Introduction

Selling products used to be the standard way of doing business. In a business world where many products are becoming equally well-performing commodities, this strategy is one of the ways to avoid a competition on price alone—a type of competition that Europe can never win against emerging and low-cost economies such as China. In that sense, product-services can mean new business for old Europe. The potential of product-services to enhance competitiveness and contribute to sustainable development prompted the EU to invest heavily in the theme of product-services. Additionally, SusProNet aimed to create a strong network of all EU experts in the field, as well as from industry, research institutes and others. Overall, by achieving these goals, SusProNet wanted to support various EU policy objectives, such as competitive growth, integrated product policy and sustainable development. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.