Globalization, developments in technology, and new business models are transforming the way products and services are conceived, designed, made, and distributed in the U.S. and around the world. These forces present challenges - lower wages and fewer jobs for a growing fraction of middle-class workers - as well as opportunities for "makers" and aspiring entrepreneurs to create entirely new types of businesses and jobs. Making Value for America examines these challenges and opportunities and offers recommendations for collaborative actions between government, industry, and education institutions to help ensure that the U.S. thrives amid global economic changes and remains a leading environment for innovation. Filled with real-life examples, Making Value for America presents a roadmap to enhance the nation's capacity to pursue opportunities and adapt to transforming value chains by widespread adoption of best practices, a well-prepared and innovative workforce, local innovation networks to support startups and new products, improved flow of capital investments, and infrastructure upgrades.

During the last thirty years, a wide range of product companies throughout the Western economies have considered moving into or setting up service businesses. Some have rejected the idea after careful consideration, some have wandered into competitive services without any real idea of what is involved and others have deliberately executed a carefully considered strategic manoeuvre. Included in this debate are some of the most famous business names in the western world: Unisys, Ericsson, Michelin, Nokia and HP. For IBM it was Lou Gerstener’s ‘big bet’; at GE it was one of former CEO Jack Welch’s ‘four major strategies’ and, at General Motors, the financial services arm was its most profitable business for many years. Yet very little has been published on this profound transition. As a result, myths and idiocies abound. Some routinely claim that the ‘evolution from products through services to solutions’ is inevitable. Others think that manufacturing is being outsourced to China and India while American or European teenagers face a career in hamburger stalls. The truth is much more fascinating. To succeed in a service business, most functions of a product company need to change. Operations, management, recruitment, finance, sales, new product development and marketing must all be adjusted. So the move into service therefore involves huge risk caused by disruptive and radical change. What has pushed realistic business people in such widely different industrial sectors to take so large a risk? Does their experience contain lessons or warnings for others? Is the trend likely to continue and affect other parts of the world as their economies develop? Will India, China or other developing economies need to learn how to export service once their manufacturing industries mature? Written by a successful businessman who has been at the heart of these changes in several companies and, with case studies from companies like IBM, Unilever, BT, Michelin, Ericsson and Nokia, this book explores the experience of those who have made the transition; and some who have resisted it. It covers in depth subjects such as: strategic focus, change management, service operations, branding a service business, service sales and service marketing. It is the first major work on this subject. "This book is a ‘must read’ for those considering the plunge into service growth and innovation. Even those companies that have already taken the plunge will gain fresh perspective" —Jim Spohrer, Director, IBM Almaden Research Centre, USA "Laurie Young details in very practical ways the reasons and methodologies for change ... I would recommend this book to every one of my customers." —Douglas Morse, Managing Principal for the Services Transformation and Innovation Group LLC "I am thrilled with the publication of this much needed book. In my work with businesses around the globe, I find that grappling with the challenge of transforming a company from products to services is a compelling priority for increasing numbers of firms." —Stephen W. Brown, PhD, Carson Chair, Professor and Executive Director, Center for Services Leadership, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University

Create the personalized and compelling experiences that today's customers expect by harnessing AI and digital technologies to create smart connected products, with this cutting-edge guide from senior leaders at Accenture. Digital technology is both friend and foe: highly disruptive, yet it cannot be ignored. As traditional products transform into smart connected products faster than ever before, companies that fail to make use of it now put themselves in the firing line for disintermediation or even eradication. However, digital technology is also the biggest opportunity for product-making businesses to create the next generation of goods in the marketplace. In Reinventing the Product, Eric Schaeffer and David Sovie, both Senior Managing Directors at Accenture, show how this reinvention is made possible, to deliver truly intelligent, and often even autonomous, products. Reinventing the Product makes the case for companies to rethink their product strategy, innovation and engineering processes, including: - How to harness the opportunities of AI and digital technologies, such as IoT sensors, blockchain, advanced analytics, cloud and edge computing - Practical advice on transforming their entire culture to build the future of successful 'living products' - Features case studies from global organizations such as Faurecia, Signify, Symmons and Haier and interviews with thought leaders from top companies including Amazon, ABB, Tesla, Samsung and Google This book provides the only advice any product-making company needs as it embarks on, or accelerates, its digitization journey.

Become a Digital Master—No Matter What Business You’re In If you think the phrase “going digital” is only relevant for industries like tech, media, and entertainment—think again. In fact, mobile, analytics, social media, sensors, and cloud computing have already fundamentally changed the entire business landscape as we know it—including your industry. The problem is that most accounts of digital in business focus on Silicon Valley stars and tech start-ups. But what about the other 90-plus percent of the economy? In Leading Digital, authors George Westerman, Didier Bonnet, and Andrew McAfee highlight how large companies in traditional industries—from finance to manufacturing to pharmaceuticals—are using digital to gain strategic advantage. They illuminate the principles and practices that lead to successful digital transformation. Based on a study of more than four hundred global firms, including Asian Paints, Burberry, Caesars Entertainment, Codelco, Lloyds Banking Group, Nike, and Pernod Ricard, the book shows what it takes to become a Digital Master. It explains successful transformation in a clear, two-part framework: where to invest in digital capabilities, and how to lead the transformation. Within these parts, you’ll learn: • How to engage better with your customers • How to digitally enhance operations • How to create a digital vision • How to govern your digital activities The book also includes an extensive step-by-step transformation playbook for leaders to follow. Leading Digital is the must-have guide to help your organization survive and thrive in the new, digitally powered, global economy.

A practical approach to business transformation Fit for Growth* is a unique approach to business transformation that explicitly connects growth strategy with cost management and organization restructuring. Drawing on 70-plus years of strategy consulting experience and in-depth research, the experts at PwC’s Strategy& lay out a winning framework that helps CEOs and senior executives transform their organizations for sustainable, profitable growth. This approach gives structure to strategy while promoting lasting change. Examples from Strategy&’s hundreds of clients illustrate successful transformation on the ground, and illuminate how senior and middle managers are able to take ownership and even thrive during difficult periods of transition. Throughout the Fit for Growth process, the focus is on maintaining consistent high-value performance while enabling fundamental change. Strategy& has helped major clients around the globe achieve significant and sustained results with its research-backed approach to restructuring and cost reduction. This book provides practical guidance for leveraging that expertise to make the choices that allow companies to: Achieve growth while reducing costs Manage transformation and transition productively Create lasting competitive advantage Deliver reliable, high-value performance Sustainable success is founded on efficiency and high performance. Companies are always looking to do more with less, but their efforts often work against them in the long run. Total business transformation requires total buy-in, and it entails a series of decisions that must not be made lightly. The Fit for Growth approach provides a clear strategy and practical framework for growth-oriented change, with expert guidance on getting it right. *Fit for Growth is a registered service mark of PwC Strategy& Inc. in the United States

This edited book intends to provide knowledge on tools and practices of servitization to facilitate the formulation and implementation of servitization-based strategies, service infusion and manufacturing service transition globally. Including 22 practically relevant contributions, this book aims to help scholars and practitioners seeking to facilitate servitization in companies through original perspectives and advanced thinking in related issues such as business models, strategic change, practices, processes, routines, value creation and appropriation. Employing practice theory as a useful frame, the contributions span theoretical approaches such as product-service systems, service science, services-dominant logic and cocreation, resource-based views, industrial organization and institutional theory. The book presents tools and frameworks to enable and support servitization and engender understanding of servitization-as-practice.