Customer Value and Negative Critical Incidents in Outsourced Industrial Maintenance Services

The purpose of this dissertation is to research customer value and negative critical incidents in outsourced industrial maintenance services. This study focuses on the intersection of three research areas: industrial maintenance services, relationship management, and value creation. Technical and financial issues connected to industrial maintenance service have been researched from many viewpoints during recent years and decades. A comprehensive point of view of industrial maintenance services, which takes into consideration not only the economic and technical aspects but also the broader relationship and customer value perspectives, has been less studied. However, better understanding about the comprehensive perspective of industrial maintenance service is an important part of success in managing competitive situations or even for a company’s survival.

This research was conducted as an empirical qualitative single case study and the research philosophy of this thesis is pragmatic. The context of this research study is outsourced industrial maintenance service in a paper and board mill in Finland. Empirical data for this study has been gathered with semi-structured interviews, by observational study in meetings, and from documents. This dissertation consists of four studies: two pilot studies and two main studies. The role of pilot studies is to specify the focus of main studies and to aid precise planning for the main research. The aim of the first main research study is to research customer value elements and customer value dissonances in outsourced industrial maintenance service during breakdowns. Research study one is cross-sectional, and the research questions are: (RQ1) What kind of model describes customer value in outsourced industrial maintenance service during breakdown? (RQ2) What are the relevant customer value elements in outsourced industrial maintenance services during a breakdown, analyzed in the three phases of a breakdown? (RQ3) What kind of customer value dissonances there are between customers and maintenance service providers during breakdown in outsourced industrial maintenance service? The aim of the second main research study is to investigate customer value elements and criticality of negative critical incidents in outsourced industrial maintenance service on a longitudinal time-horizon. The research questions are: (RQ4) What are the special characteristics of customer value elements in outsourced industrial maintenance examined from a longitudinal perspective when compared to customer value elements examined during breakdown from a cross-sectional perspective? (RQ5) What are the factors that affect the criticality of negative critical incidents in outsourced industrial maintenance services?

This dissertation creates new knowledge on outsourced industrial maintenance service by contributing to the literature of industrial outsourced maintenance and presenting a broader perspective. It expands our knowledge of the relevant customer value elements and creates new knowledge about customer value dissonances in outsourced industrial maintenance services. This dissertation also increases knowledge of negative critical incidents in the outsourced industrial maintenance service context. This dissertation practically explains why customer value, customer value dissonances, and the criticality of negative critical incidents may be so difficult to understand, even though the maintenance service provider is able to provide professionally skilled maintenance services and has a long-term relationship with their customers.