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Bringing Industrial Software to Market: Managerial Challenges and an Agenda for Future Research

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Abstract

Industrial manufacturers are increasingly develo** and marketing industrial software systems (ISS) in addition to their traditional hardware-based products. ISS are complex market offerings with a software core complemented by services that enable industrial customers to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their value creation processes through connectivity, data, and automation. When bringing ISS to market, manufacturers often face serious roadblocks. Our research sheds light on these roadblocks and develops an agenda for future research. This study conceptualizes ISS based on focus group discussions with top-level and senior managers as well as additional desk and literature research. As a result, this study carves out ISS research priorities, spanning the five areas of (1) marketing strategy, (2) marketing organization, (3) innovation, (4) sales, and (5) customer behavior. Overall, this paper is the first to conceptualize ISS, to position its concept in the marketing literature, and to propose an agenda for future research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We adopt a broadened perspective of pricing not restricted to monetary terms. Specifically, in our understanding, pricing comprises all ways of monetization including the conversion of an asset to money as well as the conversion of an asset to a means of generating profit, e.g., data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ESMT Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Viktor Jarotschkin, Bianca Schmitz & Olaf Plötner

  2. University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Johannes Habel

  3. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Andreas Eggert

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  1. Viktor Jarotschkin
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  2. Johannes Habel
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  4. Bianca Schmitz
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  5. Olaf Plötner
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Correspondence to Viktor Jarotschkin .

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  1. South Tyrol Business School, Bolzano, Italy

    Thomas Aichner

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Jarotschkin, V., Habel, J., Eggert, A., Schmitz, B., Plötner, O. (2023). Bringing Industrial Software to Market: Managerial Challenges and an Agenda for Future Research. In: Aichner, T. (eds) Serving the Customer. Springer, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39072-3_7

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