Product service systems: exploring service operations strategies

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the operational principles that can be applied when offering integrated solutions of both products and services, i.e. product-service systems (PSS). Manufacturing companies that start pursuing a service oriented strategy face many new challenges. We investigate which well-known operational principles can be of merit to these companies and how these principles can be put to action. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reports on the main findings of a structured return on invested capital (ROIC) analysis. We cascaded the ROIC metric into a limited set of core operational drivers. We then identified operational practices which could be applied to improve the ROIC by influencing the operational drivers. The operational practices were distillated from a close collaboration with a manufacturing company that pursues a product-service strategy. Findings - Five generic strategic guidelines are formulated and translated into a wide range of operational practices. Research limitations/implications - The paper provides a range of operational practices in the PSS business. Many of these practices are based on well-known operational principles but still need further elaboration with respect to the interrelationships between products and services. Practical implications - The five service operations strategies can guide practitioners in their quest for operational excellence in the field of PSS. Originality/value - Our main contribution is that we prove the usefulness of generic operational principles and translate them into clear guidelines to be applied for companies offering product-service systems.status: publishe