product component), and for government (who have new means of realizing general sustainability goals and increasing the quality of life). Consumers, for their part, receive a greater diversity of choice, more direct meeting of their needs, and help in maintenance and recycling of products; but they also have some new stewardship responsibilities in keeping the cycle flowing. And, with greater participation in the design process, they also have great responsibility in examining the authenticity of their own needs, and distinguishing between want and need. In building, a service orientation would change of the focus of the industry towards upgrading and repair of existing spaces rather than the construction and sale of new buildings (Behrendt et al., 2003). However radical a development PSSs may seem, they are in many respects logical extensions of tendencies we already find in advanced production. According to Oksana Mont (Mont, 2002a, p.241), Product-service systems more appropriately respond to the demands of today than existing systems of mass production. This is an evolution of the economic transition away from standardised and mass production towards flexibility, mass-customisation and markets driven by quality and added value rather than cost. Core competencies, rather than physical assets, increasingly define leadership of companies on the market. She also sees PSSs providing an additional environmental dimension to the ongoing transition from goods to service production in the advanced countries.