Introducing strategic decision support systems for sustainable product-service development across value chains

Most companies do not have a coherent and systematic approach for incorporating sustainability criteria into their decision support systems. Given this, what would such a strategic decision support system (SDSS) look like that that is coherent throughout a development process and systematically incorporates (1) a full sustainability perspective, including (2) a broader approach to meeting needs by product-service systems, and (3) interfaces toward both specific groups of decision makers and specialized in-depth tools? We anticipate such an SDSS being structured by a framework for strategic sustainable development that provides a principle-based definition of sustainability and a systematic method to identify problems and solutions by backcasting from that definition. This should aid identification of potential benefits and challenges of shifting from a product-only focus to a focus on product-service systems. Additionally, the new sustainability and product-service system decision support should be flexible enough to be incorporated into existing decision-making processes. It will likely be formed around a built-in product development process at the companies.Godkänd; 2008; 20080331 (tobias)Fastelaboratoriet – VINNEXC, ProViking THINK - Team för Heterogen Innovationskunskap, Simulering av funktionella produkter på en hållbarhetsdriven markna