Software productization and product management in the era of servitization. Insights from service-dominant logic and scaled agile framework

Software is at the core of modern business, yet many companies still struggle with a basic question: what exactly is our product? Vague product names, overlapping “solutions,” and unclear structures make software difficult to manage, complicate release planning, and make it harder to communicate value to customers.

This dissertation examines how software companies can bring clarity and control to their products in a world increasingly shaped by services and continuous delivery. It combines three perspectives: how to define and structure software offerings as products; how to view them through Service-Dominant Logic, where value is co-created with customers; and how large-scale agile approaches such as the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) support product and portfolio management.

Building on these viewpoints, the dissertation proposes an integrated framework positioning software productization as the structural foundation for effective Software Product Management. It shows how product structures, service logic, and scaled agile practices can be connected into a coherent whole that strengthens lifecycle governance, transparency, and decision-making.

For practitioners, the findings offer concrete guidance on designing and maintaining clear product structures across different delivery models (On-Premise, SaaS, BPaaS), adopting customer-centric logics, and balancing agile and traditional portfolio management. By aligning product structures, governance, and execution, the framework supports more coherent software portfolios and enhances organizational performance, responsiveness, and long-term competitiveness.