Firms offering product-related services can be distinguished by development stages or by types. Type-1 firms focus on the product and may benefit from refinements of service cost accounting. Type-2 firms exhibit an extended offer of separately priced services. For these firms, capacity planning and thus information on fixed capacity costs is especially important. Type-3 firms offer relationship-based services and thereby increasingly apply full-service contracts. This alters the risk distribution between the firm and its customers so that variable costs and pricing issues become more important.
