The integration of the business model canvas and the service blueprinting to assist the conceptual design of new product-service systems

Abstract

The capacity to guide the evolution and creation of new products (manufactured goods or services) is crucial for the enterprise's profitability. Hence, enterprises have acquired the capacity to manage the future of their product portfolio. However, companies that offer a combination of manufactured goods and services as an integrated system or a Product-Service System confront challenging conditions to maintain or increase their market share due to the complex relationship between manufacturing and service production systems. The complexity of a PSS makes it challenging to adapt its physical products to new customer requirements, satisfy new standards, or develop/adopt new technologies because any modification in one part of the system will undoubtedly affect the other. Therefore, it is necessary to propose an approach for managing the development process of a PSS from a broad perspective. The approach presented in this article combines the advantages of the Business Model Canvas to define the crucial functions of a business model with the service blueprinting capacity to represent service processes. The proposal describes a five stages methodology: Conceptualization, Business Model Design, Product-Service System (PSS) Scenarios, Blueprint design, and Validation. The methodology helps the analysis of a PSS from three perspectives: product, use, and result, which are the typical PSS scenarios. A case study applied to a company that distributes purified water is helpful to illustrate the methodology. Finally, the methodology includes some aspects that favor implementing creative and dynamic business models, emphasizing the constant changes in the evolution of products and services.