How to use emerging service technologies to enhance customer centricity in business-to-business contexts: A conceptual framework and research agenda
Open accessAbstract
Manufacturers in business-to-business (B2B) industries aim to gain a competitive edge by adopting the concept of customer centricity in their strategy. Acknowledging manufacturers’ challenges in implementing new technologies, we showcase how digital product passports, augmented/virtual reality, smart products, and digital twins foster customer centricity. We classify these technologies based on their use context and introduce the CC TECH -framework, which delineates the impact of (1) experiential, (2) performance-enhancing, and (3) automated technologies on customer-centric processes. This research explores the opportunities for utilizing specific emerging technologies to enhance four customer-centric processes: (1) interactive customer relationship management (discovering implicit needs), (2) customer integration (systematic involvement of customers in decision-making), (3) internal integration (aligning business activities around customer value), and (4) external integration (supply chain-level coordination to respond to customization required by customers). Further, we provide a technology roadmap for manufacturers and suggest a research agenda to guide future research.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Customer-centric chatbots improve sales, diagnostic ability, predictive analytics, and can automate IoT-driven processes for better interactive engagement across organizational partners.
“Finally, customer-centric chatbots improve sales, diagnostic ability, predictive analytics, and can automate IoT-driven processes for better interactive engagement across organizational partners [131].”
From The Rise of Agentic AI: A Review of Definitions, Frameworks, Architectures, Applications, Evaluation Metrics, and Challenges (2025) · cites this paper as [131]
ML-based agentic systems can detect the issue to optimise the operations.
“ML-based agentic systems can detect the issue [131] to optimise the operations [123].”
From The Rise of Agentic AI: A Review of Definitions, Frameworks, Architectures, Applications, Evaluation Metrics, and Challenges (2025) · cites this paper as [131]
Cites
The Effect of a Market Orientation on Business Profitability
Narver, J. C., & Slater, S. F. (1990) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1177/002224299005400403 · Cited by 7,975 · see citing works
Industry 4.0 technologies: Implementation patterns in manufacturing companies
Frank, A. G., Dalenogare, L. S., & Ayala, N. F. (2019) · International Journal of Production Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.01.004 · Cited by 2,958 · see citing works
Blut, M., Wang, C., Wünderlich, N. V., & Brock, C. (2021) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-020-00762-y · Cited by 1,194 · see citing works
Self-citationEngaged to a Robot? The Role of AI in Service
Huang, M.-H., & Rust, R. T. (2021) · Journal of Service Research · doi:10.1177/1094670520902266 · Cited by 1,185 · see citing works
Digital twin-driven product design framework
Tao, F., Sui, F.-Y., Liu, A., Qi, Q., Zhang, M., Song, B.-Y., Guo, Z.-R., Lu, S. C. Y., & Nee, A. (2019) · International Journal of Production Research · doi:10.1080/00207543.2018.1443229 · Cited by 1,085 · see citing works
The Antecedents and Consequences of Customer-Centric Marketing
Sheth, J. N., Sisodia, R., & Sharma, A. K. (2000) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1177/0092070300281006 · Cited by 879 · see citing works
“Service Encounter 2.0”: An investigation into the roles of technology, employees and customers
Larivière, B., Bowen, D., Andreassen, T. W., Kunz, W., Sirianni, N. J., Voss, C., Wünderlich, N. V., & De Keyser, A. (2017) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.03.008 · Cited by 779 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Path to Customer Centricity
Shah, D., Rust, R. T., Parasuraman, A., Staelin, R., & Day, G. S. (2006) · Journal of Service Research · doi:10.1177/1094670506294666 · Cited by 591 · see citing works
Corporate digital responsibility
Lobschat, L., Mueller, B., Eggers, F., Brandimarte, L., Diefenbach, S., Kroschke, M., & Wirtz, J. (2021) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.006 · Cited by 573 · see citing works
A systematic design approach for service innovation of smart product-service systems
Zheng, P., Lin, T.-J., Chen, C.-H., & Xu, X. (2018) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.101 · Cited by 414 · see citing works
The four smarts of Industry 4.0: Evolution of ten years of research and future perspectives
Meindl, B., Ayala, N. F., Mendonça, J., & Frank, A. G. (2021) · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120784 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
Tsolakis, N., Schumacher, R., Dora, M. K., & Kumar, M. (2022) · Annals of Operations Research · doi:10.1007/s10479-022-04785-2 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Towards a digital product passport fit for contributing to a circular economy
Adisorn, T., Tholen, L., & Götz, T. (2021) · Energies · doi:10.3390/en14082289 · Cited by 313 · see citing works
Eswaran, M., & Bahubalendruni, M. V. A. R. (2022) · Journal of Manufacturing Systems · doi:10.1016/j.jmsy.2022.09.016 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
Digital product passports as enabler of the circular economy
Walden, J., Steinbrecher, A., & Marinkovic, M. (2021) · Chemie Ingenieur Technik · doi:10.1002/cite.202100121 · Cited by 252 · see citing works
Digital product passports for a circular economy: Data needs for product life cycle decision-making
Jensen, S. F., Kristensen, J. H., Adamsen, S., Christensen, A., & Waehrens, B. V. (2023) · Sustainable Production and Consumption · doi:10.1016/j.spc.2023.02.021 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
A Systematic Review of a Virtual Reality System from the Perspective of User Experience
Kim, Y. M., Rhiu, I., & Yun, M. H. (2019) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2019.1699746 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
Unlocking value from machines: business models and the industrial internet of things
Ehret, M., & Wirtz, J. (2017) · Journal of Marketing Management · doi:10.1080/0267257x.2016.1248041 · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Eloranta, V., & Turunen, T. (2015) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.10.003 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Chatbot for SMEs: Integrating customer and business owner perspectives
Selamat, M. A., & Windasari, N. A. (2021) · Technology in Society · doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101685 · Cited by 204 · see citing works
Wei, R., & Pardo, C. (2022) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.10.008 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Designing the Customer-Centric Organization: A Guide to Strategy, Structure, and Process
Galbraith, J. R. (2005) · Cited by 162 · see citing works
The future of buyer–seller interactions: a conceptual framework and research agenda
Ahearne, M., Atefi, Y., Lam, S. K., & Pourmasoudi, M. (2021) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-021-00803-0 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Characterizing customer experience management in business markets
Witell, L., Kowalkowski, C., Perks, H., Raddats, C., Schwabe, M., Benedettini, O., & Burton, J. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.08.050 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
Modeling manufacturer’s capabilities for the Internet of Things
Hasselblatt, M., Huikkola, T., Kohtamäki, M., & Nickell, D. (2018) · Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing · doi:10.1108/jbim-11-2015-0225 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Technology mediation in service delivery: A new typology and an agenda for managers and academics
Schumann, J. H., Wünderlich, N. V., & von Wangenheim, F. (2011) · Technovation · doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2011.10.002 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Self-citationConsumer decisions with artificially intelligent voice assistants
Dellaert, B. G. C., Shu, S. B., Arentze, T., Baker, T., Diehl, K., Donkers, B., Fast, N. J., Häubl, G., Johnson, H., Karmarkar, U. R., et al. (2020) · Marketing Letters · doi:10.1007/s11002-020-09537-5 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Hofacker, C. F., Gölgeci̇, İ., Pillai, K. G., & Gligor, D. M. (2020) · European Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1108/ejm-04-2020-0247 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Industrial internet of things business models in the machine-to-machine context
Leminen, S., Rajahonka, M., Wendelin, R., & Westerlund, M. (2020) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.08.008 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Stop Guessing in the Dark: Identified Requirements for Digital Product Passport Systems
Jansen, M., Meisen, T., Plociennik, C., Berg, H., Pomp, A., & Windholz, W. (2023) · Systems · doi:10.3390/systems11030123 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Customer centricity: the construct and the operational antecedents
Lamberti, L. (2013) · Journal of Strategic Marketing · doi:10.1080/0965254x.2013.817476 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Dimensions of Digital Twin Applications - A Literature Review.
Enders, M., & Hoßbach, N. (2019) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Guest editorial: Artificial intelligence for B2B marketing: Challenges and opportunities
Dwivedi, Y. K., & Wang, Y. (2022) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.06.001 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Digital service innovation in B2B markets
Kowalkowski, C., Wirtz, J., & Ehret, M. (2023) · Journal of service management · doi:10.1108/josm-12-2022-0403 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Lasrado, F., Thaichon, P., & Nyadzayo, M. W. (2022) · Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing · doi:10.1108/jbim-05-2021-0267 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Key concepts in artificial intelligence and technologies 4.0 in services
Belk, R. W., Belanche, D., & Flavián, C. (2023) · Service Business · doi:10.1007/s11628-023-00528-w · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Transforming into a platform provider: strategic options for industrial smart service providers
Beverungen, D., Kundisch, D., & Wünderlich, N. V. (2020) · Journal of service management · doi:10.1108/josm-03-2020-0066 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Self-citationPower negotiation on the tango dancefloor: The adoption of AI in B2B marketing
Keegan, B. J., Canhoto, A. I., & Yen, D. A.-W. (2021) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.11.001 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Wang, M., Chen, P.-C., & Fang, S. (2020) · Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing · doi:10.1108/jbim-05-2019-0170 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Customer Success Management: The next evolution in customer management practice?
Hilton, B., Hajihashemi, B., Henderson, C. M., & Palmatier, R. W. (2020) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.08.001 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
B2B customer journeys: Conceptualization and an integrative framework
Purmonen, A., Jaakkola, E., & Terho, H. (2023) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2023.05.020 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Facilitating retail customers’ use of AI-based virtual assistants: A meta-analysis
Blut, M., Wünderlich, N. V., & Brock, C. (2024) · Journal of Retailing · doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2024.04.001 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Self-citationA Nice and Friendly Chat with a Bot: User Perceptions of AI-Based Service Agents
Wünderlich, N. V., & Paluch, S. (2017) · International Conference on Information Systems · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Self-citationMarcon, É., Dain, M. L., & Frank, A. G. (2022) · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122078 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Digitalizing customer journeys in B2B markets
Lundin, L., & Kindström, D. (2023) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113639 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Frank, A. G., Mendes, G. H. D. S., Benitez, G. B., & Ayala, N. F. (2021) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.10.010 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Ulaga, W. (2018) · AMS Review · doi:10.1007/s13162-018-0119-x · Cited by 50 · see citing works
The Role of Services in Platform Markets
Suárez, F. F., & Cusumano, M. A. (2009) · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · doi:10.4337/9781849803311.00010 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Aslam, H., Waseem, M., Muneeb, D., Ali, Z., Roubaud, D., & Grebinevych, O. (2023) · Annals of Operations Research · doi:10.1007/s10479-023-05191-y · Cited by 40 · see citing works
A strategic analysis of virtual showrooms deployment in online retail platforms
Zhang, T., Li, G., & Tayi, G. K. (2022) · Omega · doi:10.1016/j.omega.2022.102824 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Social-technical aspects in modern manufacturing
Oborski, P. (2003) · The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology · doi:10.1007/s00170-003-1573-6 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Wünderlich, N. V., Blut, M., & Brock, C. (2024) · Journal of Product Innovation Management · doi:10.1111/jpim.12726 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citationWang, Q., Liu, X., Hu, M., & Huo, B. (2024) · International Journal of Production Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2024.109265 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Emerging research questions for new journey development in industrial markets
Durmuşoğlu, S. S., McNally, R. C., & Chen, J. (2022) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.08.014 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Selling digital twins in business-to-business markets
Rantala, T., Kokkonen, K., & Hannola, L. (2021) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003054214-6 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Customer centricity and the impact of technology
Kannan, P. K., & Gu, X. (2019) · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · doi:10.4337/9781788113601.00020 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 57 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Bandi, A., Kongari, B., Naguru, R., Pasnoor, S., & Vilipala, S. V. (2025) · Future Internet · doi:10.3390/fi17090404 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Lee, J., Park, J. J., & Mostafa, N. A. (2025) · Data Science and Management · doi:10.1016/j.dsm.2025.05.002 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Digitalization strategy in service ecosystems: managing the interplay of tensions and empowerment
Samadi, S., Ahmed, T., McCullough, A. E., Durán-López, E., Tóth, Z., & Heirati, N. (2026) · Journal of service management · doi:10.1108/josm-03-2025-0151 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationWengler, S., Kleinaltenkamp, M., Heirati, N., & Prohl-Schwenke, K. (2026) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2026.01.009 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citationDigital Product Passport: A Digital Catalyst for a Circular Transformation
Dietrich, K., Schuster, T., & Bühler, L. (2026) · Circular Economy · doi:10.55845/joce-2025-32212 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
How does customer ESG performance affect supplier carbon disclosure?
Zhao, X., Huo, Y., Lee, H., Abedin, M. Z., & Shi, H. (2026) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116421 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Aleca, O. E., & Mihai, F. (2026) · Systems · doi:10.3390/systems14040354 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Gold or gild: Does blockchain attention improve the efficiency of supply chain?
Zhu, J., Sun, S., Li, P., Wang, Y., & Mao, D. (2025) · International Journal of Production Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109895 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Amro, A., Rehman, A. U., Ullah, I., & Anthony, B. O. (2025) · Cogent Business & Management · doi:10.1080/23311975.2025.2567633 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Zaki, M., Gustafsson, A., McColl‐Kennedy, J. R., & Witell, L. (2026) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116015 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Menon, S. (2025) · European Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology · doi:10.37745/ejcsit.2013/vol13n49106116
Bustamante, J. C., Varela, J. C. S., Bullemore, J., & Monje-Cueto, F. (2025) · Journal of Relationship Marketing · doi:10.1080/15332667.2025.2536925
Leveraging Technology Characteristics to Enhance Firm Customer Response Capability
Qureshi, M. I. S., & Arshad, M. (2025) · The Asian Bulletin of Big Data Management · doi:10.62019/yhnv1z35
Galvani, S., Piccioni, N., & Fiorini, N. (2025) · Journal of Management & Organization · doi:10.1017/jmo.2025.10034
Mogaji, E. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-99367-1_4
Value-in-context for digital servitization
Jensen, M., Zlatanou, F., Zhang, Q., Biesinger, B., Zaefarian, G., & Henneberg, S. C. M. (2026) · Journal of service management · doi:10.1108/josm-04-2025-0183
Self-citationLee, T., Sul, S. H., & 강은성 (2026) · Public Management Review · doi:10.1080/14719037.2026.2675688
The Expanding Horizons of Business and Management: Technology, Society and Policy Dynamics
Vrontis, D., Thrassou, A., Efthymiou, L., Bozat, M., & Uzunboylu, N. (2026) · Palgrave studies in cross-disciplinary business research, in association with EuroMed Academy of Business · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-26500-5_1
Hossain, M. S. (2026) · International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences · doi:10.1108/ijqss-04-2026-0122
Behn, O., Wichmann, J., & Leyer, M. (2026) · Electronic Markets · doi:10.1007/s12525-026-00940-w
It is all about digitalization: investigating antecedents and effects of digital transformation
Jordanow, S., Denzer, E., Heidenreich, S., Gleich, R., & Hamacher, K. (2026) · The Journal of Technology Transfer · doi:10.1007/s10961-026-10401-3
- Authors
- Wünderlich, N. V., Blut, M., Brock, C., Heirati, N., Jensen, M., Paluch, S., Rötzmeier-Keuper, J., & Tóth, Z.
- Affiliations
- Technische Universität Berlin (DE)
- Durham University (GB)
- University of Rostock (DE)
- University of Surrey (GB)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Wünderlich, Nancy V.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Business Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2025-04
- Volume
- 192
- Pages
- 115284
- ISSN
- 0148-2963 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4408254110
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 9
- FWCI
- 36.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Business Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- CentAUR (University of Reading) (submittedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- RWTH Publications (RWTH Aachen) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Technische Universität Berlin – Universitätsbibliothek (cc-by)
- Funders
- University of Cambridge
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Service and Product Innovation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Digital Innovation in Industries
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Keywords
- customer-centricity, business-to-business, digital product passport, augmented reality, virtual reality, smart products, digital twin, customer relationship management, customer integration, internal integration, external integration, supply chain coordination, customization, technology roadmap
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
