DESIGN THINKING IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

Design thinking (DT) as an innovation method has gained increasing importance in recent years, both for traditional and digital products. However, the rapid acceleration of digitalization across all domains of the modern working world has changed the way innovation management and DT are conducted. As a result, highly interactive offline workshops have been replaced by remote online workshops, which are supported by digital tools. This radical shift warrants a reconsideration of the potentially socio-psychological dynamics within DT workshops. To address this, we conducted 16 qualitative in-depth interviews with DT experts from different backgrounds and contextualized our interview findings with construal level theory and embodied cognition. Thus, we show how the DT process is affected by the changing socio-psychological dynamics created by the shift to digital environments. In sum, we identify both chances and challenges of DT in digital environments and derive implications for future research and practice in this area

The Affordances of the Digital Medium : Users’ perceptions of digitalization

The aim of this administrative research is to identify the opportunities and obstacles associated with the exploitation of digitalization and digital services. The objective of the study is viewed from a user perspective, undertaken using a co-creation approach. The research material was collected in group discussions between participants in rural areas in Finland, as well as from the organizational environment of Finnish health care. Affordance theory, together with the concepts of the digital medium, and the co-creation of digitalization provide a theoretical framework for the research. The affordance approach provides a perspective to interpret the relationship between the user and the environment, where the aspects of the digital medium and the forming of the collective perception are also considered. By the theoretical framework, this doctoral dissertation responds to the following research question: what is the meaning of affordance theory for the utilization of the digital medium? The results of my study reflect citizens' views on digitalization and e-services. The participants’ attitude towards digitalization is described from the perspective of users, the environment, and digital applications. The model of participatory-deliberative design presented in the study enabled the multidimensional views of the topic. In conclusion, the perspective derived from affordance theory helps us to understand the factors that enable or prevent the utilization of the digital medium. However, the description also opens the cognitive process to the observer itself and to the development community. The increased self-awareness about one’s insights enables the user to be more flexible in controlling how to utilize the opportunities in the environment. Overall, increased awareness of the potential of the environment offers an opportunity to understand the views of others on the subject under consideration and to explain the underlying perception. The additional aspects of design and co-creation of the digital affordances support the successful discovery and implementation of the possibilities. The contribution of this research becomes apparent in unexpected events, as the increased digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates. The results also contribute to much more common surroundings and situations, as in the case of digitalization of welfare services.Tämän hallintotieteellisen tutkimuksen tavoitteena on digitalisaation ja digitaalisten palvelujen hyödyntämiseen liittyvien mahdollisuuksien ja estävien tekijöiden tunnistaminen. Käsiteltävän aiheen tarkastelu noudattaa käyttäjälähtöistä lähestymistapaa, joka toteutettiin yhteiskehittämisen menetelmää hyödyntämällä. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin Suomen maaseutupaikkakunnilta sekä terveydenhuollon organisaatioympäristöstä osallistujien välisistä ryhmäkeskusteluista. Affordanssiteoria yhdessä digitalisaatiotematiikan sekä yhteiskehittämisen lähestymistavan kanssa muodostavat tutkimuksen teoreettisen viitekehyksen, joka tarjoaa tarkastelunäkökulman käyttäjän ja ympäristön välisen vuorovaikutussuhteen tulkitsemiseksi. Tutkimuksen teoreettisen viitekehyksen kautta väitöskirja vastaa tutkimuskysymykseen, mikä merkitys affordanssiteorialla on digitalisaation hyödyntämiselle. Tutkimuksen tulokset ilmentävät kansalaisten näkemyksiä digitalisaatiosta ja sähköisistä palveluista. Osallistujien suhtautuminen digitalisaatiota kohtaan kuvataan käyttäjien, ympäristön ja digitaalisten sovellusten näkökulmista. Tutkimuksessa esiteltävä osallistavan deliberatiivisen suunnittelun (participatory-deliberative design) malli mahdollistaa aiheeseen sisältyvien moniulotteisten näkemysten esiin nostamisen. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että affordanssiteorian näkökulma auttaa ymmärtämään niitä tekijöitä, jotka mahdollistavat tai estävät digitalisaatioon liittyvät oivallukset. Affordanssien, eli ns. tarjoumien muodostumista kuvaava kognitiivinen prosessi tarjoaa lisääntyneen oivaltamisen mahdollisuuden sekä havainnoijalle itselleen, mutta myös kehittämisyhteisön hyödynnettäväksi. Kaiken kaikkiaan lisääntynyt tietoisuus ympäristön mahdollisuuksista tarjoaa mahdollisuuden ymmärtää muiden näkökulmia tarkasteltavaan aiheeseen ja selittää ajattelun taustalla vaikuttavia syitä. Tutkimuksen vaikutukset ovat hyödynnettävissä niin odottamattomissa tapahtumissa, kuten COVID-19 pandemian myötä tapahtunut ”digiloikka” osoittaa. Tutkimuksen näkökulma on myös sovellettavissa paljon yleisempiin tilanteisiin, kuten esimerkiksi hyvinvointipalvelujen digitalisoinnin tarkasteluun.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Critical Success Factors of Digital Business Strategy

Digitalization does fundamentally impact firms’ strategy develop-ment. With the fusion of IT and business strategy, Digital Business Strategy (DBS) creates the foundation for digital business models [1]. In this paper, we develop a DBS framework, based on a structured review of 21 industry reports. From this analysis, we yield 8 generic dimensions with a total of 40 critical suc-cess factors (CSFs) for DBS. The CSFs represent a rich set of actions specific to DBS and to the design of business models in the digital business environment. The discussion shows that academic research is lagging behind in contributing to DBS. Future research is suggested to further formalize the concept of DBS and to create a better understanding about how firms can successfully establish DBS

DIGITAL CO-CREATION Digitalization within Service Design : Transformation from analog thinking towards digital doing

The German automotive industry has accelerated its digital transformation as OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) moving from car manufacturers towards becoming mobility providers, striving for new mobility solutions like offering Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Self-Driving-System (SDS). OEMs focus on expanding their core product-driven businesses to access service-orientated business models, the transformation from ownership towards shared mobility. Considering internal and external factors, this requires a new set of expertise, capabilities and an underlying approach to fulfill the demands in the complexity of human-centered development and front- and backstage alignment within the organization. At the same time, Service Design as a practice has risen in attraction by industry, being recognized and increasingly requested for its integration in the functions and divisions of the organization. The scale of Service Design in influence and impact has reached professional practice, making its way from a trendy buzzword to professional practice of turning complex problems collaboratively into tangible solutions. It is seen as a powerful opportunity for combining Business, Human-Centered Design and Engineering. Service Design establishes new ways of exploring business opportunities towards agile problem-solving but focuses on the ‘doing’ side towards further implementation. The contribution of this industrial-based doctoral thesis shall define how Service Design can be deployed and implemented in the field of organizational transformation and mobility development in the era of digital transformation (Digitalization). This research approach seeks to acquire new knowledge on how the Service Design practice can be applied and executed to be perceived as a practical approach to improve the enterprise’s processes and operating procedures and also provide a strategy to grow Service Design within the organization. This research has followed developing a pilot in a lean start-up approach of build, measure, learn with various business units and brands within the Volkswagen Group, this also implies that this research case study consisted of analyzing the Volkswagen Group needs for Service Design. The ‘10X-Service Design Lab’ (10X-SDL) has been designed as the framework of a combination of modular lab space, facilitation enhanced process, methodological driven tool box, operational model in alignment with a digital workflow and workspace striving for accelerated decision making. It is based on the hypothesis that the proposed framework enhances Service Design practice and, at the same time, it increases its attractiveness for business purposes. The 10X-SDL is designed to accelerate project development in a human-centered and holistic way by an open workspace platform lead by facilitators on which project developers, participants, and stakeholders can digitally co-create products, services, systems, and strategies. This research has been conducted as a case study within the Volkswagen Group from 2015 to 2019 in cooperation with the main partners of Service Innovation Corner (SINCO) of the University of Lapland and visual collaboration software company DEON

An Analytic and Systemic View of the Digital Transformation of Healthcare

Industry 4.0 represents a digital revolution that is driven by technologies that blur the lines between the physical and digital worlds. Industry 4.0, the latest industrial revolution, is poised to have a profound impact on all aspects of society. In order to understand how the healthcare industry is being transformed by the convergence of the physical and digital realms, a systems perspective is taken in this study. Two research questions are addressed regarding the opportunities and interventions that can be provided by both analytical and systems conceptions of digital transformation. I use a systemic literature review approach to address the research questions. A sample of studies between 2000 and 2022 is analyzed. Existing studies mostly examine the effects of new digital technologies on healthcare providers. However, digital transformation also presents significant challenges, such as data privacy, ethical concerns related to AI-based automated decision-making, and equity issues related to e-health. Solutions to major challenges at both micro and macro levels can be derived from the existing theories and tools of systems thinking. For instance, systems thinking\u27s continuous learning and adaptation capabilities can be useful for healthcare organizations to develop the required digital capabilities. Furthermore, the interconnectedness of subsystems and stakeholders in systems thinking can be combined with digital twin technology to investigate the dynamic interactions among key stakeholders, leading to the development of new regulatory policies

Toward the Development of a Maturity Model for Digitalization within the Manufacturing Industry’s Supply Chain

The aim of this paper is the scientific development of a maturity model concerning the digital transformation of companies within the manufacturing industry’s supply chain. The rather “broad” and dispersed “mega-trend” of digitalization is expected to play an increasingly important role for companies as well as for the (digital) supply chain of the future. Such a model comprises the objective of addressing fundamental components, complementary innovations and relevant terminologies, like smart products, Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Big Data Analytics. Scientific rigor is achieved through conducting grounded theory research and in-depth interviews as methods of data collection and evaluation. Furthermore, relevant aspects concerning the development and construction of maturity models are discussed, before a suitable and scientifically elaborated maturity model concerning digitalization emerges from the course of investigation and its value for economic practice as well as for the scientific community is specified