Predicting the value of product service-systems for potential future implementers: results from multiple industrial case studies

The great impact played by Product/Service-Systems (PSS) on industry and academia can be motivated by the need for modernizing business models, carrying out internal companies' reconfiguration, enhancing environmental sustainability. Despite the large number of objectives pursued by PSS, sparks of criticism have recently emerged, as well as the results ensuing from PSS adoption have not been rigorously assessed. In particular, the authors highlight a lack of quantitative analysis concerning the service aspects of PSS and hurdles in service modeling and evaluation. The paper's objective is to contribute in this field by individuating factors, advantages and disadvantages that are not directly measurable in monetary terms by companies. This kind of assessment might result crucial, as the implementation of PSS-oriented strategies require a not negligible amount of commitment, besides propensity to risk. A first activity was carried out thanks to a pilot group of firms that have not implemented any PSS initiative so far, which have been exposed to business reconfiguration scenarios underpinning PSS. A model for generalizing pros and cons of future PSS implementation has been subsequently experimented by a larger group of industrial organizations. Such a model has represented the backbone for the creation of a tentative quantitative estimation tool, which assesses and forecasts the added value of services featured by the introduction of PSS and hence represents a candidate criterion for undertaking decisions concerning the implementation of PSS strategies. The paper clarifies which assumptions are introduced in order to achieve this result

Aligning vocational training to the electromobile transformation by establishing the “training factory stator production” - A methodical deficit analysis with derivation of measures

In addition to the current challenges in production technology due to the shift from conventional powertrains towards electrified drive technologies, the disruptive transformation of mobility confronts OEMs and suppliers with major personnel challenges, which include new requirement profiles for prospective skilled workers. In order to meet the personnel requirements of industry and ensure the high quality of vocational training in Germany nonetheless, the current training concepts must be strengthened by the targeted integration of specific contents and be geared holistically to the needs of new occupational profiles. This paper presents a methodological approach for deriving current deficits in vocational education and training through the systematic analysis of framework curricula and the targeted survey of teachers working at German vocational schools as well as the derived training program to support the qualification of trainees. In order to obtain a training concept of high didactic quality, the approach is based on pedagogical methods to provide the best possible support and to convey the learning objectives related to professional, social, methodical, and personal skills. With the newly conceived “Training Factory Stator Production” at the wbk Institute of Production Science of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, a program for the training and further education of trainees, skilled employees and engineers will be introduced using the example of producing stators with hairpin technology, to support especially small and medium-sized companies in the personnel transformation process

Fit for Industry 4.0

This volume presents a further training concept on Industry 4.0 for vocational teachers, which was developed for transnational use by the "Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit" (GIZ) together with SEAMEO VOCTECH (Regional Centre for Vocational and Technical Education and Training) and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) for transnational use. In connection with the thematic focus on digitalisation and the accompanying change in the world of work, innovative teaching and learning methods for self-reliant learning and the promotion of communicative and social competences are presented. In the transfer project, the professional and didactical competences of teachers and trainers are promoted

Annulment proceedings and multilevel judicial conflict

This open access book provides an exhaustive picture of the role that annulment conflicts play in the EU multilevel system. Based on a rich dataset of annulment actions since the 1960s and a number of in-depth case studies, it explores the political dimension of annulment litigation, which has become an increasingly relevant judicial tool in the struggle over policy content and decision-making competences. The book covers the motivations of actors to turn policy conflicts into annulment actions, the emergence of multilevel actors’ litigant configurations, the impact of actors’ constellations on success in court, as well as the impact of annulment actions on the multilevel policy conflicts they originate from

Understanding future skills and enriching the skills debate

Deliverable 6.1 includes a framework for new or increasingly important skills within the digital transformation. This report updates an earlier version that was submitted in December 2019 and reflects progress and new insights. It includes results from a more detailed analysis of future skill demands performed within task 6.2 (which is based on a systematic literature review on skill needs for the digital transformation). These results were used to check and refine the skills ca- tegorisation developed in the first version of the report. Another progress was made within the chapter on the quantitative part of changes in skill demand (section 5) : The availability of data was reassessed by considering several further datasets

Competence of project management professionals according to type of project: a systematic literature review

Globalization and economic volatility changed the dynamics of production chains, which required new organizational arrangements from companies, leading them to projectization. Additionally, project professionals are managing increasingly complex projects, which demand an extensive and specific set of competences. In this context, this paper aims to identify the competences of project professionals by project type. A systematic literature review was carried out using the Scopus and Web of Sciences academic databases. The research corpus consisted of 209 articles published between 1989 and 2022. As a result, this research identified 173 competences distributed in 14 different project types; some competences have a greater significance for a given project type. As a contribution, when dealing specifically with projects and competences, project professionals, companies, and educational institutions can learn about the fundamental competences by type of project, improve the processes of selection and diagnosis of the professional, adapt educational programs, or even establish plans for project professionals career

Sustainable and traditional product innovation without scale and experience, but only for KIBS!

This study analyzes the ideal strategic trajectory for sustainable and traditional product innovation. Using a sample of 74 Costa Rican high-performance businesses for 2016, we employ fuzzy set analysis (qualitative comparative analysis) to evaluate how the development of sustainable and traditional product innovation strategies is conditioned by the business’ learning capabilities and entrepreneurial orientation in knowledge-intensive (KIBS) and non-knowledge-intensive businesses. The results indicate two ideal strategic configurations of product innovation. The first strategic configuration to reach maximum product innovation requires the presence of KIBS firms that have both an entrepreneurial and learning orientation, while the second configuration is specific to non-KIBS firms with greater firm size and age along with entrepreneurial and learning orientation. KIBS firms are found to leverage the knowledge-based and customer orientations that characterize their business model in order to compensate for the shortage of important organizational characteristics—which we link to liabilities or smallness and newness—required to achieve optimal sustainable and traditional product innovation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version