The Sustainable Value Proposition of PSSs: The Case of ECOBEL “Shower Head”

Abstract

Product/Service Systems are conceived to be competitive, satisfy customer needs and have a lower environmental impact than traditional business models. Based on a single case study, this paper analyses the specific sustainable value proposition that a company has designed to replace a low-cost product by an innovative Product Service Solution. The objective of the company is to replace the "shower head" in every hospital room. The concept that was developed does not consist in replacing product "A" by an equivalent product "B", but in changing radically the offer. The Product Service Solution includes a lifecycle analyses, by integrating environmental social and economic impacts into the different main phases, i.e. beginning of life (BOL), Middle-oflife (MOL) and End-of-life (EOL). Even though the product that was designed to support the service looks very simple, the design of this innovative solution highlights the role of the functional analyses to be more environmental friendly, to improve social issues and finally proposes a new business model based on servicisation. The "shower head" as a service developed by ECOBEL is far beyond the low-cost product used today in the French hospital, by integrating a new sustainable value proposition.

Who are the Stakeholders Mentioned in Cases of Product-Service System (PSS) Design?

“…Result-oriented (Gilles and Christine, 2016) "Shower head" as a service developed by ECOBEL Result-oriented (Hannon, Foxon and Gale, 2015) Energy service provision by Energy Service Company (ESCo)…”

“…In its turn, some studies focused on identifying a heterogeneous set of stakeholders involved in the PSS design or operation, or even those that are impacted by the decisions. Gilles and Christine (2016), for example, investigated the stakeholders on the value system of the ECOBEL's PSS regarding the aspects of security, traceability and maintenance, sustainability and economic issue. Yip, Phaal and Probert (2013) grouped different stakeholders engaged in the new health ICT PSS based on different degrees of proximity of them to the operations of the PSS (business environment, system, product, and service delivery).…”

“…of the system must be also contemplated. Gilles and Christine (2016) and Tan, Mcaloone and Gall (2007) focused on identifying the company's internal stakeholders. By doing that, the business culture perspective is considered on the PSS design besides the attention to the market orientation.…”

“…This term alludes to individuals or groups that take part in an activity and have a high influence in the design process. Some authors also use the "network" designation (e.g., Gilles and Christine, 2016) and their derivation for referring to stakeholders, such as "network of players", "network of actors", "alliance network", "network of contributors", "supply network", and "network environment". Traditionally, the term "network" designates to individuals or groups connected in a system within and between businesses.…”

“…Servitization and PSS design require the development of a new business model, which is guided by the value proposition (Laurischkat and Viertelhausen, 2017). A successful value proposition relies on the organizations' ability to meet the interests of stakeholders, providing benefits to a large number of them (Gilles and Christine, 2016). The decision-making process when designing PSS value propositions should involve different stakeholders, since decisions may impact the entire PSS lifecycle.…”