Experimenting with Servitization in the Contract Furniture Sector. A Strategic Design Pilot for Sustainable Transition

The Italian contract furniture sector, a key component of the national manufacturing industry, faces urgent needs to align with sustainability goals. Servitization, shifting from product-centric to service-oriented business models, offers promising potential to support this transition. However, its practical application remains insufficiently explored within the furniture industry. Therefore, this research investigates how strategic design can act as a catalyst to support companies’ sustainable transition by supporting the development of service-oriented business models and offerings. It further investigates how design interventions stimulate reflection on reshaping existing innovation processes through a sustainability lens. This paper presents empirical design research experiences and results from the ACTAS project, which involved an Italian furniture company in a series of co-creation workshops aimed at prototyping a product service system development process aligned with long-term sustainability objectives. The findings demonstrate that a strategic design approach contributed to aligning visions and strategies across actors and departments regarding sustainable development and to translating these visions into actionable plans and shared decisions for defining business opportunities. Building on these results, the study proposes a conceptual model that highlights the importance of strategic design interventions across multiple organizational levels and phases of innovation. Overall, the research contributes both methodologically and empirically to the field of design for sustainable transitions by offering practical guidance and a conceptual model to support companies in navigating sustainability challenges within manufacturing contexts.