Product Service System competitiveness and economic performance: insights from multiple case studies

The aim of this work is that of investigating PSS actual contribution in reaching firms’ strategic goals, exploring if it really could be a successful proposal, bringing a competitive advantage thanks to concrete economic results, and making the PSS worth the efforts to implement and run it. This aim derives in the following research question: RQ: How could PSS bring to a competitive advantage for firms seeking new opportunities linked to sustainability themes? To answer this research question the case study methodology has been adopted, to take into account the complex systems of variables characterizing the PSS phenomenon and its performance in terms of strategic goals and competitiveness. The case study is the preferred method to investigate an empirical topic by following a set of pre-specified rules and procedures; it allows a holistic and contextualized analysis, properly suited for exploratory research purposes, because it allows the identification of crucial variables while exploring a given phenomenon. In particular, this research employed a multiple case study design, because “it allows both an in-depth examination of each case and the identification of contingent variables that distinguish each case from the other” (Yin, 1984; Eisenhardt, 1989). Moreover, the essence of a case study is that it tries to illuminate a decision or a set of decisions: why they were taken, how they were implemented, and with what result (Schramm, 1971). The study involved 9 firms selected in Italy and abroad, operating in different industries and involving different categories and types of PSS, i.e. product-oriented, use-oriented, result-oriented (Tukker, 2004), differing also in terms of dimensions. In this way it has been possible to address one of the main drawbacks evidenced, that is the absence of empirical studies involving and examining different realities inside the same phenomenon. One of the main advantages in investigating companies differing on the basis of more elements (like industry, dimension, and core business) was that of uncovering differences in performance attributable to one or more of these characteristics. An important element in conducting interviews was that of understanding if PSS was part of a pilot project, a consolidated reality, or was on the way to be dismissed from firm’s set of strategic choices, because analysing cases of failure was an important element of the research just as examining successful ones.Drawing upon cases analysed, what emerged is that the employment of PSS in emerging industries, like those exploiting sharing economy concepts (e.g. car sharing), has proved to be a successful competitive and strategic move in almost all organizations, also adopting different business models and PSS categories. For example, firms running car-sharing offerings, although presenting differences in prices, available cars and forms of renting/payment, they all encountered a good answer (and a rising number of subscriptions) from customers, showing that the most successful element lies in the car-sharing concept, rather than particular details of the business model employed. On the other hand, companies operating in more traditional industries like construction management firms and those employing an Engineer-to-order approach, showed some important constraints in running a PSS, mainly linked to customers’ resistance to change traditional business models and lack of trust in an offer where they do not buy the product but its use. An important result emerging is that there are no significant differences attributable to a specific industry or to firms’ dimensions, but one of the main constraints and obstacle emerging is that of path dependence, which seems to highly affect PSS adoption and success. As already reported, customer perception appears to be a key element to ensure a successful implementation of PSS, and an important point is that it is strongly affected by “success stories”, e.g. a similar PSS business model, adopted elsewhere, and known to have experienced a good response from customers, positively affects the adoption and acceptance of the same model in other markets. This is for example the case of car sharing, whose acceptance has been, and still is, strongly affected by its earlier and successful adoptions, like those in northern European countries.