Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to identify issues encountered when adopting service logic at an industrial firm in collaboration with suppliers. A second purpose is to investigate how the implementation of supply relationships affects the adoption process. Case research has been conducted at a multinational systems provider in the midst of the change process, introducing relationship-based and process-oriented services with the support of several suppliers and partners. Several issues are identified and three main conclusions are drawn. First, that issues previously identified by other researchers may be generalised to include firms that have gone further in their adoption processes. Second, implementing supply relationships can be an important issue for the adoption of service logic and may impede the overall adoption of service logic. Third, the strategy itself (service or sourcing) seems to be an important issue; difficult to formulate and difficult to implement if formulated. A final conclusion is that a double-loop composed of a participative loop and an authoritarian loop seems to be a fruitful approach to managing the adoption process.