A Case Study on Participatory Approach to Support Shift to Experience Design of Work Tools in B2B Context

To support the shift from technology-driven to experience-driven design in a company developing work tools (materials handling equipment), we developed and applied a participatory approach to increase awareness and buy-in of experience design and related methods at the company. We 1) present user experience (UX) design guidelines developed for both designers and managers based on the participatory process, 2) report evaluation of the guidelines with designers, developers, and selected internal and external stakeholders, and 3) present a participatory approach to create personas and experience journey maps covering the product life-cycle. SWOT analysis of the guidelines revealed that guidelines need to be understandable without expert UX knowledge, managerial support is needed that was aimed to be supported by the guidelines developed for managers, and representative user participation is needed. Participants experienced positively the applied participatory approach, and the mindset change is proceeding in the case company

Contributions to chatbots and digital analytics in industry

Diese kumulative Dissertation umfasst zehn wissenschaftliche Artikel, die zur Forschung digitaler Analytik, Messung von Technologieakzeptanz und Chatbots beitragen. Ziel der Artikel ist es, die Entwicklung, Implementierung und Verwaltung von Technologien zu vereinfachen und zu unterstützen. Modelle werden entwickelt, welche die wichtigsten Schritte beschreiben und unter anderem relevante damit zusammenhängende Fragen auflisten, die zu beteiligenden Interessengruppen benennen und geeignete Tools vorstellen, welche berücksichtigt werden sollten. Es werden Chatbot Taxonomien entwickelt und vorgestellt, welche die Bandbreite der derzeit bestehenden Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten aufzeigen, während identifizierte Archetypen zu beobachtende Kombinationen aufzeigen. Die Identifizierung der häufigsten Gründe für Misserfolge und die Entwicklung kritischer Erfolgsfaktoren tragen ebenfalls zu dem Ziel bei, den Entwicklungs- und Managementprozess zu erleichtern. Da die Endnutzer über die Akzeptanz und Nutzung und damit über den Erfolg einer Technologie entscheiden, werden Ansätze genutzt, wie die Nutzerakzeptanz von Technologien gemessen werden kann und wie Nutzer frühzeitig in den Entwicklungsprozess eingebunden werden können

Digital transformation in the financial services sector: new business models and value creation

This cumulative dissertation contributes to the field of digital transformation in the financial services sector by providing a synthesis of a set of peer-reviewed scientific articles aimed toward advancing the understanding of the value of innovation in the digital transformation of business models in the financial services sector. With this aim in mind, this dissertation focuses on three main research topics related to the field of digital transformation in financial services, whereby the first research topic addresses the digital transformation of the financial system driven by the integration of business and process innovations. To support the subsequent implementation of strategic responses based on the complexity and scope of the digital transformation required in the financial services industry, a holistic analysis of the macroeconomic and sector-specific influencing factors underlying the digital transformation in the financial services industry is presented. Furthermore, since the integration of innovations in primary or secondary business processes leads to both positive and negative consequential impacts, the ambivalent effect of the integration of digital innovations on advisory work in traditional financial institutions are further examined. The second research topic addresses the structural transformation of the financial sector inherent to the consolidation and long-term sustainability of financial technology (FinTech) companies, through the identification and empirical classification of the success factors intrinsic to the different FinTech business models. Subsequently, given that the incorporation of digital innovations into business processes not only challenges how traditional financial service providers capture and generate business value, but also how they engage with their customers to deliver value, the third research topic first explores, from a technological perspective, the digitalization of the customer interface leveraged by digital communication innovations such as chatbots, and subsequently examines the implementation of chatbots within the context of the financial industry.Diese kumulative Dissertation zielt darauf ab, einen Beitrag zum Bereich der digitalen Transformation im Finanzdienstleistungssektor zu leisten, indem sie eine Synthese einer Reihe von begutachteten wissenschaftlichen Artikeln liefert, die darauf abzielen, das Verständnis für den Wert von Innovationen bei der digitalen Transformation von Geschäftsmodellen im Finanzdienstleistungssektor zu fördern. Mit diesem Ziel vor Augen konzentriert sich diese Dissertation auf drei Hauptforschungsthemen im Bereich der digitalen Transformation im Finanzdienstleistungssektor. Das erste Forschungsthema befasst sich mit der digitalen Transformation des Finanzsystems, die durch die Integration von Geschäfts- und Prozessinnovationen vorangetrieben wird. Um die anschließende Umsetzung strategischer Maßnahmen zu unterstützen, die auf der Komplexität und dem Umfang der in der Finanzdienstleistungsbranche erforderlichen digitalen Transformation basieren, wird in dieser Arbeit eine ganzheitliche Analyse der branchenspezifischen Einflussfaktoren für die digitale Transformation in der Finanzdienstleistungsbranche vorgestellt. Da die Integration von Innovationen in primäre und sekundäre Geschäftsprozesse sowohl zu positiven als auch zu negativen Folgewirkungen führt, werden außerdem die ambivalenten Auswirkungen der Integration digitaler Innovationen auf die Beratungsarbeit in traditionellen Finanzinstituten näher untersucht. Das zweite Forschungsthema befasst sich mit dem strukturellen Wandel des Finanzsektors, der mit der Konsolidierung und langfristigen Nachhaltigkeit von Finanztechnologieunternehmen (FinTech) einhergeht, indem die Erfolgsfaktoren der verschiedenen FinTech-Geschäftsmodelle identifiziert und empirisch klassifiziert werden. Da die Einbindung digitaler Innovationen in die Geschäftsprozesse nicht nur die Art und Weise in Frage stellt, wie traditionelle Finanzdienstleister Geschäftswerte erfassen und generieren, sondern auch, wie sie mit ihren Kunden in Kontakt treten, um Werte zu schaffen, untersucht das dritte Forschungsthema zunächst aus technologischer Sicht die Digitalisierung der Kundenschnittstelle, die durch digitale Kommunikationsinnovationen wie Chatbots ermöglicht wird, und untersucht anschließend die Implementierung von Chatbots im Kontext der Finanzbranche

Co-create with stakeholders : Action research approach in service development

This paper promotes the value of including many stakeholders in service development. The experience of co-creative service development is examined through the lens of action research. Engaging multiple stakeholders in face-to-face, in simultaneous joint activities, from various organisations, with different levels of hierarchy, and dissimilar positions, may increase the diversification through the broadness of the information, knowledge, and experiences, and increase the amount, and quality of the development suggestions. This paper is an attempt to tell the story of action research and how it was applied to increase the understanding of the usefulness of multiple stakeholders in service development. Outcomes of a research project are presented. The paper ends with discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the conducted researc

Developing a macro-dynamic framework of start-up growth drivers supported by digital marketing

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The AuthorsThe contemporary market positions digital marketing as a powerful mediator between efficient digital interaction, data interpretation opportunities, and business growth, while extending its impact potential to tackle different growth challenges. As start-ups usually have limited resources and struggle with customer engagement, retention, and other growth challenges, the low investment and dynamic elements of digital marketing tools can be used to support constructive digital interactions impacting start-up growth. Consequently, these links have outlined an extended digital marketing impact in the areas which build on marketing and sales and influence growth components such as product & market testing, customer engagement, and partnership development. Through a systematic literature review, we present a holistic overview encompassing start-up growth areas that use digital marketing. We also discuss how digital marketing efforts complement the start-up maturity. Furthermore, we analyze the differences in B2B and B2C digital marketing usage and discuss how emerging technologies impact digital marketing. The link between the extended digital marketing impact, start-up challenges, and growth areas result in the identification of start-up growth drivers supported by digital marketing. We propose a Macro-Dynamic framework identifying the start-up growth drivers from product, market, team, and finance areas and digital marketing tactics connected to the identified growth drivers.publishersversionpublishe

N-REL: A comprehensive framework of social media marketing strategic actions for marketing organizations

Despite the increasing and ubiquitous use of social media for business activities, scholar research on social media marketing strategy is scant and companies deploy their social media marketing strategies guided by intuition or trial and error. This study proposes a comprehensive framework that identifies and classifies social media marketing strategic actions. The conceptual framework covers actions that support both transactional and relationship marketing. This research also positions social media marketing strategy and strategic actions in the context of the marketing organization theory, and discusses the impact of the incorporation of social media on the concept of marketing organization. The study offers valuable theoretical insight on social media marketing actions and the deployment of social media marketing strategies in companies. The investigation also provides hints about how to maximize the benefits from social media marketing for customer-oriented, market-driven organizations

Business to Business Enterprise Integration: An exploratory study to develop and test an implementation model for engineer to order organisations.

This research explores the managerial problems associated with adoption of business to business (B2B) enterprise integration in the UK engineer to order (ETO) manufacturing sector. Its aim is to develop a B2B enterprise integration hierarchy to overcome managerial problems and propose a model for implementation. The first part of the research developed an overview of the evolution of the B2B enterprise integration concept, a definition, perceived business benefits and its general status in the UK manufacturing sector. The research is grounded in the extant literature covering supply chain integration, information technology acceptance literature, crisis management and implementation success factors. A qualitative case study approach was selected comprising two phases. The first phase involved key informant interviews at eleven ETO companies in the UK. Three interviews with key informants were carried out at each company. This group triangulation approach mitigated any bias. Four managerial problems were identified: management awareness of the benefits and implementation challenges, risk in terms of return on investment and business continuity during implementation, information security risk associated with loss of competitive advantage and lack of relevant skills within the organisation. From these findings, a B2B de-coupled integration hierarchy was developed and an implementation model proposed. The second phase involved an in case participatory action research study over a one year budget cycle at one of the eleven companies during implementation of a B2B system. This case study tested the use of a B2B de-coupled integration hierarchy approach and refined the proposed implementation model. The outcome of the research recommends a B2B de-coupled integration hierarchy and an iterative implementation model for overcoming the four key inhibitors identified. This is significant for practitioners, particularly in the ETO sector, who are in the process of implementing B2B enterprise integration systems. It confirms that successful implementation can be achieved if senior management teams are fully aware of the potential benefits and the implementation challenges. Additionally, business and information security risks must be dealt with by appropriate de-coupling and the workforce should have the relevant skills to deal with the new systems. From an academic perspective, this research provides two significant contributions. This is the first study to explore the managerial problems associated with adoption of B2B enterprise integration by using a combination of interviewing key informants within an organisational setting and a participatory action case study. Furthermore, it is the first study to propose an iterative implementation model to overcome managerial problems associated with adoption of B2B enterprise integration in the UK ETO sector. It should be noted that this research is limited to key informant interviews at eleven companies and one case study. In order to provide unequivocal validation and generalisability, the research should be expanded to cover other manufacturing sectors

The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019

An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africa’s smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT ‘agripreneurs’. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains

Work Organisation and Innovation

[Excerpt] Innovations in work organisation have the potential to optimise production processes in companies and improve employees’ overall experience of work. This report explores the links between innovations in work organisation – under the broader label of high performance work practices (HPWPs) – and the potential benefits for both employees and organisations. It draws on empirical evidence from case studies carried out in 13 Member States of the European Union where workplace innovations have resulted in positive outcomes

Scaling Success: Lessons from Adaptation Pilots in the Rainfed Regions of India

"Scaling Success" examines how agricultural communities are adapting to the challenges posed by climate change through the lens of India's rainfed agriculture regions. Rainfed agriculture currently occupies 58 percent of India's cultivated land and accounts for up to 40 percent of its total food production. However, these regions face potential production losses of more than $200 billion USD in rice, wheat, and maize by 2050 due to the effects of climate change. Unless action is taken soon at a large scale, farmers will see sharp decreases in revenue and yields.Rainfed regions across the globe have been an important focus for the first generation of adaptation projects, but to date, few have achieved a scale that can be truly transformational. Drawing on lessons learnt from 21 case studies of rainfed agriculture interventions, the report provides guidance on how to design, fund and support adaptation projects that can achieve scale