There is often much discussion regarding the end-users’ demand for products and services that can be mined by a B2B OEM from its Installed Base [IB], but there is little discussion of the requirements of the various owners of the IB.
Here’s a timely post by Ron Giuntini recreated from LinkedIn, where he provides a different perspective of the IB related to ownership and the lifecycle stages of ownership. Each economic sector employs most, but not all ownership business models, but almost all employ the same lifecycle stages.
So, who is indeed the customer of the OEM? It is often not only the end-user but can also be the owner of the asset.
Here are the 8 Owners of the Assets of the Installed Base of a B2B OEM and their focus of Ownership
| # | Asset Owners | Focus of Ownership | ||
| Primary | Secondary | Comments | ||
| 1 | Operating Lease Financial Services Entity | Maximize balance sheet residual value at the end of the lease | Ensure payments are made throughout the life of the lease | Typically not proactive in overseeing the management of their asset by the end-user |
| 2 | Machine-as-a-Services [MaaS] Agreement Provider | Assure end-user availability and productivity performance of the asset | Affordability of end-user machine access by converting a CapEx
to an OpEx |
The business model embraces sustainability |
| 3 | Daily Rental Provider | Turnover of assets; maximize duration and frequency of use | Periodic planned
replacement when maintenance costs will exceed depreciation |
Often also major seller of used machines |
| 4 | Fractional/Sharing Entity | Optimize end-user capacity utilization to amortize fixed
investment |
CapEx affordability | A group of end-users are often the primary owners |
| 5 | Pooling/Exchange Entity | Optimize end-user access to a machine for various periods | Continually improve assets to optimize residual value | Like-Kind Exchanges provide IRS tax benefits |
| 6 | End-User Loan Financial
Services Provider |
Assure that payments are
made by end-user throughout life of loan |
Repossession of asset
if payments not provided |
Ownership title not
transferred to the end-user until last payment is made |
| 7 | End-User Title Holder | Extract maximum economic value from machine outputs | Minimize depreciation
impact upon income statement |
A fixed asset account on end-users balance sheet |
| 8 | Used Machine Seller | Acquire at low price and sell at highest price | Inventory turnover | Often will improve a machine’s value through modifications |
