scholarly journals Preparing Students for a Disruptive Construction Future

10.29007/gsbx ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Hardie

Many industries have felt the impact of disruptive change on their profitability and established practices. Examples of disruption have been documented in industries as diverse as transportation, photography, newspapers, retailing, recorded music and computer graphics. The construction industry has mostly avoided large-scale disruption because, in spite of the globalisation evident in mega projects, most construction is locally-based and delivered within a specific national context and regulatory system. This may be about to change. The forces of digitisation, industrialisation and globalisation are combining to generate the potential for disruptive enterprises which will grab market share and shake up existing business models. As academics striving to prepare students to be employment-ready, we need to open their eyes to the potential of the new economy to support new business models that are quite different from traditional construction companies. Students will need to be entrepreneurial in seeking out opportunities and identifying market niches. In two new and developing units/subjects at an Australian university these issues are being raised. Students are challenged to identify markets and market strategies enabled by social enterprises, collaborative systems, the ‘Internet of Things’ and even ‘Brutal Innovation’. Using student feedback and reflective practice, the lessons from the first two offerings of the new units are identified and teased out. In general, students respond well to the challenge of strategic thinking which relates to their future careers. While predicting the future is always fraught with difficulty, not attempting to do so could leave us vulnerable to disruptive change.

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 749-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seppo Leminen ◽  
Mervi Rajahonka ◽  
Mika Westerlund ◽  
Robert Wendelin

Purpose This study aims to understand their emergence and types of business models in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds upon a systematic literature review of IoT ecosystems and business models to construct a conceptual framework on IoT business models, and uses qualitative research methods to analyze seven industry cases. Findings The study identifies four types of IoT business models: value chain efficiency, industry collaboration, horizontal market and platform. Moreover, it discusses three evolutionary paths of new business model emergence: opening up the ecosystem for industry collaboration, replicating the solution in multiple services and return to closed ecosystem as technology matures. Research limitations/implications Identifying business models in rapidly evolving fields such as the IoT based on a small number of case studies may result in biased findings compared to large-scale surveys and globally distributed samples. However, it provides more thorough interpretations. Practical implications The study provides a framework for analyzing the types and emergence of IoT business models, and forwards the concept of “value design” as an ecosystem business model. Originality/value This paper identifies four archetypical IoT business models based on a novel framework that is independent of any specific industry, and argues that IoT business models follow an evolutionary path from closed to open, and reversely to closed ecosystems, and the value created in the networks of organizations and things will be shareable value rather than exchange value.


Author(s):  
Sibel Yildiz Çankaya ◽  
Bülent Sezen

Modern industry developed over several centuries and three industrial revolutions. Today, we experience the fourth era of the industrial revolution, Industry 4.0. The advance of industrialization brought along many problems, including environmental pollution, global warming, and depletion of natural resources. As a result, the concept of sustainability began to gain importance. Sustainability can be achieved through a balance between economic, social, and environmental processes. In order to establish such balance, businesses need new business models or insights. At this point, Industry 4.0 can be regarded as a new business mindset that will help businesses and communities move towards sustainable development. The technologies used by Industry 4.0 bear a strong promise to solve these problems, after all. Even though Industry 4.0 attracts a lot of attention lately, few works are available on its impact on sustainability. This chapter examines the impact of Industry 4.0 on sustainability.


Author(s):  
Iwona Dorota Bąk ◽  
Beata Szczecińska

The aim of the study is to attempt to systematize the concept of economic value that takes into account elements of sustainable development. At the same time, it is the voice in the ongoing discussion on the purpose and methods of valuation of the company's value. The measure of strength of each enterprise is its value expressed in monetary units. Due to differences in the results of the valuation of enterprises made by groups of experts representing such disciplines as finance, taxes, or marketing, there was a need to identify sources and to analyze more precisely the resulting discrepancies. The values of the enterprise should include both measurable and hard to measure values, which largely differentiate economic units from each other. The need for a wider perspective on the data published by enterprises appeared along with new business models, changes in consumer trends, environmental regulations, or the impact of social media.


Author(s):  
Janusz Wielki

Currently there are many studies which deal with the impact of the Internet and Internet technology-based tools on organizations. Most of them are focused on such issues as the opportunities which have emerged with the development of the digital economy, possible new business models, establishing new kind of relations with customers, and security aspects. The impact of Internet technology-based tools on the internal work environment of organizations is an issue which is relatively rarely analyzed. Although more and more publications concerning this field are being released, they are only focused to a small degree on the challenges connected with the utilization, and, particularly, the misuse, of Internet technology-based tools in the workplace. Thus, this article is an attempt to deal with this issue in a more holistic way.


2009 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wang

This article offers some speculations on the challenge that new media technology poses to the concept and practice of advertising, particularly the impact of open-content technology. It canvasses a number of globalising trends, notably Web 2.0 technology and culture, user-generated content, and the industry buzz about emerging business models enabled by 2.0. As digital marketing has taken shape and become more technologically driven than ever, advertising is no longer the only, nor even the primary, source of revenue for new media. Apart from mapping the new terrain, the paper examines some 2.0 revenue models for the purpose of inviting researchers to think beyond the parameters set by plain old advertising. On the methodological front, the paper argues that keeping ourselves abreast of new revenue strategies brings to the fore a number of key areas of investigation hitherto understudied by academic advertising researchers, in particular media technology and digital copyright protocols.


Author(s):  
Peter Oneill ◽  
Nell Kimberley ◽  
Chih Wei Teng

The management of Australian public universities has changed dramatically over the last two decades with the decrease in public funding across teaching and research sectors. This has forced a strategic repositioning of universities and likewise a rethink on value generation and its translation into various revenue streams. The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of current government innovation policy and university capabilities to support the translation of innovation, and in so doing explore the possibilities of a Quadruple Helix innovation approach to building new models for education. The paper begins by examining the significant role innovation plays in developing economic wealth, and a discussion of the triple helix framework that identifies the complex collaborative relationships between universities, government and industry. The development of a Quadruple Helix Innovation Model, which places the user at the centre of the relationship, highlights the importance of capabilities in the transmission mechanisms driving innovation. We argue that the measurement of appropriate capabilities formed through collaborations amongst key stakeholders will be critical to new business models. Universities are encouraged to embrace the user value driven business models to provide the innovation, execution and disruption necessary to quadruple the impact on national growth.


Author(s):  
Ana Tvaliashvili ◽  
Ketevan Chiabrishvili

The breakout of COVID-19 pandemic is followed by the unexpected and continuous crisis in all fields of activities. Literature is describing the features of challenges of different levels in different segments of economic performance. Georgia’s economic development is experiencing inevitable changes, which are not necessarily negative. Crises often lead to changes in the entrepreneurial mindset. The companies start considering new business models for future continuous operations and long-term sustainability. We set studying the current anti-crisis strategies of the construction companies and development of recommended system framework as a research problem. There was considerable doubt whether companies had strategy and plan for handling the crisis beforehand. The article provides some research findings on how companies managed to bring uncertainties and losses to a minimum. The method of interview allowed conducting qualitative analysis of different factors impacting construction projects. The pre-crisis performance, challenges during the crisis, and signs of recovery period are characterized. Study highlights the role of government in maintaining business operations. The results of survey and model for improved resilience is developed and introduced representing recommended set of resources, components of business process for desired outputs and outcomes in the construction business in Georgia.


Author(s):  
Hany H. Makhlouf

Social entrepreneurship is not new, but has gained greater visibility and recognition in recent years due to its growing worldwide impact.  As in the case of business entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship starts with an entrepreneur who has a novel idea, an innovative product or service, a creative approach to solving a perceived problem, a new business model, and/or a previously untried approach to product or service delivery. However, social entrepreneurship differs from business entrepreneurship because it is after sustainable solutions to societal problems and aims at social change rather than market expansion. It is, therefore, seen more as an agent of change than a profit-seeking enterprise.  This paper explores the characteristics of social entrepreneurship, and the factors that make a difference in its success or failure. It also sheds some light on what a social entrepreneurship is and what it is not. Finally, it examines the missions and contributions of six successful social entrepreneurships: The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, ADAPT of Egypt, BRAC of Bangladesh, Instituto de Pesquisas Ecologicas of Brazil,  the Aravind Eye Care Hospitals  of India, and Televerde’s Prison Call Centers of the United States. The impact of the first four has spread beyond their countries of origin, either through the geographic expansion of their operations or the application of the same concept or business model by social enterprises in other countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 889-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Antonio Joia ◽  
Gustavo Marchisotti

PurposeThis study aims to identify the social representation of cloud computing from the perspective of Information Technology (IT) professionals in emerging countries, comparing it with the extant literature on this subject.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from IT professionals in Brazil, which was used as a proxy for the emerging countries’ context related to cloud computing. Social Representation Theory was then applied to analyze the data.FindingsMismatches between theory and practice on cloud computing make it clear that most of the current scientific literature on cloud computing is, to a great extent, based on the context of developed countries rather than on the context of emerging ones.Research limitations/implicationsErrors of inference may have been made during the categorization of the words evoked. Furthermore, Brazil was used as a proxy for the emerging countries’ context related to cloud computing.Practical implicationsIT professionals in emerging countries have quite an operational view of cloud computing. Thus, companies in these countries have to align cloud computing better with new business models and corporate strategies in order to take advantage of the transformational impacts of cloud computing.Originality/valueIT professionals in emerging countries have failed to notice the strategic value of cloud computing, the new business models enabled by same, the privacy issues related to it and the impact cloud computing adoption can have on the IT costs of an organization. Moreover, mobility can be a paramount issue related to cloud computing in emerging countries – a fact thus far overlooked by academia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Weking ◽  
Michael Mandalenakis ◽  
Andreas Hein ◽  
Sebastian Hermes ◽  
Markus Böhm ◽  
...  

AbstractBlockchain technology enables new ways of organizing economic activities, reduces costs and time associated with intermediaries, and strengthens the trust in an ecosystem of actors. The impact of this seminal technology is reflected by an upcoming research stream and various firms that examine the potential uses of blockchain technology. While there are promising use cases of this new technology, research and practice are still in their infancy about altering existing and creating new business models. We develop a taxonomy of blockchain business models based on 99 blockchain ventures to explore the impact of blockchain technology on business models. As a result, we identify five archetypal patterns, which enhance our understanding of how blockchain technology affects existing and creates new business models. We propose to use these results to discover further patterns fueled by blockchain technology and illustrate how firms can use blockchain technology to innovate their business models.


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