the ‘performance economy’, is a concept that was developed by Walter Stahel in the 1980s and was taken over by Dominique Bourg in the 2000s.”
It was approached by two theoretical schools. The Anglo-Saxon School, whose thought processes are based on the Product Service System (PSS) model. The main contributors to this school are Walter Stahel, Buclet, Okasana. The second school is the École française de l'économie de la fonctionnalité et de la coopération (French school of service economy and cooperation or EFC), whose ideas are mainly supported by Christophe Sempels and Christian Du Terre (Chaput 2015).
Stahel (2006) testifies that:
The service economy, which aims to optimize the use – or function – of goods and services, focuses on the management of existing wealth, in the form of products, knowledge or natural capital. The economic objective is to create the highest possible usage value for as long as possible, while consuming the least amount of material resources and energy possible. The aim is to achieve greater competitiveness and an increase in corporate income. (Van Neil 2007)
It is also defined by ADEME (Agence de l'environnement et de la maîtrise de l'énergie – Agency of the environment and the control of energy) as the economy which “consists of providing companies, individuals or territories with integrated solutions for services and goods based on the sale of a performance of usage or a usage and not on the sale of goods alone. These solutions must allow a lower consumption of natural resources in a circular economy perspective, an increase in people’s well-being and economic development”.
The basic idea of this concept involves the new view of the economic value of goods. While the traditional approach to economic and measurable character considers its cost, supply and demand, the contemporary approach, inspired by the principles of sustainable development, considers that economic value practically doesn’t include the damage inflicted on the environment by the production and over-consumption of this good. Therefore, in the absence of integrating negative externalities (of the production and use of the good), the value of the good no longer concerns its appropriation, but rather its use.
The service economy is a new business model, as it reorganizes the relationship between the market, the company and the consumer. Indeed, since the advent of industrialization, the focus of economic activity has been on large scale production and consumption. The objective of this economic situation was to produce more in order to satisfy consumption while constantly changing goods and services:
For a company, the growth of its markets goes hand in hand with the increase in number of units produced, related to the acceleration of the redundancy of its products. This redundancy is frequently ‘programmed’, either by influencing the material lifetime of products designed to no longer be repairable, or by stimulating consumers to equip themselves with the latest innovations, few of which constitute radical innovations responding to new needs and/or uses. (Buclet 2005)
However, the era of industrialization is no longer the representative of dream of the Trente Glorieuses, the 30-year period following the end of World War Two. According to Fordist doctrine, mass production for mass consumption is no longer perceived as an advantage for the well-being of people:
For many economists (Gadrey in 2002, Gadrey and Zarifian in 2002, Du Tertre in 2008 and 2009), overcoming the Fordist crisis implies the implementation of a new form of economic organization based on a service-oriented dynamic approach that they must present as a central phenomenon in current economic and societal developments. The idea would no longer be to buy the good you need, but to rent the service provided by its consumption. (Vaileanu-Paun and Boutillier 2012)
The principle of this new model is to change the relationship between the company and the consumer. This does not mean that the objectives of the company or the consumer have changed. Consumers are always looking to satisfy their well-being by considering the new situation (economic crisis, ecological crisis, etc.). The company also thinks about its profitability interest by remaining the owner of the assets and selling their uses (Buclet 2005).
Practices in the context of this logic are adopted by several well-known companies around the world: Michelin, Xerox, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and many others.
Box 1.5. Xerox and Michelin’s service economy
“The service economy is very well illustrated by two companies: Xerox and Michelin. Xerox is a company that manufactures and distributes office automation equipment (photocopiers in particular). Faced with resistance from its customers to invest in new expensive photocopiers, Xerox decided to no longer sell the machines, but to invoice each photocopy made. The same principle applies to Michelin, which, by observing resistance from its customers to the prices of new, more fuel-efficient tires, has decided to no longer charge for tires, but for the kilometers covered by its customers. Both companies no longer sell the products (photocopiers or tires), but rather the use of these two goods (photocopies or kilometers).”
It should be noted, however, that the development of the service economy depends on the prowess of the Internet, and we have previously demonstrated the role of digital platforms in economic activity. Indeed:
The Internet is not only the technical support for the transformations that give rise to the digital economy, it is also the driving force behind this new economy. (Brousseau and Curien 2001)
The service economy is considered as a new economic model that can change the relationships between economic players.
The question that challenges us is therefore: to what extent can this new economy contribute to the well-being of populations on an economic, social and environmental level?
The service economy is an economic model based on the substitution of the use of a good for its ownership, it is a solution that promotes the concept of “decoupling” between the added value created by economic activity and the consumption of energy and raw materials. “Decoupling is the breaking of the links between ‘environmental ailments’ and economic goods” (OECD 2004).
Decoupling is divided into two categories:
Relative and absolute decoupling. Relative or weak decoupling occurs when environmental pressures increase at a slower rate than economic growth; and absolute decoupling or strong decoupling occurs when the economic variable increases while environmental pressures stagnate or decrease. (Laurent 2011)
Conventionally, economic growth refers to the substantial increase in output measured by the macroeconomic aggregate known as GDP (gross domestic product). This increase also requires the intensive use of natural resources and energy, leading to environmental degradation through the overexploitation of resources and the formation of waste. The interest of decoupling lies in reversing the relationship between production and use of natural resources and energy.
Indeed:
Decoupling occurs when the wealth created (usually measured by gross domestic product) in an economy increases faster than the amount of natural resources used or consumed. The decoupling can be relative or absolute: in the first case, the amount of resources used or consumed continues to increase. In the case of absolute decoupling, the use or consumption of resources decreases while the wealth created increases. (Nicklaus 2017)
The service economy model novelty is that the creation of added value is not based on the company’s overall turnover, but on the optimal use of the good (Damesin 2013).
The objective of the service economy is to improve the well-being of populations. However, the concept of decoupling is considered in some research as a “myth”. Tim Jackson’s book sheds light on the impossibility of establishing
