Manufacturing companies that venture into servitization can experience difficulties when upscaling product-service systems (PSS) for further growth. This research study has two main objectives: first, to develop insight into the internal levers to increase firms' servitization capacity, and second, to apply a new methodology to support companies in upscaling PSS. For these purposes, we conduct an exploratory research study of eight manufacturing companies, consisting of both multiple case and participatory action research methods. We find that manufacturers often experience challenges when either designing or rolling out PSS, which varies based on the company's chosen strategy. Additionally, they can be confronted with an organisational logic that hinders PSS upscaling efforts. This research offers guidance to practitioners facing internal barriers for servitization, providing a new method to explore, prioritise and work out concrete PSS-enhancing projects.

User expectations regarding new products and services are evolving rapidly, forcing innovative organizations to explore new avenues for innovation, combining products and services. This paper focuses on the integrative design of product–service systems (PSSs) and builds on the servitization and service-based innovation literature. Many tools have been proposed for designing integrated PSS, with the intent to generate economic and/or sustainable impact. In this article, we focus on tools being used for bringing the user experience and intangibles in the design process. Although the literature is rich with tools and methods to optimize the PSS design process, it does not consider the full array of methods and their impact. This lack of research attention might hinder organizations developing PSS. Using in-depth interviews, this qualitative research systematically combines the extant conceptual literature on PSS design tools and processes with expert insights, thereby contextualizing how to lower thresholds in PSS design processes and how to increase the effectiveness of PSS design tools. The paper contributes to the literature on servitization and PSS by explicitly identifying twenty-one preconditions that support the PSS design process while integrating product and service innovation in close relation to the end-user.

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