Product-Service Systems Development for Sustainability. A New Understanding

Abstract

Abstract.This chapter introduces the concept of Sustainable Product-Service System (S.PSS). S.PSS is an offer model providing an integrated mix of products and services that are together able to fulfil a particular customer/user demand (to deliver a “unit of satisfaction”), based on innovative interactions between the stakeholders of the value production system (satisfaction system), where the ownership of the product/s and/or the life cycle services costs/responsibilities remain with the provider/s, so that the same provider/s continuously seek/s environmentally and/or socio-ethically beneficial new solutions, with economic benefits. Next it discusses the potentional environmental, socio-ethical and economical benefits of S.PSS.

Uncovering rebound effects of sufficiency-oriented product-service systems: a systematic review

“…Though there may be general agreement regarding the potential sustainability benefits of PSS and/or sufficiency across green-growth, agrowth, and degrowth perspectives, there are diverging views on the use of PSS to promote sufficiency and on associated RE. As a 'pro-growth' perspective, green-growth advocates would be in favor of PSS if it provides new opportunities for value creation while simultaneously decoupling economic activity from environmental impact through dematerialization via "sustainable product service-systems" (Vezzoli et al, 2021), for example. RE taking the form of increased consumption, such as re-spending of financial resources effects, would be regarded as positive for its contribution to economic growth and "new economic opportunities" so long as "natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies" (OECD, 2011, p.17).…”

“…Sufficiency strategies are not restricted to voluntary or altruistic reductions in consumption (Alcott, 2008;Baumgartner et al, 2022;Figge & Thorpe, 2023), but also include strategies which ultimately reduce the volume of products and services through changes in consumption patterns (Sandberg, 2021) and business practices (Niessen & Bocken, 2021). Product-service systems (PSS) have recently gained attention as potential means to achieve sufficiency (Vezzoli et al, 2021). PSS involve alternative business models that combine tangible products with intangible services (Tukker & Tischner, 2006), and include the access to a product (i.e., use-oriented), performance (i.e., result-oriented), or the provision of additional services, like repair, to an existing product system (i.e., product-oriented) .…”

Investigating the Potential Adoption of Product-Service Systems in the Luggage Industry to Promote Sustainability

“…A concise and often-cited definition of a PSS is "a system of products, services, supporting networks and infrastructures that are designed to be competitive, satisfy customer needs and have a lower environmental impact than traditional business models" [11]. PSSs are also known by the terms Integrated Product Service Offering (IPSO) [29], and Sustainable Product-Service System (S.PSS) [33,34].…”

Designing Activity-based Monitoring as alternative process-based evaluation for Product-Service Systems

“…PSS promotes closed-loop supply chain management through material recovery activities consisting of reuse, remanufacture, and recycling [6]. The material recovery activities contribute to environmental impacts, a circular economy, and a distributed economy [7]- [11]. These multi-aspect benefits increase the utilization of PSS.…”