Balancing Between Efficiency Value and Service Value in Delivering Customized Solutions

Companies that deliver customized solutions through projects are interested both in the efficient resource use in their manufacturing process and complementing a core product with services to fulfill customers’ specific needs, that is, efficiency value and service value. Firms face tensions, trade-offs, and synergies in aligning efficiency value and service value. This study focuses on the development and delivery of customized solutions in business-to-business (B2B) settings, aiming to uncover project actors’ perceptions of efficiency value and service value and the mechanisms used to balance them. A qualitative exploratory study conducted in two software companies and two shipyards reveals that service value and efficiency value are perceived through three aspects: benefits and sacrifices (from both short-term and long-term perspectives), related lifecycle phases and activities, and various enablers. Ten balancing mechanisms harmonize the tensions and trade-offs between these two values. Internal balancing mechanisms include standardizing, modularizing, configuring, reusing, and scaling. External balancing mechanisms comprise co-creating, negotiating, adapting, bargaining, and segmenting. These findings enhance our understanding of value perceptions from a dual-lens perspective and illuminate balancing mechanisms in project business and solution delivery. The examination of software firms and shipyards broadens mass customization research by providing empirical evidence from unconventional contexts.