Product-service systems and supply chain circularity: a mixed methods investigation.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Bourlakis, Michael | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Aktas, Emel | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Skipworth, Heather | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kuhl, Carl-Christian | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-04-26T09:49:06Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-04-26T09:49:06Z | |
| dc.date.embargo | 2024-07-01 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021-05 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The circular economy (CE) aims to create economic and environmental benefits, by keeping products and materials at highest utility and value through long-lasting design, repair, reuse, refurbishment, and recycling. CE transformation results in a slowing, closing, and narrowing of resource loops, which is also termed supply chain circularity (SCC). Product-service systems (PSSs), in which manufacturers meet customer needs by providing services instead of selling products, are considered key business model innovations for increasing SCC. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on whether PSSs actually contribute to SCC or whether they are a facade behind which linear ‘business-as-usual’ continues. This PhD thesis conducts a mixed methods investigation of the relationship between PSSs and SCC. It consists of three papers: 1) a systematic literature review (SLR) of 67 papers; 2) a quantitative survey of 206 machinery and equipment manufacturing firms in the United Kingdom (UK); 3) a multiple-case study of three manufacturing firms in Germany and the UK. The findings show that: 1) result-oriented PSSs have the highest potential contribution to SCC, followed by use- and finally product-oriented PSSs; 2) use-oriented PSSs are limited in contributing to a slowing of resource loops through refurbishment; 3) PSSs’ contribution to SCC depends on enabling and inhibiting contextual factors, especially organisational ones. In sum, this PhD study argues that PSSs can only catalyse the transition from a linear to a CE if an enabling business context is established. The PhD makes three key contributions to theory and practice: 1) it provides empirical evidence that PSSs do not inherently contribute to a slowing of resource loops; 2) it develops an empirically validated framework of enablers and barriers, particularly organisational ones; 3) it extends the SCC concept, by developing survey items and offering a first attempt at theorising how the transition to SCC occurs during a manufacturer’s servitization process. | en_UK |
| dc.description.coursename | PhD in Leadership and Management | en_UK |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/19546 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_UK |
| dc.rights | © Cranfield University, 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder. | |
| dc.subject | Circular economy | en_UK |
| dc.subject | product-service system | en_UK |
| dc.subject | supply chain management | en_UK |
| dc.subject | servitization | en_UK |
| dc.subject | case study | en_UK |
| dc.subject | partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) | en_UK |
| dc.title | Product-service systems and supply chain circularity: a mixed methods investigation. | en_UK |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_UK |