Abstract: Service has become an important competitive instrument in manufacturing industries under the background of knowledge-economy and globalization of economics. In recent years, foreign scholars(especially western scholars) have beyun to study the service-enhancement in manufacturing firms. Domestic scholars also follow to investigate from different angles the important theoretical and practical meaning of service-enhancement to Chinese manufacturing firms in global competition. This article summarizes roundly the source and actuality of study on service-enhancement of manufacturing, and discusses its development, emphasis and differences of extant researches.

Key words: manufacturing, service, service-enhancement, competitive strategy, competitive advantage