Shifting new media: from content to consultancy, from heterarchy to hierarchy

This is a detailed case history of one of London’s iconic new media companies, AMX Studios. Some of the changes in this firm, we assume, are not untypical for other firms in this sector. Particularly we want to draw attention to two transformations. The first change in AMX and in London’s new media industry more generally refers to the field of industrial relations. What can be observed is a shift from a rather heterarchical towards a more hierarchical organized new media industry, a shift from short-term project networks to long-term client dependency. The second change refers to new media products and services. We want to argue for a shift from cool content production towards consultancy and interactive communications solutions

Digital transformation and business model innovation : a multiple case study of consulting companies from Germany

This dissertation provides a status quo of the digital transformation within the German IT consulting industry in 2022 and examines the influence of digitalization on the business model (BM) development of consultancies. The paper studies the determinants which led consultancies to arrive at their current digitalization level, how their current BMs are characterized as well as how the development process induced by digitalization is composed, and eventually which success factors need to be fulfilled to overcome potential future growth barriers. In the literature review, definitions of the concept of BM and the innovation on BMs are discussed. Based on those insights, the characteristics of BMs in the consulting industry are identified and a deepened understanding of the phenomenon on digitalization is created. Grounded on the theoretical insights, a multiple case study spanning four different IT consulting firms is performed which investigates the business model developments of those consultancies by conducting two semi-structured interviews with related consultants per case complemented with secondary data generating data triangulation. The dissertation identifies changing requirements of stakeholders and in particular clients as the most relevant determinants for business model innovation. The findings of the thesis stress the importance of an outbalanced focus on the people business and the technological aspects of IT consulting. As most critical success factors a change affine mindset and company culture have been identified which embraces that mindset and consequently enables an organizational structure to execute the willingness for change.Esta dissertação fornece um status da transformação digital na indústria alemã de consultoria informática em 2022 e examina a influência da digitalização no desenvolvimento do modelo de negócio (BM) das consultorias. O artigo estuda os determinantes que levaram as consultorias a chegar ao seu atual nível de digitalização, como são caracterizados os seus atuais BMs, como é composto o processo de desenvolvimento induzido pela digitalização, e eventualmente os fatores de sucesso que precisam de ser cumpridos para superar potenciais barreiras de crescimento futuro. Na revisão da literatura, são discutidas definições do conceito de BM e inovação em BMs. Com base nestes conhecimentos, são identificadas as características de BMs na indústria de consultoria ed é criada uma compreensão profunda do fenómeno da digitalização. Com base nos conhecimentos teóricos, é realizado um estudo de caso múltiplo abrangendo quatro empresas de consultoria de IT diferentes que investiga os desenvolvimentos do BM dessas consultorias, conduzindo duas entrevistas semiestruturadas com consultores relacionados por caso, complementadas com dados secundários geradores de triangulação de dados. A dissertação identifica os requisitos em mudança das partes interessadas e, em particular, dos clientes como os determinantes mais relevantes para inovação do modelo de negócio. As conclusões da tese sublinham a importância de um enfoque desequilibrado no negócio das pessoas e nos aspetos tecnológicos da consultoria em IT. Como fatores de sucesso mais críticos, foi identificada uma mudança de mentalidade e cultura empresarial que abraça essa mentalidade e, consequentemente, permite uma estrutura organizacional para executar a vontade de mudança

Introducing conflict as the microfoundation of organizational ambidexterity

This article contributes to our understanding of organizational ambidexterity by introducing conflict as its microfoundation. Existing research distinguishes between three approaches to how organizations can be ambidextrous, that is, engage in both exploitation and exploration. They may sequentially shift the strategic focus of the organization over time, they may establish structural arrangements enabling the simultaneous pursuit of being both exploitative and explorative, or they may provide a supportive organizational context for ambidextrous behavior. However, we know little about how exactly ambidexterity is accomplished and managed. We argue that ambidexterity is a dynamic and conflict-laden phenomenon, and we locate conflict at the level of individuals, units, and organizations. We develop the argument that conflicts in social interaction serve as the microfoundation to organizing ambidexterity, but that their function and type vary across the different approaches toward ambidexterity. The perspective developed in this article opens up promising research avenues to examine how organizations purposefully manage ambidexterity

The complex interaction between Global Production Networks, Digital Information Systems and International Knowledge Transfers

Traditionally many studies of knowledge in economics have focused on localized networks and intra-regional collaborations. However, the rising frequency by which firms collaborate within the context of global networks of production and innovation, the increasingly intricate divisions of labor involved and the extensive use of the Internet to facilitate interaction are all relatively novel trends that underline the importance of knowledge creation and flows across different locations. Focusing on this topic, the present chapter examines the complex interactions between global production networks (GPN), digital information systems (DIS) and knowledge transfers in information technology industries. It seeks to disentangle the various conduits through which different kinds of knowledge are transferred within such networks, and investigate how recent generations of DIS are affecting those knowledge transfers. The paper concludes that the dual expansion of GPN and DIS is adding new complexity to the practice of innovation: To access knowledge necessary for sustained creativity firms often have to link up with remote partners in GPN, but to be able to absorb and utilize this knowledge, they also frequently have to engage in local interactive learning processes. These local- global linkages - and the various skills necessary to operate them - are strongly interdependent, mutually reinforcing and critical for the development and maintenance of innovation-based competitiveness.

Innovation dynamics and the role of infrastructure

This report shows how the role of the infrastructure – standards, measurement, accreditation, design and intellectual property – can be integrated into a quantitative model of the innovation system and used to help explain levels and changes in labour productivity and growth in turnover and employment. The summary focuses on the new results from the project, set out in more detail in Sections 5 and 6. The first two sections of the report provide contextual material on the UK innovation system, the nature and content of the infrastructure knowledge and the institutions that provide it. Mixed modes of innovation, the typology of innovation practices developed and applied here, is constituted of six mixed modes, derived from many variables taken from the UK Innovation Survey. These are: Investing in intangibles Technology with IP innovating Using codified knowledge Wider (managerial) innovating Market-led innovating External process modernising. The composition of the innovation modes, and the approach used to compute them, is set out in more detail in Section 4. Modes can be thought of as the underlying process of innovation, a bundle of activities undertaken jointly by firms, and whose working out generates well known indicators such as new product innovations, R&D spending and accessing external information, that are the partial indicators gathered from the innovation survey itself

Reconciling the Debate on People Analytics in Academia and Practice

People analytics depicts the algorithmization of human resources management characterized by the data-driven automation and support of people-related processes or tasks. On the one hand, people analytics promises productivity increases through optimizing workforce planning, hiring, or talent development. On the other hand, the extensive data collection and analysis of employees’ behaviors can be perceived as invasive, raising privacy concerns. This debate cannot only be explained by diverging norms and values, for example, practitioners realizing commercial opportunities while being criticized by academic commentaries. Instead, an alternative explanation suggests that the opposing views can be reconciled by diving into the conceptual differences regarding what analytical methods and data sources people analytics entails. Hence, this paper proposes the conceptions of operational and strategic people analytics based on a literature review of academics’ and practitioners’ literature. Four propositions about these conceptions’ privacy and performance implications are derived. Future research should empirically validate these propositions

Comprehending the Evolving Leadership Role of the Consultant Designer in the New Product Development Process in Mature Product Categories

Seismic shifts in 21st century market conditions – globalisation, immediate digital communications, rapidly developing technologies, an ever more sophisticated, knowledgeable consumer – create a new landscape for organisations seeking to create products of greater value, which better meet evolving needs and desires. While the marketing-led approach, dominant in the past half-century, focused on persuasion, design, with its specialised tools, is suggested to be more adept and flexible than marketing at understanding and providing relevant value for today’s consumer. A literature review argues that, in history, design has endured periods of particular strength followed by decline. This thesis examines the proposition that design is moving into an era of ascendancy. The literature review considers notions of design and designers’ involvement in the new product development (NPD) process, and suggests that they are having a wider input of increasing significance in NPD. This acts as a base for developing understanding of the role of designers, and their interface with business. Evidence was gathered in a case study approach at four industrial design consultancies creating products for a range of international clients, mostly in mature consumer product categories. Recorded interviews, observation and case diaries were analysed using an interpretivist approach, and themes were built from this data. Greater responsibility – leadership – on the part of design was manifest in numerous ways in the work of the designer and consultancy design studio. The findings suggest an overall transition from a marketing-led NPD approach to one of ‘design leadership’. First, designers are taking greater responsibility in solving problems of greater weight and complexity than in previous generations. The role and remit of the designer has expanded to embrace some of the tasks traditionally associated with the marketer. Second, the nature of the relationship between designer and client is instrumental in determining how the designer is involved in NPD. A growing closeness means that designers are involved from the beginning, or even pre-project, and this allows greater input in realms beyond product function and aesthetics. Third, consultancies are reorienting their offering to one of involvement across the NPD project. Studios consult in the clients’ overall business strategy, and become coordinators – leaders – in the product’s realisation. There is a shift from designers following marketers’ suggestions to designers acting as consultants in the purest sense. Design leadership denotes an approach whereby designers marry the sensibilities of business with the experiential approach of design. The findings of the study are synthesised in a series of models that act as a guide for consultancies and clients as they navigate the shift to greater design leadership. These models have considerable implications for design in practice, as well as for policy and design education. Chiefly, they become a substantive tool to enhancing the designer’s empowerment in the business context, as they become involved in, and take decisions upon, a wider ranging breadth of activity of ever-increasing significance

Web 2.0 and micro-businesses: An exploratory investigation

This is the author's final version of the article. This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.This article was chosen as a Highly Commended Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013.Purpose – The paper aims to report on an exploratory study into how small businesses use Web 2.0 information and communication technologies (ICT) to work collaboratively with other small businesses. The study had two aims: to investigate the benefits available from the use of Web 2.0 in small business collaborations, and to characterize the different types of such online collaborations. Design/methodology/approach – The research uses a qualitative case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews with the owner-managers of 12 UK-based small companies in the business services sector who are early adopters of Web 2.0 technologies. Findings – Benefits from the use of Web 2.0 are categorized as lifestyle benefits, internal operational efficiency, enhanced capability, external communications and enhanced service offerings. A 2×2 framework is developed to categorize small business collaborations using the dimensions of the basis for inter-organizational collaboration (control vs cooperation) and the level of Web 2.0 ICT use (simple vs sophisticated). Research limitations/implications – A small number of firms of similar size, sector and location were studied, which limits generalizability. Nonetheless, the results offer a pointer to the likely future use of Web 2.0 tools by other small businesses. Practical implications – The research provides evidence of the attraction and potential of Web 2.0 for collaborations between small businesses. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to report on use of Web 2.0 ICT in collaborative working between small businesses. It will be of interest to those seeking a better understanding of the potential of Web 2.0 in the small business community.WestFocu