A Review of Product-service System Design Methodologies
Alexander Richter, Patrice Glaser, Bernhard Kölmel, Lukas Waidelich and Rebecca Bulander
Institute of Smart Systems and Services, Pforzheim University, Tiefenbronner Str.65, Pforzheim, Germany
Keywords: Product-service Systems, PSS, Process Model, Literature Review.
Abstract: In a fast-changing and increasingly digitalized world, companies face numerous challenges today. One of
these challenges is the customer's demand for an integrated offer instead of the purchase of a single product.
By offering product-service systems (PSS), companies are able to fulfil this need with an integrated and
desirably unique value proposition. For the development of those PSS there are numerous process models in
the literature, which present a procedure for systematic PSS development. This paper systematically identifies
and examines available existing process models and compares them with the challenges that PSS are facing
within their development as well as implementation and use-phases. This research aims to support the
integrated and innovative development of future digital product-service systems.
1 INTRODUCTION
The business world today is changing due to
numerous influences and ever-shorter innovation
cycles. This also applies to traditionally oriented,
mostly manufacturing companies, which have to date
often focused on the development, production and
sale of physical products. However, even these
traditional business models, which have been
successful for a long time, are coming under
increasing pressure, as customers no longer demand
just a product, but their focus is increasingly turning
towards the utility of the offering. As a result, former
pure product-oriented companies increasingly
discover new business models that extend the value
proposition through services. In this way, product-
service combinations can offer customers a unique
utility and value. They can also lead to increased
customer loyalty. However, these product-service
combinations must be modularly developed and
individually customizable to the customer in order to
deliver this new value proposition. This shift in
offerings towards servitization can be achieved with
the help of Product-Service Systems (PSS). While the
advantages of these product-service combinations are
obvious, their systematic development is a significant
challenge. For this purpose, the literature offers some
approaches in the form of PSS process models.
This paper aims to identify PSS process models
by means of a systematic literature search and to
compare them with a series of challenges for PSS,
which were identified in a previous analysis (Richter
et al., 2018). On the basis of these criteria, it is
analysed to what extent current PSS process models
are designed in relation to current and future
challenges for PSS. This is particularly relevant in the
context of the increasing digitization of business
processes, business models and entire companies.
Therefore, the development of digital PSS (dPSS) is
becoming increasingly relevant which also might
require novel approaches (Lerch and Gotsch, 2015).
2 METHODOLOGY
The following subsections present the methodology
of the paper. First, the research goal and research
questions are discussed, then the process of literature
research and analysis is described in detail.
2.1 Research Objectives
The aim of this literature analysis is to identify the
current process models for PSS development
available in the literature and to review their
applicability based on challenges that were identified
for this field.
 RQ1: Which approaches for PSS development are
available in the literature?
 RQ2: Which of the identified approaches are
process models for PSS development?
Richter, A., Glaser, P., Kölmel, B., Waidelich, L. and Bulander, R.
A Review of Product-service System Design Methodologies.
DOI: 10.5220/0007917201150126
In Proceedings of the 16th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications (ICETE 2019), pages 115-126
ISBN: 978-989-758-378-0
Copyright
c
 2019 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
115

 RQ3: Which of the identified process models
address commonly discussed PSS challenges?
2.2 Research Process
The literature search was conducted in five
consecutive steps. These consist of (1) the
determination of the basic research parameters
through the application of the Cooper (1988)
taxonomy, (2) the definition of the search terms and
search term combinations for the search of the
databases, (3) the selection of the databases to be
used, (4) the methodological analysis method for the
analysis of the search results as well as (5) a backward
search for further sources of information.
2.2.1 Definition of Research Scope
Harris M. Cooper (1988) analysed a number of
literature reviews and derived a taxonomy for
literature reviews from this research. The taxonomy
consists of six characteristics, which contain several
categories. Table 1 below shows Cooper's
characteristics (left column) and their configuration
for the presented research (right column).
Table 1: Definition of the research.
Focus
The focus of the research is the
identification of process models
available in the accessible literature for
the development of PSS. The identified
process models must have a
description.
Goal
The aim of the research is to identify
and analyse described process models
for PSS development. In addition, the
models are reviewed for the fulfilment
of certain criteria.
Perspective
The perspective of the analysis should
be neutral.
Coverage
The coverage of the review is intended
to be exhaustive with selective citation
on the focused field of investigation.
Organization
The organization of the analysis is
methodologically for the purpose of
analysing different methodological
approaches for PSS development.
Audience
The audience of the review are general
scholars as well as practitioners and
service scientists.
2.2.2 Definition of Search Terms
Since the goal of the research was to identify process
models for the development of PSS, which can be
seen as a part of the research field of servitization, the
following search string was chosen to identify
relevant literature on the searched data bases and
search engines:
“PSS” OR “Product-Service System” OR
“Servitization” AND “Development” OR “Design”
OR “Framework” OR “Model”.
The reasons for defining the named search terms are
that servitization can be seen as a superordinate term
for PSS (Lightfoot et al., 2013) and the terms
framework, model, development, and design are often
used synonymously in the academic literature.
Therefore, those four last terms are most likely to
bring the best search results for PSS process models.
2.2.3 Database Search
The targeted publications were journals and
conference papers from the following
databases/search engines: Science Direct, Springer
Link and Google Scholar. In addition, the scope of the
analyses was limited to the first hundred results from
each source. The last criteria were that the publication
had to be accessible with a regular license for the
database. The search included findings, which were
published until the end of 2017. A further
investigation for new relevant search results was
carried out in April 2018. This search did not lead to
any additional relevant findings. Based on 300 search
results, seven duplicates were removed. After the
relevance check, 87 sources were left. Including
further literature, the total mass was increased to 94
results. The subsequent check for the occurrence of
"model", "framework", "method" and "methodology"
revealed 42 sources. These were then examined for
Kleuker’s (2018) process model criteria, which led to
a remaining total of 13 described procedural models.
2.2.4 Analysis of Search Results
The analysis of search results was conducted through
application of the concept matrix method of Webster
and Watson (2002). All search results were
transferred to an Excel file and the concept matrix
method was applied to them. The concept matrix
provides a framework, for the concept-centric
analysis of literature. Hereby, all relevant findings
can be analysed by pre-defined concepts as well as by
sub-concepts.
2.2.5 Further Search based on First Analysis
If authors of the identified articles cited other sources
that were not identified in the initial database search,
then these sources were also considered for the
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analysis. This was done in order to gain further
insights on the subject of the research.
3 PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEMS
The PSS research community originally emerged
from the Scandinavian region. Basic work on this
topic was carried out by Goedkoop et al. (1999) and
Mont (2000), among others. Further contributions to
the classification of PSS were made by Tukker (2004)
with his description of various PSS types.
In general, according to Baines et al. (2007), the
PSS research field can be seen as a part of
servitization. In this context, the discipline places a
higher focus on the use and benefits of products and
places these factors above their ownership.
Furthermore, it is expected that the integrated
development and offering of the service packages will
generate a higher customer benefit (Baines et al.,
2007).
The field of servitization described by
Vandermerwe and Rada (1988) is divided into five
research fields by Lightfoot et al. (2013). These
include Services Marketing, Service Management,
Operations Management, PSS and Service Science
(Lightfoot et al., 2013). As an addition to PSS, there
is a developing field of industrial PSS that attaches
great importance to the industrial business to business
character (Lightfoot et al., 2013; Meier et al., 2010).
In this article, this research area is assigned to the
overall field of PSS.
The term PSS is also defined differently by various
authors. The following table 2 shows some common
PSS definitions.
For the analysis of PSS process models, an
understanding for the definition on the field and PSS
capabilities is quite relevant. Table 2 lists numerous
definitions, which have all different foci. Those
definitions give the reader room for interpretation of
the PSS field.
4 RESULTS
During the analysis of the literature, the terms
framework, methodology, method, model and
approach were frequently used. Some of them were
used synonymously. The table below presents the
identified process models and allocates them to one
of the five categories. Additionally, the title of the
model is also mentioned. In the course of the analysis
it became apparent that, despite the promoted
contents (e.g. in title or abstract), the literature does
not always address the exact process model of such a
PSS development model or does not describe it in
detail.
Table 2: PSS Definitions.
Source
Definition
Goedkoop
et al. (1999)
“A Product Service system (PS system) is a
marketable set of products and services
capable of jointly fulfilling a user’s need.
The PS system is provided by either a
single company or by an alliance of
companies. It can enclose products (or just
one) plus additional services. It can enclose
a service plus an additional product. And
product and service can be equally
important for the function fulfilment.”
Mont
(2002b)
“A system of products, services, supporting
networks and infrastructure that is designed
to be: competitive, satisfy customer needs
and have a lower environmental impact
than traditional business models.”
Manzini
and Vezzoli
(2002)
“A Product-Service System can be defined
as the result of an innovation strategy,
shifting the business focus from designing
and selling physical products only, to
selling a system of products and services
which are jointly capable of fulfilling
specific client demands.”
Brandstotte
r et al.
(2003)
“A PSS consists of tangible products and
intangible services, designed and combined
so that they are jointly capable of fulfilling
specific customer needs. Additionally PSS
tries to reach the goals of sustainable
development.”
Wong
(2004)
“Product Service-Systems (PSS) may be
defined as a solution offered for sale that
involves both a product and a service
element, to deliver the required
functionality.”
Tukker and
Tischner
(2006)
Product-service systems (PSS) are a
specific type of value proposition that a
business (network) offers to (or co-
produces with) its clients. PSS consists of a
mix of tangible products and intangible
services designed and combined so that
they jointly are capable of fulfilling final
customer needs.
Baines et al.
(2007)
“The concept of a Product-Service System
(PSS) is a special case of servitization. A
PSS can be thought of as a market
proposition that extends the traditional
functionality of a product by incorporating
additional services. Here the emphasis is
on the ‘sale of use’ rather than the ‘sale of
product’.“
A Review of Product-service System Design Methodologies
117

The lack of details results in the reader not being
able to transfer the presented theoretical model into
the practical application. Furthermore, an analysis of
models that are described in a superficial way is not
feasible.
In order to be able to analyse the presented
models more precisely, the identified 42 models were
examined based on the predefined criteria of a
procedure model according to Kleuker (2018) in the
subsequent step. In a second step (Table 2), the
models that meet these criteria are analysed and
described in more detail.
Finally, the remaining 13 models are confronted
with the challenges for the development of PSS,
which were identified in a previous analysis (Richter
et al., 2018).
4.1 Process Model Definition
According to Kleuker (2018) a process model
generally describes the entire process from initiation
through execution to completion of a project (defined
in this paper as selection of the right PSS). Like all
other models, a process model represents a simplified
representation of reality and is based on an idealized
project. The goal of all process models is the
specification of a methodical procedure. As a rule, a
standardized structuring of projects into clearly
defined project phases is carried out using a process
model (Kleuker, 2018).
4.2 Identified Models
As described above, the following table displays the
identified 42 models.
Table 3: Identified PSS Development Models.
Source
Type
Meets criteria
according to
Kleuker (2018)
Framework
Methodology
Method
Model
Approach
Geum and
Park (2011)
X
Aurich et al.
(2010)
X
X
Rondini et al.
(2016)
X
X
Marilungo et
al. (2016)
X
Maussang et
al. (2009)
X
Bakås et al.
(2013)
X
X
Marques et al.
(2013)
X
X
Yang et al.
(2009)
X
Medini et al.
(2014)
X
X
Chen and Li
(2010)
X
Tan et al.
(2007)
X
Pigosso and
McAloone
(2016)
X
X
Pieroni et al.
(2016)
X
X
Nguyen et al.
(2013)
X
X
Helo et al.
(2017)
X
Song and
Sakao (2017)
X
X
Maleki et al.
(2017)
X
Mourtzis et
al. (2017)
X
Adrodegari et
al. (2016)
X
Tran and Park
(2016)
X
X
Bertoni et al.
(2016)
X
Scherer et al.
(2016)
X
X
X
Medini et al.
(2015)
X
Pezzotta et al.
(2015)
X
X
Weeks and
Benade
(2015)
X
Schmidt et al.
(2015)
X
X
X
Joore and
Brezet (2015)
X
Kim et al.
(2015)
X
X
X
Pigosso and
McAloone
(2015)
X
X
Vezzoli et al.
(2014)
X
Schenkl et al.
(2014)
X
X
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Table 3: Identified PSS Development Models (cont.).
Source
Type
Meets criteria
according to
Kleuker (2018)
Framework
Methodology
Method
Model
Approach
Stacey and
Tether (2014)
X
Pezzotta et al.
(2013)
X
X
Gokula
Vijaykumar
et al. (2013)
X
X
Pezzotta et al.
(2012)
X
X
Isaksson et al.
(2011)
X
Yang et al.
(2010)
X
X
Shih et al.
(2009)
X
Aurich et al.
(2009)
X
X
Maussang et
al. (2007)
X
Weber et al.
(2004)
X
X
Manzini and
Vezzoli
(2003)
X
X
Mont (2001)
X
X
Table 4: Selection of identified PSS Process Models that
meet the criteria for the definition to Process Models.
Source
Kind of PSS
Number of
Phases
Yang et al. (2010)
Result-oriented
4
Bakås et al. (2013)
General
9
Gokula Vijaykumar et al.
(2013)
General
10
Marques et al. (2013)
General
4
Pezzotta et al. (2013)
General
5
Medini et al. (2014)
General
3
Kim et al. (2015)
Service-oriented
4
Schmidt et al. (2015)
General
3
Pieroni et al. (2016)
General
6
Rondini et al. (2016)
General
3
Scherer et al. (2016)
General
5
Tran and Park (2016)
General
3
Song and Sakao (2017)
General
4
4.3 Challenges for PSS and Model
Analysis
This section describes the analysis of the identified
process models. Here, the models are confronted with
the challenges described for PSS development
(Richter et al., 2018). The aim of this approach is to
assess existing models in relation to current and
future challenges of PSS design. The majority of the
presented challenges relate to the organizational level
or to the design of the services.
4.3.1 Pricing Policies
The costs and pricing policy of the PSS pose a
problem, as on the one hand, customers are not
familiar with buying PSS concepts and on the other
hand, companies have difficulty in offering them. In
the analysed process models this challenge is only
considered to a limited extent. While Schmidt et al.
(2015) considers costs at the level of the "cost/price
customer barrier" with its sub-categories of
acquisition costs and total operating costs as well as
transaction costs, Marques et al. (2013) states the
importance of a cost-benefit analysis, which is
intended to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of
PSS solutions in the planning phase. In their "Service
Engineering Framework", Pezzotta et al. (2013)
describe costs only in the context of cost savings
during the service development phase. This is
emphasized as an advantage of the presented model.
Compared to this, Tran and Park (2016) acknowledge
the challenge of pricing, but do not describe how this
difficulty can be overcome. All other models do not
contain statements on this topic.
4.3.2 Contracts and Cooperation
Since the offer of a PSS often requires a consortium
of companies to provide the offer jointly, the
cooperation agreements and the associated
regulations on the distribution of sales are an
important aspect, which can have a negative impact
on the success of the PSS (Richter et al., 2018). None
of the models analysed deals with this difficulty.
4.3.3 Uncertainty and Risk
This challenge describes the emergence of
uncertainties and risks due to the transfer of product-
related risk to the provider. While this risk is
transferred to the customer when selling products, it
remains on the seller's side when selling PSS due to
the lack of transfer of risk. Bakås et al. (2013) model
is based on the principle of portfolio management, the
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objectives of which include balancing risks and
payment. For example, based on Hanski et al. (2012),
a product service portfolio is to be managed like a
financial portfolio. As a result, solutions with a high
risk factor are balanced by solutions with a low or
medium risk factor. Tran and Park (2016) mention
risks and uncertainties in a different context. They
state that the evaluation of the PSS during the
development phase can reduce the risk associated
with the launch. Pezzotta et al. (2013) also describe a
way of reducing risks. They are convinced that the
introduction of a tool for assessing profitability and
risks can reduce the associated costs. The other
models do not explicitly address the challenges of
uncertainty or risk.
4.3.4 Communication Strategy
A lack of market acceptance can be overcome by
convincing the customer of the value of the PSS, its
potential and the benefits of ownership-free
consumption through a strong communication
strategy. The focus of the communication strategies
must therefore be well aligned with the needs of the
customers. None of the models analysed allows more
detailed insights into this topic.
4.3.5 Current Business Model
In order to design future business models as
successfully as possible, a detailed understanding of
the current business model, the company´s mindset
and tools is important. This creates a good basis for
future developments. Bakås et al. (2013) begin their
model by examining existing internal offerings.
Gokula Vijaykumar et al. (2013) also describe how
essential it is to identify the current business models.
However, the focus here is not only on offers
already launched on the market which could help to
meet customer needs, but also on those which are
currently being planned. Similarly, Rondini et al.
(2016) argue that it is important to evaluate how
current business models can be changed to meet
customers' needs. Marques et al. (2013) also deal with
the analysis of existing business models in their
framework. In contrast to the other models, the
review of existing design processes is seen as one of
the organizational prerequisites for developing a PSS.
However, Pieroni et al. (2016) describe the handling
of the topic of current business models in the most
detailed way. The aim of the first phase of the model
presented by them is to understand the current
business models and further information about the
business context. This is done, among other things, by
evaluating the current business model using specific
questionnaires containing internal and external
aspects. The models of the authors who are not
mentioned do not cover this challenge.
4.3.6 Organizational Transformation
The shift from a product or service provider to a PSS
provider requires organisational adjustments. These
include the alignment and development of processes
and the framework conditions for the effective
development and provision of PSS. This change
represents a major challenge, especially for
manufacturing companies (Baines et al., 2009;
Gebauer and Fleisch, 2007; Gebauer and Friedli,
2005; Mathieu, 2001; Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003).
Both Marques et al. (2013) and Medini et al.
(2014) recognize this challenge and deal with it in
their models in different ways. While Medini et al.
(2014) focus on supporting organizational
restructuring, Marques et al. (2013) focus on a more
detailed description of organizational transformation
and its importance. Organizational transformation is
not explicitly described in the other models.
4.3.7 Customer Mindset
A change in the mindset of the customer is a challenge
that can negatively influence the market launch of a
PSS and its associated benefits. Only the model of
Yang et al. (2010) deals with this challenge. Among
other things, the model contains a quotation phase.
This phase contains an element that deals with the
training of PSS users. It is intended to prepare
customers to understand the features of the PSS
offering and their responsibilities.
4.3.8 Ability to Deliver Services
Another challenge is to build the skills needed for
service provision and delivery (Richter et al., 2018).
The only process model that considers the capabilities
of the company is the model of Gokula Vijaykumar
et al. (2013). It starts with the analysis of customer
skills, through which the offers can be tailored to
potential customers. This analysis also helps to
develop the company's capabilities together with
those of its stakeholders. In addition, changes in
capabilities between different stakeholders may
require additional resources and should therefore be
coordinated. The model does not specifically address
the skills needed to deliver services.
4.3.9 Service Design
Service design is one of the biggest obstacles when it
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comes to offering PSS solutions. Services tend to be
less well developed, due to the lack of expertise of
companies in this field (Cavalieri and Pezzotta,
2012). Service design is described by Rondini et al.
(2016) as a very difficult task that has to work
seamlessly with traditional product design. Due to
their intangibility, vagueness and parallelism of
services, they are difficult to reconcile with a
traditional product design method. All other models
do not deal more closely with the design of the
service.
4.3.10 Right People and Qualifications
Based on the differences in the required skills (PSS
development compared to product development), it is
necessary to train or hire the right people (Brehm and
Klein; Tukker, 2004). The challenge of strategically
building human resources management is also related
to this (Matsumoto and Kamigaki, 2013). None of the
process models presented is specifically dealing with
the selection, hiring or training of the right people in
the design team. Kim et al. (2015) only identify the
two different actors, service providers and product
partners, who are responsible for different phases of
the model.
4.3.11 Customer Needs and Value
Understanding
For traditionally oriented companies, another
challenge is to understand customer needs and to
create a value understanding for PSS on the customer
side. Martinez et al. (2010) describe this process as
"reading between the lines" and to empathize the
customer. Yang et al. (2010) dedicate a separate
phase to this challenge, in which customer
requirements are identified and classified through
discussions with the customer or through the analysis
of marketing data. Yang et al. (2010) refer to the
derivation of customer needs in the first step of their
model. Pezzotta et al. (2013) deal with this challenge
in their first phase (Idea phase), in which an analysis
of the different customer segments is carried out in
order to develop an understanding of the core needs
of the customers. Marques et al. (2013) believe that
customer needs can be identified through market
studies or direct contact with customers. In addition,
the operator of the model should focus on the needs
related to PSS solutions. In contrast, Kim et al. (2015)
argue that for service-oriented PSS, a requirements
analysis should be conducted based on services. With
product-oriented PSS, on the other hand, an analysis
of requirements should be carried out which relate
specifically to product characteristics. In their second
phase, they focus on looking at the needs of
customers who have led to the development of
existing services and derive product functions from
them. Rondini et al. (2016) go one step further. They
present the three different options (1) analysis of
social networks and moods, (2) the persona model
and (3) brainstorming, through which customer needs
can be assessed in the first phase of the PSCT model.
Scherer et al. (2016) add another aspect, which is not
described by the other models. This process model
analyses not only the articulated, but also the non-
articulated customer needs in order to develop
innovative and thus profitable PSS concepts. Tran
and Park (2016) show a different approach in their
framework to determine what customers are
searching for in their offerings. They suggest
obtaining customer opinions on already developed
PSS concepts and implementing them in a new PSS.
In Medini et al.’s (2014) model, customer interviews
are conducted in order to find out their requirements
as precisely as possible. The models of Medini et al.
(2014) and Pieroni et al. (2016) are very similar in the
idea of identifying customer needs in order to develop
value creation potentials with respect to services and
products. In contrast to the models mentioned above,
the process model of Schmidt et al. (2015) does not
deal with the analysis of customer needs. Instead, on
the second level of their model, they focus
exclusively on the barriers that prevent the selected
target customers from taking advantage of the PSS
offering.
4.3.12 Traditional Methods for New
Challenges
The literature argues that companies often fail in their
PSS projects due to the use of traditional frameworks
and the new challenges they face (Baines et al., 2007;
Beuren et al., 2013; Cavalieri and Pezzotta, 2012;
Exner and Stark, 2015; Lerch and Gotsch, 2015;
Sassanelli et al., 2015). The model of Yang et al.
(2010) was developed from a combination of the
product lifecycle perspective and the customer
service lifecycle perspective, and extended by
adjustments of some phases. Bakås et al. (2013)
developed their process model on the basis of
portfolio management, but it consists of four
reassembled phases. The model by Schmidt et al.
(2015) is based on the layer model by Schenkl et al.
(2014). The individual levels were adapted to the goal
of creating a customer-oriented model. Furthermore,
they add a strategy environment to their model. Kim
et al. (2015) also derive their framework from an
existing one. The product development model of
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121

Table 4: Confrontation of PSS Process Models and Challenges for the Application of PSS.
X: Challenge is taken up by the model and is taken up in parts of the model during execution. The challenge is eliminated,
or its impact reduced.
[X]: Challenge is recognized by the author, but the problem is not solved by the process model.
Challenge - Sources
Yang et al.
(2010)
Bakås et al.
(2013)
Gokula Vijaykumar et al.
(2013)
Marques et al.
(2013)
Pezzotta et al.
(2013)
Medini et al.
(2014)
Kim et al.
(2015)
Schmidt et al.
(2015)
Pieroni et al.
(2016)
Rondini et al.
(2016)
Scherer et al.
(2016)
Tran and Park
(2016)
Song and Sakao
(2017)
Contracts and profit distribution
Price policy and costs
x
[x]
x
[x]
Uncertainty and risk
x
x
x
Communication strategy
Current business model
x
x
x
x
x
Organizational transformation
x
x
Changes in customer mindset
x
Capabilities for service delivery
[x]
Service Design
[x]
The right people with the right capabilities
[x]
Customer requirements and value creation potential
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
New frameworks
[x]
x
x
x
x
[x]
x
x
x
x
Support from top management
Excited group of people
Strategic planning and an ideal management
information system
x
x
New tools and methods
Cooper et al. (2002a, 2002b) was taken as a model
and combined with the service development process
of Brügemann (2000) as well as the approaches of
various PSS development projects described by
Tukker and Tischner (2006). Another model based on
existing approaches is the framework of Scherer et al.
(2016). Their design is based on the SEEM (SErvice
Engineering Methodology) by Pezzotta et al. (2014).
4.3.13 Top Management Support
Another aspect that can determine the success of the
PSS, but is difficult to achieve, is the support of the
top management (Kuo et al., 2010; Mont, 2002a;
Richter et al., 2018). None of the models presented
describes this problem explicitly or offers a solution.
4.3.14 Passionate PSS Supporter
A previous analysis (Richter et al., 2018) highlights a
challenge presented by Mont (2002a) to find a person
or group who are interested in the topic of PSS and
can actively promote it. This topic is not explicitly
dealt with in any of the process models analysed.
4.3.15 Strategic Planning and Management
Information System
Further obstacles are the lack of strategic planning
and management information systems (Kuo et al.,
2010). These challenges are considered in two of the
thirteen process models. The first stage of the PSS
development project by Kim et al. (2015) is initiated
by the service provider and begins with the strategic
planning phase. This includes activities ranging from
the choice of product strategy to the development of
a PSS development concept that combines existing
services with products to increase competitiveness.
The second approach to this issue is the model of
Schmidt et al. (2015), which incorporates strategic
planning activities within its strategy environment.
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4.3.16 Traditional Tools and Methods
This challenge is described by Cavalieri and Pezzotta
(2012) and Baines et al. (2007) in the context of
traditional approaches for new challenges. They
argue that the traditional methods and tools that are
often used are no longer suitable for the new
circumstances in the context of PSS, and therefore
rarely lead to new results. All models analysed use
tools and methods that were originally developed for
traditional product or service development. Table 5
confronts the selected PSS process models with the
previously (Richter et al., 2018) identified challenges
for PSS development.In conclusion, based on the
analysis carried out on the basis of the predefined
criteria (Richter et al., 2018), it can be stated that none
of the analysed models considers all challenges.
While the issues of contracts and cooperations,
communication strategy, top management support,
passionate PSS supporter and traditional tools and
methods are not addressed by any of the models,
almost all of the models presented an analysis of
customer needs. The model of Marques et al. (2013)
is the one that tries to overcome the most challenges.
5 CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK
With regard to the research questions of this
contribution, it can be summarized that PSS
development approaches were systematically
identified and analysed. From those identified
models, process models were extracted and analysed
in detail. These identified process models were
examined to determine whether they address
commonly discussed challenges for PSS
development and implementation, which were
identified in an earlier research. Therefore, all
research questions were answered and new insights
for PSS research were generated.
Within the analysis of PSS process models, no
model has been identified that represents a holistic
solution among all predefined challenges. The
analysed models are very different, but similar in the
aspect that they often use traditional tools. Important
topics, such as the choice of the right actors and
partners, as well as their training on PSS, are not
discussed in detail by the models presented.
Concerning future process models for the
development of PSS, this analysis deduces that the
methodology and design of the models must be more
adapted to current requirements. This also applies to
the increasing number of domains and business
models that are influenced by digitization and that
entail an adaptation of PSS development. This also
applies to the use of methods that incorporate the
opportunities that digital advances have opened up.
To develop PSS business models successfully and
thus ensure a higher benefit for the customer side as
well as for the company side and to reduce the
uncertainty on both sides, a stronger involvement of
top management can also be useful. In addition, the
sensitization of the actors involved in the
development of PSS, such as employees or
customers, can have a positive effect on the resulting
uncertainties and reservations of the involved parties.
Further research should therefore focus on
developing a process model that can be used
universally for the development of all PSS types. It
should address the presented challenges as well as
topics such as the uncertainty of the actors and the
increase of their knowledge in the area of PSS. In
addition, this model should also focus on
digitalisation issues and contribute to the
development of innovative digital PSS (dPSS).
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