Collaboration for innovation networks: Towards a reference model

Part 5: Innovation NetworksInternational audiencePractitioners and scholars have argued that external collaboration has become fundamental to how organisations function. There is also an emerging rhetoric on the imperatives of innovation for competitiveness. This amplifies the relevance of innovation networks that allow partners to pool resources and share expertise. Consequently, an understanding of collaboration within these networks is crucial to better managing the complexities and uncertainties that underlie how organisations and individuals can collaborate to innovate. Along these lines, this paper has analysed the nature of collaboration in 12 real-world innovation networks with the aim of a developing a reference model. The analysis showed that in order to maintain resilience, the network design and orchestration in these networks are technology-oriented. In addition, the collaborative competencies and capabilities were found to be service-oriented to provide the mentoring, business support, technological, and scientific needs that underlie the formation of these innovation networks

An effective uncertainty based framework for sustainable industrial product-service system transformation

Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2) can provide insights to enhance the environmental sustainability and lower environmental impact. However, its successful realisation for preventing the production of waste, while increasing efficiencies in the uses of energy and human capital remains a highly convoluted problem. This research article aims to address this issue by presenting an innovative uncertainty-based framework that can be used to assist in achieving increased sustainability within the context of IPS2. The developed framework explains the drivers for decision-making and cost to enable sustainability improvements in transforming to industrial services. This is based on academic literature, and multiple case studies of seven industrial companies with over 30 h of semi-structured interviews. The validation of the framework through two case studies demonstrates that uncertainty management can enable resource efficiency and offer sustainable transformation to service provision

A review of information flow diagrammatic models for product-service systems

A product-service system (PSS) is a combination of products and services to create value for both customers and manufacturers. Modelling a PSS based on function orientation offers a useful way to distinguish system inputs and outputs with regards to how data are consumed and information is used, i.e. information flow. This article presents a review of diagrammatic information flow tools, which are designed to describe a system through its functions. The origin, concept and applications of these tools are investigated, followed by an analysis of information flow modelling with regards to key PSS properties. A case study of selection laser melting technology implemented as PSS will then be used to show the application of information flow modelling for PSS design. A discussion based on the usefulness of the tools in modelling the key elements of PSS and possible future research directions are also presented

A framework to assess quality and uncertainty in disaster loss data

There is a growing interest in the systematic and consistent collection of disasterloss data for different applications. Therefore, the collected data must follow a set oftechnical requirements to guarantee its usefulness. One of those requirements is theavailability of a measure of the uncertainty in the collected data to express its quality for agiven purpose. Many of the existing disaster loss databases do not provide such uncertainty/qualitymeasures due to the lack of a simple and consistent approach to expressuncertainty. After reviewing existing literature on the subject, a framework to express theuncertainty in disaster loss data is proposed. This framework builds on an existinguncertainty classification that was updated and combined with an existing method for datacharacterization. The proposed approach is able to establish a global score that reflects theoverall uncertainty in a certain loss indicator and provides a measure of its quality

The rise and fall of technology companies: The evolutional phase model of ST-Ericsson's dissolution

Although joint venture dissolution among technology firms has been recognised as a common feature of both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, our understanding of the complex processes involved remains limited. This study advances entrepreneurship research on joint ventures by examining the dissolution process and factors that accelerate or hinder the process over time. Our study develops a unified sequential model that elucidates the complexities, processes and factors that lead to dissolution. We illustrate our theoretical analysis using the contemporary case of ST-Ericsson's (2009-2013) dissolution. Our study uncovered three distinct stages in the disbandment process. These stages provide insights on declaration of intent, forming of the dissolution team, distribution of assets and liabilities, and the aftermath. Our study highlights how an entrepreneurial venture so well-conceived can eventually dissolve after few years in operations. We outline the practical implications of the findings and contributions to entrepreneurship and technology foresight. © 2015 Elsevier Inc