A study in product-service systems strategies

What are examples of successful companies innovating in services to create Product- Service Systems that can command a price that exceeds the cost of capital and enhance, protect, or replace the core products? After a brief literature review and discussion of the challenges of classifying and defining services and how they are related to products, this thesis provides a series of brief case studies looking at how companies construct a services strategy that complements, strengthens, or replaces their product strategy. Service-centric offerings are categorized into three primary types: product-based (e.g. customization or repair), information-based (e.g. telematics), and value-based (e.g. financing, leasing, or utilities). The thesis focuses on positive examples, but some negative examples are also presented. Summary conclusions on the nature and elements of successful product-services strategy are also presented. Primary research tools are corporate annual reports, SEC 10-K (and other) filings, corporate websites, the Internet, and business research tools like Orvis, Hoovers, and Lexis-Nexis. The thesis studies mainly (but not exclusively) publically traded US-based companies with a strong emphasis on the automotive, heavy machinery, and information technology sectors.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Moran, Mark D

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael Cusumano.

• Engineering Systems Division.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70800

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/70800