Modeling a successful innovation ecosystem toward a sustainable community: the I-Reef (a review study)

So far, numerous studies have exhibited Silicon Valley and other thriving innovation ecosystems by distinguishing special characteristics in which their survival rely on sustaining activities that convert them to specific regions. These regions provide ready-made grounds for networking to be innovative. Meantime, it is struggling for innovations to be transformed into measurable economic results if players encounter a weak network of collaborative relationships in the ecosystem. Besides, flowing back the created value in the same region could be another problem with the actual innovation ecosystems to be utilized by all players created this. It is interesting that successful innovation ecosystems share many characteristics with coral reefs in which the process of economic growth and the renewal of an evergreen region is credible in specific collaborative relationships. Hence, the I-Reef model suggests a particular ecosystem where All-Win contribution relationships of the regional innovation networks return the results into the whole region.publishe

Research Opportunities in Multi-channel Services: A Systematic Review

The present study presents the results of a systematic review on multi-channel services, to synthesize the existing body of knowledge and propose avenues for further research. We present theories that are widely corroborated, as well as suggestions presented by scholars that represent research opportunities. Towards this aim, using a comprehensive review of 118 peer-reviewed articles, the results suggest that existing studies are mainly focused on the analysis of consumer interactions with multi-channel front-office services, whereas the management of back-office processes and control aspects remain largely undressed. These topics represent strategic challenges and opportunities for future research.N/

Breaking Barriers with Qualitative Multi-method Research for Engineering Studies: Pros, Cons and Issues

The purpose of this article is to investigate how contemporary studies about engineering are breaking down boundaries of knowledge. This study uses a systematic literature review to show how the application of qualitative multi-method approaches may offer reliable results and provide greater emphasis to the dimensions of development, triangulation and complementarity. The article offers new insights on the role of qualitative researches for the engineering domain, an area which has been largely unaddressed in the literature.O objetivo deste artigo é analisar como os estudos contemporâneos sobre a engenharia estão a quebrar as fronteiras do conhecimento. Este artigo utiliza uma revisão sistemática da literatura para mostrar como a utilização de abordagens qualitativas multi-método pode oferecer resultados fiáveis e dar maior enfase às dimensões de desenvolvimento, triangulação e complementaridade. O artigo discute as novas dinâmicas que as investigações qualitativas oferecem ao domínio da engenharia, área que que tem sido amplamente negligenciada pela literatura.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Disclosing paths for multi-channel service research: A contemporaneous phenomenon and guidelines for future investigations

The present paper reports on the findings of a systematic literature review on multi-channel services. In doing so, it uses an affinity diagram to show the results of a content analysis regarding the issues addressed by the existing literature in the field. This enables to understand areas of interest in the contemporary subject of research, find gaps in the literature and, lastly, to uncover guidelines for future research. The results suggest that future investigations should focus on the integration of traditional and virtual services, on quality issues and customer behaviour towards the use of multi-channel services. Previous research also suggests that multi-channel services are largely unaddressed, regarding issues as back-office processes, within the scope of operations management. Subsequently, since multi-channel services are multidisciplinary in nature, these guidelines represent a fruitful opportunity for future research to involve other disciplines.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Omni-channel service operations: Building technology-based business networks

This article investigates how omni-channel services operations are building technology-based business networks. It uses a case study research, which includes multiple sources of data collection for triangulation purposes, to study a real-life phenomenon. The results suggest that omni-channel companies are changing their landscape to business networks, looking for competitive advantages over their rivals. But this move incorporates new challenges, as it requires a transition based on operations management to allow these firms to adapt their processes and channels, in order to be able to collaborate in a heterogeneous network of firms. Another possible solution is the integration of innovation technologies that are enabling the combination of firm capabilities to underpin collaborative relationships. Previous research also suggests that service operations management in an omni-channel services context is largely unaddressed, as this discipline is essential for the edification of technology-based business networks. Thereby, this article provides real-life statements and examples of firms that are moving their service operations into a business network paradigm. Subsequently, since omni-channel services are multidisciplinary in nature, these exploratory results represent a fruitful opportunity for future research to involve other disciplines than service operations.Instituto Politécnico de Viseu e CI&DETSinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Omni-channel Services Failure and Recovery: A Case Study Research

This study investigates the way service providers are employing their channels to support the handling of customer complaints, using a qualitative case study research approach in a Portuguese private bank. It characterizes the omni-channel recovery practices and discusses its implications for customer satisfaction. The results suggest that the degree of customers ́(dis)satisfaction is not directly linked to the nature nor the severity of the existing failure, but rather with the service recovery process. This area represents a key research opportunity regarding the customer complaint in the contemporary service industry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Omni-channel Service Architectures in a Technology-based Business Network: An Empirical Insight

This article investigates the existing omni-channel service architectures in the front-office of technology-based business networks. It discusses the implications from the existing alignment between the networkpreferred channel with other channels and clients. The methodological approach is qualitative, exploratory in nature, and employs case study research in a large private retail bank in Portugal. It includes multiple sources of data collection for corroboration purposes, including semi-structured interviews, direct observation and institutional documents. Although we have identified four types of omnichannel architectures in a business network context, the case analysis revealed that only two of them meet all the requirements, namely: the mixed services and pure virtual services. For academics this is the first attempt to discuss a growing topic in the operations management literature. Thus, this study may also help practitioners to understand the challenges they may have to deal with an omnichannel strategy in a business network context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

New Ways to Deal with Omni-Channel Services: Opening the Door to Synergies, or Problems in the Horizon?

This article aims to investigate organizational synergies in the omnichannel service context. In doing so, it discloses new omni-channel trends and discusses its implications for managers and academics. It uses a qualitative multimethod approach, which includes more than one method of collecting data to generate comprehensiveness and rich knowledge, namely: a systematic literature review and a case study. The transition to an omni-channel service requires companies to overcome many organizational challenges and is compelling academics and practitioners to focus on its operations management. The results indicate that organizational synergies are changing the omni-channel landscape and may provide several opportunities for gaining competitive advantages by implementing new technologies (e.g. m-payments), and anticipating customer needs (e.g. multi-brand experience). It is possible that these organizational synergies are transcending the omni-channel concept, creating new trends, but to confirm this hypothesis further investigation is needed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digitalization: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Given the noticeable and quick progress of digitalization it is well accepted that digital practices are changing business landscapes. However, while this concept is being labelled in the literature it is also often used indistinctively. To avoid misconceptions, we propose to clarify the concept by providing an overview of the existing theory. This research is one of the first attempts to define the “digitalization” term, and to make a distinction between similar ones. The authors have conducted a systematic review of the existing literature, by identifying and synthesizing the existing body of knowledge. While going digital, firms are expecting to enhance their competitive advantage by offering services throughout virtual channels and operationalize its operations management. Furthermore, the literature suggested the development of new digital technologies along with automation and artificial intelligence is enabling a new wave of smart companies, a topic that deserves to be studied in the future.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Learning from Online Voices: A Mixed Methods Approach to Explore Patient Online Reviews of Hospital Care in Portugal

Online patient reviews can offer a rich information source to users of healthcare services, as well as for hospital management and quality monitoring. Whereas in recent years the volume of online patient reviews has been consistently growing, organizations still lack standardized approaches and tools to allow for the systematic monitoring of users’ online comments. Therefore, managers are lagging in the ability to make use of such data from patients’ voices for improving the quality of the services provided. If organizations fail to develop the right capabilities to consider users’ online reviews and feedback, they risk not only to miss important quality failure alerts, as wells as to frustrate their customers’ expectations for service and attention. In this chapter, we present a qualitative analysis of patients’ reviews for healthcare services in Portugal, building on a sample of data extracted from Google for the year of 2019. The chapter reports the major quality management themes addressed by hospital users in their online expressions and offers some guidelines to support a structured analysis and visualization of results from online users’ word of mouth data