Developing a shared vision: strong teams have the power

he technological changes of the past decades have radically reshaped the global competitive environment. The increasing speed of change permeates companies’ operations with uncertainty regarding outcomes and development. Organizations must make sense of these changes to determine appropriate action. Organizations must frequently redefine their objectives and course of action to stay ahead in this competitive environment, developing ever-innovative ideas. This calls for a flexible organization where individuals and teams are autonomous in pursuing innovation. Robert Cooper, founding father of the Stage-Gate process, recognized in 2016 that even manufacturing firms are steering away from traditional and predominantly plan-based approaches to adopt more flexible working methods. Yet, a decentralized structure bears the risk that teams deviate from the organizational direction. While it is difficult to find single causes for innovation failure, alignment is undoubtedly crucial for its success. However, teams need support to stay aligned. A shared vision can align members of the organizations around a common direction to pursue. The shared vision acts as a glue that keeps the organization together. While many authors favor an organization-wide shared vision, how this should be developed is less clear. A novel goal-setting methodology took root over the past decades, which may provide an answer. Doerr (2018) presented objectives and key results (OKRs) as a goal-setting tool that adopts a highly interactive goal definition process, consisting of two components: objectives are aspirational and represent a long-term direction; key results are concrete and measurable. OKRs define what an organization should achieve and how to get there. Their successful adoption by Google, as narrated by Schimdt and Rosenberg (2014), paved the way for their diffusion among other silicon-valley firms first and digital companies later. Today, this method represents the preferred goal-setting tool for start-ups looking for growth and large enterprises aiming to increase engagement in a set direction. Companies need more than clarity and role division today – they need alignment and empowerment. We aim to explore whether and how OKRs can support even this challenge

Platform enhancers: Collaborating in the early stages of transactional platform development

Transactional platforms have emerged over the last decades as a dominant business configuration, receiving substantial attention from scholars and practitioners in several fields. Despite their pivoltal role, several transactional platforms fail in the launching phase, given the difficulties of reaching a critical mass and igniting cross-side network externalities. In this study we explore how a platform provider can introduce a collaborative framework from the earliest stages of platform development, aiming to highlight the benefits and challenges of moving towards a wider ecosystem through the involvement of other players. We introduce the role of platform enhancer, who is neither a supply side or a complementor, but a specific role aiming to support the platform provider in the launch and growth of the platform. We rely a single exploratory case study based on the Italian platform for digital identity, created and managed by the Italian Government through the support of a set of companies working as identity providers. Platform enhancers collaborate with the platform provider in the launch and development of a transactional platform, generating opportunities at both the launch and development stages, yet also substantial challenges and criticalities linked to increasing complexity, which climbs with the number of enhancers involved, producing coopetitive dynamics

Give Away Your Digital Services: Leveraging Big Data to Capture Value

Consumers are getting used to receiving free services in many different fields, and the popularity of the mobile app industry is feeding this phenomenon. Historically, advertising—a typical two-sided market mechanism—is the primary method that companies relying on a free-to-consumers business model have used to appropriate value in digital environ- ments. But new strategies are needed to make free services sustainable and profitable in the long term. At the same time, companies are gathering a huge amount of data from consumers, especially through mobile apps, by leveraging the sensors embedded in smartphones; this data represents a powerful new source of value. Through a case study analysis, we show how leveraging a two-sided structure can enable companies to capture value from user-sourced data, enabling a sustainable free-to-consumers business model. In this model, users are more than eyeballs to be targeted with advertising; they become data providers, and companies may capture value by using that data to customize advertising messages, lever- age e-ethnography to improve their own core offer, serve as fodder for research, or create knowledge for third partie

The design process of corporate universities: A stakeholder approach

Purpose – Corporate universities (CUs) have been experiencing tremendous growth during the past years and can represent a real driving force for structured organizations. The paper aims to define the process of CU design shaped around company strategy. For each step, the authors propose specific roles, activities and methods. Design/methodology/approach – The paper exploits some managerial theories and past research on CUs to draw a two-step framework for their design and development process, then tests (and validating) it through action research and applies its guidelines to two different case studies. Findings – The authors conclude the CU design process can be divided into two steps (development and management), with specific roles assigned to the different activities, and this allocation represents a prerequisite for the CU project success. Moreover, flexibility and potential recycles should be considered when configuring the process. Originality/value – The paper is original in two ways: it proposes a framework for CU design and development (which is unique in its type) and an application of this framework to two real cases, discussing its benefits, criticalities and limitations (thus ensuring generalizability)