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In developed countries, industrial companies are facing challenges for competitiveness from countries with lower labor costs or less demanding environmental standards. Increasing production costs (material and labor), customer demand for more sophisticated products while purchasing power is decreasing and stricter environmental regulations are becoming strategic issues for the viability of industries. Eurêcook is an action research program aiming to construct and test a rental service offer for small household equipment in a medium-size French conurbation. A local ecosystem of actors is involved in providing a satisfactory service for consumers. Our role, as researchers, is to assess the environmental and societal changes caused by the business model transition. We assume success depends not only on a positive LCA but also on a climate of confidence and co-operation between stakeholders, as well as consumers’ behavioral change and appropriation of the project. A multidisciplinary method for sustainability assessment has been developed combining concepts and tools from social sciences with environmental and engineering sciences. Firstly, the current challenges for B-to-C PSS are obtained from a multidisciplinary review of literature and practice. Then, the socio-economic and environmental context and specific issues linked to small appliances were clarified. Thirdly, the case study is detailed: structuration of the offer, specific challenges and first observations. Finally, our method is presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambition of this action research is to construct and experiment a partial transition of a company's business model from sales to renting for small household equipment for B-to-C market. Ourpaper aims at presenting this project and the development of a transdisciplinary method for sustainability assessmentfrom the perspective of the sociology of the organization, life cycle assessment, management and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new trend of product–service systems (PSSs) that has the potential to minimise environmental impacts of both production and consumption is emerging. This article attempts to build a theoretical framework for PSS and serves as a background for identifying possible investment needs in studying them. There are three main uncertainties regarding the applicability and feasibility of PSSs: the readiness of companies to adopt them, the readiness of consumers to accept them, and their environmental implications. The main finding is that successful PSSs will require different societal infrastructure, human structures and organisational layouts in order to function in a sustainable manner. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]