Zoekresultaten

Implementing Product-Service System Business Models in the Building and Construction Sector

The building and construction industry, which is responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions, is far off track in achieving its net-zero emission targets. Product-service system (PSS) business models are one of the instruments used by the industry in the transition toward reaching these targets. A PSS business model is designed around an end-of-life solution that minimizes material usage and maximizes energy efficiency. It is provided to customers as a marketable set of products and services, jointly capable of fulfilling a customer’s needs. There are signals from practice however, that suggest that the implementation of this type of business model is falling behind. This study investigates this and seeks to identify key challenges and opportunities for sustainable PSS business models in the built environment. Using a grounded theory approach, data from 13 semi-structured interviews across five companies is used to identify challenges and opportunities that suppliers are facing in selling their products through PSS business models. Our preliminary data analysis points to nine challenges and opportunities for PSS business models. We discuss these in the context of the current economic transition toward a sustainable and circular built environment and provide suggestions for further research that could help to overcome resistance toward the implementation of PSS business models. The contribution of this research to researchers and practitioners is that it provides insights into the adoption of new business models in fragmented and competitive business environments.

A Psychological Ownership Based Design Tool to Close the Resource Loop in Product Service Systems

Closing the loop of products and materials in Product Service Systems (PSS) can be approached by designers in several ways. One promising strategy is to invoke a greater sense of ownership of the products and materials that are used within a PSS. To develop and evaluate a design tool in the context of PSS, our case study focused on a bicycle sharing service. The central question was whether and how designers can be supported with a design tool, based on psychological ownership, to involve users in closing the loop activities. We developed a PSS design tool based on psychological ownership literature and implemented it in a range of design iterations. This resulted in ten design proposals and two implemented design interventions. To evaluate the design tool, 42 project members were interviewed about their design process. The design interventions were evaluated through site visits, an interview with the bicycle repairer responsible, and nine users of the bicycle service. We conclude that a psychological ownership-based design tool shows potential to contribute to closing the resource loop by allowing end users and service provider of PSS to collaborate on repair and maintenance activities. Our evaluation resulted in suggestions for revising the psychological ownership design tool, including adding ‘Giving Feedback’ to the list of affordances, prioritizing ‘Enabling’ and ‘Simplification’ over others and recognize a reciprocal relationship between service provider and service user when closing the loop activities.

Product service systems

Reviewing the climatic impacts of product service systems: Implications for research and practice

Product service systems (PSS) are an example of a novel business model billed as having the potential to significantly reduce the environmental burdens of production and consumption processes. However, despite widespread interest in PSS, consensus regarding their actual environmental impacts, particularly with regard to salient issues such as global warming, is lacking. Hence this paper explores existing research to investigate the state of the art regarding the climatic impacts of PSS, alongside the set of factors that influence climatic impacts. The paper comprises a systematic review of peer-reviewed academic literature, quantifying the extent to which different types of PSS have the capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across multiple product categories. Our study shows that significant reductions in climatic emissions are possible, but PSS are in many cases associated with more modest reductions and, in some cases, increased emissions. Further, we observe no clear differences in climatic impacts according to the type of PSS model that is deployed. Rather, differences in climatic impact are influenced by factors such as production and design alongside use-phase impacts and contextual factors such as transportation and the energy mix. The study argues that further research is needed to establish a more robust baseline upon which to draw conclusions regarding the sources of climatic impacts, and outlines fruitful ways for companies to tackle the complexities of climatic emissions that are beyond their control.

Designing and innovating product-service system in emerging markets: a Mexican approach.

An empirical study of the Music Copyright System in The Netherlands

Abstract The emergence of new technologies such as mp3 and music streaming, and the accompanying digital transformation of the music industry, have led to the shift and change of the entire music industry’s value chain. While music is increasingly being consumed through digital channels, the number of empirical studies, particularly in the field of music copyright in the digital music industry, is limited. Every year, rightsholders of musical works, valued 2.5 billion dollars, remain unknown. The objectives of this study are twofold: First to understand and describe the structure and process of the Dutch music copyright system including the most relevant actors within the system and their relations. Second to apply evolutionary economics approach and Values Sensitive Design method within the context of music copyright through positive-empirical perspective. For studies of technological change in existing markets, the evolutionary economics literature provides a coherent and evidence-based foundation. The actors are generally perceived as being different, for example with regard to their access to information, their ability to handle information, their capital and knowledge base (asymmetric information). Also their norms, values and roles can differ. Based on an analysis of documents and held expert interviews, we find that the collection and distribution of the music copyright money is still based on obsolete laws, neoclassical paradigm and legacy IT-system. Finally, we conclude that the rightsholders are heterogenous and have asymmetrical information and negotiating power. The outcomes of this study contribute to create a better understanding of impact of digitization of music copyright industry and empower the stakeholders to proceed from a more informed perspective on redesigning and applying the future music copyright system and pre-digital norms and values amongst actors.