The relationship between servitization and product-service system : insights from the literature

The aim of this paper is to analyse the transformation of manufacturing firms into solution providers, drawing together the contributions of the servitization and product-service system (PSS) research domains. Although scholars have been highly committed to their examination of these two concepts, a gap in the holistic view still emerges and even problems in terminology seem to exist. This paper aims to fill this gap through a systematic literature review, based on rigorous and reproducible criteria. In reviewing the 164 selected papers through a thematic analysis, the study shows that even if the terms Servitization and Product- Service System are particularly related to each other they cannot be considered as synonymous but should be considered as sequential. [Publisher's text].