Preparing for smart product-service system (PSS) implementation: an investigation into the Daimler group

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the main factors behind advancing the integration of products and services in the Brazilian subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz (MBB), and how Smart PSS has been perceived by other business units of the Daimler Group. We conducted an in-depth qualitative single-case study research to investigate the critical steps preceding the implementation of a smart PSS. The study was based on the main tactical areas of a PSS business model which was applied to MBB's possible integration of their equipment (called Fleetboard) in a smart PSS solution. The findings demonstrate that the internal culture of a product-centric automotive manufacturing firm can prohibit the sales of services, even when service technologies are available. On the other hand, financial pressures can create the sense of urgency required for the firm to appreciate the necessity of change. The process of change is too complex, since it requires capabilities in key areas such as the law, marketing, networking/partnerships, design, sustainability, and organization and human resources management. Our study shows how the company considers alternative options in order to reduce organizational barriers, develop partnerships and legal competence to offer PSS contracts, as well as seeking alignment between design, marketing and sustainability requirements.

Cultural change in servitization – a conceptual review and framework

“…Consistent with the separation debate in serviceoriented structures, digital servitization benefits from specialized but highly integrative digital service and data units operating within an agile, learning-oriented and collaborative structure that fosters intense knowledge-sharing (Bustinza et al, 2018;Genzlinger et al, 2020;Huikkola et al, 2022;Sklyar et al, 2019b;Struyf et al, 2021). This includes overcoming resistance to digital servitization (Ferreira Junior et al, 2022), preventing data silos (Schymanietz et al, 2022) and facilitating firsthand digitalization experiences that enable members to work differently, explain their journeys and scale learning toward digital service culture (Tronvoll et al, 2020). In this context, integrative separation fosters cultural ambidexterity through back-ends (e.g.…”

“…In excellence-driven servitization, innovation orientation supports radical breaks in strategies and structures. This is to overcome product-driven rigidities and silo thinking and to guide the operationalization of agile structures that support openness to exploring new ways of delivering value through digital services, change readiness, the development of service-, customer-and digital-oriented mindsets and data analytics capabilities (Bustinza et al, 2018;Chen et al, 2022;Ferreira Junior et al, 2022;Frishammar et al, 2019;Huikkola et al, 2020;Sj€ odin et al, 2020;Sklyar et al, 2019a;Smania et al, 2022;Tronvoll et al, 2020). Given the central role of learning-oriented values in challenging outdated mental models and subsequently in determining the radicality and sustainability of cultural change (Baker et al, 2022;Wolf et al, 2022), this research proposes:…”

Digital service innovation (DSI): a multidisciplinary (re)view of its origins and progress using bibliometric and text mining methods

“…Regarding processes, mediators and moderators, many factors can be identified. The studies tend to conceptualize the process as a digital servitization path, servitization process (Ferreira Junior et al. , 2022).…”

Product-Services for a Resource-Efficient and Circular Economy: An Updated Review

“…Regarding Smart PSSs, this category broadly refers to the integration of smart products and services into innovative solutions that respond to customer needs. References [45,46] describe this category as a transdisciplinary sociotechnical system consisting of various stakeholders, intelligent systems, and digital servitization. Reference [47] refers to it as a digitally enabled business solution delivered within an ecosystem that yields economic and sustainable value to the customer by integrating products and services into a single intelli-gent offer.…”

“…Still, PSS-based circular business models are widely acknowledged in scientific and industrial research as the most suitable for achieving circularity [15]. Reference [45] points to the fact that the merging of digitalization and servitization provides the occasion to satisfy the demands of a new reality and consumer market, leading to a greater integration of PSSs in industry. This integration has great potential for fostering a sustainable manufacturing industry and sustaining competitiveness and innovation.…”