Email: a.bigdeli@aston.ac.uk
Telephone:+44 (0) 121 204 3384

Professor Ali Z. Bigdeli is the Associate Dean Research and a Professor of Industrial Service Innovation at Aston Business School, Aston University. He is also the Co-Director of the Advanced Services Group, the centre of excellence in research and practice on servitization and advanced services.  His interests lie in the organisational change and business model innovation brought about when organisations move towards providing capabilities rather than just selling products on a transactional basis.

In the past ten years, Professor Bigdeli has been extensively engaged with both multinational and small/medium-sized manufacturing firms to understand servitization in practice and help accelerate the adoption and implementation of advanced services. As part of his industry engagement activities, he has been the key member in founding a partnership of multinational manufacturing organisations, including Goodyear, Thales, BAXI, Nederman, Mazak, Legrand, Crown, Waters, Domino Printing, Omron and Ishida, and developed and facilitated more than 30 hands-on seminars for their senior executives to explore and accelerate the adoption of servitization.

Professor Bigdeli has a strong publication track record in leading international journals with over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters, and conference papers, most of which have been co-developed through close collaborations with leading scholars from various institutions and countries.   

Servitization, Organisational Change, Business Model Design, Business Model Innovation, Manufacturing Strategy 

• PhD Management and Information Systems (2012), Brunel University London, United Kingdom. 
  
• MSc Management and Information Systems (2009), University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
• MBA, Iran University of Science and Technology (2008), Tehran, Iran.
• BSc Electronic Engineering (2006), Azad University, Tehran Central Branch, Iran.

• Professor, Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham (Aug 2023 – present).
• Reader (Associate Professor), Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham (Aug 2020 – Aug 2023).
• Senior Lecturer, Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham (Feb 2018 – Aug 2020).
• Senior Research Fellow, Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham (Aug 2014 – Feb 2018).
• Research Fellow, Cass Business School, City University London (Nov 2012 – Aug 2014).
• Research Assistant, Dep. of Information Systems, Brunel University London (Jan 2010 – Nov 2012).

• Feb 2018 – Feb 2021 Ziaee Bigdeli, A. (PI), Baines, T. Pathways towards Servitization: A trans-national study of Organisational Transformation. ESRC, £255,200.00.

• 2019 – 2022 Baines, T., (PI) Ziaee Bigdeli, A. (Co-I), Andrews, D. Next Generation Rice Processing. In collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University, Koolmill (UK SME), Siemens UK, plus a Chinese industry and an academic institution. Innovate UK. Total budget £2,020,000.

• 2019 – 2022 Baines, T., Ziaee Bigdeli, A. (Co-I), Schroeder, A., Andrews, D. Advanced Services Growth: Developing Strategies for Improved Growth in Manufacturing SMEs (ASG). European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). £1,446,400.

• Jan 2019 – May 2019 Ziaee Bigdeli, A. (PI) Digitally-enabled Advanced Services: Developing Research Agenda for Manufacturing Sector. EPSRC, £30,000.00.  

• BNM752 Service Innovation (MBA), 2017-present 
• BNM748 Strategic Global Outsourcing & Offshoring (MSc), 2018-present 
• BNM835 Industrial Service Innovation (MSc), 2020-present 
• Business model innovation (Executive Educations), 2015-present

• Dipti Rathi, Sep 2021 – present: The opportunities of shared information platforms to support third-party based servitization strategies.
• Arash Geramian, Oct 2021 – present: Systems and structures for advanced service delivery: a specific focus on interplay between the servitization expansion stage and context.
• Raj Anand Balesar (DBA), Jan 2021 – present: Monetisation of advanced services within manufacturing firms.
• Jekaterina Dmitrijeva, Aug 2016 – 2021: Development of product-service roadmaps: a pathway to servitization.
• Patricia Garcia Martin, 2016 – 2020: Value in servitization: From dyad to network level.
• Parikshit Naik, 2016 – 2020: Affordances enabling advanced services: Opportunities from digitalization of products.
• Luigi Tiburzi, (International co-supervisor) 2013 – 2017, Università degli studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy.
• Paul Jackson (DBA), Oct 2017 – present: Exploring the servitization journey in the context of SME and technology-focused manufacturing firms in the UK.
• David Willetts (DBA), Oct 2018: Business model innovation towards becoming an advanced services provider: The case of Baxi Heating Group.
• Dorleta Ibarra Zuluaga, 2018 – 2019, Visiting PhD, Mondragon University, Spain.
• Carolline Paslauski, 2018 – 2019, Visiting PhD, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. 

• The Conversation - How manufacturers can survive this period of radical change – move into services. May 2020
• Natwest Bank - Manufacturing and the shift to servitization. May 2019.
• Forbes - The Big Promise of Everything-As-A-Service. September 2018.
• Field Services Digital - ‘How Do We Do It?’ Charting a Course to Servitization. June 2018.
• Sage - Manufacturers see dollar signs in service— only when CFOs see beyond risk. August 2017.
• Field Services News - Why Servitization is Critical? May 2017.
• The Conversation - Will service be the saviour of manufacturing? Dec 2016.
• Field Services News - Advanced Services in UK Road Transport. September 2015.
• Field Service Digital - Is Servitization the Key to Manufacturers’ Long-Term Survival? March 2015.
• The Guardian - Six lessons for digital public services from across the world. September 2014.
• The Guardian - 14 things every government should know about public services and IT. June 2014.

Editorial Activities

• International Journal of Operations & Production Management (IJOPM), Referee, 2014 – present.
• International Journal of Production Economics (IJPE), Referee, 2014 – present.
• Industrial Marketing Management (IMM), Referee, 2015 – present.
• Production Planning & Control (PP&C), Referee, 2015 – present.
• Journal of Business Research (JBR), Referee, 2015 – present.
• International Journal of Production Research (IJPR), Referee, 2016 – present.

Administraion

• Member of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College (2018 – present) 
• Co-chair of the Spring Servitization Conference (2018 – present)
• Co-chair of the Advanced Service Industrial Consortium (2015 – present)
• Member of the Organisation Committee for the Spring Servitization Conference (2014 – present)
• Member of the Aston Business School’s Research Committee (2016 – present)
• Member of the Executive Education Programme Team at the Advanced Services Group, Aston University 

PhD/DBA Examinations

• Sum Lau (external examiner), March 2021, Brunel University, UK.
• Steven Dey (external examiner), July 2019, The University of Warwick, UK.
• Ed Crowley (external examiner), Dec 2018, The University of Manchester, UK.
• Emad Salem (external examiner), Nov 2018, Brunel University, UK.
• Ping Qing Cao (external examiner), May 2018, The University of Warwick, UK.
• Luigi Tiburzi (internal examiner), March 2017, Aston University, UK.