Scandinavian Journal of Management (2011) 27 , 221—230

a v a i l a b l e a t w w w. s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : h t t p : / / w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / s c a m a n

Unraveling the practices of ‘‘productization’’ in

professional service firms
Elina Jaakkola *

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland

KEYWORDS Summary This paper studies the practices of ‘‘service productization’’ by analyzing the
Productization; discourse used by practitioners in small professional service firms. The study makes a contribution
Professional services; by describing practices that managers draw upon to cope with the abstract, elusive nature of the
Service marketing; professional service, and by discussing the relationship between the marketing discourse
Marketing-as-practice; operating in organizations and academic discourse in service marketing, which has seldom been
Discourses empirically studied. The constitution of three productizing practices is described: (1) specifying
and standardizing the service offering, (2) tangibilizing and concretizing the service offering and
professional expertise, and (3) systemizing and standardizing processes and methods. It is
concluded that managers draw on productization practices to translate the abstract service
and its creation into exchangeable objects and controllable processes.
# 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction ered during an interactive process (e.g., Dawson, 2000;

Jaakkola & Halinen, 2006).
Academic research on services started largely due to the Scholars have acknowledged that a high degree of custo-
notion that the marketing management discourse did not fit mization and heterogeneity is bound to induce challenges for
the service industry, where the object of exchange is abstract the management and marketing of professional services,
and intangible (Shostack, 1977; Berry & Parasuraman, 1993). particularly in terms of operational management (Verma,
Service marketing academics have successfully argued that a 2000) and in terms of communicating, promoting, and pricing
number of marketing implications arise from the distinguish- the services (Clemes, Mollenkopf, & Burn, 2000). Some
ing characteristics of services, which are not encountered by approaches for reducing the idiosyncrasy of services in gen-
marketers of tangible goods (e.g., Gummesson, 1991; Sho- eral have been submitted in the literature, examples being
stack, 1977; Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1985). Such mass customization (Jiao, Ma, & Tseng, 2003), modulariza-
idiosyncrasies are considered prominent particularly in pro- tion (Sundbo, 1994), and lean services (Bowen & Youngdahl,
fessional services, characterized as highly intangible, het- 1998), but such marketing means are not considered relevant
erogeneous services that are typically customized for for professional service firms (PSFs). Instead, marketing text-
individual customers’ unique needs, and produced and deliv- books and research articles have, over the years, highlighted
the importance of personal selling, customer relationship
management, and the development of a good company
reputation as the key means for professional service firms
* Tel.: +358 2 333 51; fax: +358 2 3338 900. to market themselves (see Dawson, 2000; Edvardsson, Holm-
E-mail address: elina.jaakkola@utu.fi. lund, & Strandvik, 2008; Mitchell, 1994; Wilson, 1972). The

0956-5221/$ — see front matter # 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.scaman.2011.03.001
222 E. Jaakkola

dominant premise for the marketing and management discusses the conformity of the productization discourse to
approaches prescribed for PSF managers is that of customi- the service marketing discourse, and presents conclusions
zation, as opposed to standardization (Sundbo, 2002). regarding the role productization plays as a means of trans-
How managers themselves deal with the alleged idiosyn- lating the abstract professional service into an exchangeable
crasies of the professional service has yet to be explored in offer.
the domain of service marketing research. Although some
investigations into the type of marketing conducted in pro- A discursive perspective on practices
fessional service firms have been made (Amonini, McColl-
Kennedy, Soutar, & Sweeney, 2010; Reid, 2008), the nature of Practice theory is a type of cultural theory. Instead of
the social, discursive, or cognitive practices that PSF man- explaining human action through individual purposes and
agers draw on when they enact marketing work has been very interests, or by adherence to collective norms and values,
sparsely studied (for an exception, see Nikolova, Reihlen, & cultural theories explain and understand actions by recon-
Schlapfner, 2009). The ‘‘practice turn’’ evident in the field of structing the symbolic structures of knowledge that enable
strategy research (e.g., Jarzabkowski & Spee, 2009; Whit- and constrain actors to interpret the world according to
tington, 2006), and emergent in the marketing literature certain forms and to behave in corresponding ways (Reck-
(e.g., Kjellberg & Helgesson, 2007; Schau, Muñiz, & Arnould, witz, 2002). Shared, implicit layers of knowledge lay down
2009; Skålén, 2009) turns attention away from normative which norms are appropriate and which desires are regarded
prescriptions towards descriptions of the collectively shared, as desirable: social order is embedded in the shared knowl-
routinized patterns of behavior, understanding, knowing how edge of the world. Practice theory is hence neither indivi-
and desiring, i.e. practices that are carried out and drawn on dualist nor holistic but aims to respect both the efforts of
by practitioners in their actions (Reckwitz, 2002). This paper individual actors and the workings of social (Whittington,
applies the practice perspective to the study of marketing 2006). An individual practitioner acts as a ‘‘carrier’’ of
work performed in professional service firms. practices: the individual enacts practices not only in terms
The paper examines the managerial practices of ‘‘service of behavior but also in terms of routinized ways of under-
productization’’ that appear to be widely acknowledged standing, knowing how, and desiring. These mental activities
among practitioners but are not explicitly discussed in the are not qualities of the individual, but elements of a practice
academic marketing literature. The purpose of this paper is in which the individual participates (Reckwitz, 2002).
to describe and analyze the ‘‘anatomy’’ of productization A number of definitions can be found for what a practice
practices from a discursive perspective. After having identi- actually encompasses. According to Reckwitz (2002), prac-
fied the building blocks of productization practices, the tices are routinized types of behavior comprising inter-
paper discusses the scholarly origins of the ‘‘system of truth’’ connected bodily and mental activities, background
or discourse that the studied managerial practice builds on, knowledge, know-how, motivations, and states of emotion.
particularly in terms of its conformity to the service market- Whittington (2006) defines practices as shared understand-
ing discourse. ings, cultural rules, languages, and procedures that guide
The study contributes new knowledge primarily in the and enable human activity. In the field of strategy-as-
domain of service marketing by applying the marketing-as- practice, Jarzabkowski and Spee (2009) define strategy
practice approach to the study of practices that are resorted practices as shared social, symbolic and material tools
to by practitioners to cope with the perceived idiosyncrasies through which strategy work carried out. According to
of the professional service. The paper also contributes to the Schatzki’s (2000) definition, a practice is a temporally
emerging field of marketing-as-practice. Within the market- unfolding and spatially dispersed nexus of activity, for
ing discipline, the practice approach has most notably been example, cooking or voting practices. In these practices,
applied to the study of practices related to consumption and doings and sayings are organized through (1) understand-
consumer value creation (Hirschman, Scott, & Wells, 1998; ings of what to say or do; (2) explicit rules, principles and
Schau et al., 2009; Shove & Pantzar, 2005), and the influence instructions of appropriate things to say or do; and (3)
that the marketing discourse may have on firms’ or managers’ ‘‘teleoaffective’’ structures embracing ends, purposes,
actions (Cornelissen & Lock, 2002; Skålén, 2009), or the emotions and moods (Schatzki, 2000). According to Schau
constitution of markets (Kjellberg & Helgesson, 2006, et al. (2009), these three parts constitute the essential
2007). Despite these important contributions, it seems clear ‘‘anatomy’’ of a practice.
that the social scientific interest in practices is only rarely Applied to the managerial context of the present study,
shared within marketing. To add to those contributions, the practice theory suggests that practitioners draw on a set of
paper describes practices that managers draw upon to cope assumptions, know-how, rules and dispositions when enact-
with the abstract, elusive nature of the professional service, ing marketing work. Those assumptions and rules can be
and discusses the relationship between the marketing dis- considered fixations of meanings within a particular discourse
course operating in organizations and the academic discourse (cf. Phillips & Jørgensen, 2002). According to Watson (1995,
in service marketing, which has seldom been empirically pp. 816—817), a discourse can be defined as ‘‘a connected set
studied (cf. Skålén, Fougere, & Felleson, 2008, p. 6; see also of statements, concepts, terms and expressions which con-
Skålén, 2010a). stitutes a way of talking or writing about a particular issue,
The paper is organized as follows. The next section thus framing the way people understand and respond with
describes the discursive perspective on practices adopted respect to that issue.’’ From the discourse analytical per-
in the paper, followed by the methodological approach. After spective, behavior and action is always mediated by dis-
that, the practitioners’ accounts of their productization course (Skålén, 2010b). Practices are ‘‘talked into action’’,
are described. The final part condenses the key findings, through discursive practices (Holstein & Gubrium, 2008).
Unraveling the practices of productization 223

According to Foucauldian understanding, discourses are sys- practices the participants ascribe, in a routinized way, cer-
tems of power/knowledge that construct subjects and their tain meanings to certain objects to understand other objects
worlds. Discourses are bodies of ideas, ideologies, working and in order to do something (Reckwitz, 2002). It is assumed
attitudes, terms of reference, and courses of action suffused that discourse works as a structuring, constituting force,
into social practices (Foucault, 1972; Holstein & Gubrium, directly implying or framing subjectivity, practice and mean-
2008). A discursive perspective on practices suggests that the ing (cf. Alvesson & Karreman, 2000). The anatomy of pro-
way actors use language both shapes and promotes a prac- ductization practices was examined here by investigating
tice, in other words, practices are discursively shaped and how practitioners in small professional service firms (PSFs)
enacted. talk about productization.
According to Rouse (2000), practice theorists have often Productization appears to be a managerial practice that is
been ambivalent about the significance of language to prac- commonly discussed in managerial magazines and seminars,
tices, and vice versa. For example Schatzki (2000) empha- and the PSF managers contacted for this study were highly
sizes that practices are first and foremost a set of actions that familiar with the practice. The informants were purposefully
are embodied in humans: they do not exist unless they are chosen to represent small professional business-to-business
carried out. Turner (1994) argues that practice can only refer service managers who had reported themselves as having
to patterns of behavior, not to patterns of presuppositions or experience of productization. A number of clues were fol-
knowledge. Language use is considered only one type of lowed to identify firms that potentially practice productiza-
bodily action. Schatzki (2000, p. 61) states that ‘‘a practice tion: a list of potential companies was gathered by studying
is a set of doings and sayings organized by a pool of under- articles and reports in business magazines, participant lists
standings, a set of rules, and a teleoaffectice structure.’’ for business seminars on service development, and a number
Acknowledging the fact that many authors consider practices of PSF’s websites. Prospective companies were approached
are always embodied, this paper applies a discursive per- by e-mail or phone, and the manager was asked whether
spective to studying practices, focusing on examining the ‘‘service productization’’ was practiced in the company.
pool of understandings, procedures, and engagements (as Those who stated that productization was practiced in their
abbreviated by Warde (2005, p. 134)) as basic building blocks organization were asked to participate in the study. Data
of a practice. These building blocks provide a broad basis for were collected at eight Finnish professional service firms
analyzing the shared patterns of thought that underlie and representing a variety of b-to-b industries: business consult-
organize a practice. The focus is not on studying talk or ing (2 firms), market research, HR training and consulting,
discourse per se, but the study approaches managers’ talk digital marketing communications, project consulting, archi-
as a means of learning about the understandings and com- tecture, and occupational health services. The informants
mitments that form the backbone of productization prac- had responsibility for and experience of marketing and ser-
tices. Fig. 1 illustrates the discursive perspective applied to vice development in their firm. Seven interviews were con-
studying practices. ducted with CEOs and two with the head of the business unit
responsible for the productized service in the company.
The primary data collection method for the study was
Methods and data qualitative, in-depth interviewing (Fontana & Frey, 1994;
Warren, 2002). The interviews followed a loose thematic
Approach and data collection guide that enabled a great degree of flexibility for the
interviewee to talk about his/her own understandings, per-
This paper adheres to linguistically turned research, which ceptions, ideas and desires regarding service productization.
challenges the view that language mirrors the inner and outer The interviews lasted from 1.5 to 2 h and were recorded and
realities of the interviewees, and instead considers language transcribed. During the interviews, the managers also pre-
as a productive, performative constructor of the social world sented some physical materials that illustrated or were the
(e.g., Alvesson, 2003; Svensson, 2009). The linguistic turn results of their productization practices, for example mar-
provides an opportunity to explore how organizational mem- keting material or process charts.
bers in interaction and conversation construct and reproduce An interview was considered a ‘‘trigger’’ that prompts the
their everyday social life (Svensson, 2009). In the traditional production of an account: the respondent was requested to
view, language is considered a gateway to the feelings, distance him/herself from the everyday routine, and to talk
thoughts, and values of individuals, whereas within the dis- about and comment on it (Svensson, 2009). In other words,
cursive perspective, language actively constructs those the interview was not considered a report of how things are,
things (Potter & Wetherell, 1987). Through language use, but an active mode of putting together a plausible version of
people produce accounts that are a construction of a parti- ‘‘reality’’ (Svensson, 2009, see also Alvesson, 2003). The
cular version of how things are related to each other and how interview transcripts were neither assumed to convey gen-
they can be represented (Alvesson, 2003). In discursive eral ‘‘true’’ statements of ‘‘appropriate’’ marketing means,
[()TD$FIG]
Patterns of talk: enacting Patterns of thought underlying
productization practices
Discursive
practices used by shaping Understandings Procedures Engagements
practitioners

Figure 1 A discursive perspective on studying practices.

224 E. Jaakkola

nor to say anything about the actual behavior of managers. 249—250 and Schatzki, 2000). Coding and analysis were
Instead, the focus was on how the discourses are making conducted at three levels: first, in terms of the type of
themselves present in the interview (Alvesson, 2003). It was practice; second, in terms of the categories of procedures,
assumed that studying talk enables the identification of some understandings and engagements; and third, in terms of the
of the thought patterns including norms, understandings, key themes within each category. Data extracts were placed
values, and know-how that underlie and organize a practice. into categories with themes that represented similar fea-
Interviews may provide an opportunity to observe a prac- tures (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996). In the course of analysis, the
tice ‘‘in action’’, too. Svensson (2009) suggests that it is the initially identified functions were specified into three dis-
nature of the interview practice, not the interview talk per se tinct, yet intertwined productization practices.
that constitutes a potential link to the ‘‘outside world’’: Rather than looking at individual practitioners’ goals and
research interviews are valuable in studying organizational motivations, interest was focused on the shared bodies of
practices resembling the kind of interaction taking place in ideologies, terms of reference, and patterns of accepted
the interview situation. Depending on the extent of resem- ‘‘truths’’ that underlie the social practice. In addition to
blance between the interview situation and other situations learning about patterns of thought, data analysis also sought
in the respondent’s life in the organization, the interview has to identify common patterns of talk, or discursive practices
the capacity to recreate (rather than represent) organiza- that managers used to enact productization. Such discursive
tional reality. Managers in general produce and distribute practices include concepts, terms and expressions used by
talk; they are asked questions and reason their actions. In this practitioners.
study, the interviewed practitioners were experienced mar-
keters: CEOs, marketing managers and consultants. In such Description of productization practices
positions, productization talk was part of their everyday
work: sometimes the respondent started their talk by stating
The interviewed practitioners associated ‘‘productizing’’
that ‘‘as I always tell my customers. . .’’ or ‘‘I’ve been saying
with three key practices: (1) specifying and standardizing
to our people that. . .’’. In other words, the talk produced
the service offering, (2) tangibilizing and concretizing the
during the interview can to some extent be considered a re-
service offering and professional expertise, and (3) system-
creation of the managers’ talk with their employees or
izing and standardizing processes and methods. The following
customers. The interview situation was one of those situa-
sections describe the ‘‘anatomy’’ of these central practices
tions where the manager recreates an aspect of his/her
and discursive practices used to enact them.
organizational reality (cf. Svensson, 2009).

Data analysis through a practice framework Specifying and standardizing the service offering

The application of the practice approach to studying man- When asked to explain what productization means in their
agers’ talk on productization suggests that interest is focused organization, the interviewed managers started by describ-
on identifying the collectively shared norms, traditions, ing the need to specify and standardize the service offering so
understandings, procedures and routines that seem to guide that it would be easier to sell and buy. The interviewees
the daily marketing activities of practitioners (cf. Jarzab- seemed to share the perception that customers lack a clear
kowski & Spee, 2009; Reckwitz, 2002; Whittington, 2006). In understanding of what they need and what the company
order to describe the practices of productization, the data could offer them. The common goal for the interviewed
analysis sought the very basic ‘‘building blocks’’ of the practitioners was to create simple, tangible offerings that
practice as a collectively shared way of understanding, say- are easy to grasp:
ing, and doing things (Schau et al., 2009). Analysis was data- We try to productize our offering so that it becomes so
driven, and the role of theory was to offer loose and broad simple and easy to understand, that the customer’s inher-
categories for data analysis. This means that while analysis ent hesitancy and fear disappears, and the service
was directed towards a search for specific data in line with becomes crystal clear and easy to buy. The customer
the adopted conceptual framework, there was also room for needs to feel that they are getting something concrete.
discovery (cf. Dubois & Gadde, 2002). (Management consulting 1)
The data analysis began with identifying the broad func-
tions that practitioners associated with productization. On
Without productized services, we really have to spell out
the basis of the initial analysis, productization was found to
to the customer what we can do for them, especially if we
relate to systemizing, standardizing and tangibilizing. These
don’t have a prepared set to show them. (Market research
functions served as initial categorizations of productization
and consulting)
practices. The main part of the data analysis focused on
identifying and examining the categories of ‘‘thought pat- The managers explained that in order to facilitate the
terns’’ underlying these functions: the accounts given by the selling and marketing of the service, its content needs to be
practitioners were used to search for practitioners’ shared standardized at least to some extent. They were convinced
perceptions of the procedures (explicit ‘‘rules’’, principles that customers expect a clear, well-defined offering, and
and instructions; ‘‘know that’’), understandings (more impli- therefore the variability and ambiguity of the service should
cit knowledge and perceptions of what to say and do; ‘‘know- be reduced. This could be achieved by dividing the service
how’’), and engagements (motivations and emotional com- into smaller parts or phases that are easier to standardize and
mitments, perception of what is desirable) related to these explain to the customer. Many interviewees used expressions
functions (cf. Schau et al., 2009, see also Reckwitz, 2002, pp. such as developing ‘‘service modules’’, ‘‘packages’’, or a set
Unraveling the practices of productization 225

of ‘‘service versions’’. The managers explained that service increasing sales, and to making selling easier so that less
modules could be developed by dividing the service into effort could be invested in sales activities. Table 1 sum-
different parts with a specified content, or service versions marizes the shared perceptions of procedures, understand-
with different features: ings and engagements that form the anatomy of one
productization practice, specifying and standardizing the
For example, the planning of a certain type of project is
service offering. In addition, the table gives examples
sold in four pieces. The customer can buy the extent of the
of discursive practices that managers used to enact this
service they want. We can give a fixed price for each
practice.
piece, so that after each stage of the process, the cus-
tomer can decide if they want to proceed. (Project con-
sulting) Tangibilizing and concretizing the service
offering and professional expertise

We are planning to have five different packages with Another productization practice discussed by the inter-
different levels: the basic version, the Mercedes-version, viewed practitioners is making the service offering and pro-
and something in between. The more sophisticated ver- fessional service provider’s expertise seem more tangible and
sions are built on the basic version so that we only have to concrete in the eyes of the customer. The interviewed man-
add new parts. (Market research and consulting) agers talked about the difficulty of selling services that lack a
The interviewees’ talk did not indicate a great tension clear content, price tag and delivery date. A commonly
between customization and standardization. Practitioners acknowledged ‘‘fact’’ was that customers perceived a great
seemed to consider it quite possible to combine customiza- risk in buying professional services, due to their abstract
tion and standardization. Many interviewees indicated that nature and lack of tangible evidence. To reduce that risk, the
they consider it appropriate to specify a part of the service, service needs to be given some tangible features. Some
yet leave room for customization, too. The service may have managers described their services as ‘‘service packages’’
a name, a specified outline of the contents and processes or ‘‘service products’’ to create a resemblance to physical,
related to the service, and a description of the outcomes of tangible products that can be assessed and evaluated by the
the service. Despite the specified content and process, the customer. The following citations illustrate such perceptions:
actual service provision is customized and unique for Many companies are not accustomed to buying profession-
every customer. The following comments encapsulate such al services. It seems very ambiguous. We productize in
thinking: order to offer a concrete service package, and talk about
We have standardized the content, process and price of the workbook so that the customer feels that they are
the service. The service is produced in a predefined really getting something for their money. (Management
manner, although it is tailored for each customer. It’s like consulting 1)
a coloring book: the lines are always the same, but we use
different colors for each customer. (Occupational health Customers feel that buying advertising services is difficult
services) and risky. It’s easier to buy a productized service, as the
customer knows what is included, when they will receive
We can never entirely standardize the service, because it and what it will cost. (Digital marketing communications
the customer’s situation is always different. But we can services)
develop a set of service modules that we can combine
The interviewed managers assumed that adding product-
flexibly, and we don’t have to start everything from
like features to their service facilitates communication with
scratch. We only adapt and complement the parts for
the customer. These interviewees explained that productiza-
the individual customer. (Project consulting)
tion involved for example the development of brand names
The motivational engagements underlying the practice of and visual identities for their services. Tangibility
specifying and standardizing the service offering related to was achieved also by adding some physical material to the

Table 1 Procedures, understandings and engagements underlying the practice of specifying and standardizing the service
offering.

Procedures (rules, ‘‘facts’’, Understandings (what Engagements (what is Examples of discursive

know-that) should be done, desirable, what are practices (patterns of
know-how) the correct goals) talk to enact a practice)
! Customers do not understand ! There should be a ! Increasing sales is Use of language to
the professional clear object of an important objectify and give form
service exchange goal to the service:
! Buyers expect a well-defined ! The service should be dismantled ! The aim is to invest less ! ‘‘service packages’’
service into separate parts or phases effort in sales activities ! ‘‘service versions’’
! Customization and standardization ! Variability of the service ! ‘‘service modules’’
can be applied simultaneously should be reduced
226 E. Jaakkola

service. The following citation demonstrates a PSF manager’s tion of the service was considered a means of communicating
need to present their customer with something concrete: company-level expertise to the customer:
We gave the service a brand name and a clear description I believe that when we can say to the customers that we
of the content, price and even the delivery time. We have the methods and operational models to do some-
developed some promotional material through which thing, and that we have a quality program–—that we offer
we communicate the essential benefit of the service via this package, and we have done the same thing with
illustrations and slogans. We even created a cardboard others as well. Then I think it is more convincing to sell
pack to symbolize the service package. It really is an this package than saying that we have one expert who can
icebreaker in the sales situation! (Digital marketing com- do this. (Project consulting)
munications services)
Table 2 summarizes the shared perceptions of procedures,
According to the interviewees, promotional material such understandings and engagements underlying the practice of
as brochures and leaflets are designed to illustrate and tangiblizing and concretizing the service offering and profes-
explain their processes, methods and service outcomes in sional expertise.
order to make it easier to explain the service to the custo-
mers. The manager of a small consulting firm revealed: Systemizing and standardizing processes and
In practice, these service products and brochures are methods
basically made to help the customer gain an idea of what
we do. They make the company look better and more Systemizing and standardizing processes and methods was
reliable. It facilitates the selling process when buyers see another productization practice highlighted by the inter-
what kind of things, processes and outcomes consulting viewed practitioners. The managers talked rather eloquently
can involve. It shows that we’ve thought about these about the processes and it became obvious that the inter-
things and done it before. (Management consulting 2) viewed practitioners shared a set of norms and ‘‘facts’’ about
managing service processes, particularly in relation to effi-
This comment indicates that PSF managers face difficul- ciency and productivity. The interviewees explained that
ties in convincing the customer of their expertise and special more systematic, unified processes, methods or tools were
knowledge. It seems that an important purpose of producti- developed to make the service process more controllable.
zation is to tangibilize the company’s and the individual Systemization was associated with increased effectiveness
service provider’s competence and trustworthiness: that would improve the profitability of projects. Thus, pre-
Having service packages is a sign of a firm’s expertise; we defined processes or methods were developed to make some
can tell the customer what they need, and then the service routines easier and faster, as illustrated by the following
personnel know what’s included in the package when they quote:
meet the customer. (Occupational health services) There’s no point in spending too much time writing offers
when we see that it follows the same pattern every time
The most important function of the brochures is not to
anyway. Writing offers is really boring, but if we can use a
show what we sell, but to show what we can do. (Market
prepared template, it makes our work easier and we
research and consulting)
can better plan our schedules. (Market research and
consulting)
An underlying assumption the interviewed managers
Some practitioners explicitly pointed out that they had
shared was that expertise and experience should be tangi-
initiated productization in order to make managing and
bilized first and foremost at the organizational level. Many
organizing more rational and efficient. They believed that
managers mentioned that it is problematic if the service they
more specifically defined and planned service processes
sell is strongly identified with the expertise of an individual
make resource allocation, planning and measurement easier:
person. The specification, standardization and tangibiliza-

Table 2 Procedures, understandings and engagements underlying the practice of tangibilizing and concretizing the service
offering and professional expertise.

Procedures (rules, ‘‘facts’’, Understandings Engagements (what is Examples of discursive

know-that) (what should be desirable, what are practices (patterns of
done, know-how) the correct goals) talk to enact a practice)
! Customers perceive a risk ! Tangible features should ! The aim is to provide Use of language to make the
in intangible be added to the something measurable service and expertise seem
services service for the customer product-like and measurable:
! Customers appreciate ! Service offerings should ! Expertise should be ! ‘‘service product’’
tangible and concrete be listed or displayed associated with the firm ! ‘‘service package’’
offerings for the customer rather than the individual ! ‘‘providing money’s worth’’
! Customers should be ! ‘‘our models and procedures’’
shown a proof of expertise ! ‘‘providing solutions’’
Unraveling the practices of productization 227

After adopting systematic procedures, it’s much easier to expertise. Productization was motivated by the value and
monitor and we get data that make it possible to improve excitement the professionals attach to the substance of their
our analysis continuously. Now we can analyze projects, work, which was reduced by the time spent on routine tasks,
find out how they went, estimate working hours correctly as is illustrated in the following quote:
for each stage, find out what went wrong and so on.
(Project consulting) We need to get our workload and schedule under control
so that we have time to do the fun stuff and are not
A productized service is easier to adopt. You can familiar- working on the edge all the time. (Market research and
ize new employees or business partners with your service consulting)
faster if the service is productized. That’s crucial when
you think about growth. Expanding a service business Another implicit goal related to standardizing work pro-
requires more people, and they are easier to orientate cesses associated with making an individual’s expert work
within the company if the service is productized. (HR more controllable and reusable from the firm’s point of view.
training and consulting) The interviewed managers discussed the unstructured and
variable nature of their services and the processes through
Another ‘‘fact’’ shared by the managers was that systema- which they are realized. They explained that much of the
tic and standardized processes improved service quality. work is customized for each customer, and each employee
Instead of associating quality with customization, many may apply their own way of doing things. More systematic and
interviewees indicated that standardization is a prerequisite unified work processes were considered a means of capturing
for service quality and value for the customer: and accumulating the information and experience that is
gained through customer projects, as the following extracts
You have to have a theory, a method that you follow. We
indicate:
have this method that we believe gets the thing done. If
you don’t follow all the steps, the customer will not get Every new customer needs the same thing, but in a slightly
the full value from our service. It’s our job to develop different form. And we learn more all the time. So with
effective methods, and bring the benefit to the customer every new project, we make a workbook that always has the
with the least expensive method and this requires pro- same structure. We build a workbook library continuously,
ductization. (HR training and consulting) so when a new customer comes in, we can take the work-
book of a similar organization from our library, and we
basically have 50 to 60 percent of the case ready. Then we
We have branches all over the country, and without
just add the customized part. (Management consulting 1)
standardized practices we can’t offer the same service
and maintain the same level of quality for everyone. Some
We consider this a project of transferring tacit knowledge.
of our customers use our services in different locations,
That means that we have to find ways to transfer the
and we must make sure that they get the same service
knowledge that long-term employees have developed and
everywhere. (Occupational services)
pass that on to the younger employees. (Architectural
The concrete means through which systemization and services)
standardization were being implemented in the studied
organizations included developing and adopting specified When everybody documents the same data in the system,
processes, methods, and tools, such as document templates, we can accumulate and process information that adds
process charts, databases, and analysis methods. Some of the value to our services and to our decision making. (Occu-
managers explained in detail the activities by which their pational health services)
company developed standardized processes:
Some managers’ comments implied also the goal of redu-
We had intensive workshops where we jointly identified cing the person-centricity of the service, in other words, to
the services and processes that share similarities, despite diminish the firms’ dependency on individual professionals in
them being made for different customers. We had brain- terms of customers, projects and knowledge. Many of the
storming sessions where employees together outlined the interviewees were entrepreneurs concerned with the long-
common phases in customer projects, and the way we term success of the company. It seems that productization
usually execute those phases. It was important to define was regarded as a means of turning expertise into an orga-
the shared working methods that our teams usually apply, nizational rather than individual asset so that the customer
and then we analyzed the length of and estimated the would buy a service rather than an individual professional:
costs of each phase and method. (Digital marketing com-
Customers used to basically rent a certain consultant to do
munications services)
something, everything revolved around the individual. . .
The managers’ accounts suggest a shared understanding Now we can produce the service with a broader team, so
of the struggle between routine and expert work in small that the customer doesn’t necessarily see who is doing
PSFs. Many informants mentioned that productization was what, and then they are more focused on the outcomes
motivated by the need to somehow ease and systemize daily and we can allocate resources much more efficiently.
work processes in their firm. According to the interviewees, We’ve been trying to enter the Swedish market, and
much of the work done by professionals in their firm is it’s much more difficult to get them to accept a certain
unproductive and routine, and there is indeed a constant consultant than a service package with a price tag. (Proj-
struggle to find time for the work that really requires ect consulting)
228 E. Jaakkola

Table 3 Procedures, understandings and engagements underlying the practice of systemizing and standardizing processes and
methods.

Procedures Understandings Engagements (what is Examples of discursive

(rules, ‘‘facts’’, (what should be desirable, what are practices (patterns of
know-that) done, know-how) the correct goals) talk to enact a practice)
! Fixed, controllable ! Individual professionals ! Rationality and efficiency Use of language to emphasize
processes are more should follow a common are important the rationalism and economic
efficient process goals efficiency of management:
! More efficient processes ! The PSF should develop ! The entrepreneur should ! ‘‘analysis methods and
are more productive and its own methods and secure the firm’s possession tools’’
profitable tools of cumulative knowledge ! ‘‘accumulating tacit
! Process systemization ! Information on customers ! Person-centricity is information’’
improves and projects should be problematic ! ‘‘rational, efficient processes’’
quality documented ! ‘‘monitoring’’
! Process systemization ! Earlier work should be ! Routine work should be ! ‘‘guidelines and operational
reduces routine work made reusable diminished procedures’’

Table 3 summarizes the anatomy of the practice of sys- perception seemed to be that professional service firms
temizing and standardizing processes and methods. should focus more on collective rather than individual activ-
ities: managers emphasized the need for common procedures
and the codification of tacit knowledge.
Discussion and conclusions The emotional engagements that could be identified in
managers’ talk related to their identity as an entrepreneur
This paper aimed to describe the practices of service pro- and a manager, and also as a professional. As entrepreneurs,
ductization by analyzing how managers in small professional the managers considered growing the firm’s sales and improv-
service firms talk about productization. Three central prac- ing profitability to be important goals. They were concerned
tices of productization were identified: specifying and stan- with securing the fruits of their professional labors — such as
dardizing the service offering; tangibilizing and concretizing customer relationships and accumulated experience and
the service offering and professional expertise; and, system- knowledge — to make them an asset and resource for the
izing and standardizing processes and methods. The anatomy firm rather than an individual employee, and thus build the
of these practices was studied in terms of practitioners’ value of the firm. On the other hand, productization prac-
shared perceptions related to (1) procedures (explicit rules, tices seem to involve also professional desires: the impor-
principles and instructions, ‘‘know-that’’); (2) understand- tance of providing high quality solutions for customers, and
ings (more implicit knowledge of what to say or do, ‘‘know- diminishing routine work to enable sufficient time for expert
how’’; and (3) engagements (motivations and emotional work.
commitments, perceptions of what is desirable). These were This study indicates that the special nature of the
considered to form the system of shared knowledge that professional service is an important premise for both the
underlies and organizes a practice (cf. Schau et al., 2009; productization discourse resorted to by managers, and the
Reckwitz, 2002). service marketing discourse. In the service marketing lit-
By analyzing managers’ accounts of productizing, it was erature, professional services are associated with the
possible to identify procedures, understandings and engage- deployment of specialist knowledge and skills in solving
ments that are common to the different productization complex problems for the customer (Gummesson, 1978;
practices. Managers in small PSFs considered it a business Jaakkola & Halinen, 2006). The content of the service, as
imperative to develop an efficient and productive enterprise, well as its outcomes, are considered difficult for customers
and they ‘‘knew’’ that in order to accomplish growth and to understand and evaluate, as they often lack the
prosperity they need to develop efficient and rational pro- required expertise (e.g., Sharma, 1997). Moreover, the
cesses, achieved through systemization and standardization. outcomes are typically intangible, uncertain and risky
Another ‘‘truth’’ that was seen as given was customers’ for the customer (Mitchell, 1994). Such assumptions are
preference for tangible and well-defined service offerings shared by PSF managers and are part of the anatomy of
as opposed to elusive, abstract expertise. productization practices.
Besides these explicit ‘‘facts’’, the interviewed managers Practitioners’ perceptions regarding appropriate actions to
had developed more implicit know-how related to coping cope with professional service features are quite different
with these issues: the service could be made more concrete from those prescribed in the service marketing literature. The
by adding tangible features to it, and breaking the service service discourse views standardization as an inappropriate,
process into parts and phases made it easier to display to the manufacturing oriented approach that can only be applied in
customer. Managers used phrases such as ‘‘service product’’ highly generic and production intensive service contexts such
and ‘‘service modules’’ to turn their expertise into exchange- as McDonalds, but not in professional services (cf. Mitchell,
able items. The managerial rationality was highlighted 1994; Sundbo, 2002). On the contrary, the practice drawn on by
by talk about establishing guidelines, streamlining processes, practitioners is premised on the assumption that standardiza-
and developing methods and tools. The underlying tion is particularly important in professional services. The
Unraveling the practices of productization 229

Table 4 Translating the professional service into manageable offerings and processes through productization practices.

Perceived problem Productization practices Desired solution

Abstract nature of the Specifying Exchangeable service
professional service Tangibilizing offerings

Individualism and Systemizing Efficient, controllable

person-centricity of Standardizing production processes
professional work

practical experiences of the companies studied for this paper Acknowledgements

indicate that firms may apply productization to secure more
time for customized expert work and the accumulation of the I would like to thank the guest editor Dr. Per Skålén and the
tacit knowledge developed in their organization. Instead of three anonymous reviewers for their extensive comments
denying standardization, firms attempt to find an optimal and suggestions that substantially improved this paper. I also
balance between customization and standardization. It seems gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from
that productization is applied because of professional char- the KAUTE foundation.
acteristics, not in spite of them.
This study contributes to the research domain of profes-
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