A model for intangible assets management as a catalyst for product-service innovation in manufacturing

Product-service (P-S) bundles in manufacturing are becoming more and more pervasive in literature and practice. Consequently, the capability of managing and exploiting the intangible part in alignment with the tangible part of the P-S bundle has become essential. However, only a paucity of tools is available to practitioners. Therefore the aim of this paper is to help single manufacturing enterprises and networked ones to manage and exploit their tangible and intangible assets by proposing a dynamic P-S management model on an enterprise and network level. By linking key intangible assets with key business activities and the needed resources to perform them, three management models based on business models will be conceptualized: a) for “classical” manufacturing enterprises that are mainly product oriented, b) for those that have a Product+Service strategy and c) for those that have a Product2Service strategy.