Change processes in industrial manufacturing have spurred an intensified dissemination of business models based on “classic operator models” in the capital goods industry in recent years. Such industrial operator models (IOM) are characterized by their redistribution of responsibilities among suppliers and consumers aimed at expanding suppliers’ responsibilities from merely providing capital goods to financing and operating them as well. Providers are increasingly becoming project sponsors and being compelled assume a substantial share of the responsibility (and thus ultimately the risk too) for complex, long-range and occasionally high investment projects. Structured examination of and deliberations on IOM are extremely important before a supplier assumes the role of a project sponsor.
