Potential of Nature-inspired Approach for Organisation Design in Product-Service System

Abstract

The importance of organisational properties in PSS development has been emphasised by previous research but the attempts to handle complex structure and communication network of PSS has been lacking. In this research, the potential of natural ecosystem as a source of inspiration for organization design in a PSS development was explored. The organisational problems in practice were investigated through the literature reviews and expert interviews with practitioners. In addition, the characteristics of natural ecosystem on different developmental stages were compared to those of systems in industry to identify the strengths of nature to be learned. This study suggests that further studies involving sufficient cases of corporations and natural ecosystem are required to specify the relationships between artificial and natural systems and contribute to organisational improvement. Moreover, methodological approach to support practitioners to design organisational structures and communication strategies is necessary.