Which industrial product service system fits best

Purpose – Industrial product service systems (IPS2) are required to meet current customer needs in order to provide solutions to current customer problems. Furthermore, adaptability to changing customer decision drivers is required in order to account for customers' preference changes over time. The purpose of this paper is to present an approach where customer preference drivers for different IPS2 are identified and their directions analyzed.Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical, literature‐based analysis, drawing on different fields of economic research, is made use of. A tool to anticipate customer decisions based on the identified preference drivers is devised.Findings – Nine main preference drivers are identified. These are customer resources, know‐how, number of employees, core competences, value‐based figures, process intricacy, process standardization, process frequency and process significance.Research limitations/implications – The drivers identified on a theoretical basis should be invest...