EBRF 2011 : conference proceedings

Published by University of Jyväskylä, Tampere University of Technology, University of Tampere, Aalto University, Lappeenranta University of Technology, University of Oulu, Abo Akademi Universit

Unlocking the Reuse Revolution for Fashion: A Canadian Case Study

This research aims to explore the potential of clothing reuse as a stepping stone towards a more circular economy for fashion. A systems approach to problem finding, framing, and solving is applied to explore how we might increase fashion reuse behaviours amongst consumers and industry alike. This research includes an analysis of the key barriers that prevent higher rates of participation in fashion reuse despite the potential economic, environmental, and social benefits of doing so (Part 2), and identifies areas of opportunity to focus innovation (Part 3). Research methodology included more than 30 one-on-one consumer interviews, 20 interviews with industry professionals along the fashion value chain, and an extensive environmental scan with a particular focus on the Canadian market. While this research aims to be accessible for all, the intended audience for this paper includes industry professionals, individual consumers, and regulators with the desire or agency to create meaningful change to the current fashion system in Canada and beyond. This study identified a variety of psychological and physical barriers preventing reuse adoption. For consumers, this is primarily a self-regulation challenge, enabled by our biological design and a cultural environment that has been purposefully constructed to exploit consumer behaviour for profit. This is further reinforced by a deep stigma towards used fashions within a culture that values newness and convenience above quality and longevity. For industry, fast fashion business models challenge both the economics and practicality of reuse, while lack of regulation and barriers to scale reuse models enable the status quo to persist. An analysis of these barriers suggests several points of leverage to focus resources and efforts for innovation to drive increased participation in fashion reuse. Emergent examples from fashion reuse are presented and discussed to inspire action in four key opportunity areas for innovation including: (1) destigmatizing used clothing; (2) addressing our culture of accumulation and disposal; (3) increasing the attractiveness of reuse for consumers; and (4) motivating increased industry participation. Clothing reuse may not be the sole solution to the global fashion industry’s long-term sustainability challenges but it is a critical step along the path to creating a more circular and sustainable economy in which fashion can flourish and provides a mechanism for changing the way we think about the true cost, and potential value, of our clothing. While this research sheds light on many of the challenges and innovation opportunities that exist for clothing reuse on the horizon, turning insight into action is a key next step for further exploration

Open Access to Telecommunications Infrastructure and Digital Services: Competition, Cooperation and Regulation

Open Access, defined as the non-discriminatory access to an upstream bottleneck resource, takes a central role in information and communications technology markets. This thesis investigates the competitive and cooperative interactions in these markets, where firms require access to an essential input resource. Theoretical analyses and experimental evaluations are employed to examine market outcomes under alternative regulatory institutions and voluntary access agreements

Ecosystem synergies, change and orchestration

This thesis investigates ecosystem synergies, change, and orchestration. The research topics are motivated by my curiosity, a fragmented research landscape, theoretical gaps, and new phenomena that challenge extant theories. To address these motivators, I conduct literature reviews to organise existing studies and identify their limited assumptions in light of new phenomena. Empirically, I adopt a case study method with abductive reasoning for a longitudinal analysis of the Alibaba ecosystem from 1999 to 2020. My findings provide an integrated and updated conceptualisation of ecosystem synergies that comprises three distinctive but interrelated components: 1) stack and integrate generic resources for efficiency and optimisation, 2) empower generative changes for variety and evolvability, and 3) govern tensions for sustainable growth. Theoretically grounded and empirically refined, this new conceptualisation helps us better understand the unique synergies of ecosystems that differ from those of alternative collective organisations and explain the forces that drive voluntary participation for value co-creation. Regarding ecosystem change, I find a duality relationship between intentionality and emergence and develop a phasic model of ecosystem sustainable growth with internal and external drivers. This new understanding challenges and extends prior discussions on their dominant dualism view, focus on partial drivers, and taken-for-granted lifecycle model. I propose that ecosystem orchestration involves systematic coordination of technological, adoption, internal, and institutional activities and is driven by long-term visions and adjusted by re-visioning. My analysis reveals internal orchestration's important role (re-envisioning, piloting, and organisation architectural reconfiguring), the synergy and system principles in designing adoption activities, and the expanding arena of institutional activities. Finally, building on the above findings, I reconceptualise ecosystems and ecosystem sustainable growth to highlight multi-stakeholder value creation, inclusivity, long-term orientation and interpretative approach. The thesis ends with discussing the implications for practice, policy, and future research.Open Acces

Business model innovation for delivering mobile services in emerging markets: the mobile telecommunications industries in Ghana and Nigeria

This PhD examines the forms and drivers of business model innovation (BMI) in the mobile telecoms industry in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Additionally, it explores the nature of inter-organizational relationships (IOR) in this industry. Within the context of emerging markets, the research investigates the innovative business models for delivering mobile services in Ghana and Nigeria, two of SSA’s fastest growing economies. The study draws on the value chain perspective within the field of innovation and strategic management to understand the business model, its relevant activities, and the inter-organizational interactions that shape BMI in an industry. The research evaluates the telecom value chain in Ghana and Nigeria based on a multiple case study methodology comprising three groups of firms: Tower Companies, Mobile Network Operators, and Content Providers. Thematic template analysis and descriptive statistics are used to analyse 64 interviews and 103 questionnaires from industry and policy respondents. The findings indicate that actors in the Ghanaian and Nigerian telecom industries mostly engage in incremental BM changes, through stretching existing capabilities to deliver new product features for current or adjacent markets. The most significant changes occur as firms build on existing competencies and partnerships to alter their offerings, diversify revenue sources and restructure cost structures. The findings further show that compared to TowerCos and MNOs, Content Providers have higher degrees of radical innovations which reflect their need to explore new markets for survival. The analysis suggests that market need and consumer preferences, rather than technological opportunity, are major drivers of innovation by MNOs and Content Providers. In addition, industry-related drivers are prominent in this value chain, as Content Providers rely on MNOs to pursue new technological opportunities while the intensity of innovation by TowerCos is influenced by MNO preferences. These dynamics reveal themselves in inter-organizational relationships within the value chain, where the MNO-Content Provider relationship exhibits one-sided dependencies due to resource inequalities and TowerCo-MNO linkages have higher degree of interdependencies due to resource specificity and switching barriers. The thesis contributes to our understanding of BMI forms in terms of scope and novelty and analyses the usefulness and practicality of accepted approaches in different contexts. The research also highlights how consumers’ socio-economic realities shape BMI, prompting consumer-oriented innovations that are related to the use of an offering or how it is accessed by users. In addition, the study contextualizes known drivers of BMI to inter-organizational relationships, showing how differential access to resources and context-related factors shape the nature of interactions among actors within this complex industry. By giving insights into the barriers and challenges that less influential actors encounter in the value chain as well as how inter-organizational actors negotiate for favourable outcomes, the study contributes to the IOR literature. The study further presents implications for management practice and policy