International Comparison on Obstacles to Service Conversion of Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

This study is an international comparison of Japan and Scandinavia regarding necessary conditions in manufacturing industries that are undergoing servitization.With the shift of developed economies to services, there has been a noticeable trend toward the shift of manufacturing industries to services. However, Japanese manufacturing industries lack service personnel in all aspects, including service planning, management, and front-line operations, because their operations differ from those of traditional manufacturing industries. The shortage of human resources is a phenomenon, and it is necessary to address the structural issues that prevent the development of human resources. Toya (2016, 2020, 2022) identified the obstacles to Servitization in the Japanese manufacturing industry as: a seed-oriented organizational culture, lack of medium- and long-term evaluation of business and human resources, low mobility of human resources, and, by extension, a lack of the industry structure, and attitudes toward the way they work. At the same time, we have conducted structural and time-series analyses based on large-scale fixed-point survey data on the status of servicization. An international comparison focusing on the unique manufacturing culture of the Japanese manufacturing industry and institutional issues related to human resource development and mobility, as revealed by these previous studies, was necessary.This study quantitatively compares Japan and the Nordic countries in terms of the elements and structures that impede the shift to manufacturing services. Specifically, a survey will be conducted simultaneously with manufacturing management in four Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark) and Japan for comparative analysis. The survey is currently underway and the results and discussion will be presented at a later date.