Typology of Uncertainties in the Development Process of Product-Service Systems

This paper investigates uncertainty in the development of Product-Service Systems (PSS) – a complex combination of product and services. This research is important because practitioners struggle with managing the high uncertainties arising from the complexity of parallel product and service development in compound clusters of stakeholders. Yet, scholars have not analyzed these challenges extensively. Based on a combination of innovation management and servitization literature a conceptual framework is offered, detailing five uncertainty types relevant for PSS-development: environmental, technical, organizational, resource and relational uncertainty. This research contributes to the servitization literature by broadening the body of knowledge and deriving suitable management practices.