The literature on servitization and product-service systems calls for more robust evidence and theory regarding the concept of “sustainable servitization”, and how it balances sustainability, profits, and servitization. This study interprets sustainable servitization as an interaction of sustainability and servitization, investigating how servitization moderates the complex relationship between strategic emphasis on sustainability and company profitability. Using Computer-aided Text Analysis (CATA) augmented by machine learning, this study analyzes the annual reports of U.S. manufacturing companies from 1993 to 2019. The study uses objective profitability measures and longitudinal panel data. As the first contribution, the results show a negative direct relationship between manufacturing firms’ sustainability emphasis and firm profitability. As the second and primary contribution, the results demonstrate a positive moderating effect of servitization, with two inflection points, on the relationship between manufacturing firms’ sustainability emphasis and company profitability. This paper contributes to the literature by introducing the concept of sustainable servitization, discussing the interplay between sustainability emphasis and servitization and its effect on firm profitability in manufacturing firms’ transition toward sustainable business models. The present study is one of the first demonstrating the direct negative impact of sustainability emphasis on company profitability and the positive moderating role of servitization, highlighting the concept of sustainable servitization while cautioning about the sustainable servitization paradox in the context of manufacturing companies. For managers, the study demonstrates the importance of servitization in creating profits from sustainability initiatives. Value creation from sustainability strategies requires capability development from manufacturing firms.

关于服务化和产品服务系统的文献需要关于“可持续服务化”概念以及它如何平衡可持续性、利润和服务化的更强有力的证据和理论。本研究将可持续服务化解释为可持续性与服务化的相互作用，研究服务化如何调节可持续发展战略重点与公司盈利能力之间的复杂关系。本研究使用机器学习增强的计算机辅助文本分析 (CATA)，分析了 1993 年至 2019 年美国制造公司的年度报告。该研究使用客观盈利能力指标和纵向面板数据。作为第一个贡献，结果显示制造企业的可持续发展重点与企业盈利能力之间存在负直接关系。作为第二个也是主要的贡献，结果表明服务化对制造企业的可持续发展重点与公司盈利能力之间的关系具有积极的调节作用，有两个拐点。本文通过介绍可持续服务化的概念，讨论可持续性重点与服务化之间的相互作用及其对制造企业向可持续商业模式转型的企业盈利能力的影响，为文献做出了贡献。本研究是第一个证明可持续发展对公司盈利能力的直接负面影响以及服务化的积极调节作用的研究之一，强调了可持续服务化的概念，同时警告了制造企业背景下的可持续服务化悖论。对于管理者来说，该研究证明了服务化对于从可持续发展举措中创造利润的重要性。可持续发展战略的价值创造需要制造企业的能力发展。