Claudio Lamprecht

Manufacturing firms are increasingly moving beyond merely selling products to offering product-service systems (PSSs) integrated bundles of hardware, services, and software designed to address customer needs. While PSSs are not new, they have recently gained considerable momentum owing to the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). In the past, service was all about sending people to customer sites. Today, connected products enable remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, remote updates, and more. In essence, companies can digitize essential PSS services while keeping their marginal costs close to zero. However, many manufacturers struggle to successfully develop and commercialize PSSs. The increasing interest in PSSs has resulted in a rapidly growing body of literature. Thus far, however, knowledge about how manufacturers can implement PSSs is limited. The extant research fails to provide the knowledge, tools, and guidelines needed to support manufacturers in this transition. In order to address this research gap, this thesis uses three original studies to investigate how companies can transition connected products to sustainable PSSs. All three studies apply an inductive multiple case study approach to derive meaningful insights into a complex, real-world phenomenon. The first study investigates misconceptions about PSSs to provide practitioners with a clear understanding of these systems. The results reveal six misconceptions that prevent manufacturers from transitioning towards PSSs. The misconceptions relate to when PSSs are relevant, what they are, and how firms should approach them. The second study explores PSS business model patterns with the aim of supporting the design of sustainable PSS business models. In an analysis of 199 PSSs, the study reveals 58 patterns that characterize value proposition, value capture, and value creation elements. The patterns represent the building blocks of existing PSS business models that can be reused, reassembled, and recombined in new PSS business models. The third study examines how manufacturers can measure PSS performance. It uncovers a key performance indicator set that can be used to comprehensively measure PSS performance, thereby allowing manufacturers to manage the progress and outcomes of their PSS transformations. The findings of this thesis contribute new theoretical knowledge and serve practitioners by helping them generate a business impact.