Jakob Axel Bejbro Andersen

Building an Ontology of Product/Service-Systems: Using a Maritime Case Study to Elicit Classifications and Characteristics

In recent years, the innovation strategy and development process entitled Product/Service-Systems (PSS), has attracted considerable attention from the research and industrial communities. The many contributions have come from various academic and professional viewpoints, which despite providing a rich view of PSS as a strategy, also leaves some confusion as to what actually constitutes a PSS. The definition of a PSS ontology could provide the basis for a more systematic knowledge gathering within the field and facilitate the application of integrated solutions within the industry. Ontologies provide an effective tool for a knowledge management process, due to their semantic capabilities, interoperability and extendibility. A PSS ontology for domain conceptualisation is proposed that captures the underlying end-user value and relates to existing PSS offerings. The PSS ontology is subsequently integrated into an ontology for the maritime sector, in order to allow for the identification of the PSS implementation opportunities within the industry. A maritime ontology can help the industry to document and reuse tacit knowledge while facilitating the implementation and value assessment of PSS solutions.

Deciding on PSS: A Framework for PSS Strategies

Product/Service-Systems (PSS) are a strategic approach wherein the value proposition covers the performance of a system throughout the whole life cycle. Many industrial companies are challenged on many levels in the transition process towards a PSS oriented approach. Much of the literature has until now focused on PSS from a design object perspective, and less focus has been on how the business model of the company must be designed simultaneously with the offering, covering topics as organisational restructuring, value chain collaboration plus a change management focus. This paper presents a PSS strategy topic matrix, as a boundary object for the company, aimed at creating a shared understanding of important factors in the organisation while evaluating, developing, implementing and operating a PSS strategy. This is done through an empirical foundation of twelve companies representing a whole branch industry, together with three cases of industrial best-practice.

Collaborative Product/Service-Systems – On Conceptualisation of PSS Offerings and Business Nets

Collaborative PSS development and operation, where multiple stakeholders are involved, is an emerging research area. This articles looks at the intra and inter-organisational company considerations in the industry case of company collaboration in the maritime branch. Initial steps are taken towards a framework that aligns service strategies and their unique value proposition with a set of business nets that seeks lights on the value-logic and management mechanisms to design and control each network.

The influence of costs and benefits' analysis on service strategy formulation: Learnings from the shipping industry

Abstract Although servitization as a transformation process is being recognized by an increasing number of firms as a source of competitive advantage, the role of economic evaluations in service strategy formulation has so far attracted limited attention – and predominantly from the manufacturer perspective. This paper assesses how the analysis of costs and benefits of Product-Service Systems (PSS) as servitized offerings influences the formulation of service strategies in the shipping industry. The study examines both the manufacturer and customer perspectives using two case studies from the shipping sector. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) was used as a tool to assess the associated costs and benefits of two proposed PSS. Based on the results of the LCC, the drivers and barriers of the actual transformation processes were explored through workshops and interviews served to map the perspectives of both manufacturers and customers. For both case studies the LCC revealed that, while the PSS resulted in a decrease in life cycle costs and a possible revenue opportunity, there was also a lack of fundamental demand for PSS that could complicate the formulation of service strategies. Towards formulating service strategies, the analysis of costs and benefits highlighted the importance of the abilities of both the customer and the manufacturer to deliver and implement a PSS. Moreover, the customer perspective highlighted the importance of internal functions and capabilities that allowed the customer to implement and benefit from service strategies.

Step-by-step towards PSS - Evaluating, Deciding and Executing

Successful implementation of product-service system (PSS) as business strategy has proven lucrative through many industry examples. However, companies should tread carefully before committing to a costly restructuring towards PSS business creation. This paper claims that before a company moves from being a product to a product-service provider they should carefully consider internal and external aspects with regard to their organization, their market and their network. The paper proposes a three step process labelled the Evaluate-Decide-Execute approach; an approach that should enable the company to first evaluate the foundation for PSS, and then decide whether to commit to this course, and finally execute the transformation.