Why Companies Choose to Rent, Not Buy
Editor’s note: We are pleased to welcome Kristina Wittkowski and Sabine Moeller, both of EBS Business School, and Jochen Wirtz of NUS Business School. Their article, “Firms’ Intentions to Use Nonownership Services,” is forthcoming in the Journal of Service Research and now available in the journal’s OnlineFirst section.
An increasing number of firms aim to avoid the burdens of ownership and decide to gain access to assets through non-ownership services (e.g. equipment leasing). To date, more than 80% of firms in the U.S. lease at least parts of their equipment; according to forecasts, the number of non-ownership service users will continue to rise.
But what are the factors driving this demand? To date, scholars mainly focused on the financial factors (i.e. tax efficiency, cash and liquid asset management) as key decision criteria. “Firms’ Intentions to Use Nonownership Services” shows that firms are mostly driven by non-financial factors (i.e. latest technology/ tools, control over assets) when deciding for non-ownership services.
Click here to read the complete article in the Journal of Service Research.
Kristina Wittkowski is a postdoctoral researcher at the LekkerlandEndowed Chair for Convenience & Marketing at EBS Business School, EBS Universitat fur Wirtschaft und Recht. She was awarded her Doctor of Economics and Social Sciences degree in September 2012 from EBS Business School. Her research interests include service-dominant logic, non-ownership services, relationship marketing and customer misbehavior.
Sabine Moeller is Marketing Professor at the EBS Business School at EBS Universitat fur Wirtschaft und Recht and the holder of the Lekkerland Endowed Chair for Convenience & Marketing. Sabine Moeller is manager of the Competence Center for Convenience, Academic Director of the EBS Summer Schools and Chairman of the doctoral committee. Her main research fields are Service- and Retail-Marketing. Sabine’s work has been published in international journals, such as the Journal of Service Research, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing and International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management.
Jochen Wirtz is Professor of Marketing at the National University of Singapore and the founding director of the UCLA – NUS Executive MBA. His over 10 books include Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy (Prentice Hall, 7th edition, 2011, co-authored with Christopher Lovelock), Essentials of Services Marketing (Prentice Hall, 2nd edition, 2012), and Flying High in a Competitive Industry: Secrets of the World’s Leading Airline (McGraw Hill, 2009). For free downloads of his work and selected book chapters see www.JochenWirtz.com.
