Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2012 im Fachbereich Ingenieurwissenschaften - Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen, Note: 1,7, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Veranstaltung: Service Innovation, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In the course of globalization, many manufacturing companies in developed economies have to face fierce challenges arising from the competitiveness of emerging economies in the Middle and Far East (Neely A. , 2007). The fact that US manufacturers have to cut the costs of their products by 30% in order to compete with Chinese producers can be pointed out as a very illustrative example for this development (Wu,Yue, & Sim, 2006). Therefore, manufacturers no longer solely focus on the goods they produce, but aim to restructure their business model by extending the range of activities assigned to the product's whole life cycle, including market research, product development, manufacturing, sales, service after sales, product recalls, etc. (Yue & Cheng, 2002). Here, especially services are gaining importance in the industrial sector. By including them in their total offering, manufacturers have the opportunity to generate various advantages: facilitating the sales of their goods; lengthen customer relationships; creating growth opportunities in matured markets; balancing the effects of economic cycles with different cash-flows; and responding to the demand(Brax S. , 2005). Such an approach is also known as 'servitization' among the economic circles (Wang & Fu, 2010).