The role of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for individualisation and service quality of a PSS

Nowadays, product manufacturers are compelled to increasingly becoming Product Service System (PSS) providers for surviving and managing the increased global competition. 20% of the enterprises have already integrated services in their product offerings. Meanwhile, the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to grow significantly in the next years. Smart products are growing fast and are expected to reach 212 billion entities at the end of 2020. From an economic point of view, it is estimated that the impact of IoT is in a range of $2.7 to$6.2 trillion by 2025. IoT is surely an enabler of PSSs, allowing the collection and sharing of vast quantities of information along the whole solution life. This article aims to evaluate the impact that IoT technologies can have on the PSS provision when aiming at the satisfaction of highly diverting customer needs. Particularly, the analysis considers three dimensions: the typology of services enabled, the customization approach enabled, and the service quality gaps disclosed by IoT. By means of multiple use cases, the authors found out that IoT technologies have a huge impact on the different phases of the whole PSS lifecycle. Several advantages were detected for the different stakeholders involved in terms of both service efficiency and effectiveness. Based on these results, the strategic contact points to cope with possible trade-offs between the PSS individualization approach and its service quality are proposed

Practice Turn in der Commons-Forschung

Das Verständnis von Commons befindet sich im Wandel. Zunächst wurde damit eine bestimmte Güterart beschrieben, zunehmend geraten soziale Praktiken in den Blick. Diese Perspektive bietet neue Möglichkeiten für die Commons-Forschung und die Analyse sozial-ökologischer Transformationen

Essays on customized and collaborative value creation from the perspective of sustainability

Over the last decades, there has been growing awareness of the collective impact of human society on the planetary boundaries (Rockström et al., 2009). Consumers become more conscious about and competent in buying environmentally-friendly products (Thogersen & Olander, 2002; Waddock et al., 2002). Subsequently, businesses experience an increasing pressure to become more sustainable (Elkington, 1997; Nidumolu et al., 2009; Waddock et al., 2002). It is therefore not sufficient to study business models from an economic perspective alone, but also from a social and environmental perspective (Boons & Lüdeke-Freund, 2013; Elkington, 1997).The objective of this dissertation is to integrate sustainability considerations into management research on customized and collaborative value creation (CVC). Concepts of CVC, such as mass customization (MC), contrast traditional management views, in which companies are the ones who create value and customers those who consume it (Moeller et al., 2013; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). Instead, business models in which customers and other external actors play an active role in the creation of value, in order to improve the satisfaction of customer needs, become widespread (Etgar, 2008; Franke & Piller, 2004; Nenonen & Storbacka, 2010; Payne et al., 2008). In today’s management practice, CVC initiatives are predominantly separated from sustainability management (Arnold, 2017). In this dissertation I use a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods to address the integration of sustainability considerations into CVC in general and MC in particular in a series of four independent research papers. The first paper examines the landscape of research on customized value creation. Applying recent advances in natural language processing, namely the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) algorithm for topic modeling, I systematically structure the body of literature that studies the idea of providing customized goods and services according to individual customer needs. I find that 60 topics disclose the field of MC. Using regression analysis, I reveal how each topic has evolved over time. Relying on network analysis, I explore the links between the topics and the role of the various management disciplines in shaping the research field. Based on these generalized findings, I put forward an agenda for future interdisciplinary research on MC. The second paper explores the social, environmental, and economic potentials of an MC business models, which aimed at fostering sustainability in the consumer electronics industry. Using a qualitative case-study approach, I show how modularity enables continuous customization during the usage phase, while enabling longer life times of products through upgradability and reparability. Moreover, I reveal that MC can have positive social effects at the long tail of a market, enhancing access to special applications such as health diagnostics in the specific context of modular and customizable smartphones. In the third paper I shed light on the co-creation phase of MC and its potential to contribute to the promotion of sustainable consumption. I theoretically derive and empirically test a number of opportunities for companies to improve corporate sustainability in a joint effort with consumers. By portraying a simulated online buying process of a customizable TV with a realistic web-based product configurator, I conduct two consumer choice experiments embedded in a large-scale online survey. I find that offering goods with customizable attributes of different sustainability levels gives consumers the opportunity to customize products reflecting their individual sustainability consciousness. Moreover, the results suggest that sustainable default settings can play a significant role in promoting sustainable consumption. The fourth paper conceptually explores how CVC concepts and technologies are assessed from the perspective of the degrowth concept. I argue that CVC might not only be relevant for businesses within economies that are set to grow, but also for none-profit and alternative organizations. In the search for strategies to really manage the pressing transition towards a sustainable society within planetary boundaries, those research lines that demand more radical changes than what is discussed today in business practice receive increasing attention. Paper IV explores how CVC can contribute to research on such alternative concepts. I outline five areas, in which CVC could contribute to the objectives of degrowth. The conceptual analysis reveals that several elements of CVC and its enabling technologies coincide with degrowth objectives but as such do not lead to their attainment. Thereby, a starting point for future (empirical) work in this area is generated

Leveraging the Sustainability Potential of Mass Customization Through Product Service Systems in the Consumer Electronics Industry

Companies experience an increasing importance for implementing sustainability concerns into their processes and product offerings. In the consumer electronics industry, traditional manufacturing-focused initiatives to minimize the environmental impacts of products are currently still far from satisfactory. The European research project SMC-Excel aims at enhancing the ecological sustainability in the consumer electronics industry through the integration of new business models based on the ideas and concepts of mass customization. In this paper, first insights of the project revealed during a Business Model Innovation workshop are presented. The main hypothesis derived in this workshop – the suitability of product service systems as a lever for the sustainability potential of mass customization– is discussed with the help of an analysis of the state-of-the-art literature on product service systems and mass customization. The paper concludes that the combination of mass customization patterns and product service system patterns carries a significant potential to foster the environmental sustainability of the full business model, but that this potential is highly context dependent. The insights of this paper set up the basis for further empiric research in the consumer electronics industry

Mass customization and sustainable consumption: Nudging consumers towards more sustainable choices.

In this study, we shed light on the unexplored potential of customer co-creation in a mass customization (MC) setting to contribute to the promotion of sustainable consumption. We theoretically derive and empirically test a number of opportunities for companies to improve corporate sustainability in a joint effort with consumers. Our research bridges between the MC and the sustainability literatures and shows that MC enables consumers to cohere attitude and action based on individual sustainability preferences. We use a mixed-method approach to empirically assess whether MC companies can nudge their customers successfully towards more sustainable choices by designing sustainability-based starting solutions and by providing sustainability information in MC configuration systems. We do so by portraying a simulated online buying process of a customizable TV with a realistic web-based product configurator. We find that offering goods with customizable attributes of different sustainability levels gives consumers the ability to customize products reflecting their individual consciousness for sustainable consumption (CfSC). Moreover, sustainable default settings play a significant role in promoting sustainable consumption, while providing detailed sustainability information does not show an effect. To get more insights into our results, we discuss the results on a supplementary qualitative analysis, revealing also a number of suggestions for future researc

Procedia CIRP 51

Mass Customization (MC) has become a major trend in the consumer goods market in recent years. However, it is still unclear if MC goods have a positive impact on the environment due to the many influencing factors in comparison to mass produced goods. With Google’s “Project Ara”, a modular and customizable smartphone approach is very likely to reach market maturity and its economic, social and ecologic impacts are still unclear. Using a qualitative case study approach, we shed light on its potential economic success. Furthermore, we use the two theoretical concepts of Eco Innovation (EI) and Systemic Innovation (SI) to assess Google Ara’s potential to lead to changes in terms of ecologic and social concerns. In our analysis, we show that Project Ara has the potential to outperform its competitors of modular smartphones. We work out that Google’s modular approach could lead to a longer useful life of smartphones – or at least for some components. Finally, we affirm Project Ara’s general potential for being an SI. Even though Project Ara will very likely not change the complete smartphone market and the behavior of the involved actors, there is a potential for influencing sociocultural behavior in the long tail of the smartphone market

Principles for organizations striving for sustainable degrowth: Framework development and application to four B Corps

Economic growth is generally seen as a central economic and political goal. The critique of this view has increased recently. In this context post-growth concepts, such as sustainable degrowth, emerged as an alternative paradigm focusing on ensuring human wellbeing within planetary boundaries. Since business activity is a key driving force behind economic growth, the role of corporate organizations in a transition towards a post-growth society is a particularly challenging question. It is still unclear, for instance, what business models for organizations approaching degrowth could look like. Therefore, our study aims to contribute to understanding guiding principles for organizations approaching degrowth. In this exploratory work, we use a two-step approach: First, based on a systematic literature review, we derive principles for a conceptual framework composed of business-relevant claims in the degrowth discourse in order to assemble and synergize fragmented findings. The resulting conceptual framework serves to describe and assess organizations with respect to their approximation to degrowth. Second, we apply the framework to four organizations certified as B Corps based on qualitative content analysis of interviews with corporate representatives and additional company data. Overall, our findings show that B Corps rather successfully implement numerous degrowth-approaching principles in their organization within our current economic system, while none of the organizations is seen as fully degrowth-conform. With our analysis we uncover significant tensions regarding growth-orientation and identify further needs for empirical and conceptual research

Academy of Management

Economic growth is predominantly seen as a central economic and political goal. Recently, this view has been increasingly criticized and the idea of sustainable degrowth emerged as an alternative paradigm in order to ensure human wellbeing within planetary boundaries. As business activity is a key driving force behind economic growth, the role of corporate organizations in a transition towards a post-growth society is a particularly challenging question. It is for instance still unclear how business models for degrowth- conform organizations could look like. In order to address this research gap, our study aims to elaborate the role and design of organizations and their respective business models within the degrowth context. In this exploratory work, we use a two-step approach: Firstly, based on a systematic literature review we provide an overview on business-oriented findings in the degrowth literature. Based on this, we derive elements for a conceptual framework development to consolidate fragmented findings within the degrowth discourse. The resulting framework serves to describe principles for the design of degrowth-conform organizations. Subsequently, we conduct interviews with three CEOs of certified Benefit Corporations (B Corps) and an in-depth case study with four interviewees with a prime example of a B Corp: Dr. Bronner’s. Overall, our findings show that B Corps to some extent successfully implement numerous degrowth- conform elements within our current economic system. However, tensions regarding growth-orientation remain, and further need for research regarding the role and design of organizations for degrowth is identified.

Are modular and customizable smartphones the future, or doomed to fail? A case study on the introduction of sustainable consumer electronics

Mass Customization (MC) has become a major trend in the consumer goods market in recent years. While the economic chances and threats are already described very well, the social and environmental impact of MC products remain unclear. Phonebloks, a design study of a modular smartphone launched in 2013, created a vision about fostering sustainability through MC. Teaming up with Google’s Project Ara, a modular and customizable smartphone approach seemed very likely to reach market maturity. In 2016, Google canceled Project Ara shortly before the awaited market introduction. Analyzing the rise and fall of the first large scale MC based business model that was initially designed to foster sustainability in the consumer electronics market, gives us the opportunity to revise the economic, social and ecologic potential of modular and customizable smartphones in general. Furthermore, with constantly growing consumer requirements for new product iterations in shorter time frames, traditional measures for success, such as time-to-market, could change inherently as we are moving closer towards iterative product development processes and much shorter product life-cycles. This, in turn, leads to major changes for ramp-up processes. Using a qualitative case study approach based on expert interviews at two different stages of the Project Ara development process (2015 and 2017), we shed light on the future of modular and customizable smartphones and their economic, social and ecologic sustainability potential. We show that while Project Ara failed in the end, it had the economic potential to outperform its competitors in the field of modular smartphones. We find that an MC approach could lead to longer smartphone or, at least, component life cycles. Finally, we affirm a positive potential for influencing sociocultural behavior in the long tail of the smartphone market