Evaluating new concepts of PSS based on the customer value: Application of ANP and niche theory

Product-service systems (PSSs) have been highlighted as a prevailing trend for manufacturers to survive the modern era of tough competition in their industries. Despite the importance of the customer in such systems, previous studies offer little in terms of evaluating new PSS concepts from the customers' perspective. To fill this academic lacuna, this paper proposes a method for evaluating such concepts that focuses on their acceptability to customers. The proposed approach is based on customer perceptions of value throughout the customer experience cycle: customers' acceptability results from their comparison of new PSS concepts with existing products. This approach successfully employs the analytic network process and niche theory to quantify customers' perceptions of their experience of PSSs. A short case study shows the usefulness of the proposed approach, which is expected to aid manufacturers adopting PSS strategies.