Co-Creation of E-Services Enabled by the Digitalization of Physical Products

Abstract

With the advent of digitalization, e-services are now enabled by embedded digital technologies in physical products such as vehicles, elevators, construction equipment. In spite of numerous instances of e-services enabled by the digitalization of physical products, little research has been carried out to investigate the characteristics of co-creation of such e-services. This paper attempts to fill the gap by reporting from a three-year long research project with a vehicle manufacturing company. Using the translation phases from the Actor-Network theory (ANT) as a theoretical lens, this paper presents three propositions that characterize the co-creation of e-services enabled by the digitalization of physical products. The propositions highlight the role of physical products, establishment of trust and setting priorities about digitalization.