Product Service Systems design in the age of sustainability : A Case Study of City Car Club

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how companies are addressing the growing phenomenon of sustainability and how they are adjusting their strategies to differentiate in the mainstream green markets. The research was moreover conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the environmental benefits of the growing service industry and such new business models as Product Service Systems (PSS). To fulfil the objective of this study, two research questions were formulated to guide the research and a comparative case study was conducted with a company that notably is the only representative of PSS currently in Finland. Interview with the CEO of City Car Club gave practical insight into the processes and strategies of City Car Club in implementing green practices into their business.

The results indicated that environmentally friendliness should not be marketed, as it tends to be associated with unruly marketing practices and therefore raise scepticism among consumers. As a contrary, the results showed that PSS companies should highlight their other assets such as quality and aim at creating value with their customer in use, thus creating differentiated and individual experiences to serve heightened customers expectations of co-creation. Furthermore, the findings shower that customers valued access and affordability over the green benefits that were already seen the fundamental benefit of a car sharing PSS. Unlike many other green companies, City Car Club has not been able to pull out of the niche markets and the findings suggest that they should seek for standardization through credible sources such as by improving their co-operation with HSL or even through government.