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PROF ALI Z. BIGDELI PhD, MBA, SFHEA. 

Professor of Industrial Service Innovation
Co-Director, The Advanced Services Group
Aston Business School, Aston University
Expert in Servitization & Advanced Services 
Phone:

+44 (0) 121 204 3384

Email:

a.bigdeli@aston.ac.uk

Address:

ABS259, Aston Business School

Aston University, Aston Triangle

Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK

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What is Servitization? Dr Ali Z. Bigdeli
00:00 / 19:34
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Dr Ali Ziaee Bigdeli is a Professor of Industrial Service Innovation at the Advanced Services Group, the centre of excellence in research and practice on servitization and advanced services within Aston Business School, Aston University.

 

His interests lie in the organisational change and business model innovation brought about when companies move towards providing outcome-based offerings rather than just selling products on a transactional basis, or servitization. He has been successful in securing ~£7.5m funding from UKRI, EU, and industry, including Principal Investigator (PI) of the ESRC-funded project ‘Pathways towards Servitization: A trans-national study of Organisational Transformation’ (ES/P010148/1), and Co-I on two Innovate UK projects: ‘Next generation rice processing’ (ES/P010148/1) and ‘Digital Servitization Demonstrator’ (TS/T011165/1) under the Manufacturing Made Smarter theme.

 

In the past 10 years, he has been extensively engaged with both multinational and small/medium-sized manufacturing firms in order to understand servitization in practice, and also help the acceleration of the adoption and implementation of advanced services. As part of his industry engagement activities, he has been the key member in founding a partnership of multinational manufacturing organisations, including Goodyear, Thales, BAXI, Nederman, Mazak, Legrand, Crown, Waters, Domino Printing, Omron and Ishida, and developed and facilitated more than 30 hands-on seminars for their senior executives to explore and accelerate the adoption of servitization.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS
EXPERIENCE
2023-present

Associate Dean Research

ASTON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ASTON UNIVERSITY

BIRMINGHAM, UK. 

2023-present

Professor

ASTON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ASTON UNIVERSITY

BIRMINGHAM, UK. 

2020-2023

Reader (Associate Professor)

ASTON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ASTON UNIVERSITY

BIRMINGHAM, UK. 

2014-2018

Senior Research Fellow

ASTON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ASTON UNIVERSITY

BIRMINGHAM, UK. 

2012-2014

Research Fellow

CASS BUSINESS SCHOOL, CITY UNIVERSITY

LONDON, UK. 

2009-2012

Research Assistant

BRUNEL UNIVERSITY

LONDON, UK.

2018-2020

Senior Lecturer

ASTON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ASTON UNIVERSITY

BIRMINGHAM, UK. 

EDUCATION
EDUCATION
2009-2012

PhD, Management & Information System

BRUNEL UNIVERSITY, LONDON, UK.

2008-2009

MSc, Information Systems

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, UK.

UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, IRAN.

2007-2008

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

2001-2006

BSc, Electronic Engineering

AZAD UNIVERSITY, TEHRAN, IRAN.

PROJECTS
CLIENTS
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July 2022 - Jun 2025

Servitization impact on Productivity and Environmental 

Sustainability (Co-I)

£1,849,277

An ESRC-funded project that focuses on establishing evidence on how servitization impacts both economic productivity and environmental performance (i.e., net-zero and the green economy), and use these insights to influence industrial policy and practice in the UK. It will explain whether, when, and how to encourage the adoption of servitization to maximise the economic and societal impact. The programme will begin by (i) developing a strong theoretical foundation based on prior research on business model innovation and value networks, then (ii) engage in theory building through collaborations with a range of industrial partners that are adopting servitization. These insights will (iii) enable econometric models to quantify impacts on productivity and environmental performances, and through experimentations with these (iv) identify a range of scenarios to maximise the benefits to the UK.

Aug 2020 - Jun 2022

Digital Servitization Demonstrator (Co-I)

From Sensor to Service to Business Success

£1,692,640

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An InnovateUK grant to develop a Digital Servitization Demonstrator around Baxi Heating to help them deliver ‘Heat as a Service’. The Demonstrator will combine advanced services and digital servitization technologies, including sensors, software and other technologies to create a digital model of Baxi's manufacturing and service business. The digital model will be converted to a neutral digital platform with the potential to be used as a wider, all-industry adaptable Servitization model. The model is envisaged to enable a range of manufacturers to use digital technologies to manage contracts, supply chains, customer contacts and all aspects of their business.

Apr 2019 - Mar 2021

Next Generation Rice Processing (Co-I)

£2,067,000

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Jan 2018 - Jan 2021

Pathways towards Servitization (PI)

​A trans-national study of Organisational Transformation towards Servitization

£205,262

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An ESRC funded project with the primary aim of developing organisational transformation pathways that manufacturers can follow to efficiently and effectively innovate their organisations through servitization, and compete through advanced services. The following research questions will be addressed: (i) What stages might an organisation expect to go through as it progresses towards servitization? (ii) What are the principal factors and forces that affect progression through these stages? (iii) How do these stages and forces interplay as a model to demonstrate pathways towards servitization? (Content)

Aug 2014 - Jan 2018

Gamification for Servitization

Development of Applied Game Technologies to Transform the Servitization of Mainstream Manufacturing

£1,522,601

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An EPSRC funded project in partnership with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) of Sheffield University. The project focuses on developing applied game technologies to transform the servitization of mainstream manufacturing companies. My main involvement, as a Senior Research Fellow on the project lies in the operational and organisational change brought about when businesses intend to introduce technological innovations and move towards advanced services provision. 

Mar 2013 - Aug 2014

LimbsAlive

Development of an effective Business Model and Routes to Market in the UK and International Context

£2,000,000

Research project funded by Wellcome Trust and NIHR, focused on tele-rehabilitation through computer games. The overall aim of the project is to develop and validate a system for monitoring home-based upper limb rehabilitation using action video games. The work package Ali’s involved focuses on exploring how innovation and technology as well as organisational and managerial aspects have influenced emerging markets such as tele-health and tele-care. He is also looking at the evolution of the business models within different stages of organisational development in order to better understand how firms actually reach financial sustainability and scale their operations (entre into international market, etc.).

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Nov 2012 - Aug 2014

SALT

Designing Scalable Assistive Living Technologies and Services for independent healthy living and sustainable market development in the mixed digital economy

£2,122,000

£2.1 million research project funded by Technology Strategy Board (TSB), ESRC and NIHR and in collaboration with more than 10 industry partners. The main objective of the project is to identify business models for scalable assistive technologies and services to promote sustainable market development for independent healthy living. In this project, Ali is looking at the ways in which companies that are involved in this industry transform their business models to become financially sustainable and operationally scalable. I examine how sustainability and scalability can be achieved through different strategic initiatives including integrated product-service offerings.

Aston University, Aston Business School

  • Service Innovation (MBA, 2017 - present)

  • Operations Management (MBA, 2015 - present)

  • Strategic Global Outsourcing & Offshoring (MSc, 2018 - present)

TEACHING
SKILLS

Queen Mary University of London, School of Business & Management,

  • Strategic Management (2nd year UG), 2013 - 2014.

Brunel University London, Department of Information Systems,

  • e-Commerce (2nd year UG), 2010 - 2012.

  • Fundamental of Information Systems (2nd year UG), 2010 - 2012.

  • Software Project Management ((2nd year UG), 2010 - 2012.

  • Strategic Change (PG), 2010 - 2012.

  • ERP Systems Theory and Practice (PG), 2010 - 2012.

  • Supervision and examination of BSc’s final year projects, 2011 - 2012. 

PUBLICATIONS
EXPERTISE
​JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS - PUBLISHED

  • (2022 – in press) Raddats, C., Naik, Parikshit, Ziaee Bigdeli, A. Creating value in servitization through digital service innovations. Industrial Marketing Management. (ABS 3).
     

  • Dmitrijeva, J., Schroeder, A., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2022) Paradoxes in servitization: A processual perspective. Industrial Marketing Management. Vol 101, pp. 141-152.  (ABS 3)
     

  • Kowalkowski, C., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2022) The future of servitization in a digital era. Journal of Service Management. (ABS 2) 
     

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Kapoor, K., Schroeder, A., and Omidvar, O. (2021) Exploring the root causes of servitization challenges: an organisational boundary perspective. International Journal of Operations & Production Management. Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 547-573. (ABS 4)
     

  • Kapoor, K., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Dwivedi, Y., and Raman, R. (2021) How is COVID-19 altering the manufacturing landscape? A literature review of imminent challenges and management interventions. Annals of Operations Research. (ABS 3)
     

  • Kapoor, K., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Schroeder, A., and Baines, T. (2021) A Platform Ecosystem View of Servitization in Manufacturing. Technovation. pp. 102248 (ABS 3)
     

  • Kapoor, K., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Dwivedi, Y., Schroeder, A., Beltagui, A., and Baines, T. (2021) A socio-technical view of platform ecosystems: Systematic review and research agenda. Journal of Business Research. Vol 128, pp. 94-108. (ABS 3)
     

  • Gaiardelli, P., Pezzotta, G., Rondini, A., Romero, D., Jarrahi, F., Bertoni, M., Wiesner, S., Wuest, T., Larsson, T., Zaki, M., Jussen, P., Boucher, X., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Cavalieri, S. Product-service systems evolution in the era of Industry 4.0. International Journal of Service Business. Vol. 15, pp. 177-207 (IF: 2.429).
     

  • Schroeder, A., Naik, P., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2020) Digitally Enabled Advanced Services: A Socio-technical Perspective on the Role of the Internet of Things (IoT) International Journal of Operations & Production Management. Vol. 40, No. 7/8, pp. 1243-1268. (ABS 4)
     

  • Naik, P., Schroeder, A., Kapoor, K., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2020) Behind the scenes of digital servitization: actualizing IoT-enabled affordances. Industrial Marketing Management. Vol. 89, pp. 232-244. (ABS 3)
     

  • Kamal, M., Sivarajah, U., and Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Missi, F., and Koliousis, K. (2020) Servitization Implementation in the Manufacturing Organisations: Classification of Strategies, Definitions, Benefits and Challenges. International Journal of Information Management. Vol. 55, Article 102206 (ABS 2) 

 

 

​CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS / PRESENTATIONS

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Kapoor, K., Schroeder, A., and Omidvar, O. (2021). The Root Causes of Servitization Challenges: An Organisational Boundary Perspective. In Academy of Management Proceedings. Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
     

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2020). Advanced Services: A New Dominant Logic for Manufacturers. In Academy of Management Proceedings. Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

 

  • Kapoor, K., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Schroeder, A., and Baines, T. (2020). A Platform Ecosystem View of Servitization in Manufacturing. In Academy of Management Proceedings. Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

 

  • Schroeder, A., Naik, P., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2020). A Socio-Technical Perspective on the Internet of Things: The Case of Advanced Services. In Academy of Management Proceedings. Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

  • Naik, P., Schroeder, A., Kapoor, K., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2019) Behind the Scenes of Digital Servitization: Actualizing IOT-Enabled Affordances, Proceedings of the 79th Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, United States.
     

  • Andrews, D., Beltagui, A., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Baines, T. (2019) The Stakeholder’s Journey: Employing the Hero’s Journey to Analyse and Generate Organizational Myths, Proceedings of the 79th Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, United States.
     

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Dmitrijeva, J., Schroeder, A., Baines, T. (2018) Servitization in Manufacturing: a Business Model Perspective, Proceedings of the 25th EurOMA Conference, Budapest, Hungary.

 

  • Garcia Martin, P., Schroeder, A., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2018) Servitization business value: An ego-network perspective, Proceedings of the 25th EurOMA Conference, Budapest, Hungary.

 

  • Schroeder, A. and Ziaee Bigdeli, A., (2018) Capturing the Benefits of Digitalization and Service Innovation: A Business Network Perspective, Proceedings of the 78th Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, United States.

 

  • Dmitrijeva, J., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Schroeder, A., Baines, T. (2018) Contextualising servitization – the shaping of the organisational transformation, Proceedings of the 25th EurOMA Conference, Budapest, Hungary.

 

  • Zolkiewski, J., Story, V., Raddats, C., Burton, J., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Baines, T., and Andrews, D. (2018) Value Creation Through Servitization Within SMEs. Proceedings of the 7th Spring Servitization Conference. Copenhagen, Denmark.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2017) Organisational Transformation towards Servitization. Proceedings of the 6th Spring Servitization Conference. Lucerne, Switzerland.

  • Naik, P., Schroeder, A., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2017) Enabling Servitization by Affordance Actualization: The Role of Digitalisation Capabilities. Proceedings of the 24th EurOMA Conference, Edinburgh, UK.

  • Garcia Martin, P., Schroeder, A., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2017) Value in servitization: From dyad to network level. Proceedings of the 24th EurOMA Conference, Edinburgh, UK.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Baines, T., Schroeder, A., Brown, S., Musson, E., Guang Shi, V., and Calabrese, A. (2016) Measuring the Adoption of Servitization in Manufacturing Firms. Proceedings of the 76th Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, California, United States. 

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Baines, T., Schroeder, A., Brown, S., Musson, E., Guang Shi, V., and Calabrese, A. (2016) Measuring the adoption of advanced services in manufacturing context. Proceedings of the 23rd EurOMA Conference, Trondheim, Norway.

  • Schroeder, A., Galera Zarco, C., Baines, T., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Evans, D. (2016) Barriers to capturing the value of advanced services and digitisation in the road transport industry. Proceedings of the 5th Spring Servitization Conference, Manchester, United Kingdom.  

  • Guang Shi, V., Baines, T., Ridgway, K., Baldwin, J., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Andrews, D. (2016) Heterogeneous game mechanics and its impact on different inter-organisational challenges of servitization. Proceedings of the 5th Spring Servitization Conference, Manchester, United Kingdom.  

  • Panagiotopoulos, P., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Sams, S., Barnett, J. (2015) Social media in Government: Communicating Risks to the Public during Emergency Events. Proceedings of the 75thAcademy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Baines, T., Bustinza, O., Guang Shi, V. (2015), Holistic approach to evaluating servitization: A content, context, process framework. Proceedings of the 22nd EurOMA Conference, Neuchatel, Switzerland.

  • Guang Shi, V., Ridgway, K., Baldwin, J., Baines, T., Petridis, P., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Uren, V., Andrews, D. (2015) The Role Of Gamification In The Manufacturing Service Paradox. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Manufacturing Research (ICMR2015), Bath, United Kingdom.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Li, F., and Shi, X. (2013), The Evolution of Business Models in University Spinouts: Routes to Sustainability and Scalability. British Academy of Management (BAM), Liverpool, United Kingdom.

  • Shi, X., Li, F., Ziaee Bigdeli, A. (2013), Predicting the Effects of Business Models on New Product Performance: a Study of the Video Games Industry. British Academy of Management (BAM), Liverpool, United Kingdom.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Kamal, M.M., and de Cesare, S. (2012) Electronic Information Sharing in Local Government: The Decision Making Process. Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Information Systems - ECIS'12, Barcelona, Spain.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Kamal, M.M., and de Cesare, S. (2012) Information Sharing in Inter-departmental Collaboration: A Conceptual Framework for Local Government Authorities. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, ICEGov2012, New York, United States.

  • Panagiotopoulos, P., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Sams, S., (2012) 5 Days in August – How London Local Authorities Used Twitter during the 2011 Riots, The 4th IFIP 8.5 International Conference on eGovernment (eGov), Norway. [Outstanding Paper Award for the Most Innovative Research Contribution/Case Study]

  • Kamal, M., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., (2012) Shared Services: Lessons From Private Sector for Public Sector Domain, The 4th IFIP 8.5 International Conference on eGovernment (eGov), Norway.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Kamal, M.M., and de Cesare, S. (2011). Interorganisational Electronic Information Sharing in Local G2G Settings: A Socio-Technical Issue. Proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Information Systems - ECIS'11, Helsinki, Finland.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A. (2011) Conceptual Model For Participation in Inter-Organisational Electronic Information Sharing (IEIS) in E-Government Environment, IFIP e-Government Conference, Delft, The Netherlands.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A. (2011) To Share or Not to Share: Conceptual Framework for Electronic Information Sharing in Local Authorities, Information Management and Knowledge Sharing (IMKS) Forum, Kingston University, London, July 2011.

BOOK EDITED / CHAPTERS​

  • (2022 – in press) Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Baines, T., Kapoor, K. Advanced Services: New Dominant Logic for Manufacturers. In Soares, A. and Childe, S. eds. Handbook of Research Methods for Supply Chain Management. Edward Elgar.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Baines, T., Rapaccini, M., Saccani, N., and Adrodegari, F. (2021) Servitization: a pathway towards a resilient, productive, and sustainable future (Spring Servitization Conference), 1st ed. Birmingham, UK.

 

  • Kohtamäki, M., Baines, T., Rabetino, R., Ziaee Bigdeli, A. Kowalkowski, C., Oliva, R., and Parida, V. ed., (2021) The Palgrave Handbook of Servitization, 1st ed. Palgrave Macmillan.

 

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Baines, T. (2020) Advanced Services for Sustainability and Growth (Spring Servitization Conference), 1st ed. Birmingham, UK.

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Kowalkowski, C., Kindström, D., Baines, T. (2019) Delivering Services Growth in the Digital Era (Spring Servitization Conference), 1st ed. Linköping, Sweden.

 

  • Kohtamäki, M., Baines, T., Rabetino, R., and Ziaee Bigdeli, A. ed., (2018) Practices and Tools for Servitization: Managing Service Transition, 1st ed. Palgrave Macmillan.

 

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Frandsen, T., Raja., J., and Baines, T. ed., (2018) Driving Competitiveness through Servitization (Spring Servitization Conference), 1st ed. Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

 

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A., de Cesare, S. (2011) Barriers to e-Government Service Delivery in Developing Countries: The Case of Iran. In: Carugati, A., and Rossignoli, C. eds. Emerging Themes in Information Systems and Organisational Studies: Springer, 307-320.

INDUSTRY MINI GUIDE / WHITEPAPERS

  • Baines, T., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Anders, K.M., Kapoor, K., Machan, I.H. and Schroeder, A. (2020) Experiencing Servitization: What to expect as the transformation journey unfolds. Birmingham, UK: The Advanced Services Group, Aston Business School. (ISBN: 978 1 85449 419 1)

 

  • Baines, T., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Breedon R., Machan, I.H., Thompson, L. and Tumber, N. (2020) Servitization Contracts: Demystifying financing and contracts for advanced services. Birmingham, UK: The Advanced Services Group, Aston Business School. (ISBN: 978 1 85449 424 5)

 

  • Baines, T.S., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., and Anders, K. (2019) Customer Value Propositions for Servitization: A mini-guide for manufacturers seeking to compete through advanced services. Birmingham, UK: The Advanced Services Group, Aston Business School. (ISBN: 978 1 85449 488 7)

 

  • Baines, T., Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Andrews, D., Machan, I.H. and Tumber, N. (2019) Servitization Visioning: How to create an illustrative vision for a manufacturing organisation seeking to compete through services. Birmingham, UK: The Advanced Services Group, Aston Business School.  (ISBN: 978 1 85449 483 2)

 

  • Musson, E., Baines, T., and Ziaee Bigdeli, A. (2019) Advanced Service Business Models: Understanding their structure and basis for competitive advantage. Birmingham, UK: The Advanced Services Group, Aston Business School. (ISBN: 978 1 85449 473 3)

 

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A. Musson, E., Dohrmann, K., and Hölter, K. (2019) The importance of Value Networks for delivering Advanced Services. Troisdorf, Germany: DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation.

 

  • Ziaee Bigdeli, A. Musson, E., Dohrmann, K., and Hölter, K. (2018) Servitization and Supply Chains. Troisdorf, Germany: DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation.

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Invited Keynotes (Industrial Events / Conferences)

  • Service-led Business Models for Industrial Companies in the Basque Country. June 2019, Mondragon Corporation, San Sebastian, Spain.

  • Servitization in Manufacturing: A Business Model perspective. March 2019, Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK.

  • Servitization and outcome-based contracts in Healthcare, Philips Global Customer Services Marketing, February 2019. Best, The Netherlands.

  • Digitally-enabled Performance Advisory Services, Profiting from Digitalization Workshop, September 2018. Stockholm, Sweden.

  • What do we really mean by servitization? Westminster Business School, April 2018, London, UK.

  • Transformation towards Servitization, The 2017 SMAS Future Manufacturing Conference, October 2017, Edinburgh, UK. 

  • What it takes to compete through advanced services, Knowledge-Brief Innovation Programme, February 2017, London, UK.

  • Pathways towards Servitization, DHL Engineering & Manufacturing Conference, November 2016, NCC, Coventry, UK. 

  • Advanced Services in the UK Road Transport Industry, Microlise Transport Conference, May 2015, NEC, Birmingham, UK.

Media Engagements 

ENGAGEMENTS
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