To grasp better what drives today's rural development, this monograph conducts an analysis of qualitative changes in economic and social life caused by a major innovation model inherent to post-industrial society – servitization. The offered conceptual and empirical understanding of the ways of servitization in agriculture and rural development, is examined through the prism of an evolutionary approach based on the theory of Qualitative Structure. It explains why and how a switch from product-oriented to service-oriented business logic happens and suggest many new insights for improving farm management and socio-economic development of rural regions. Combined systematic and evolutionary analysis of literature on servitization and agricultural production strategies are illustrated with case studies of farming and territorial servitization projects implemented in Lithuania. It will be of great interest to researchers and students in rural development studies, servitization and business model innovation.

The monograph is authored by a team of scholars from the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Institute of Economics and Rural Development, Department of Business Ecosystems.

Dalia Vidickienė is a Principal Researcher. Her main research interests center on strategic management, servitization and other paradigm innovations and innovative business models, rural development and regional innovation policy. 

Rita Lankauskienė is a Senior Researcher and her main research interests are social responsibility in sustainable regional development, social innovations and novel business ecosystems in rural areas.

Rasa Melnikienė is the Chief Researcher, and she specializes in agriculture and rural policy, sustainable development and innovation ecosystems, food supply chains, new business models and business performance evaluation. 

Živilė Gedminaitė-Raudonė is a Senior Researcher and her main research focus is sustainable regional and rural development, circular economy, innovation ecosystems, servitization and transformative tourism. 

Vitalija Simonaitytė is a Researcher and her research focus is sustainable regional and rural development policy, servitization of farming and modern business models, green transformation, and local and regional actors.

This book pleasantly surprised me with its original, well-founded and urgent perspective on rural economy. It truly embodies bravery. Instead of simply recognizing the need for new paradigms, the book embraces this notion from the very beginning and puts forward holistic, evolutionary, and collaborative approaches that fit the post-industrial paradigm. It is fascinating how the authors use case studies in small holder agriculture and regional rural development to build a broader perspective and develop new theoretical insights on servitization also with relevance for the manufacturing industry. The diverse and well-developed case studies combine theory and practice and illustrate the concept of the post-industrial service economy as a next phase of social evolution. This book importantly contributes to the development of research methods tailored to the nature of post-industrial economy, and enables us to unlock important potential of servitization for rural transformation.

Jorieke I. Potters, Researcher of Sustainability Transformation in Agriculture and Society, Wageningen University and Research, Applied Plant Research, The Netherlands 

Rural communities, worldwide, have been transformed in the last decades as they have gone through vast economic and social changes. Indeed, the countryside is, now more than ever before, being bought and sold as an experience, packaged and marketed. This monograph tackles the impact of thoses changes and offers deep insights into issues relating to servitization in rural communities. Through the application of innovative methodology and rich in-depth case studies this monograph provides the reader with a deep understanding of the processes of servitization in farming and in rural communities at large.

This book is recommended to everyone interested in exploring the paths towards vibrant and thriving rural communities: practitioners, decision makers as well as students and academics. Certainly, an important contribution to both the field of service economics and rural development in general.

Guðrún Þóra Gunnarsdóttir, Director of The Icelandic Tourism Research Centre, University of Akureyri, Iceland

Constitutes the first qualitative systematic review on the servitization of farming Explains how producers alter their strategic capabilities and why and when the business needs to turn to servitization Finds new insights for improving farm management and socio-economic development of rural regions

GPSR Compliance The European Union's (EU) General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is a set of rules that requires consumer products to be safe and our obligations to ensure this. If you have any concerns about our products you can contact us on ProductSafety@springernature.com. In case Publisher is established outside the EU, the EU authorized representative is: Springer Nature Customer Service Center GmbH Europaplatz 3 69115 Heidelberg, Germany ProductSafety@springernature.com