Development of Business Model Families for Product-Service Systems

Abstract

To access new market segments, a growing number of manufacturing companies are changing their business models and are transforming themselves into providers of so-called Product-Service Systems (PSS). These are a combination of product and service components. Since a complete transformation of the business model often involves uncertainties and risks, companies often offer different types of PSS simultaneously. However, this increases the variety and thus the variety-induced complexity for the companies. Therefore, this paper introduces an approach that allows the development of suitable PSS-based business models that can be offered simultaneously as a business model family and are based on existing products. The approach is applied to the example of a manufacturer of industrial valves.

Development of Modular Architectures for Product–Service Systems

“…PSS consist of a product and a service that share and represent an added value for the customer [8,9,11,14]. There are various description [42] and classification systems for PSS in the literature [36]. However, in this study, only the categorization according to Tukker [9] with the three categories comprising product-oriented, use-oriented and result-oriented classifications will be used, since this is the most established classification [7].…”

“…As modularization of PSS is initiated late in the development process, variety-induced complexity needs to be addressed early in the development of business models. Since companies often offer different business models in parallel, these business models should be developed as a business model family [36]. All business models should be realized based on the same elements with the smallest possible number of product and service elements.…”

“…A solution proposed in the literature for this challenge is the development of modular PSS [31][32][33][34], as modular PSS allow the configuration of different PSS variants based on a small set of product and service modules. As PSS are often developed as customized solutions [35], an initial approach for the development of modular PSS families has already been presented in a previous contribution [36]. This contribution aims to present the method developed based on this initial approach and to show and critically discuss its application using an industrial example of a product family of pressure-reducing valves.…”