SDL in the real world

An interesting story in The Economist about the success of Rolls Royce in aircraft engines reaffirms the SDL of marketing: all products are service.

The article states that some of RR’s success is due to embracing a model of selling service. For 80% of their clients they no longer sell engines plus a service plan but instead sell hours of propulsion. Thus the engine is simply a part of a service that they sell to airline customers.

The full story is here:

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12887368