1. Introduction
In an effort to meet
“the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [
1] multiple concepts, tools, and methods focusing on different challenges have been developed for companies to implement. Life cycle management (LCM) is such an umbrella concept, often viewed as an aggregation of tools and methods knotted together by
life cycle thinking and aiming to minimize the environmental impacts of products and/or services over their
life cycle [
2,
3,
4]. One of the tools in the LCM toolkit is life cycle costing (LCC), a method for calculating the costs over the
life cycle of a product and/or service [
3,
5].
There is an abundance of LCC methods. These are usually developed by researchers based on desktop research and/or a single case study and then prescribed to industry [
6]. Therefore, they tend to be case or industry specific [
7]. Despite this abundance of tailored, case-specific methods, LCC is not widely used [
8,
9]. When it is used, it is not to the level of sophistication described in published literature because practitioners tailor the LCC methods down further [
6,
7]. Although some research, mostly concerning buildings, has been conducted on the barriers to using LCC e.g., [
6,
9,
10], few researchers have engaged in investigating what drives this need for tailoring upon tailoring [
6,
11].
The purpose of the first part of this research is to develop a deeper understanding about why LCC is not more widely used by practitioners and what drives this tailoring. This is done by drawing on practice theory (e.g., [
12,
13]) and its use in the field of organizational studies to view companies as a collection of practices that produce, reproduce, and transform the company [
14,
15]. Practices are
“routinized sets of bodily and mental activities” [
12]. A practice approach has been used in diverse fields e.g., the development and use of IT to support homecare work of elderly people [
16] or the practice of monitoring patients through telemedicine [
14] or active money management practice in the US mutual fund industry [
17].
New or innovative practices contest extant practices [
14,
15,
17]. The outcome of this contestation will influence, if and how a practice is practised in an organization [
14,
18], and by extension, if it will follow the general pattern of the practice. If LCC is conceptualized as a practice and LCC methods are conceptualized as prescribed or general patterns of LCC practice, then the introduction of LCC in an organization will contest extant practices. This can help to explain why despite the proliferation of LCC methods, its adoption is slow and why practitioners tailor it. The first research question is thus formulated.
RQ1: How can lack of adoption and tailoring of LCC methods be understood to be the result of contestation and conformity between LCC practice and extant practices?
To do this we use a case study approach where LCC was prescriptively introduced in a company to improve LCM. Over three years (2015–2018), the process of introducing and practising LCC e.g., methodological decisions, use of the results was documented and analysed. LCC was introduced at the case company to improve LCM and therefore, the second part of the research investigates their relationship. Despite being a part of the LCM toolkit, LCC was not developed for LCM or sustainability purposes [
19,
20]. When it is used with an explicit aim of decreasing environmental impacts or as part of LCM, then practitioners do not necessarily follow the prescribed methods such as environmental LCC [
6,
21]. It is unclear how tailored versions of LCC affect the outcome of LCM. Moreover, since the middle of the 2000s, little has been published on the use of LCC in the context of LCM because academic focus is on other LCM tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA).
To investigate their relationship, however, this research does not adopt the view of LCM, which is heavily grounded in the natural sciences, that advocates for its implementation as a normative set of rules or an unchanging state that comes into existence through careful planning and impeccable execution of various tools. Instead, as advocated in recent years by an increasing number of researchers that draw on the social sciences [
22,
23,
24], an emergent and performative understanding of LCM is taken. LCM is thus viewed as a practice situated in other practices that emerge over time.
From this vantage point, both LCM and LCC are practices that are related but of different relevance where activities need to perform one influences the other (as well as other company practices). Investigating LCM and LCC from this perspective can help us go beyond a simplistic understanding of LCC as just providing LCM with costing results for decision-making purposes, to a force that propels an emergent LCM. Therefore, the second research question is formulated as follows:
RQ2: How does the practice of LCC propel an emergent LCM?
Although the objects of study are LCC and LCM, companies are bundles of practices that cannot be observed in complete isolation. At the case company, LCC was introduced as part of a prescriptive solution to challenges associated with the LCM of integrated products and services namely products-service systems (PSS). Subsequently, PSS is the third concept used in this research and provides the backdrop.
Based on the findings from the RQs, this research closes by discussing the implications of a practice approach on LCC method development as well as the managerial considerations when practising LCC. The use of practice theory in the development of sustainability focused tools and methods for industry is also discussed.
3. Method
3.1. Method Overview
The study of practices requires thick descriptions of phenomena and cannot be done through surveys and interviews that occur a long time after the event [
14]. Therefore, investigating practices is suited to in-depth case study research of contemporary phenomena, where the practice can be observed and the individuals carrying out the practice can be interviewed as close as possible to the events [
25]. Consequently, this work uses the qualitative case study method (e.g., [
48,
49,
50]) as the overarching research approach.
The unit of analysis is the practice of LCC at the case company. Thick descriptions of decisions and events associated with practising LCC are given. Thick descriptions are interpretative rather than descriptive ([
51] p. 880). When providing thick descriptions the researcher is interpreting an event or action or decision by providing context, meanings, intentions, motivations etc., that characterize it [
52]. In this research, not only events but also their unfolding over time and their relationship to each other are taken into account. The first purpose is to provide thick descriptions of the events, actions, and decisions that result in LCC methods being tailored and/or not followed. The second purpose is to use these thick descriptions of events, actions, and decisions connected with LCC to see how they propel LCM. These descriptions are based on information gleaned from documents as well as observations and analysis of verbal communication during focus groups, interviews and activities such as cost data collection (see
Section 3.3 and
Table 1).
Practice theory is used as the analytical lens. LCC is conceptualized as a practice and LCC methods are conceptualized as prescribed or general patterns of LCC practice. The introduction of LCC in an organization is expected to both conform and contest extant practices. Two specific scientific contributions are central to this analysis. The first is the work by Nicolini [
25], who suggests that when studying practice there should be an appropriate balance between zooming in on the details of the studied practice and zooming out in order to observe the effects of performing the practice on the other organizational practices. Therefore, in the first part of the research, which focuses on understanding the contestation and conformities between LCC practice and extant practice, the researcher kept on zooming in on the details of LCC practice and then zooming out.
To further structure this part of the research and mitigate the risk of leaving out elements of a practice, a second article by Reckwitz [
12] is used. Although the elements presented by Reckwitz [
12] i.e., body, mind, objects, knowledge, discourse, individual, and structures refer to routinized practices and not to new practices like LCC, they are still key elements of practices and contribute to maintaining a broad perspective during the analysis.
The second part of this research zooms out of LCC to view its relationship to a specific practice, LCM. The purpose of zooming out of LCC to its relationship with LCM is to identify how the efforts needed to perform LCC, including the process of contestation and conformity to extant practices as described in the first part of the research, will drive, propel, and provoke LCM practice, which is constantly evolving.
3.2. Case Company and Background for Introducing LCC
IpsosCo was founded in Sweden after the 2nd World War and since then has manufactured and sold the same type of industrial equipment, thus attaining a superior technological knowhow and a strong brand in the global market. Although aftersales services e.g., repairs were introduced as early as the late 1950s, over the last couple of decades IpsosCo also offers PSS through availability contracts. When offering PSS, IpsosCo retains the ownership of the industrial equipment and takes over portions of the customers’ activities such as maintenance and operational monitoring which are included in the monthly fee stipulated by the contract. They also have a unit where some equipment returning from a contract is remanufactured and then utilized in new contracts or sold. PSS are a substantial portion of IpsosCo’s revenue.
When providing industrial equipment through traditional sale, the focus is on designing and manufacturing as well as achieving the best quality to price ratio at the end of production. The responsibility for the equipment ends when it is sold to the customer. By offering their products as a service and retaining ownership, IpsosCo’s incentives shift, as they are responsible for a larger part of the life cycle. This change is profound, affecting many aspects such as design, the business model, financial incentives and value creation. Furthermore, it has created a space or even a need for new practices.
Over many years, IpsosCo and the University of Linköping have had joint research projects, master theses and PhD research to explore the phenomenon of PSS. In early 2015, after mapping out the learnings from the joint collaboration over the years, the use of costs and values over the life cycle in order to improve the LCM of the PSS was identified as a crucial next step. IpsosCo financed a joint three-year research project with Linköping University called “Analysis of Life Cycle Costs and Values to Improve Life Cycle Management.”
As part of this project, LCC was introduced as a practice with the help of researchers. The purpose of introducing the LCC was to:
Understand in detail the change in the cost structure and cost drivers between PSS and business-as-usual;
Compare the LCC for various offerings for the same or for different customers;
Identify uncertainties;
Identify additional ways of using LCC to improve LCM.
The project and subsequently, the LCC were initiated by top management who also became the board of the project. There was a project group consisting of 5 to 6 key persons from R&D, product management, services, sales and customer service, and PSS and remanufacturing. There were some changes in members because of people changing jobs and at one point, a member was added. In total, 24 members of staff were interviewed or joined the focus groups and over 50 were involved in the project by joining the final dissemination seminars and follow-up discussions. The research was both participatory and action oriented.
LCC was performed for several types of product service combinations as well as customer segments. A timeline of activities is given in
Table 1. The first round of LCC results was calculated by May 2016 and discussed in focus groups and interviews and subsequently, developed further. The final LCC results were ready in August 2017. After this, three focus groups were held to assist the researcher in interpreting the results and deriving recommendations. Three dissemination seminars were held to spread the results and recommendations and also to provide the participants with time to discuss the findings and future directions.
3.3. Data Collection and Analysis
3.3.1. The Role of the Researcher
The researcher had a central role in practising the LCC at the case company. The researcher was responsible for, among other things, arranging the meetings, performing the calculations, collecting data, and leading the process of deriving recommendations. However, everything was done in collaboration with members at the case company. Methodological decisions such as cost estimation techniques, cost inventory compilation, prioritization of topics on which to obtain complimentary information, level of ambition and the identification of individuals to attend an activity were guided by the project group, the board of the project and by other members of staff. For example, the cost inventory went through multiple reviews and was updated even 1.5 years into the project.
3.3.2. Documents
A range of documents was examined by the author such as sustainability reports, previous research projects with the university, and information on the website to understand the IpsosCo and the life cycle of its PSS. Documents were also used to obtain information used in the LCC e.g., excel files, emails, and contract estimation parameters. A final category of documents included the written documentation of the practice e.g., minutes of meetings, notes from observations, project reports, and emails with comments.
3.3.3. Interviews, Focus Groups, Activities, and Dissemination Seminars
As shown in
Table 1, interviews and focus groups were conducted over an extended period of time and included a broad set of respondents and various types of themes related to LCC e.g., scope and goal setting and data collection. In most cases, the interviews were semi-structured [
53] based on an interview guide or list of topics to be covered. As recommended by Patton [
54], the focus groups included 6–10 participants. Most of the interviews and focus groups were recorded and stored digitally and selectively transcribed [
53]. Minutes were written directly after the majority of interviews and focus groups and then given to a company representative to review and confirm.
4. Results on Contestation and Conformity between LCC Practice and Extant Practices
In this section, the ways in which the practice of LCC was found to contest and conform to extant practices at IpsosCo are described as well as the outcomes of these contestations or conformities that lead to both formal and informal decisions of how LCC was practised i.e., methodological decisions. Although the findings are thematically organized according to the elements of practice described by Reckwitz [
12], this categorization is based on what the researcher perceived as the strongest element in an event because as Reckwitz points out, the elements are interconnected and
cannot be reduced to a single element. This interconnectedness also means that the results in this section cannot be completely separated from the results of LCC’s relation to LCM in the next section.
4.1. Body of the Individual
Extant practices include
“routinized bodily activities” e.g., writing, talking, and even mental and emotional activities which happen in the body [
12]. At the outset of the project, the project group, consisting of key persons from different departments was assembled and they met in person (G1). Although the description of the task was easily understood and the meeting (G1), which included scoping, ran smoothly, at the end of the meeting the group requested an email from the CEO stating the purpose of their participation. At this stage in the proceedings, this rather superfluous request was most likely the result of a reaction to a new bodily activity i.e., it was a “physically unusual” event to be sitting in a meeting room with specific individuals that do not usually meet, rather than a lack of understanding regarding the task or an inability to discuss with each other. The request is regarded as superfluous because the project and the team had been initiated and assembled respectively by top management and documentation had been provided and the meeting reached its goal. After the third meeting (G4) and despite the absence of the email from the CEO, the request did not appear to be deemed so urgent possibly because the meetings had started to become routine.
There were though other instances when the bodily activities involved in LCC were almost identical to other practices. For example, during the six data collection meetings (G2, I5, I11, I13, I16, I21) and follow-up calls with the individual assigned the task of collecting the bulk of the cost data, the researcher had the opportunity to observe this activity and ask about its compatibility with other routines. Cost data collection for the LCC was similar to the everyday routines of generating cost reports and answering ad hoc queries or filling in excel files related to costs requested from any part of the large organization.
4.2. Mind of the Individual
Extant practices also include
“routinized mental activities” defined by the individual’s understanding and interpretation of the world, desires, and emotions or knowing how to practise something [
12]. In order for someone to perform a practice i.e., LCC, the mind and body of the individual need to align to the patterns of this practice i.e., LCC method. The mind of the individual and collective knowledge cannot be easily distinguished and categorized; therefore, the categorization described here is by no means absolute.
The first time LCC was introduced to an individual i.e. during the very first meeting of the project group (G1) and subsequent individual meetings with them (I6–I8, I10) as well as during interviews (I1–I3, I27, I31–I34) and data collection activities (I5, I17, I18) with other staff members it was clear that the concept of LCC is easily understood. Most of the people interviewed had encountered this term before i.e., during their higher education, or even through work experiences. Therefore, although they had not practised the routine per se, the mental pattern, at least on the surface was familiar, and when it was not, then the familiarity of the monetary metric made it easy to comprehend giving at least a starting point from which to align with the pattern of practice.
Despite this apparent basic understanding, during the six data collection meetings with the same individual (G2, I5, I11, I13, I16, I21) it became clear that the mental pattern for finding the specific costs differed greatly from the existing cost data collection patterns. This is the main reason why six data collection events were needed and not just one or two.
As the project progressed and especially in the focus group in May 2016 (G4), it became clear that the knowhow of enacting the practice was based on diverging individual interpretations. Long discussions centred on issues that were understood or interpreted differently; one of which stands out particularly: that of the understanding of the life cycle. One individual considered the life cycle as only the first contract (product manager), two individuals included subsequent contracts with the same customer (service managers), and one individual all contracts even after remanufacturing (regional sales director of new and remanufactured offerings) while another offered no opinion (R&D). This perspective of the life cycle coincided largely with the areas of responsibility that they had in other practices they performed. This observation is in line with practice theory where an individual generally understands a practice in the context of other practices (s)he carries out.
4.3. Objects—Material and Symbolic
When a practice is carried out, specific things including documents and images are used in a specific way e.g., a microphone not only amplifies the voice but also gives the person holding it the authority to speak. Objects therefore, both enable and limit the bodily and mental elements of practices [
12]. Materiality is a central concept in practice theory, as it is often through objects that a practice can be systematically reproduced [
15]. In this section, both material and symbolic objects are described.
A central object in the LCC practice was the product itself. The object of the LCC analysis was a PSS, but the product had the prominent position e.g., only costs directly connected to the product came to participants’ minds when brainstorming the cost inventory (G2, G3, I2, I3). Service was a secondary object of concern subsumed by the object that historically has had a greater significance. For example, based on interviews with sales managers and rough calculations (I6, I15, I19), the costs of selling and negotiating with the customer were found to be both significant and case specific but nevertheless, the central standpoint was that these are necessary costs as are overhead costs and are not directly connected to specific products. Therefore, they are (and should be) managed in a different way and not as part of LCM. This understanding was also reflected in the organizational scheme, as the sales companies were subsidiaries to the main company and in the data system that allocated these costs to departments, customers, or overheads. This standpoint can be summarized by the following statement:
“this is not how we slice the cake… trying to allocate these costs (sales and customer costs) to products will be more effort than doing the LCC”.
(I19)
The second object that constrained the mind was the company itself. The general assumption was that costs owned by the company should be included, thereby equating LCC with the total cost of ownership. The physical walls of the organization become the mental walls of the practice. Therefore, many stressed the importance of also calculating customer costs for improved LCM but as a separate calculation. Ergo there is an understanding of “our
life cycle” versus “their
life cycle” rather than the product’s or PSS’s
life cycle. Although the purpose of LCC was LCM, which has inherent environmental objectives, nobody suggested using
environmental LCC. Environmental LCC includes internal and external costs that are expected to be internalized, covered by all actors, and recommended for LCM [
19,
32]. The researcher did not bring up the topic, as she perceived it to be possibly too far away from the individual’s understanding of LCC.
A third and crucial group of identified objects were the documented interim and final LCC results and project deliverables including reports, minutes, presentations, pie charts, and other images. The results from the first round of calculations, shown only to the project group (G3, G4) and some interviewees (I17, I24–I27, I34) were surprising to many of them. One interviewee expected production costs to dominate more (I17); two project members were surprised that operational costs for similar types of products and intensity of use differed greatly at different customer sites (G4). Another project member was concerned whether all costs had been included because (s)he expected operational costs to be higher (G4). The final round of results, when shown to top management (G7, G8) and in the dissemination seminar (G9, G10), was also met with some surprise and lively discussions ensued despite many claiming that they had no predetermined expectations.
Of course, these reactions show how individuals interpret LCC results differently but the point of presenting these research findings in this section is to demonstrate that the LCC results are objects that both create the conditions for reproducing LCC practice and demonstrate the inadequacy of extant practices.
More specifically, the results helped to concretize and visualize the life cycle idea in the company firstly, by putting life cycle stages on the same pie chart e.g., production and operation. Therefore, these images, which initiated the biggest interest during the dissemination seminars (G7–G10) attended by more than thirty participants, contributed to creating a common understanding of the life cycle and the importance of LCM and laying the groundwork for the reproduction and establishment of life cycle practices.
Additionally, but equally importantly, the results were not generic but very specific configurations of a product deployed at a specific customer. The diversity of the findings emphasized plurality and diversity of what a life cycle is and looks like for different PSS and more specifically, the distribution of costs over the life cycle. For a company used to clearly defined production costs that are almost identical for two products in the same category, the objects presented a new perspective of plurality, and initiated a discussion of whether the life cycle of PSS can be accounted for and managed through generic models or whether case-by-case decisions should be the focus. As can be seen by the number of dissemination activities, disseminating these objects e.g., reports, charts was considered important.
4.4. Collective Knowledge
Knowledge is the collective way of understanding, feeling, desiring, and knowing contained in a practice [
12]. Knowledge can be interpreted by the mind of an individual agent but in this section we refer to collective knowledge of the people in the organization. It is usually implicit and grounded in a specific historical and cultural context. IpsosCo has a long tradition of continuous improvement in product development and manufacturing and a strong engineering culture. This has led to a common understanding that well-structured processes and technical knowledge is the foundation of superior products.
This knowhow was the point of departure for practising LCC as a process to be based on sound data and optimized cost models to be universally applied in all cases. This approach, however, became contested when discussing how to calculate residual value (G3, G4, I2, I6, I20, I27, I29). The first option was to use the “book value” based on accounting norms because it was based on a precise and reproducible estimation technique and already calculated for the PSS under study. This argumentation was grounded in IpsosCo’s strong engineering tradition. The second option was to use the estimated price in the second hand market. This initiative was strongly supported by the managing director of sales who reasoned that the “market value” is in many cases higher than the “book value” at the end of a contract. S(he) also reasoned that it is a better measurement to use for managing the
life cycle because it captures the trade-off between higher service and production costs and profits over the
life cycle. This is exactly the type of trade-off that could contribute to resource efficiency, prolonging the
life cycle of products, and even increase IpsosCo’s profitability [
42]. Additionally, another interviewee mentioned that keeping “market value” high will lower IpsosCo’s risk in the event that the customer breaks the contract early. The “market value” though, is very hard to estimate and veiled in uncertainty so the “book value” was used, although everybody understood the importance of using “market value” in LCM. This was echoed by the board of the project who were additionally slightly concerned that the harmonized way set up by lawyers and accountants to calculate the “book value” could be undermined by introducing other measurements.
This example is indicative of the tensions that arise from applying the old knowhow of extant practices, unaltered to the new practices of LCC and LCM. Knowing is also feeling and desiring and in this case, part of this knowhow is an expected level of control and a desire for countable knowledge derived from precise and reproducible measurements. This approach cannot support LCC and LCM because there is a lack of life cycle data and many factors that influence the life cycle which are out of IpsosCo’s control and area of jurisdiction e.g., customers’ behaviour and the operational environment. This was obvious because a large number of the interviews focused on estimating costs because not enough data was available as well as trying to understand what factors influence the costs.
Technological developments will make more data available and it is possible through business model changes e.g., automation and stronger contracts to gain more control over the influencing factors but it might be many years if not decades before IpsosCo can conduct LCC and LCM in line with their current knowhow. It remains unresolved if LCC and LCM will be practised sub-optimally with the current understanding, desires, and wishes or in a new form or if IpsosCo will postpone their practice until technology and automation catch up. This trilemma is depicted in
Figure 1.
4.5. Discourse—A Common Denominator
Discourse is a type of practice [
12]. Discourse is a part of LCC practice and most of the findings described in
Section 4 are a direct result of observing and participating in discourse, so it would be possible to categorize most findings as discourse practices. However, the aim is not to analyse each discourse practice of LCC but LCC as practice. Therefore, it is important to point out that the practice of discourse involving diverse individuals (G1, G3–G6) was crucial to many aspects of LCC practice e.g., scoping and costing techniques for LCC.
During the discussions (G3–G6) it was revealed that common meaning was not always ascribed to particular words. This was the case in two types of instances. The first was when different meanings were ascribed to a word by different groups within IpsosCo and the second was when IpsosCo ascribed a different meaning to a word than that ascribed by the broader public. The most notable example is the compound word “life cycle” perceived differently within the company and at variance with the ISO definition (G3, G4). A more mundane example was a “cost code” for service technicians that is understood and used slightly differently in two different countries (I22). The practice of LCC and LCM will need to be supported by language, which is commonly understood throughout IpsosCo, regardless of the department or daughter, or sister company one is employed in. Common meaning of words will not only influence the practice of LCC but also the dissemination of the results and its influence on LCM.
Language is also performative and the word
cost, which is central to LCC, has negative connotations, thus connecting the
life cycle idea to a negative concept rather than a positive idea like value or revenue. An indicator of this is that although LCC can include the calculation of revenue [
19], when this was suggested by the researcher, it was initially questioned by members of the project team.
Discourse is also a means to act and opportunity for discourse has to be provided; therefore IpsosCo and the researcher agreed that the dissemination seminars would include time for the participants to discuss LCC results and practice.
4.6. Individuals—The Role of R&D Engineers
Individuals carry out practice, and each develops an understanding of a practice based on how the body and mind have been shaped through performing and being performed by all the practices the individual carries out [
12].
Individuals perceived the importance of practising LCC differently. Out of the project team, two members strongly supported the initiative by going out of their way to facilitate its progress by identifying key persons, establishing contact with them, and motivating them to get involved. The others simply did what was expected. To identify the amalgam of practices that motivated this behaviour goes beyond what was explored or could be observed within the project.
During the last two focus groups (G5, G6) where LCC results were used to discuss recommendations for LCM and the dissemination seminars (G9, G10), members from R&D took leading roles; they also lead the process of formalizing the structures in order to establish LCC. From the transcripts, three reasons can be identified. The first is that because of offering PSS, R&D has identified a need for tools like LCC because they conceptualize LCC as a tool that helps them understand the trade-off between design decisions and life cycle costs (at least until the end of the contract) instead of production costs. The second reason is that R&D uses tools and methods and therefore, LCC practice coincides with their perception of how to perform practices. From these two findings, it can be concluded that the practice of design strengthened the legitimacy of LCC practice.
The third reason cannot be derived from practice theory but is associated with Czarniawska’s action nets, which are emerging in the R&D department as stabilized connections. The efforts of the R&D are further discussed in the structure and processes section.
4.7. Structure and Processes
Although Reckwitz [
12] focuses on the routine structure, he also discusses the temporal nature of structures and routines and their dissipation or rupture when a crisis occurs as well as discussing the inadequacies of the practice and the individuals’ knowledge to meet the needs when in such a crisis.
LCC was introduced by top management with the help of researchers because of such an identified rupture; the extant routines are not centred on offering products as a service but rather on the sale of products. LCC was introduced at IpsosCo as a practice and this whole research focused on addressing how this practice contested and conformed to extant practices. However, this top down action from management coincided well with the local understanding at R&D level that the extant routinized practice of R&D needed altering because of the PSS. This is why R&D initiated a follow-up project between 2018–2020 to include LCC and other learnings from the project in the R&D processes. However, practising LCC created other ruptures, as mentioned in
Section 4.3.
4.8. Discussion
Although presented in independent chapters the elements of practice are deeply interrelated and causality for all findings described here can be linked to more than one element. Even Reckwitz [
12], whose basic elements are used to structure the analysis, warned against trying to reduce a practice to its elements. Therefore, the elements are not used or recommended as a framework, they are used to keep the researchers perspective broad and to structure the results. The categorization is based on what the researcher interpreted as the strongest element in an event.
Some of the individual findings have been confirmed by other authors. For example, Palo et al. [
12] used practice theory to investigate offering PSS and also found that the materiality of the product subsumes the service. Lack of data for LCC has been identified as a barrier [
8,
9,
10,
21] but the findings in this research expose a hesitancy to find data and develop estimation techniques because they may come in conflict with extant costing practices.
Gluch et al. [
6] found that managers working with lifecycle thinking were likely to see fewer hindrances to adopting LCC and this research confirms this and also expands the finding to individuals who also have expertise in working with tools e.g., R&D staff and individuals who are involved in other practices affected by lifecycle e.g., PSS and remanufacturing.