Organizational Capabilities for the Development of PSS in Business Ecosystems

Digitalization opens new possibilities for data acquisition and processing as a basis for forward-looking business models in the mechanical engineering industry. Customer needs are increasingly being met by software solutions and competitors from outside the sector are trying to occupy the digital customer interface. Furthermore, margins in the traditional product business are decreasing due to the commoditization of hardware. Innovative business models are often based on integrated offerings that combine products and services into Product-Service-Systems (PSS). In order to realize these value propositions, companies from different industries and varying sizes form business ecosystems. This enables access to complementary competencies, new markets or a more efficient use of resources. This new form of value creation raises enormous challenges for the actors involved, as 28 qualitative semi-structured interviews and a comprehensive literature research have shown. Aim of this paper is to derive organizational capabilities required for the development of PSS in business ecosystems based on the identified fields of action. 20 workshops were held with representatives from practice and theory. This work is intended to expand the state of the art in research and to provide managers with a framework for the future development of their organization or their business ecosystem.