An ontology for the vulnerability of Product-Service System

Abstract

Vulnerability is an important attribute of product service system (PSS). It shows whether PSS can stay operational and maintain the quality of service when perturbation occurs. Further on, as an attribute opposite to robustness, the cognition and evaluation of vulnerability is a crucial process to achieve a robust product service system. However, currently, although some literatures on operational risk point out the potential vulnerability of PSS, people still have a limited understanding about the concept and sub-concept of vulnerability in product service system. There is a strong demand to understand vulnerability of PSS in a conceptual level. Hence, in this paper, we will propose an ontology for the PSS vulnerability, which could build root concept and share knowledge in this field. To achieve this aim, a large range of information based on literature review and online information have been collected. Furthermore, a case study of Airbnb is used to demonstrate descriptiveness of the proposed ontology in a real PSS case. In a word, this paper proposes the concept of vulnerability, level of vulnerability, perturbation, source of perturbation and mitigation in the field of PSS. This research is effective for sharing knowledge and providing information about vulnerability in the field of PSS. This research is also expected to help designer and practitioner who are willing to focus on vulnerability analysis and robustness in the future.