Editorial: The War for Talent: Technologies and solutions toward competency and skills development and talent identification

This special issue is dedicated to advanced technological solutions and novel methodical approaches toward human capital management in terms of career development, assessment and recruitment as a driver for innovation and sustainable competitive advantage for academia and businesses in the changing conditions of the global employment market, and the War for Talent. Latest competitiveness-driven developments in productivity and services move forward human capital management and assessment technology and services alongside with talent identification as a driver for innovation and key source of maximizing the Return-On-Investment in people and technology in academia and businesses. Governments and businesses start thinking about competency and skills development as the critical issue for the workforce, and the workplaces. Against this background, a complex interrelationship arises between strategic management, human capital management, and the overall quality management in every educational and enterprise setting. In addition, identifying highly competent human capital develops into a challenging issue of the recruitment process.published_or_final_versio

Competitiveness of Indian Manufacturing: Finding of the 2001 National Manufacturing Survey

In this paper we present findings of the second national survey on the competitiveness of Indian manufacturing. The paper develops hypotheses on the competitiveness of firms in the manufacturing sector and addresses some key questions on the characteristics of world class firms in India. We analyze the processes and practices that such firms have adopted to become world class. More important, we highlight firm level practices that are preventing Indian firms from becoming globally competitive. The findings point towards three distinct aspects of manufacturing management that define the capabilities of the firm, i.e., strategies related to dynamic control of shop floors, network linkages and innovation. It is found that firms that build distinctive technological and managerial capabilities in these domains are able to compete globally. The paper provides a comparison with manufacturing capabilities of competitors in China and draws lessons for organizing large scale manufacturing. It also provides an assessment of the changes that have happened in manufacturing priorities and strategies in India since our last survey that was conducted in 1997 and highlights the implications of these changes.

Digital Transformation in Automotive: Drivers of Effective Sales Behaviors During Servitization at a German Car Manufacturer

Manufacturers deem servitization a competitive remedy, facing heightened customer expectations and competition amidst their digital transformation. Servitization refers to a shift from offering products to offering digital product-service systems. Although previous research inquired about traditional service operations, research into the servitization’s digital nature remains nascent and insights addressing the behavioral changes associated with such transformations are lacking. This paper presents an ongoing case study at a German car manufacturer, sharing insights into which organizational and individual factors drive salespeople’s behaviors during servitization based on twelve interviews and eleven workshops. The analysis suggests that usage clarity is key to mediating behaviors. Organizational factors driving behaviors include information dissemination, service orientation, and formalization. Individual factors driving behaviors include technology affinity and involvement. The paper contributes to understanding salespeople’s behavioral changes during introduction of digital product-service systems. Recommendations on designing personnel training programs to improve the marketing of digital product-service systems are derived

Semantic Model Alignment for Business Process Integration

Business process models describe an enterprise’s way of conducting business and in this form the basis for shaping the organization and engineering the appropriate supporting or even enabling IT. Thereby, a major task in working with models is their analysis and comparison for the purpose of aligning them. As models can differ semantically not only concerning the modeling languages used, but even more so in the way in which the natural language for labeling the model elements has been applied, the correct identification of the intended meaning of a legacy model is a non-trivial task that thus far has only been solved by humans. In particular at the time of reorganizations, the set-up of B2B-collaborations or mergers and acquisitions the semantic analysis of models of different origin that need to be consolidated is a manual effort that is not only tedious and error-prone but also time consuming and costly and often even repetitive. For facilitating automation of this task by means of IT, in this thesis the new method of Semantic Model Alignment is presented. Its application enables to extract and formalize the semantics of models for relating them based on the modeling language used and determining similarities based on the natural language used in model element labels. The resulting alignment supports model-based semantic business process integration. The research conducted is based on a design-science oriented approach and the method developed has been created together with all its enabling artifacts. These results have been published as the research progressed and are presented here in this thesis based on a selection of peer reviewed publications comprehensively describing the various aspects

Technology transfer - A selected bibliography

Selected bibliography on technology transfe

Possible ways for improving the competitiveness of SMEs. A Central-European approach.

An SME is able to cope with the global challenge if it runs reliable, balanced and high-standard operation in its business. There are different possible management methods for increasing the competitiveness of SMEs. In the last few years competitiveness of SMEs isalso analyzed on state level. It is very important to create a good business environment for this group of firms. In the time of crisis the outstanding role of SMEs in GDP creation is emphasized all over Europe and overseas.A network of researchers was found five years ago for the better understanding of SMEs problems and for carrying out research in this field.This network .evaluated the current situation and made a declaration recently for the future Hungarian government.globalisation, competitiveness factors, family business speciality.SMEs, Small Business Act, networking, research, SME policy

TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL TRANSFOR-MATION SUCCESS IN MANUFACTURING

Digital Transformation (DT) affects whole enterprises and is expected to drive a disruptive change in the way people work. Digital technologies leverage changes from simple tasks to the enterprise-wide strategy. Enterprises expect major benefits from investments in DT. However, digital transformation is a complex process and hence difficult to understand. Many different use scenarios exist so that decisions about the adoption of technologies are challenging. Therefore, it is critical to understand which benefits might be achieved with DT. With our research, we contribute to the understanding of digital transformation success. We develop and evaluate a framework that covers the main dimensions of digital transformation success. Literature from IS success and DT research is used to identify these dimensions. To evaluate this framework, we use data gained in a qualitative approach. We combine findings from a literature research with qualitative results to offer deeper insights into peoples\u27 understanding of what shapes the success. The framework is useful to classify benefits achieved by DT and to point out new possibilities of gaining success with DT

Towards Understanding closed-loop PLM: The Role of Product Usage Data for Product Development enabled by intelligent Properties

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a strategy of managing a company’s products all the way across their lifecycles. Empowered by new capabilities, intelligent products enable seamless information flow and thus enable closed-loop PLM. Hence, one phenomenon of particular interest is the appreciation of beginning of life activities through middle of life information. Grounded on empirical data from a multiple-case study in three distinct manufacturing industries, we explore this emergent role of product usage data for product development. In detail, we address rationales, opportunities, conditions, and obstacles. Findings indicate that (1) heterogeneous motives drive the exploitation, (2) a positive impact on every product development stage is perceivable, (3) some products and industry ecosystems are more suitable than others, and (4) technical, economic, and social obstacles challenge the exploitation. With the limitation of an interpretive, qualitative research design, our work represents a first step to understand the role of closed-loop PLM

The countryside in urbanized Flanders: towards a flexible definition for a dynamic policy

The countryside, the rural area, the open space, … many definitions are used for rural Flanders. Everyone makes its own interpretation of the countryside, considering it as a place for living, working or recreating. The countryside is more than just a geographical area: it is an aggregate of physical, social, economic and cultural functions, strongly interrelated with each other. According to international and European definitions of rural areas there would be almost no rural area in Flanders. These international definitions are all developed to be used for analysis and policy within their specific context. They are not really applicable to Flanders because of the historical specificity of its spatial structure. Flanders is characterized by a giant urbanization pressure on its countryside while internationally rural depopulation is a point of interest. To date, for every single rural policy initiative – like the implementation of the European Rural Development Policy – Flanders used a specifically adapted definition, based on existing data or previously made delineations. To overcome this oversupply of definitions and delineations, the Flemish government funded a research project to obtain a clear and flexible definition of the Flemish countryside and a dynamic method to support Flemish rural policy aims. First, an analysis of the currently used definitions of the countryside in Flanders was made. It is clear that, depending on the perspective or the policy context, another definition of the countryside comes into view. The comparative study showed that, according to the used criteria, the area percentage of Flanders that is rural, varies between 9 and 93 per cent. Second, dynamic sets of criteria were developed, facilitating a flexible definition of the countryside, according to the policy aims concerned. This research part was focused on 6 policy themes, like ‘construction, maintenance and management of local (transport) infrastructures’ and ‘provision of (minimum) services (education, culture, health care, …)’. For each theme a dynamic set of criteria or indicators was constructed. These indicators make it possible to show where a policy theme manifests itself and/or where policy interventions are possible or needed. In this way every set of criteria makes up a new definition of rural Flanders. This method is dynamic; new data or insights can easily be incorporated and new criteria sets can be developed if other policy aims come into view. The developed method can contribute to a more region-oriented and theme-specific rural policy and funding mechanism