scholarly journals Material intelligence as a driver for value creation in IoT-enabled business ecosystems

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 857-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esko Hakanen ◽  
Risto Rajala

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify and discuss the role of intelligent materials in the emergence of new business models based on the Internet of Things (IoT). The study suggests new areas for further research to better understand the influences of material intelligence on the business models in industry-wide service ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach The study uses data from an earlier study of intelligent materials in the steel industry networks. The insights are based on 34 qualitative interviews among 15 organizations in the industry. The data are reanalyzed for this study. Findings The observations from the steel industry show how material intelligence can be harnessed for value creation in IoT-based business ecosystems. The results suggest that not all “things” connected to the IoT need to be intelligent, if information related to the things are collected, stored and shared for collaborative value creation among the actors involved in the business ecosystem. Research limitations/implications The study discusses how IoT deployments allow businesses to benefit from the velocity and variety of information associated with things and guides future research to study the ways in which value is created through IoT-enabled business models. Practical implications Rather than focusing on improving the efficiency of the supply network, the study presents new paths for competitive advantages in the new IoT ecosystems. Originality/value The study contributes to the mounting research on the IoT by identifying and discussing the critical aspects of how IoT can transform business models and supply networks within end-to-end ecosystems.

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Selberherr

Purpose – Sustainable buildings bear enormous potential benefits for clients, service providers, and our society. To release this potential a change in business models is required. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new business model with the objective of proactively contributing to sustainable development on the societal level and thereby improving the economic position of the service providers in the construction sector. Design/methodology/approach – The modeling process comprises two steps, the formal structuring and the contextual configuration. In the formal structuring systems theory is used and two levels are analytically separated. The outside view concerns the business model’s interaction with the environment and its impact on sustainability. The inside view focusses on efficient value creation for securing sustainability. The logically deductively developed business model is subsequently theory-led substantiated with Giddens’ structuration theory. Findings – The relevant mechanisms for the development of a new service offer, which creates a perceivable surplus value to the client and contributes to sustainable development on the societal level, are identified. The requirements for an efficient value creation process with the objective of optimizing the service providers’ competitive position are outlined. Research limitations/implications – The model is developed logically deductively based on literature and embedded in a theoretical framework. It has not yet been empirically tested. Practical implications – Guidelines for the practical implementation of more sustainable business models for the provision of life cycle service offers are developed. Social implications – The construction industry’s impact requires it to contribute proactively to a more sustainable development of the society. Originality/value – This paper analyzes the role for the players in the construction sector in proactively contributing to sustainable development on the societal level. One feasible strategy is proposed with a new business model, which aims at cooperatively optimizing buildings and infrastructures and taking the responsibility for the operating phase via guarantees.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 538-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Vallaster ◽  
Sascha Kraus ◽  
Norbert Kailer ◽  
Brooke Baldwin

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to give an up-to-date assessment of key topics and methods discussed in the current literature on responsible entrepreneurship. In the past years, sustainable development itself has become a more popular and important topic in the academic literature and hence the field of sustainable entrepreneurship has become a greater topic of interest and opportunity for solution. Therefore, a systematic literature review is conducted to assess new contributions to the field and its potential for the future of sustainable development, with a focus on responsible innovation.Design/methodology/approachSystematic, evidence-informed literature review following Tranfieldet al.(2003).FindingsBased on a conceptual literature review, five streams of research that responsible entrepreneurs distinguish from purely for-profit entrepreneurs are identified and discussed: walking the line between profit creation and value creation for society; business models of responsible entrepreneurs; their role in transforming society; getting ready to innovate responsibly; and the role of market incentives to foster sustainable business practices.Originality/valueThe structured literature review allows to identify future research paths. In detail, ideas as regards the management of upcoming tensions when trying to combine profit creation and value creation for society, and finally, the way innovation processes need to be rethought when innovating responsibly are discussed and outlined.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Dean ◽  
Ghada Talat Alhothali

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elucidate service-for-service benefits emerging from co-creation in everyday banking. It does so by identifying factors that constitute the joint provider/customer co-creation platform, distinguishing them from factors that facilitate customers’ independent value creation; and exploring benefits and potential opportunities for each party. Design/methodology/approach Insights were gained by using a qualitative approach involving 33 face-to-face interviews with bank managers (15) and their customers (18) in Saudi Arabia. Content analysis was performed on the data and the two sets of views integrated to compare the reality of service-for-service with theoretical assumptions. Findings The analysis identified 65 topics, clustered to 12 themes. Three themes represented joint, collaborative activity (problem solving, relationship building, and knowledge and learning) whilst other themes identified facilitation actions by banks. Key opportunities to increase mutual value (service-for-service) emerge from extending interaction via the co-creation platform but additional benefits from these opportunities are not currently realized by participants. The authors thereby note the potential of a service focus but suggest that the locus of value creation will not readily shift from the provider to a collaborative process of co-creation. Research limitations/implications The qualitative nature of the study limits generalizability. However, the authors expect that the hierarchy of service-for-service will be meaningful in other contexts. Future research may use it as a starting point for identifying innovations from co-creation, how actors realize and measure service-for-service, and how different business models may strengthen value opportunities. Practical implications The findings provide managers with first, three areas of emphasis to gain and extend mutual service-for-service from direct interactions in everyday banking transactions. Second, the study emphasizes resource characteristics that will facilitate value enhancement for firms and customers by recognition of barriers to collaborative actions, and approaches for pursuit of service-for-service. Originality/value This study establishes the joint and essential firm/customer co-creation platform in retail banking and distinguishes the platform from other customer value-facilitation actions. The authors integrate the findings with previous literature and present a conceptual framework for levels of service-for-service in exchange. This framework shows a hierarchy of key benefits for providers and customers, and highlights increasing complexities that hinder the reality of achieving service-for-service opportunities arising from the joint co-creation platform.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 570-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik Plewnia ◽  
Edeltraud Guenther

Purpose In order to guide sustainability research on the sharing economy, the purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive framework that captures the wide range of activities and business models that are considered to be part of the sharing economy. Design/methodology/approach Based on a systematic literature review and a content analysis, existing typologies are identified and analyzed for their conceptual intersections. Finally, categorizations from 43 documents are integrated into one framework. Findings Four main dimensions are identified as being used in different contexts to characterize sharing systems and were combined to form one comprehensive typology: shared good or service, market structure, market orientation, and industry sector. Originality/value The proposed typology is able to distinguish sharing activities based on their similarities and differences. Social, economic, and communicational avenues for the term “sharing” are merged into a conceptual foundation of the sharing economy. This enables researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to position their projects in the broad field of sharing. By discussing inherent tensions with regard to sustainability of the sharing economy, the offered categorizations can help to guide future research and policy intervention. Last but not least, professional managers should find valuable ideas for new business models.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Ammirato ◽  
Alberto Michele Felicetti ◽  
Roberto Linzalone ◽  
Daniela Carlucci

PurposeDigitalization had a relevant impact on the cultural tourism sector, both demand and supply. If, on the one hand, advances in digital technologies provided tourists with new mobile services able to amplify the cultural experience, on the other hand, they catalyzed the development of new business models by digital enterprises. This paper has a twofold purpose: to detect business models and key characteristics of mobile apps for cultural tourism and to analyze the offering of app-based services in this sector.Design/methodology/approachThe authors defined a methodology to identify, characterize and analyze a particular category of digital products for cultural tourism: app-based services. They are studied in terms of value creation, proposition and capture with the aim to identify the distinctive features of business models. As a result, the authors identified a classification framework on three main dimensions, namely “how to exploit mobile app features to create value for cultural tourists” (value creation), “which valuable services are delivered to cultural tourists” (value proposition) and “how companies are rewarded for the value they offered” (value capture). The authors apply the framework to perform a situation analysis of app-based services in the cultural tourism market.FindingsThe analysis highlights that digital enterprises offering app-based services do not fully exploit advances in technologies about users' value requirements. Hence, the results of our work suggest some directions that digital enterprises may follow to better exploit mobile app technology.Originality/valueTo date, little research has been devoted to investigating cultural tourism business models involving the exploitation of mobile app-based services. This research provides a useful framework to analyze fundamental aspects of business models in this sector. Such a framework represents a practical tool that provides fruitful insights for the design of a new generation of app-based services within the so-called “Internet of things” domain.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorren Kirsty Haywood

Purpose This research investigates what is driving corporate sustainability within South African organisations and to what extent these drivers intersect with risk management. This is important as new and emerging business risks are proving to be directly linked to sustainability issues having implication on long-term organisational performance. This implies that sustainability and risk should not be mutually exclusive. Design/methodology/approach By means of semi-structured interviews, sustainability managers of 11 South African organisations were engaged to gain insight relating to the immediate sustainability issues, risk landscape and the possible intersection between these issues within their organisations. Questions posed were around drivers of sustainability, risks to an organisation, changes in risks, relationship between sustainability and risk. By means of thematic analysis key issues emerging from the responses of the sustainability managers could be identified and themes determined based on similarities. This was followed by trend analysis of the frequency of responses to different sustainability and risk themes to interpret the data. Findings Results reveal that sustainability and risk management are similar in their intent purpose and output both aligned towards reducing impacts and managing uncertainty. However even though sustainability has increasingly become integral to business its value contribution and linkage with risk management differ significantly amongst organisations. This suggests that sustainability and risk management remain two distinct frameworks for managing uncertainty in business. Originality/value Research on integrating a sustainability perspective in risk management is at an early stage. To understand and respond to emerging risks, organisations need to integrate sustainability and risk management into their decision strategies – not only to minimize potential losses but also to exploit new business opportunities arising from the sustainability agenda. Future research should be directed towards advancing systematic methods for identifying and managing sustainability risks such that key sustainability challenges are firmly embedded in the risk management of the business. In this regard, organisations would be in a position to build resilience into their business models and operations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-54
Author(s):  
Kirstin Eva Bosbach ◽  
Anne-Sophie Brillinger ◽  
Björn Schäfer

Purpose Established firms are increasingly under pressure to develop new business models (BM) in a continuous manner to cope with competitive constraints and changing market requirements. Business model innovation (BMI) is widely accepted as a viable means to stay ahead of competition. Yet, firms struggle with successful BMI. The barriers to BMI is a widely discussed topic in academia and practice but with little reference to the barriers a firm is confronted with when operating multiple BMs in a corporate portfolio. Design/methodology/approach This paper investigates the implications for a firm operating a multitude of BMs concurrently. By combining the results of a literature analysis and 15 expert interviews from the fields of corporate strategy, business modelling and consulting, this paper presents and discusses the opportunities and challenges related to BM diversification. Findings The findings show that a strategic BM portfolio can be installed for enhanced value creation. However, managing multiple BMs and finding the right balance between existing and new business pose a major challenge for many established firms. With these results, the paper contributes to the existing literature in the fields of BMI and BM portfolio management. The findings clearly show the emerging importance of a strategic corporate BM portfolio for both research and practice and may provide an impetus for management discussions involving strategic BM portfolio decisions. Originality/value By building on and adding to existing literature and discussing existing works, this paper aims to giving a structured and comprehensive overview of enhancing and impeding factors on value creation when operating multiple BMs in a corporate portfolio.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebes Esho ◽  
Grietjie Verhoef

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a review of variance decomposition studies of firm performance and the theoretical foundations that served as the antecedents and promptings for this stream of research. Known collectively as “variance decomposition literature,” these studies use variance decomposition techniques to partition firm performance into various classes of effects in a bid to unveil the relative importance of factors responsible for firm performance variance. Design/methodology/approach A review of papers published in SCOPUS and institute for scientific information indexed journals was conducted. Findings The study found that firm, industry, corporate, business group and country effects are the major effects included in most extant studies. However, of all effects, firm effects remain the dominant and most important impact on firm performance. The effects that affect firm performance are also interdependent. Practical implications Consequently, the decisions of managers in firms are still the most important element in helping the firm to navigate industry and contextual factors, especially during periods of recession. Originality/value From the review, research gaps were identified and suggestions for future research provided. There is still much to learn from variance decomposition literature in an age of new business models, unprecedented start-up firms and from developing and emerging market countries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allard C.R. Van Riel ◽  
Jie J. Zhang ◽  
Lee Phillip McGinnis ◽  
Mohammad G. Nejad ◽  
Milos Bujisic ◽  
...  

Purpose While innovative service systems may create substantial value for certain stakeholders, they often destroy value for others. This value paradox frequently leads to unsustainable service systems. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of multiple theories to pinpoint and explain these value paradoxes, build a framework allowing potentially more sustainable value configuration of service systems and develop an agenda for future research. The framework is illustrated with examples from the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on prevalent theories and approaches, including service-dominant logic, business modeling, transaction cost economics, stakeholder theory, configuration theory and set theory, to develop a value configuration framework. Findings In a service system, the configuration of resources and relationships between these resources (i.e. the set of value propositions for various stakeholders of the system) determines which stakeholders will gain and which will lose and to what extent. For that reason, insight into the range of possible service configurations – or business models – will help decision makers consider the effects on various stakeholders, and, where possible, set their priorities right and make their businesses more sustainable. The research produces a rich research agenda. Research limitations/implications Examples from hospitality allow an in-depth examination of a range of dynamic configurational and technological innovations, but some idiosyncratic characteristics of the context may impede the wider applicability of the conceptual framework. Future research could complement this work by studying other service sectors. Practical implications The paper aims to provide decision makers in the service industry with a conceptual tool to explore, diagnose and, if needed, adjust the value configuration of their service operations. In practice, this tool may help explicate the service system configuration, thus helping managers determine their organizations’ desired positioning in terms of value creation and destruction, and to choose strategic directions by adapting configurations. Social implications Legislation and regulations are being adapted to various new service configurations. This paper attempts to – at least conceptually – distinguish different service configurations, allowing policy makers to identify the value trade-offs between stakeholders, including society at large. Originality/value Previous research focused primarily on value creation by innovative services and business models. Value creation for one stakeholder, however, could lead to value destruction for another. Taking this paradox into consideration may result in more open service ecosystems that explicitly consider sustainability and value implications in multiple dimensions and for a broader group of stakeholders.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 22-32
Author(s):  
Saul Berman ◽  
Anthony Marshall

Purpose – From interviews in 2013 with more than 875 CEOs of companies in a variety of industries from around the world, IBM researchers found that the majority of them rank technology as the top issue they expect will exert the strongest influence on their organizations and strategy. this paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This report is the third installment in an ongoing Global C-suite Study, the seventeenth such IBM study to focus on the C-suite. To compile the data for the meta study, between February and June 2013, researchers met with 4,183 top executives, representing a wide range of public and private sector enterprises in more than 20 industries and 70 countries. This report focuses on the responses of more than 875 CEOs from 67 countries who participated in the meta study. Findings – Analysis of the interviews identified three responses proactive firms have adopted to prepare for the future: embrace disruption; build shared value; and dare to be open. Research limitations/implications – Create experimentation spaces. Runaway innovation requires places and spaces where people can think, interact and experiment. The creation of these innovation spaces should be a priority. These should include: physical spaces where co-located people with different backgrounds can cross-pollinate each other’s ideas; virtual spaces where large numbers of people across different locations can focus on specific topics; and the building of business ecosystems. Business environments are beginning to evolve from markets to ecosystems. Organizations that identify new ways to serve customers holistically will define new business ecosystems and benefit the most. Practical implications – Taking action to embrace disruption: move out of bounds. Bringing together people from different industries, backgrounds, regions – and even generations – will be essential to predict and respond to new competitive threats. Expanding partnerships to deepen innovation capabilities will speed the discovery of new technologies and new business models. Originality/value – CEOs in just about every industry have learned that customers, partners and employees that collaborate can go further, faster in an era of runaway innovation. Many are pushing the boundaries on their organizations as a result – opening up to empower collaboration among individuals and moving away from command-and-control hierarchies. In just one year the number of CEOs determined to open up their organizations has increased an astounding 27 percent.


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