Greenturn Idea Factory: Servitization Strategy

Greenturn Idea Factory (GIF) was a start-up based in Kerala, India, that manufactured and marketed green energy products. Greeniee, a wireless device for monitoring electricity consumption, was GIF’s flagship product in the portfolio. Other products included rooftop solar panels and waste-to-energy conversion devices. Sajil Peethambaran, chief technology officer of GIF, was deliberating on a strategy to servitize Greeniee for potential market segments, either as an augmented product or by bundling it with other offerings.

This case is suitable for use in graduate- and postgraduate-level courses on service operations or service management. It may also be used in advanced elective or capstone courses such as design thinking, service marketing, strategy, or innovation dealing with the topic of service design, product development, product augmentation, or servitization. The case is intended to allow students to gain an understanding of the development process of a new product and to formulate a servitization strategy. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<ul><li>Understand the phases in design thinking.</li><li>Apply design thinking principles to product development.</li><li>Understand how servitization helps to overcome the threat of commoditization.</li><li>Analyze the drivers of servitization.</li><li>Develop a strategy for servitization or product augmentation.</li><li>Understand the challenges in the adoption of a servitization strategy.</li><li>Understand how a servitization-based business model can contribute to the realization of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and can enable business recovery during disruptions (such as the COVID-19 pandemic).</li></ul>

• service management
• operations management
• design thinking
• product development
• servitization
• innovation