• The motivations of industrial managers to introduce services around products :
  • In most cases, it is an answer to competition or a demand from one or several customers ;
  • For a lesser part, it comes from an offensive strategy for differentiation, for the customers loyalty or the development of margins

The introduction of services is more often imposed than anticipated

• The benefits of the services development for the firm :
  • First of all, customers loyalty
  • The development of a global offer
  • An increase in turnover
  • An improvement of the company's image

Services are a source of progress

2. Conferences and workshops

• 14 sensitisation conferences, in the 4 European countries represented (France, Germany, Italy, Portugal) on the « development of services in manufacturing SMEs », gathered 500 SMEs managers, consultants and professional associations ;
• Workshops, of 3 half-a-days in each participating countries, involving about thirty European managers form manufacturing SMEs. Each manager was led to elaborate, during the 3 workshops, an operational scenario of service implementation for his firm.

All the results from the project and the methodological approach created, are gathered in a compendium, as a report to the European Commission