Independent distributors in servitization: An assessment of key internal and ecosystem-related problems

Independent distributors (IDs), just as equipment manufacturers, have the potential to initiate a transition towards the provision of advanced services. However, the internal and ecosystem-related problems experienced by IDs during servitization differ due to their distinct organizational structure. The purpose of this study is therefore to uncover problems faced by servitizing IDs during transition towards provision of advanced services, a topic which is still scarcely covered in the literature. Using an abductive research approach, we identify three overarching groups of servitization problems specific to IDs: (1) conflicting interests of key stakeholders; (2) misalignment between distribution of managerial attention and servitization strategy; and (3) ineffective knowledge management within the ecosystem. To diagnose these problems, we propose a servitization-readiness decision tree that allows IDs to pinpoint hindering factors before embarking on a servitization journey. In so doing, we provide a starting point for identifying and describing criteria for assessing IDs' servitization readiness.</p

Value Leakage in Product-Service System Provision : A Business Model Alignment Perspective

To stay competitive, manufacturing companies offer product–service systems (PSS) to avoid commoditization of their products. The potential to create value through PSS offerings lies in a company's ability to successfully implement the PSS business model. However, many companies are unable to realize the benefits because PSS represents significant changes to all the business model elements, which comprise value creation, value delivery, and value capture. This leads to misalignment among the business model elements, which is a topic of interest within PSS and business model literatures. This article aims to provide empirical insights into the business-model-element alignment problems and conceptualize their consequences, which manufacturing companies face during PSS implementation. This article utilizes an abductive multicase study of three Swedish manufacturing companies with long-term experience of PSS provision to provide novel insights by identifying six alignment problems that companies face as a consequence of the interaction among the three business model elements. Furthermore, we contribute to both the PSS and business model literature by conceptualizing the consequences of business model element alignment problems, explaining the three value leakages that occur as a result of inappropriate resource and capability utilization, unattractive offer configurations, and inefficient service network processes in PSS provision.©2022 the Authors. Published by IEEE. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Death and organization: Heidegger’s thought on death and life in organizations

Mortality has not been given the attention it deserves within organization studies. Even when it has been considered, it is not usually in terms of its implications for own lives and ethical choices. In particular, Heidegger’s writing on death has been almost entirely ignored both in writing on death and writing on organizational ethics, despite his insights into how our mortality and the ethics of existence are linked. In this paper, we seek to address this omission by arguing that a consideration of death may yield important insights about the ethics of organizational life. Most important of these is that a Heideggerian approach to death brings us up against fundamental ethical questions such as what our lives are for, how they should be lived and how we relate to others. Heideggerarian thought also reconnects ethics and politics, as it is closely concerned with how we can collectively make institutions that support our life projects rather than thwart or diminish them

Towards a theory of managing information in new product development [Elektronisk resurs]

This thesis deals with various information aspects of new product development (NPD). In total, the thesis consists of 6 research articles appended in full, and an introductory text that integrates and theorizes with and from these papers. The first paper is a review article examining the literature on and role of information in NPD. The main argument put forward here is that information processing can be understood in terms of three steps: acquiring, sharing, and using information. The second paper is a largescale survey that examines the relationship between market and entrepreneurial orien-tation and performance in NPD. A market orientation is to a large extent about acquiring, disseminating and using market information, while an entrepreneurial orientation partly is about ignoring such information, and instead trying to be innovative, proactive, and take risks. The results show that a market orientation and innovativeness are positively related to NPD performance, and that neither product nor environmental characteristics moderate these relationships. The third paper is also a survey, and investigates the extent to which management of external information is associated with innovation performance. The main findings are that scanning the technological sector of the environment was positively associated with innovation performance, while scanning customers, suppliers, and competitors proved to be negatively correlated with innovation performance. Crossfunctional integration in the form of collaboration as well as using information from the industry environment also proved to be positively related to innovation performance. The last three papers have a centre of gravity in “management of information & environ-ment”, and not so much in new product development per se. Paper four describes and com-pares different information processing approaches (e.g. environmental scanning, marketing research) in order to identify their similarities and differences, but also their underlying con-cepts and the course of events they represent. The main conclusion is that differences exist primarily in terms of focus and scope. Paper five is a review and tentative integration of different perspectives in organization – environment research: the adaptive, the resource-dependence, the cognitive and the population-ecology perspective. The review identifies differences and similarities among these perspectives, suggests tentative conclusions on why the adaptive perspective is so frequently utilized at the expense of the other three, and suggests constructivism as a feasible avenue for combining and integrating these perspectives. Finally, the sixth and final paper deals with information use in the context of strategic decisionmaking. With a case study approach, the questions of why information is used, what kind of information is used, where it is obtained, and how it is obtained were addressed, and the results from this paper are mainly descriptive. The purpose of the introductory text is two-fold. In addition to providing integration of the appended papers, the main purpose is theory construction (i.e. elicitation of constructs and propositions). In the introduction, all six appended papers together with a new literature search and a new pilot case study are used to generate propositions about management of information, information sources, and the need for cross-functional integration in three different phases of the NPD process. In addition, suggestions regarding theoretical connections are made. The introduction text concludes with reflections, managerial implications, limitations, and future research.</p

Information use in strategic decision making

This paper addresses the issue of information use in strategic decision making. The study employs a case study as a research strategy together with personal interviews and documentation as means of data collection. The starting-point is four specific strategic decisions recently made by medium-sized companies in Sweden. The study provides the reader with an insight into management information behaviour when taking strategic decisions, by addressing questions such as: Why is information used? What kind of information does management use? How do they obtain it? And finally, where do they obtain it? In addition, a short review of the literature pertaining to the above stated questions is provided

Organizational Environment Revisited: A Conceptual Review and Integration

Innumerable books and articles state that "the environment" is important to organizations and merits attention, as it is thought to influence organizations' actions as well as outcomes. Still, little agreement exists on what the environment is and how to apprehend it. This paper presents a review of four different perspectives in organization-environment research: the adaptive, the resource-dependence, the cognitive, and the population-ecology perspectives. All perspectives present assumptions about environmental structure, sources of environmental change, level of analysis, and so forth, but they also imply different meta-theoretical assumptions that constitute distinct frames of references. In this paper, the author suggests that the ideas in the realist paradigm in strategy research, the logic of appropriateness, and high general applicability and prescriptive value contribute to explaining the dominant position of the adaptive perspective. It is further argued that viewing "environment" from only one angle is too limited a conceptualization, and "environment" is suggested to be a feasible avenue for combining and integrating characteristics from different perspectives in order to overcome limitations with a single-frame approach.</p

Towards a theory of managing information in new product development

This thesis deals with various information aspects of new product development (NPD). In total, the thesis consists of 6 research articles appended in full, and an introductory text that integrates and theorizes with and from these papers. The first paper is a review article examining the literature on and role of information in NPD. The main argument put forward here is that information processing can be understood in terms of three steps: acquiring, sharing, and using information. The second paper is a largescale survey that examines the relationship between market and entrepreneurial orien-tation and performance in NPD. A market orientation is to a large extent about acquiring, disseminating and using market information, while an entrepreneurial orientation partly is about ignoring such information, and instead trying to be innovative, proactive, and take risks. The results show that a market orientation and innovativeness are positively related to NPD performance, and that neither product nor environmental characteristics moderate these relationships. The third paper is also a survey, and investigates the extent to which management of external information is associated with innovation performance. The main findings are that scanning the technological sector of the environment was positively associated with innovation performance, while scanning customers, suppliers, and competitors proved to be negatively correlated with innovation performance. Crossfunctional integration in the form of collaboration as well as using information from the industry environment also proved to be positively related to innovation performance. The last three papers have a centre of gravity in “management of information &amp; environ-ment”, and not so much in new product development per se. Paper four describes and com-pares different information processing approaches (e.g. environmental scanning, marketing research) in order to identify their similarities and differences, but also their underlying con-cepts and the course of events they represent. The main conclusion is that differences exist primarily in terms of focus and scope. Paper five is a review and tentative integration of different perspectives in organization – environment research: the adaptive, the resource-dependence, the cognitive and the population-ecology perspective. The review identifies differences and similarities among these perspectives, suggests tentative conclusions on why the adaptive perspective is so frequently utilized at the expense of the other three, and suggests constructivism as a feasible avenue for combining and integrating these perspectives. Finally, the sixth and final paper deals with information use in the context of strategic decisionmaking. With a case study approach, the questions of why information is used, what kind of information is used, where it is obtained, and how it is obtained were addressed, and the results from this paper are mainly descriptive. The purpose of the introductory text is two-fold. In addition to providing integration of the appended papers, the main purpose is theory construction (i.e. elicitation of constructs and propositions). In the introduction, all six appended papers together with a new literature search and a new pilot case study are used to generate propositions about management of information, information sources, and the need for cross-functional integration in three different phases of the NPD process. In addition, suggestions regarding theoretical connections are made. The introduction text concludes with reflections, managerial implications, limitations, and future research.[Paper I] Frishammar, J. (2005). Managing Information in New Product Development: A Literature Review.International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 2(3): 259-275., [Paper II] Frishammar, J. and Hörte, S.Å. (2005). The Role of Market- and Entrepreneurial Orienta- tion for NPD Performance in Manufacturing Firms1. Short version presented at the 12th In- ternational product development management conference in Copenhagen, June 12-14, 2005. Full paper submitted to Research Policy., [Paper III] Frishammar, J. and Hörte, S.Å. (2005). Managing External Information in Manufacturing Firms: The Impact on Innovation Performance2. Journal of Product Innovation Manage- ment, 22(3): 251-266., [Paper IV] Frishammar, J. (2002). Characteristics in Information Processing Approaches. International Journal of Information Management, 22(2): 143-156., [Paper V] Frishammar, J. (2005). Organizational Environment Revisited: A Conceptual Review and Integration. Forthcoming inInternational Studies of Management &amp; Organization., [Paper VI] Frishammar, J. (2003). Information Use in Strategic Decision-making3. Management Deci- sion, 41(4): 318-326.</p