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The Palgrave Handbook
of Servitization
Edited by
Marko Kohtamäki · Tim Baines
Rodrigo Rabetino · Ali Ziaee Bigdeli
Christian Kowalkowski
Rogelio Oliva · Vinit Parida
The Palgrave Handbook of Servitization
 Marko Kohtamäki · Tim Baines ·
Rodrigo Rabetino · Ali Ziaee Bigdeli ·
Christian Kowalkowski · Rogelio Oliva ·
Vinit Parida
Editors

The Palgrave
Handbook
of Servitization
Editors
Marko Kohtamäki Tim Baines
School of Management Aston Business School
University of Vaasa Aston University
Vaasa, Finland Birmingham, UK

Rodrigo Rabetino Ali Ziaee Bigdeli

School of Management Aston Business School, Aston Triangle
University of Vaasa Aston University
Vaasa, Finland Birmingham, UK

Christian Kowalkowski Rogelio Oliva

Department of Management Mays Business School
and Engineering Texas A&M University
Linkoping University College Station, TX, USA
Linköping, Sweden

Vinit Parida
Department of Business Administration
Luleå University of Technology
Luleå, Sweden

ISBN 978-3-030-75770-0 ISBN 978-3-030-75771-7 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75771-7

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
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are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
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Cover credit: Pitinan Piyavatin/Alamy Stock Photo

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Contents

Theoretical Landscape in Servitization 1

Marko Kohtamäki, Tim Baines, Rodrigo Rabetino, Ali Z. Bigdeli,
Christian Kowalkowski, Rogelio Oliva, and Vinit Parida

Strategic Approaches in Servitization

Digital Servitization: How Manufacturing Firms Can Enhance
Resource Integration and Drive Ecosystem Transformation 27
Christian Kowalkowski, David Sörhammar, and Bård Tronvoll
Typologies of Manufacturer Identities in the Age of Smart
Solutions 41
Tuomas Huikkola, Suvi Einola, and Marko Kohtamäki
PSS Business Models: A Structured Typology 57
Federico Adrodegari, Nicola Saccani, and Mario Rapaccini
Product-Service Systems in the Digital Era: Deconstructing
Servitisation Business Model Typologies 73
Tor Helge Aas, Karl Joachim Breunig, Magnus Hellström,
and Katja Maria Hydle
Digital Business Model Innovation for Product-Service
Systems 89
Wiebke Reim, Vinit Parida, and David Sjödin

v
vi Contents

Business Models for Digital Service Infusion Using AI and Big

Data 103
Lars Witell
Towards Servitization: A Taxonomy of Industrial
Product-Service Systems for Small- and Medium-Sized
Manufacturers 117
Alexander Kreyenborg, Frederik Möller, Michael Henke,
and Max Niemann
Further Semiotic Perspectives on the Outcome-Based vs
Performance-Based Semantic Dispute 133
Lauri Korkeamäki
The Features of Performance Measurement Systems
in Value-Based Selling 149
Viktor Sundholm and Magnus Hellström
Exploring Dynamic Capabilities to Facilitate a Smoother
Transition from Servitization to Digital Servitization:
A Theoretical Framework 165
Luna Leoni and Koteshwar Chirumalla
Dynamic Capabilities as Enablers of Digital Servitization
in Innovation Ecosystems: An Evolutionary Perspective 181
María Alejandra Rodríguez, Leandro Lepratte, and Rodrigo Rabetino
Reviewing Service Types from a Transaction Cost Economics
Perspective 197
Bart Kamp
The Role of Financialization When Moving up the Service
Ladder 215
Bart Kamp and Ibon Gil de San Vicente

Servitization Process
Viewing Servitization Through a Practice-Theoretical Lens 231
Katja Maria Hydle and Marko Kohtamäki
Microfoundations of Servitization: An Individual-Level
Perspective 247
Wim Coreynen
 Contents vii

Revitalizing Alignment Theory for Digital Servitization

Transition 261
Bieke Struyf, Paul Matthyssens, and Wouter Van Bockhaven
Managerial Heuristics in Servitization Journey 281
Tuomas Huikkola and Marko Kohtamäki
Narrative Network as a Method to Understand the Evolution
of Smart Solutions 293
Suvi Einola, Marko Kohtamäki, and Rodrigo Rabetino
A Conceptual Guideline to Support Servitization Strategy
Through Individual Actions 309
Shaun West, Paolo Gaiardelli, Anet Mathews, and Nicola Saccani
Employee Reactions to Servitization as an Organizational
Transformation 327
Mădălina Pană and Melanie E. Kreye

Co-creating Value in Servitization

Salesforce Transformation to Solution Selling 343
Anna Salonen and Harri Terho
Digital Servitization: Strategies for Handling Customization
and Customer Interaction 355
Katja Maria Hydle, Magnus Hellström, Tor Helge Aas,
and Karl Joachim Breunig
Relational Transformation for Digital Servitization 373
Anmar Kamalaldin, Lina Linde, David Sjödin, and Vinit Parida
Service-Dominant Logic: A Missing Link in Servitization
Research? 389
Maria Åkesson and Nina Löfberg
Value Co-creation in Digitally-Enabled Product-Service
Systems 403
Shaun West, Wenting Zou, Eugen Rodel, and Oliver Stoll
Manufacturers’ Service Innovation Efforts: From Customer
Projects to Business Models and Beyond 419
Vicky M. Story, Judy Zolkiewski, Jamie Burton, and Chris Raddats
viii Contents

Configurational Servitization Approach: A Necessary

Alignment of Service Strategies, Digital Capabilities
and Customer Resources 437
Tinhinane Tazaïrt and Isabelle Prim-Allaz

Managing Product-Service Operations

Digital Servitization and Modularity: Responding
to Requirements in Use 457
Ellen Hughes, Glenn Parry, and Philip Davies
Service Integration: Supply Chain Integration in Servitization 471
Khadijeh Momeni
Network Structures in Service Provision 487
Melanie E. Kreye
Organizational Structures in Servitization: Should Product
and Service Businesses Be Separated or Integrated? 501
Sophie Peillon
Coordinating and Aligning a Service Partner Network
for Servitization: A Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA)
Perspective 519
Jawwad Z. Raja and Thomas Frandsen

Index 539
 Notes on Contributors

Tor Helge Aas serves as a Professor at University of Agder and as a Research

Professor at NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS. He holds a Ph.D. in
Strategy and Management from Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
and a M.Sc. in Information and Communication Technology Management
from University of Agder. Tor Helge Aas is researching innovation manage-
ment, and his research concentrates on topics such as the organizational
effects of innovation, innovation processes and capabilities, collaboration for
innovation, and management control of innovation. The research conducted
by Tor Helge Aas has been published in international journals such as Tech-
novation, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, International Journal
of Innovation Management, Service Industries Journal and Journal of Service
Theory and Practice among others.
Federico Adrodegari is a postdoc researcher at the Department of Industrial
and Mechanical Engineering at University of Brescia, where he teaches in the
operations management area. Since 2011 he is a member of the RISE Labo-
ratory (www.rise.it). His research activity concerns the areas of supply chain
management and service management, in particular the servitization and
digital servitization fields. He is the author of numerous scientific publica-
tions on national and international conferences and journals. He is a member
of the the IFIP WG5.7 “Advances in Production Management Systems”
and currently the national coordinator of the ASAP Service Management

ix
x Notes on Contributors

Forum, an industry-academia community about servitization and product-

service systems, performing research transfer projects with companies and
dissemination activities in these fields (www.asapsmf.org).
Maria Åkesson holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration at the Service
Research Center (CTF) at Karlstad University in Sweden. Her main research
interest is in the areas of service innovation and value co-creation through
service, especially with a focus on servitization. Her work has been published
in journals such as Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business and Indus-
trial Marketing, Journal of Service Management, and Journal of Service Theory
and Practice.
Tim Baines, Ph.D. is a Professor of Operations Strategy and Executive
Director of the Advanced Services Group at Aston University. He is a leading
international authority on servitization and spends much of his time working
hands-on with both global and local manufacturing companies to understand
servitization in practice and help to transform businesses. His book Made to
Serve described as, “Essential reading for any companies or executives looking
to explore this option for their business” provides a practical guide to serviti-
zation, based on in-depth research with leading corporations such as Xerox,
Caterpillar, Alstom and MAN Truck & Bus UK.
Ali Ziaee Bigdeli, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Industrial Service Inno-
vation at The Advanced Services Group at Aston Business School, Aston
University. His interests lie in the organizational change and business model
innovation brought about when organizations move toward providing capa-
bilities rather than just selling products on a transactional basis. He is exten-
sively engaged with both multinational and SME manufacturers to under-
stand servitization in practice, and help the acceleration of the adoption of
advanced services. His research has been published in the leading manage-
ment journals including International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, Journal of Business Research, Production Planning & Control , and
International Journal of Production Research.
Karl Joachim Breunig is Head of the Department of Strategy, Innovation,
and Marketing and Full Professor of Strategic Management at Oslo Business
School—OsloMet–Oslo Metropolitan University. At OsloMet he currently
serves as a deputy member of the University Board and is responsible for
the Ph.D. program at the Oslo Business School. He initiated and also
heads the interdisciplinary research group DISCO: Digital Innovation and
Strategic Competence in Organizations. He received his Ph.D. from BI
Norwegian Business School and M.Sc. from London School of Economics.
 Notes on Contributors xi

Prof. Breunig’s research concentrates on the interception of strategy—and

innovation theory, and currently focus on digitalization in a number of
different industries and organizations.
Dr. Jamie Burton is a Professor of Marketing and Head of the Management
Sciences and Marketing Division at Alliance Manchester Business School. His
research interests include services marketing including customer feedback,
customer experience and engagement, customer management, and servitiza-
tion. Jamie has held a wide variety of service roles and delivered a number
of executive training presentations and invited presentations for Shell, Vertex,
the British Quality Foundation, the social housing sector, Lancaster Univer-
sity Management School and the University of Maastricht,. Jamie co-hosted
the 2016 Spring Servitization Conference in Manchester and co-chaired,
organized and ran the 1st and 2nd CMLG academic-practitioner research
with impact workshops in January 2016 and June 2018 in Manchester,
leading to edited special sections in the Journal of Services Marketing in
2017 and the Journal of Business Research in 2020. Jamie has won several
awards for his research and has over 180 publications including in the
Journal of Service Research, the International Journal of Operations and Produc-
tion Management, Industrial Marketing Management, International Journal
of Production Economics, Journal of Service Management, Journal of Services
Marketing, and the Journal of Marketing Management. Jamie is co-author
of the book Converting Customer Value and a chapter in the book: Practices
and Tools for Servitization.
Koteshwar Chirumalla is an Associate Professor and subject representative
in Product and Process Development at Mälardalen University, Sweden. His
research interests include servitization, product and production development,
business models, digital transformation, and knowledge management. He is
currently leading research projects on topics: digital twin ecosystems, second
life of electric vehicle batteries, and digitalization of manufacturing. He has
published around 50 articles in leading international journals, conferences,
book chapters and industry handbooks.
Wim Coreynen is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Vrije Universiteit (VU)
Amsterdam and Utrecht University (UU) in The Netherlands. He obtained
his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University
of Antwerp (UA) in Belgium. He previously also worked for Antwerp
Management School (AMS), the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science
(JADS), and Zhejiang University School of Management (ZJUSOM). His
research revolves around the transformation of companies through servitiza-
tion and digitalization, entrepreneurship, intellectual property management,
xii Notes on Contributors

and recently also data science. His work has been published in journals such as
Industrial Marketing Management (IMM), the International Journal of Produc-
tion Research (IJPR), and Journal for Business Research (JBR) as well as books
such as Practices and Tools for Servitization: Managing Service Transition.
Philip Davies is a Lecturer in Operations Management at Henley Busi-
ness School, University of Reading after completing his Ph.D. in Operations
Management at the University of Warwick in 2018. He previously worked as
a design engineer for various companies and worked in a range of industries
including automotive, aerospace, fashion, medical, television, and film. His
research focus includes service operations management, service design, service
modularity, servitization and digitalization of manufacturing and service orga-
nizations with emphasis placed on additive manufacturing and the Internet
of Things.
Ibon Gil de San Vicente holds a Degree in Economics from the Univer-
sity of the Basque Country. Following this he continued his studies with
a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Kent
(UK) and a master’s degree in Business Innovation from the University of
Deusto. Since 2006 he has worked at Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competi-
tiveness where he has had a number of responsibilities, primarily in the area
of general and project management, communication, and institutional rela-
tions. Before joining Orkestra he developed his career in different financial
entities, where he assumed responsibilities linked to commercial banking and
risk management.
Suvi Einola (Ph.D.) works as an Assistant Professor at the University of
Vaasa. Before joining the academia, Suvi worked in the public sector for
fifteen years in managerial, management, training, and development posi-
tions. She has facilitated strategy workshops in different types of organiza-
tions over ten years and has been in charge of managerial training for a
medium-sized city organization for five years. In her research, Einola has
focused on strategic practices and the challenges of servitization in both public
and private sectors. Her research has been published in scientific journals and
books in both the public sector and industrial marketing.
Dr. Thomas Frandsen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Oper-
ations Management, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. He is co-
principal investigator on the collaborative research project Driving compet-
itiveness through servitization which focuses on service strategies in Danish
industrial firms. His current research interests are in the area of service
operations management, service architecture and modularity, servitization,
 Notes on Contributors xiii

3D printing, pricing, and managerial decision making. He has published

research in journals such as International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Business
Research, and Technological Forecasting & Social Change.
Paolo Gaiardelli is an Associate Professor at the Department of Manage-
ment, Information, and Production Engineering of the University of
Bergamo. His teaching and research mainly focus on Production and Service
Management, with a specific interest in Lean Management. Recently, his
research interests have extended to exploring lean management’s role within
operation and service management. He is mainly involved in understanding
how the adoption of lean paradigms increases Product-Service System design
and development, as well as its impact on management’s efficiency and effec-
tiveness. He is European Chair of IFIP Working Group 5.7 (Advances in
Production Management Systems) and coordinator of its Special Interest
Group in Service Systems Design, Engineering, and Management. Paolo is
also a member of ASAP Service Management Forum, an Italian industry-
academic initiative that aims to promote service management’s culture and
excellence through research projects, practice, education, and technological
transfer.
Magnus Hellström works as an Associate Professor within The Sea at the
Faculty of Science and Engineering at Åbo Akademi University. He also holds
a position in project and supply chain management at the School of Business
and Law at University of Agder in Norway. Dr. Hellström’s research interests
revolve around new B2B business models especially in the marine industry,
such as ones based on modularization, servitization, collaborative business
practices, and sustainability. His work has appeared in journals such as Indus-
trial Marketing Management, Journal of Cleaner Production, and International
Journal of Project Management. In addition to his academic work, Hellström
has been consulting large and medium-sized technology companies.
Prof. Dr. Michael Henke holds the Chair of Enterprise Logistics at the
faculty of Mechanical Engineering at TU Dortmund University and also
completes the board of directors of Fraunhofer IML as director of the section
Enterprise Logistics. His research focuses among others on purchasing,
logistics, and supply chain as well as the management of Industry 4.0.
Ellen Hughes is a Research Fellow at the Surrey Business School. She
completed her Ph.D. in Economic Geography at the University of the West
of England in 2020. She previously worked as an oral historian, conducting
life-story interviews, and as a researcher mapping design enterprises in the
xiv Notes on Contributors

Bristol and Bath region. Her work now focusses on value creation and service
ecosystems.
Tuomas Huikkola is an Assistant Professor at the School of Management
at the University of Vaasa. His special interest is in digital servitization
and incumbent firm’s strategic change. He has published in a number of
journals, including Industrial Marketing Management, Research-Technology
Management, and Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing.
Katja Maria Hydle works as an Associate Professor at the University of
Oslo, Department of Informatics and serves as a Research Professor at
NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS. She holds a Ph.D. in Strategic
Management from BI Norwegian Business School and an M.A. in European
Politics and Administration from College of Europe. Hydle’s research inter-
ests include digital transformation, ecosystems, and platformization with a
focus on servitization, collaborative business practices, and strategizing. Her
work has appeared in journals such as Organization Studies, Human Relations,
Journal of World Business, and Management Learning.
Anmar Kamalaldin is a Ph.D. candidate in entrepreneurship and inno-
vation at Luleå University of Technology (Sweden). His research focuses
on business-to-business relationships and innovation ecosystems in digital
servitization context.
Bart Kamp is a Principal Investigator in the focus area of Business Inter-
nationalization and Servitization at Orkestra-Institute of Basque Competi-
tiveness. His research focuses on competitive strategies that enable firms to
be leaders in their niches on the international market and on servitization
processes among manufacturing firms. With over 25 years of professional
experience, Bart has held positions as a researcher and advisor in fields like:
innovation policies, industrial competitiveness, foreign investment attraction,
and business development. Bart has authored many articles and edited several
books on these subjects. His work has been published in Dutch, English,
Spanish, Basque, Portuguese, and Japanese. He has rendered services to multi-
lateral institutions, governmental organizations, SMEs, and multinationals
from Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Portugal,
Spain, Romania, Lithuania, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia. Apart from
his work at Orkestra, he teaches at Deusto Business School (Spain) and the
Louvain School of Management (Belgium).
Marko Kohtamäki is a Professor of Strategy, and a director of the “Strategic
Business Development” (SBD) research group at the University of Vaasa, a
Visiting Professor at Luleå University of Technology and University of South-
Eastern Norway, and as a Docent at University of Oulu. Prof. Kohtamäki
 Notes on Contributors xv

takes special interest in digital servitization, product-service-software inno-

vation, organizational change, strategic practices, business intelligence, and
strategic alliances. Prof. Kohtamäki has published in Strategic Manage-
ment Journal , International Journal of Operations and Production Manage-
ment, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal , International Journal of Management
Reviews, International Journal of Production Economics, Long Range Planning,
Technovation, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research,
among others.
Mr. Lauri Korkeamäki is a Ph.D. Candidate (Econ.) and a Project
Researcher at the University of Vaasa, School of Management, majoring in
Management and Organizations. His dissertation concerns outcome-based
business models (OBMs) of manufacturing firms. Korkeamäki’s research
focuses on servitization of manufacturers and his research interests include
but are not limited to service business models, strategic management, soci-
ology in organizations, and paradox theory. Korkeamäki has presented his
research in international forums, such as the annual meeting of Academy of
Management and the CIRP conference on industrial product service systems
and his work has been published in Industrial Marketing Management.
Christian Kowalkowski is a Professor of Industrial Marketing at Linköping
University and is affiliated with the Centre for Relationship Marketing
and Service Management at Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki. Dr.
Kowalkowski’s research interests include service growth strategies, service
innovation, and B2B subscription business models. His work has been
published in journals such as Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of
Business Research, and Journal of Service Research. He is the servitization
editor for the Journal of Service Management, associate editor of the Journal
of Services Marketing, and advisory board member of Industrial Marketing
Management. He is the co-author of Service Strategy in Action: A Prac-
tical Guide for Growing Your B2B Service and Solution Business (www.Servic
eStrategyInAction.com; Service Strategy Press, 2017), the leading book for
industry executives on how to navigate the transition from a goods-centric to
a service-savvy business model.
Dr. Melanie E. Kreye is an Associate Professor in Operations Management
at the Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical
University of Denmark (DTU Management). Her research focuses on uncer-
tainty in different industrial and academic areas including engineering service
operations (servitization), product development and solution development.
Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Omega—
The International Journal of Management Science, The International Journal of
xvi Notes on Contributors

Operations & Production Management, and Production Planning and Control .

She is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Operations &
Production Management.
Alexander Kreyenborg is a research associate at the Chair of Enterprise
Logistics at the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at TU Dortmund Univer-
sity and coordinator of the field of maintenance and service management. His
research focuses on service management, servitization, and the development
of industrial product-service systems in SMEs.
Luna Leoni is an Assistant Professor in Management at the University of
Rome Tor Vergata. In the same University, she is Professor of “Creative Enter-
prise” and “Knowledge Management” as well as Program Manager of the
“Master in Economics and Management of Cultural and Tourist Activities”.
Her main research interest areas are: servitization, knowledge management,
tourism, and creativity. Moreover, she is a Council Member of the European
Association for Research on Services (RESER). Luna’s research findings have
appeared in top-tier business, management, and tourism journals.
Leandro Lepratte is an Associate Professor and Director of the Research
Group on Development, Innovation, and Competitiveness at the National
Technological University (UTN) in Argentina. Member of the Scientific
Committee on Technology of Organizations at the UTN. His research inter-
ests are innovation capabilities, socio-technical analysis, and technological
change.
Lina Linde is a Ph.D. candidate in entrepreneurship and innovation at Luleå
University of Technology (Sweden). Her research focuses on business model
innovation and innovation ecosystems in digital servitization context.
Nina Löfberg is a researcher at the Service Research Center (CTF) at Karl-
stad University, Sweden. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from
Karlstad University and her research interest is in servitization, service logic,
value creation and service innovation. Nina has published research in schol-
arly journals such as Journal of Business Research, Production Planning and
Control , Managing Service Quality, and Journal of Business and Industrial
Marketing.
Anet Mathews graduated in Master of Science in Engineering in February
2020. During her Master Degree her focus was on product and service inno-
vation. She did her first research project in challenges of servitization and has
been invested in this research topic since. She was also active in the airline
 Notes on Contributors xvii

industry, where she completed two more projects in the topic project manage-
ment and digitalization as a part of her master’s degree. Anet is currently
working as a Junior Project Consultant where she is responsible for carrying
out operative project management for an R&D Project. When she is not
working, she can be found traveling around the world, trying new cuisines.
Unless, we are mid-pandemic—then you can find her trying new cuisines in
her own kitchen.
Prof. Dr. Paul Matthyssens is a Professor of Global Business and Global
Marketing at the University of Milano-Bicocca Department of Economics,
Quantitative Methods, and Business Strategy. He teaches Strategic Manage-
ment at the University of Antwerp (Department of Management) and
Antwerp Management School (AMS). He has published in academic jour-
nals such as Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Management Studies,
Strategic Organization, Long Range Planning, Technovation, Journal of Busi-
ness & Industrial Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, International Marketing
Review, Journal of Engineering & Technology Management, International
Journal of Production Research and Journal of Purchasing & Supply Manage-
ment. His research interests include business and industrial marketing, value
innovation, servitization, global strategy, industry transformation, business
modeling, ecosystems, and purchasing strategy. Matthyssens is a member of
the Strategy Council to the Board of the European top research institute
VITO (2017-now).
Frederik Möller is a Chief Engineer at the Chair for Industrial Information
Management at TU Dortmund University. He holds a Masters’s degree in
Industrial Engineering, and his research focuses on design theory, business
models, and Logistics.
Khadijeh Momeni received a Ph.D. degree in business and technology
management from Tampere University. She currently works as a postdoctoral
research fellow at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Manage-
ment, Tampere University. Her current research interests include managing
industrial service business and digital servitization of manufacturing firms.
Max Niemann studies industrial engineering at TU Dortmund University
and works as a student assistant in the field of maintenance and service
management at the Chair of Enterprise Logistics at the faculty of Mechanical
Engineering of TU Dortmund University.
Rogelio Oliva is the Bob and Kelly Jordan Professor of Business in the
Department of Information and Operations Management at Mays Business
School, Adjunct Professor at the Zaragoza Logistics Center, and Research
xviii Notes on Contributors

Affiliate at MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. His research explores
how behavioral and social aspects of an organization interact with its tech-
nical components to determine the firm’s operational performance. His
current research interests include behavioral operations management, retail
and service operations, and the transition that product manufacturers are
making to become service providers. His research work has been published
in several academic journals, among them: Management Science, Organiza-
tion Science, Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations
Management, and California Management Review. He is the recipient of the
2019 Jay W. Forrester Award for the best written contribution to the System
Dynamics field in the preceding five years.
Mădălina Pană is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Technology,
Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark (DTU
Management). Her research focuses on the organizational transition to servi-
tization with a specific focus on employee management.
Vinit Parida is a Chaired Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
at Luleå University of Technology. His researches subjects are about how
companies can evolve their business to higher profitability with digitalization
through servitization and business model innovation in collaboration with
leading companies in different industrial sectors. The research work involves
cooperation with large companies like ABB, Billerudkorsnäs, Boliden, Epiroc,
Ericsson, Gestamp HardTech, IBM, Komatsu Forest, Lindbäcks, Metso,
Sandvik Coromant, SCA, Scania, Volvo Cars, and Volvo Construction Equip-
ment. His research results has been published in 200+ leading international
peer-reviewed journals, conferences, book chapters, and industry/popular
publications. Such as Strategic Management Journal , Journal of Management
Studies, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Product Innovation
Management, California Management Review, Long Range Planning, Industrial
Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of
Production Economics, Production and Operation Management, International
Journal of Operations & Production Management, Strategic Entrepreneurship
Journal , Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Journal of Small Busi-
ness Management, and Journal of Cleaner Production. He is active within
different academic communities and has presented research results in well-
known international conferences, such as Babson College Enterprise Research
Conference, Research in Entrepreneurship and Small Business (RENT), The
Annual ICSB World Conference, International Conference on Management of
Technology (IAMOT), International Product Development Management Confer-
ence, and CRIP IPSS Conference. Associate Editor of Journal of Business
 Notes on Contributors xix

Research (2018-). Editorial Review Board Member of Industrial Marketing

Management, Journal of Small Business Management, and Journal of Busi-
ness Research. He has been special issue guest editor for Industrial Marketing
Management (2020), Journal of Business Research (2019), Sustainability an
Open Access Journal from MDPI (2018), and International Entrepreneurship
and Management Journal (2018). He has also been working in several policy
and consultancy-oriented projects for Swedish IT Ministry, EU Commission,
VINNOVA, Growth Analysis, and directly toward companies.
Prof. Glenn Parry is the Chair in Digital Transformation in Surrey Busi-
ness School, University of Surrey. He completed his Ph.D. at Cambridge and
then worked as at LEK as a management consultant. He then returned to
academia, working closely with business on major transformational projects.
His work focusses on the meaning of value and how business co-create
value within their supply chains. He has worked in and led international
projects in Aerospace, Automotive, Construction, Media, and HealthCare,
helping business understand the challenges of data collection and use. He
is currently CoDirector of £10m DECaDE: Centre for the Decentralised
Digital Economy, a UK research center exploring the potential for decen-
tralized platforms to disrupt the Digital Economy.
Dr. Sophie Peillon is an Associate Professor in Management at the Henri
Fayol Institute of the Ecole des mines de Saint-Etienne, France. Her research
focuses on business model innovation, especially through servitization and
product-service systems, with a particular attention to SMEs. She has
published various articles on these phenomena in academic journals.
Isabelle Prim-Allaz is a Professor of Marketing and Director of the Coactis
Research Centre at Lumière Lyon 2 University. Her work focuses on customer
relationship management as well as sustainable marketing. She has published
work on servitization in journals including Industrial Marketing Management
and the Journal of Service Management. Her co-authored book, Augmented
Customer Strategy, questions how digital transformation is shaping a new
landscape for businesses and their customers.
Dr. Rodrigo Rabetino is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management
in the School of Management and the Vaasa Energy Business Innovation
Centre (VEBIC) at the University of Vaasa. His current research activities
concern servitization and product-service systems, industrial service business,
business intelligence, business models, strategy as practice, and small busi-
ness management. He has published articles in international journals such as
xx Notes on Contributors

Regional Studies, International Journal of Operations and Production Manage-

ment, Industrial Marketing Management, International Journal of Production
Economics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Small Business Management,
and Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development.
Chris Raddats is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and the Director of
Research for the University of Liverpool Management School’s Marketing
group. Chris completed a Ph.D. at Alliance Manchester Business School
in 2009 and previously had a 20-year career in the telecommunications
industry, where he worked as a marketing manager for both telco opera-
tors and an equipment manufacturer. Chris’ primary research addresses how
traditionally product-centric business-to-business (B2B) firms can build a
chargeable services capability to enhance market differentiation and sales
(servitization). He publishes his work in leading marketing (e.g., Industrial
Marketing Management ), operations (e.g., International Journal of Operational
& Production Management ), and general management (e.g., Journal of Business
Research) journals.
Dr. Jawwad Z. Raja is an Associate Professor at the Department of Oper-
ations Management, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. His current
research interests are in the areas of service operations, servitization, network
configurations, customer value and human resource management. He has
published research in journals such as Human Resource Management Journal ,
Journal of Product Innovation Management, International Journal of Operations
& Production Management, International Journal of Production Economics,
Journal of Business Research and Construction Management and Economics.
Mario Rapaccini is an Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial
Engineering, University of Florence, where he teaches Economics and Busi-
ness Organisation, Business Strategy, and Innovation Management. He is also
on the faculty staff of Scuola Sant’Anna in Pisa. His primary fields of research
are digital transformation (Industry 4.0) and servitization of industrial enter-
prises, in this latter he has done research for +15 years. He serves on the board
of ASAP Service Management Forum (www.asapsmf.org) and he is currently a
member of the IFIP WG5.7 “Advances in Production Management Systems”
and of the joint doctoral course of Universities of Pisa, Firenze, and Siena
on the topic of “Smart Industry.” He has collaborated in technology transfer,
vocational training, and consultancy initiatives for global companies.
Wiebke Reim is an Associate Senior lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Inno-
vation at Luleå University of Technology. Her research interests include busi-
ness model innovation, the circular economy, and servitization. She studies
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Drome
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
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Title: Drome

Author: John Martin Leahy

Release date: September 24, 2023 [eBook #71716]

Language: English

Original publication: Los Angeles, CA: Fantasy Publishing

Company, Inc, 1925

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book
was produced from images made available by the
HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DROME ***

 Drome

By John Martin Leahy

Illustrated By John Martin Leahy

FANTASY PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.

Los Angeles, California

Copyright 1952 By John Martin Leahy

Copyright 1925 By Weird Tales Magazine

Manufactured in the U. S. A.

[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any

evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was
renewed.]
 Contents
Preface
Prolegomenon
1 The Mysterious Visitor
2 What He Told Us
3 The Mystery of Old He
4 "Voices"
5 "Drome!"
6 Again!
7 "And Now Tell Me!"
8 "Drome" Again
9 "To My Dying Hour"
10 On The Mountain
11 The Tamahnowis Rocks
12 We Enter Their Shadow
13 "I Thought I Heard Something"
14 The Way To Drome
15 The Angel
16 "Are We Entering Dante's Inferno Itself?"
17 Like Baleful Eyes!
18 "That's Where They Are Waiting For Us!"
19 The Angel And Her Demon
20 The Attack
21 Into The Chasm
22 What Did It Mean?
23 That We Only Knew The Secret
24 What Next?
25 The Labyrinth—Lost
 26 Through The Hewn Passage
27 The Monster
28 I Abandon Hope
29 The Ghost
30 The Moving Eyes
31 "Gogrugron!"
32 "Lepraylya!"
33 Face To Face
34 Another!
35 A Scream and—Silence
36 Gorgonic Horror
37 As We Were Passing Underneath
38 Something Besides Madness
39 The Golden City
40 Before Lepraylya
41 A Human Raptor
42 He Strikes
43 Drorathusa
44 We See The Stars

"For there is one descent into this region."—

Josephus: Discourse to the Greeks Concerning
Hades.
Drome
 Preface
by Darwin Frontenac
"But please to remember that although we can
prove to our own satisfaction that some things
really exist, we can not prove that any imaginable
thing outside our experience can not possibly exist.
Imagine the wildest impossibility you can think of;
you will not induce a modern man of science to
admit the impossibility of it as an absolute."—F.
Marion Crawford: Whosoever Shall Offend.
On my return from the Antarctic, it was with surprise and grief that I
learned of the very strange and wholly inexplicable disappearance of
Milton Rhodes and William Carter. The special work of Rhodes was
in a department of science very different from that to which my own
pertains; but we were much interested in each other's investigations
and problems, and, indeed, we even conducted some experiments
together.
It will be quite patent, then, that, as the Multnomah made her way
northward, I was looking forward with much pleasure anticipated to
the meeting with my friend—with all that I had to tell him of our
adventures and discoveries in the region of the Southern Pole,
picturing to myself the astonishment that would most certainly be his
on seeing some of the things brought from that mysterious region;
above all, imagining his reaction when we would behold our poor
Sleeping Beauty in her crystal coffin, in which she had lain (neither
living nor dead, as I believe; or as my friend Bond McQuestion has it,
in a living death) from some awful day in that period men call the
Pliocene.
And then to come back and find that Milton Rhodes had
disappeared, and with him William Carter!
They had vanished as suddenly and mysteriously as though a secret
departure had been made for the moon or Mars or Venus.
It was very little, I was surprised to learn, that any one could tell me.
And that very little presented some very singular features indeed.
This was certain: Milton Rhodes had planned to begin in a very few
days a series of experiments (the exact nature of which was
unknown) that would claim his close and undivided attention for
weeks, possibly months, experiments that would keep him
imprisoned, so to speak, in his laboratory. But he had not even
begun those experiments; he had vanished. What had caused the
sudden change? What had happened?
As for William Carter, he was about to start on a journey which would
take him as far as Central America. Again, what had happened?
What had caused him to give over all that he had purposed and go
and disappear along with Milton Rhodes?
Here there was but one bit of light, but that light seemed to make the
problem the more perplexing. The very day before that on which
Rhodes and Carter got into the automobile and started for Mount
Rainier, some visitor had come and had been received by Rhodes in
the library, Carter being present at this meeting. Some of the
concomitants of this visit had been a little unusual, it was
remembered, though at the time no one had given that a thought.
It was believed that this man had remained there with Rhodes and
Carter for a period somewhat extended. But who had this mysterious
visitor been? It was, of course, held as certain that something told by
this man to the scientist and his companion was the key to the
mystery. But what had the visitor told them?
We knew that Rhodes and Carter had gone to Mount Rainier. But
why had they so suddenly abandoned all their plans and gone to the
mountain? On the mountain they had disappeared. More than that
no man could tell.
And now we come to another enigma. Rhodes seldom drove a car
himself. On this trip, however, he was at the wheel. The only other
occupant of that car was Carter. And Rhodes had left with his
chauffeur, Everett Castleman, instructions over which I puzzled my
head a good deal but without my ever becoming any the wiser.
These instructions were somewhat extraordinary.
They were these:
If Rhodes had not returned, or if no word had been received from
him, within a period of ten days, then Castleman was to go to Mount
Rainier. He was to go to Paradise, and he was to go on the eleventh
day. And he was to maintain a strict silence about everything
appertaining to this whole proceeding. At Paradise he was to remain
for another period. This was one of eight days. If, at the expiration of
that time, neither Rhodes nor Carter had appeared, Castleman was,
on the ninth day, to take the car back to Seattle, and then the
imposition of silence regarding that part which Castleman had played
was at an end.
The mystery, of course, was what had become of Milton Rhodes and
William Carter. Had some fatal accident occurred? Had they, for
instance, fallen into a crevasse and perished? Or had they just gone
off on some wild mountain hike and would they be returning any
day?
As to this last hypothesis, those instructions given to Castleman
should have shown its utter untenability.
And so the time passed. And Milton Rhodes and William Carter
never came back. Week followed week. Month followed month. All
hope was abandoned—had been abandoned long before the
Multnomah entered Elliott Bay.
And that mysterious visitor? Why had he not spoken? Why had he
not come forward and told what he knew? Where was he? Had he
too vanished? Had he joined Rhodes and Carter on the mountain,
and had the three vanished together? And what had he told them
there in Rhodes' library on that fateful day?
Thus matters stood when one afternoon an automobile came gliding
into my place, and there in it were Milton Rhodes and William Carter!
With respect to the mystery of their disappearance, I could for some
time elicit from them no enlightenment whatever.
Instead:
"Where is she, Darwin?" asked Milton Rhodes, looking about. "Let
me see her! Let me meet her! Quick!"
"So you know about my Sleeping Beauty in the Ice?"
"Of course. The first thing that I did," he told me, "was to get a copy
of Zandara[1]. We've just finished reading it. And, if it hadn't been for
what has happened to us, to Bill here and me, then I might have
been inclined, Darwin old tillicum, to fancy that Bond had been
romancing in that book of his instead of setting forth an account of
actual adventure and discovery."
"But, Milton," I asked, "what in the world did happen?"
"We'll come to that soon, Darwin old top. What Bill and I want now is
to see your Zandara."
"Well, you'll have to wait till she gets back. That should be in an hour
or so.
"But, again, what on earth happened? Where have you two been all
this time?"
But I must not go on like this, or I will find that I am writing a book
myself instead of a preface to William Carter's narrative.
You will see it mentioned in his Prolegomenon that his manuscript
was to be placed in my keeping, to be given by me to the world when
the time fixed upon had expired. All that I need say on that point is
that the raison d'être of this prospective measure will be quite
obvious to you ere you have read to the last page of Drome.
Save for three very brief footnotes, and to those my name is
appended, every word in the pages that follow is from the hand of
William Barrington Carter.
I hasten to conclude, that you may proceed to learn who that
mysterious visitor was, what he told them, where Rhodes and Carter
went—where they are now.
Seattle, Washington,
September 18, 1951.
 Prolegomenon
"Our world has lately discovered another: and who
will assure us it is the last of his brothers, since the
demons, the Sibyls and we ourselves have been
ignorant of this till now?"
"Nostre monde vient d'en retrouver un autre: et qui
nous rêpond si c'est le dernier de ses frêres,
puisque les dêmons, les sibylles et nous avons
ignorê cettui-ci jusqu'à cette heure?"—Montaigne.
"There is," says August Derleth, "an element of the unnecessary
about even the most apparently needed introduction."
What with that element, and what with my own experience, as a
reader, with introductions, it was my intention to write nothing in the
species of a foreword to this my narrative of those amazing
adventures and discoveries in which Milton Rhodes and I so
unexpectedly and so suddenly found ourselves involved. I thought
that I would most certainly have set down in the account itself
everything that I should wish to write upon the subject.
But, now that my manuscript is finished, and now that the time draws
on apace when it is to be placed in the keeping of our valued friend
Darwin Frontenac, by whom, when the period fixed upon has
elapsed, it will be given to the world, I feel that there are some points
anent which it would be well to say a few words.
In the first place, apropos of the shortcomings, of which, in some
instances, I am painfully sensible, of this work when viewed through
the glasses of the literary artist, I may say in extenuation that this is
the first book that I have ever written—and certainly, by the by, it will
be the last.
Whether the fact that this is an initial venture in authorship excuses
my deficiencies as a craftsman with pen, paper and words I can not
say; but, at any rate, it is an explanation.
Furthermore, far outweighing (so it seems to me) any artistic
desiderata, is this: the following narrative does not come to you from
any secondhand source or from any source even farther removed; it
is written by one who was an eye-witness of, and an actor in, the
scenes, adventures and discoveries described in it—an actor that, I
do assure you, would at times have given much to be some place
else.
Also, in the writing of this book, I placed above all other things the
endeavor to attain the utmost accuracy possible; the style was,
therefore, in a great measure, left to take care of itself. With old
Anatomy Burton, though very likely he quoted,[2] I can say:
"I write for minds, not ears."
Too, more than once when disposing of difficulties obtruded upon me
by the noncoincidence of thought with words, have I had in mind this
observation of Saint Augustine:
"For there are but few things which we speak properly, many things
improperly; but what we may wish to say is understood."
And, similarly, when reminding myself that I had not set out to
produce a work of art but merely to put down upon paper a plain and
straightforward account of actual happenings and discoveries, many
a time did I think of these words of John Stuart Mill:
"For it is no objection to a harrow that it is not a plough, nor to a saw
that it is not a chisel."
And so it should be no objection to this my account of our discovery
of another world that it has not the charm of Dante's Hell or the
delicate beauties of Kipling's Gunga Din.
In the second place, I wish that I could say more about that
mysterious phenomenon the firedrake, Saint Elmo's fire, or whatever
it should be called, light-cloudlet, light-cloud, light-mass, light-ghost
—sometimes it looks like luminous mist—but I know no more at this
date about the origin of that most remarkable manifestation than I did
after seeing the first "ghost," nor does Milton Rhodes himself, and
Milton Rhodes, as everybody knows, is a scientist.
Of course, if people were like Trimalchio in the Satyricon of Petronius
(and many people are) authors or scientists would not need to bother
their heads about explanations, conjectures, theories, hypothesis or
such sort when telling about strange phenomena or events; for,
when some matter was being expounded by one of his guests, a
gentleman by the name of Agamemnon, Trimalchio disposed of the
whole business in this simple and summary fashion:
"If the thing really happened, there is no problem; if it never
happened, it is all nonsense."
But, in the present instance—not to the Trimalchios, of course, but to
any person with an iota of the scientific spirit in his encephalon—the
fact is the very converse of this; for, if the firedrakes, the light-clouds,
did not "happen," there would be no problem at all.
The Trimalchios, I have no doubt, would at once put the stamp of
their approval upon this statement, which I lift from Hudibras:

"But what, alas! is it to us

Whether i' th' moon men thus or thus
Do eat their porridge, cut their corns,
Or whether they have tails or horns?"

But the light in that other world is not the only problem to the solution
of which I wish that I had something to offer. There are many
problems. Here is one: the "eclipses." These are sometimes truly
awful.
For instance, just imagine yourself in a forest dense and mysterious,
and, furthermore, imagine that one of those fearful carnivores the
snake-cats, is stealing toward you, stealing nearer and nearer,
watching for the chance to spring; imagine yourself in such a
pleasant pass as that, and then imagine a sudden and total
extinction of the light (which is what, for want of a better word, we
call an eclipse) so that you yourself and everything about you are
involved in impenetrable darkness. How would you like to find
yourself in such a place as that and have that happen to you? Well,
as you will see in its proper pages, that is just where we were, and
that, and more too, is just what happened to us.
And that will give you an idea of what I mean when I say an eclipse
can sometimes be awful indeed.
Why the light at times quivers, shakes, fades, bursts out so brightly,
or why, slowly or all of a sudden, it ceases to be at all, is certainly an
extremely curious and most mystifying business.
But

"To them we leave it to expound

That deal in sciences profound."

A possibility has occurred to Rhodes and me that is by no means

conducive, what with the care and labor that I have expended in the
endeavor to be accurate in the writing of this true history, to any
feeling of happiness on my part. My companion in adventure and
discovery is, however, pleased to entertain the idea that it would
certainly be "funny." Funny?
That possibility is simply this: so very strange is the story which I tell
in the pages that follow, many a reader may be disposed to set the
whole thing down as fiction! And, indeed, many a reader may do just
that!
Fiction, forsooth!
Well, if any one actually is of that opinion or belief when he has
finished reading this book, all I can say is that I wish such a one had
been with us there on that narrow bridge, the yawning black chasm
of unknown profundity, on either side, when the angel and her
demon so suddenly appeared there directly before us!
I have an idea that, if he had been there, he would have wished, and
have wished as hard as he had ever wished anything in his life, that
the whole business would turn out to be fiction or nightmare!

"Why then should witlesse man so much misweene

 That nothing is but that which he hath seene?"

But I must hasten to bring this introduction to a close. Already I have

exceeded the space that I had allotted for it, without even mentioning
a number of things that I had in mind, and without having yet set
down that which especially brought me to the decision to write
anything prolegomenary at all.
And, now that I come to it, I feel hesitant. But this will not do.
In my whole narrative, there is, I am sure, but one single allusion,
and that most brief—namely, Amor ordinem nescit—to my own
heart-tragedy; and, as that allusion, even, is involved in obscurity, I
will in this place and incontinently make it clear, and I do it by writing
this:
I would rather have, though it were but for one single hour,
Drorathusa as My Only than have for a lifetime any other woman I
have ever known.
You will, I have no doubt, smile when you read this; you may think
Eros has put me into a state very similar to the one in which the poor
wight found himself of whom Burton wrote:
"He wisheth himself a saddle for her to sit on, a posy for her to smell
to, and it would not grieve him to be hanged if he might be strangled
in her garters."
Well, that busy little imp Venus's son (and he's as busy in that other
world as he is in this) enjoys getting men and women into just such
states of mind and heart. He moved even the rather cold-hearted
Plato—I mean the great philosopher, not one of the poets so named,
the philosopher who banished poets and Love himself from his
Republic—the little imp moved even him to write:

"Thou gazest on the stars, my Life! Ah! gladly would I be

Yon starry skies, with thousand eyes, that I might gaze on
thee!"

And I would rather have this heart-tragedy mine—have loved and

lost Drorathusa—than never to have seen my lady.
"The heart has its reasons," says Pascal, "that reason can not
understand."
Swiftly now the time draws on, on towards that final journey which
Milton Rhodes and I are to make, and to make with glad hearts, that
journey from which there is never to be a return, that journey back to
another world, a world where there is no sun, no moon, no skies, no
stars—a world where there is neither day nor night.
Vale.
William Barrington Carter