementation of their servitization strategy.
