Employing the business model concept to support the adoption of product-service systems (PSS)

Although the existing literature indicates that the business model concept can be useful to implement product-service systems (PSS), there is still a paucity of guidelines to assist companies in this respect. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework to support the adoption of PSS employing the business model concept. This framework was developed based on literature review and intends to guide the company on the analysis of their business context, on the choice of the appropriate type of PSS and on the definition of their PSS characteristics. A single case study was then performed to illustrate an application of the framework in a machine tool manufacturer and provide research insights. 'Overall, results indicate that the framework can provide companies with a useful reference to PSS implementation, helping on the investigation of different PSS scenarios as well as the main barriers and challenges to be overcome. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.