Servitization in business ecosystem: a systematic review and implications for business-to-business servitization research

Servitization has been a global trend in the manufacturing industry. Facing the increasingly networked business environment, implementing servitization in business ecosystem (SIBE) has significant implications for academics and practices. Considering the fragmented SIBE research, this paper aims to reveal a holistic landscape of this domain by a systematic literature review. After collecting 84 related articles in Scopus, descriptive and thematic analyses were applied to answer the predefined review questions. The paper illustrated the overall state of SIBE research, an emerging domain with an increasingly growing trend. Five major themes were identified as the critical pillars of SIBE research: the antecedents, organisational structure, key strategies, resources and capability, and possible outcomes for SIBE. A research agenda for SIBE was provided by discussing the underlying research opportunities. This study is one of the pioneering efforts to review the interface between servitization and business ecosystem, serving as the initial foundation for SIBE. Both theoretical and managerial implications are drawn for servitization research and practice.