Contextual impacts on industrial processes brought by the digital transformation of manufacturing: a systematic review

The digital transformation of manufacturing (a phenomenon also known as "Industry 4.0" or "Smart Manufacturing") is finding a growing interest both at practitioner and academic levels, but is still in its infancy and needs deeper investigation. Even though current and potential advantages of digital manufacturing are remarkable, in terms of improved efficiency, sustainability, customization, and flexibility, only a limited number of companies has already developed ad hoc strategies necessary to achieve a superior performance. Through a systematic review, this study aims at assessing the current state of the art of the academic literature regarding the paradigm shift occurring in the manufacturing settings, in order to provide definitions as well as point out recurring patterns and gaps to be addressed by future research. For the literature search, the most representative keywords, strict criteria, and classification schemes based on authoritative reference studies were used. The final sample of 156 primary publications was analyzed through a systematic coding process to identify theoretical and methodological approaches, together with other significant elements. This analysis allowed a mapping of the literature based on clusters of critical themes to synthesize the developments of different research streams and provide the most representative picture of its current state. Research areas, insights, and gaps resulting from this analysis contributed to create a schematic research agenda, which clearly indicates the space for future evolutions of the state of knowledge in this field

Focusing the ecosystem lens on innovation studies

For nearly a century, the key role of innovation in economic growth has been acknowledged and studied. Today, innovations are increasingly understood as being embedded in ecosystems of autonomous actors, whether firms, other organizations, or individuals. These actors contribute in complementary ways to create a value proposition that is greater than the sum of the parts, with the integration of their products and processes made possible by modular interfaces between actors. Here we review the emergence of the ecosystem lens within innovation studies in the context of the Special Issue on Innovation Ecosystems and Ecosystem Innovation. After summarizing the history of the special issue, we review the nine articles in the special issue and show how they relate to defining the actors, joint value creation by the actors, coordinating the actors, value capture by the actors, and then the large issue of analyzing ecosystems as the unit of analysis. From this, we offer suggestions for future ecosystem research, including opportunities to combine the ecosystem lens with other lenses used in innovation studies, and new methods for studying ecosystem phenomena

Business model construction processes and mechanisms of start-ups in nascent markets: A multiple case study based on multi-cases analysis

Understanding how to build business models for startups in nascent markets is a significant issue that has increasingly called the attention of both scholars and practitioners. Most of the existing studies focus on the business models of mature enterprises in traditional stings, but little research has been conducted on the business model mechanisms of startups in nascent markets. To fill this gap, this thesis uses multi-case study from entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial process, and data collected through in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs of three Chinese nascent Internet start-ups, summarizing and refining six main theoretical categories: entrepreneurial cognitive schema, cognitive model, cognitive flexibility, interaction stage, and business model results. Our findings suggest that entrepreneurs' business model constructs have a subjective component, and the variability of entrepreneurial cognition explains why entrepreneurs under conditions of experience and network disadvantage achieve even better entrepreneurial outcomes. The construction of business models for startups in nascent markets requires a dynamic perspective to grasp the intrinsic mechanisms of business model generation at a deeper level and at the same time providing feasible practical guidance for innovative startups in nascent markets. Overall, our model provides a contribution to support business model construction of startups in China.Compreender como construir modelos de negócios para startups em mercados emergentes é uma problemática importante que tem chamado cada vez mais a atenção de académicos e profissionais. A maioria dos estudos existentes concentra-se nos modelos de negócios de empresas maduras em mercados tradicionais, mas poucas pesquisas foram realizadas sobre os mecanismos do modelo de negócios de startups em mercados emergentes. Para preencher esta lacuna, esta tese utiliza estudos de caso múltiplos de empreendedorismo e processo empreendedor bem como dados coletados por entrevista estruturada com empreendedores de três startups chinesas de negócios online, resumindo e refinando seis categorias teóricas principais: esquema cognitivo empreendedor, modelo cognitivo, flexibilidade cognitiva, estádio de interação e resultados do modelo de negócios. As nossas descobertas sugerem que os construtos do modelo de negócio destes empreendedores têm uma componente subjetiva e a variabilidade da cognição empreendedora explica porque razão os empreendedores sob condições de experiência e desvantagem de rede alcançam resultados empresariais ainda melhores. A construção de modelos de negócios para startups em mercados emergentes requer uma perspetiva dinâmica para se compreender os mecanismos intrínsecos de geração de modelos de negócios a um nível mais profundo e, ao mesmo tempo, para fornecer uma orientação prática viável para startups inovadoras em mercados emergentes. Globalmente, o nosso modelo fornece uma contribuição para apoiar a construção do modelo de negócios de startups na China

Stairway to Excellence. Country Report: Romania

In the frame of the Stairway to Excellence project, complex country analysis was performed for the EU MS that joined the EU since 2004, with the objective to assess and corroborate all the qualitative and quantitative data in drawing national/regional FP7 participation patterns, understand the push–pull factors for FP7/H2020 participation and the factors affecting the capacity to absorb cohesion policy funds. This report articulates analysis on selected aspects and country-tailored policy suggestions aiming to tackle the weaknesses identified in the analysis. The report complements the complex qualitative/ quantitative analysis performed by the IPTS/KfG/S2E team. In order to avoid duplication and cover all the elements required for a sound analysis, the report builds on analytical framework developed by IPTS.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Innovation Labs for Digital Transformation Strategies and Business Model Innovation in the Digital Age: a Focus on Tourism and Cultural Sector

The research proposes the Innovation Labs as a valuable management initiative to support tourism and cultural organisations in developing Digital Innovation Capacity, fostering Digital Transformation (DT) and Business Model Innovation (BMI). Innovation Labs are innovation management models aimed at fostering creative and critical thinking, driving the organisation in finding the best ways to generate knowledge and digital culture, introduce technologies, digitise operations, and implement digital strategies for continuous and sustainable innovation paths (Santarsiero et al., 2019; 2020). The need for investigating and identifying possible solutions, and governance models, in terms of management initiatives that follow emergent innovation trends, and support tourism and cultural organisations in embracing digital innovation journeys, is having a growing interest, both in scholars and practitioners, especially after the pandemic Covid-19. Tourism and cultural organisations, pursuant their attitude to be a labour-intensive production sector, in which the competitive advantage depends on the differentiation of the tourism product and the humanisation of the offered experiences, resulted as one of the sectors that most repudiate DT, conceiving it as a process that would lead to standardisation and loss of appeal to the end customer. However, nowadays, due to the emerging challenges in the Digital Age that are also affecting the tourism and cultural sector, the need for embracing digital journeys favouring DT and BMI should be considered mandatory to guarantee competitiveness and the gain of a sustainable competitive advantage. The rapid development of digital technologies and solutions, and their democratisation, induced changes in consumers’ and users’ habits and behaviours, resulting in the need for developing new products, services and methods of use based on emerging market needs. In the same way, organisations are asked to become resilient, proactive and able to evolve in the same way the competitive landscape does. After Covid-19, besides, the needs for digital innovation journeys and digital revolutions are even more accentuated, confirming that the pandemic has acted as an accelerator of DT dynamics. The competitiveness and attractiveness of organisations and destinations will therefore depend on the digital innovative capacity and ability of operators and destination managers to rethink the tourist offer according to the new emerging trends and context dynamics. Although the need for embracing digital innovation journeys is crucial, it is not an easy process to manage and exploit. Organisations, indeed, experience several difficulties and innovation barriers. In SMEs, in particular, which represent a typical configuration of tourism and cultural organisations, resistance to innovation, and insufficient skills, finance, culture, attitudes, and often also the time to devote to innovation due to overburden of bureaucratic aspects and various routines, are particularly accentuated. It follows these organisations require forms of support to face these needs and develop an innovative capacity, fostering DT and BMI to improve offers, competitiveness, efficiency, as well as customisation and customer relationships. Despite the relevance of these topics, however, the search for solutions and ways to support tourism and cultural organisations in embracing digital innovation journeys has not structurally explored yet. On this vein, the research aims to explore and investigate, in the field of innovation management, models and approaches to face DT and BMI challenges and opportunities, and thus to investigate the emerging phenomenon of Innovation Labs to understand their management model and assess their suitability for tourism and cultural organisations. In the theoretical section, the study presents a systematic literature review of Innovation Labs to provide a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon and identify critical patterns according to two main dimensions of analysis: space & infrastructure, and strategy & management. Furthermore, the study utilises a multiple-case study approach to better enrich the insights gathered from the literature, and to propose an Innovation Lab’s working definition and a management framework. The working definition takes into account all the emerging aspects, the new principles and paradigms that are governing the field of innovation management and that become essential for the organisations competing in this scenario. The framework describes key phases and relevant issues for effective management of Innovation Labs as catalysts of DT and BMI. Then, the research applies the proposed framework through an Action Research (AR) project involving an organisation operating in the tourism sector, to assess its efficacy in fostering tourism and cultural organisations’ digital innovation journeys. The research contributes to enrich knowledge and build theory in the field of Innovation Labs and tourism innovation management. In particular, the study led to developing theories on the contributions of Innovation Labs in fostering DT and BMI in tourism organisations. A further framework explaining the business model’s dimensions on which DT processes impact thanks to these initiatives has been proposed. Lastly, the analysis of the AR project compared Innovation Labs’ management framework with change management frameworks to detect alignments and to highlight insights to support researchers in considering the model as a tool to support innovation dynamics in times of crisis. This research also has relevant practical implications since it provides managers and practitioners with an overview of the dimensions to be considered while designing and managing an Innovation Lab to develop digital innovation capacity and foster DT and BMI. Expressly, managers and practitioners are provided with a framework supporting them designing and exploiting management initiatives aimed at embracing digital innovation journeys to generate marketable digital solutions, improve performance and develop a mindset continuous learning and innovation. The study also reveals some limitations that may address future research. Further empirical, also quantitative, investigations could be developed to extend the sample and to allow a comprehensive validation of the Innovation Lab’s management framework, focusing the research also on the evaluation of Innovation Labs’ activities

Six degrees of early-stage ventures

Private markets investment volume and valuations exceed the level of the dot-com bubble (PwC and CBInsights, 2019). The available amount of capital surges as investors announce new multi-billion dollar funds (Kruppa, 2019). Even large, institutional funds in the Silicon Valley, who are used to investing in later stages, move upstream to invest in fledgling firms to achieve higher ownership and returns (Clark, 2019a). Despite the high private market liquidity, standing out from the crowd is critical and has become more difficult to achieve, even for innovative entrepreneurs (Planko et al., 2017). Curiously, venture capitalists who expect the latest technology and innovation from new ventures, did not themselves significantly innovate in their approach, including methods of evaluating ventures (Kupor, 2019). Few investors came up with new, differentiated investment strategies, one such example being data-driven investing (Pitchbook, 2018). Although venture capitalists seek to invest in firms which benefit substantially from the notion that “data is the new oil”, few practice to leverage data for their investment process (Parkins, 2017; Dance et al., 2018; Arroyo et al., 2019; Gompers et al., 2020). Instead, the overwhelming majority adheres to the motto “picking investments is an art, not science” and relies primarily on its networks as the most valuable resource (Bell, 2014; Huang and Pearce, 2015; Gompers et al., 2020). Venture capitalists’ focus on their social networks could not only negatively affect investment decisions and returns, but also promote group-think and stifle the progression of their investment thesis (Wuebker et al., 2015). Reviewing the previous works on entrepreneurship, venture evaluation, and venture capital revealed a significant gap in the literature. While investors and entrepreneurs depend heavily on their social networks, these networks play an insignificant role in venture evaluation. The existing frameworks are inadequate to accurately assess early-stage ventures and thus a rethink of methodology is needed to better capture the networked nature of today’s ventures (Miloud et al., 2012; Dusatkova and Zinecker, 2016). This thesis suggests a new perspective for early-stage venture evaluation, with particular focus on formalising the ventures’ social networks. Contributions made by this thesis are fourfold and relevant to entrepreneurs, investors, and academic theorists. Firstly, existing theories that explain venture fundraising success are expanded by adding a social network perspective. Secondly, this research provides a comprehensive overview of stakeholders’ roles and their constellation in social networks around the entrepreneurs and their ventures. Thirdly, for entrepreneurs, different modes of leveraging their social networks for critical business functions are identified. Lastly, an evaluation tool for venture capitalists to the investability of early-stage ventures is developed. In summary, results provide new insights into entrepreneurial strategies for leveraging social networks to enhance operations, differentiate from competitors, send positive signals to investors, and ultimately improve the venture’s assessment by the private market.EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP

University Hackathons: Managerialism, Gamification, and the Foreclosure of Creativity

This research presents a generative critique of hackathon events held in the contemporary research university. Through the analysis of cultural imaginaries and embedded techno-political forms, it works toward an assessment of whether these events support, foreclose, or redirect ideas of the future that might otherwise challenge technocratic, accumulatory, and/or hierarchal organization. Informed by institutional histories and firsthand field research at events, dynamics of entrepreneurialism, gamification, and techno-solutionism are extrapolated and problematized. Ultimately, this research draws on a historical materialist approach to understanding how and why hackathon events have flourished in the university setting. Corroborating recent theories of platform capitalism, vectoralism, and the “hacker class,” this research uses critical genealogy and ethnography to problematize events and caution against the coercive filtering and funneling of creative energies at the hands of capitalist pressures

Understanding the Trends of European Startup Ecosystems

The world faces numerous crises, being the economic and financial crisis, the more worrying crisis and which people become more aware, to find solutions to various problems, namely unemployment, especially youth unemployment. Throughout the evolution of the world, entrepreneurship phenomenon went hand in hand with economic and technological development, providing new businesses with innovative concepts, responding to people's needs. Today, entrepreneurship continues to be important to the economies, as it adds new companies with value by presenting people with talent, with creative sense and innovative products and services. With technological development and financial assistance from investors or government, we have witnessed an exponential growth of startups over the past few years. Entrepreneurial education also encouraged this development, presenting conferences and workshops, calling students to innovation, creating your own startup. In reply to the growth and development of European ecosystems, this research work was developed to analyze the reality of European ecosystems. The aim is to understand whether there are trends in choosing economic sectors, business models and pricing models. This investigation is composed by an extensive literature review to startups and startup ecosystem and by an empirical study to startups’ perception concerning to this subject. To acquire empirical data it was conducted an online questionnaire directed to a sample of startups registered on online platform. This study confirmed the existence of trends by information gathered from online platform and the online questionnaire. It is proposed a recommendation, which will help to continue the investigations concerning to this subject