Network Analysis of Complex Stakeholder Needs for Service Ecosystem Sustainability A Case Study of South Korean ESCO industry

Despite the increasing complexity of problems and growing demand for stakeholder collaboration in the design for sustainability, there is a lack of methodology for understanding complex stakeholder needs and their relationships. This study proposes the need network analysis, a process of investigating the need structures based on need mapping and network analysis. We demonstrate its effectiveness in an empirical study to diagnose the energy service companies in South Korea. Based on the surveys and interviews with stakeholders, we identified their pain points and the problems that have put the industry in gridlock. We report the findings and discuss their implications to sustainable service ecosystem design that involves highly complex sociotechnical problems and policy innovations for the Korean ESCO industry.