Predicting the value of product service-systems for potential future implementers: results from multiple industrial case studies

The great impact played by Product/Service-Systems (PSS) on industry and academia can be motivated by the need for modernizing business models, carrying out internal companies' reconfiguration, enhancing environmental sustainability. Despite the large number of objectives pursued by PSS, sparks of criticism have recently emerged, as well as the results ensuing from PSS adoption have not been rigorously assessed. In particular, the authors highlight a lack of quantitative analysis concerning the service aspects of PSS and hurdles in service modeling and evaluation. The paper's objective is to contribute in this field by individuating factors, advantages and disadvantages that are not directly measurable in monetary terms by companies. This kind of assessment might result crucial, as the implementation of PSS-oriented strategies require a not negligible amount of commitment, besides propensity to risk. A first activity was carried out thanks to a pilot group of firms that have not implemented any PSS initiative so far, which have been exposed to business reconfiguration scenarios underpinning PSS. A model for generalizing pros and cons of future PSS implementation has been subsequently experimented by a larger group of industrial organizations. Such a model has represented the backbone for the creation of a tentative quantitative estimation tool, which assesses and forecasts the added value of services featured by the introduction of PSS and hence represents a candidate criterion for undertaking decisions concerning the implementation of PSS strategies. The paper clarifies which assumptions are introduced in order to achieve this result

business model engineering for distributed manufacturing systems

Abstract Distributed Manufacturing Systems (DMS) and collaborative, decentralized production networks are enablers to establish sustainable and high-competitive value chains. To support the diffusion of DMS, the systematic development of new business models for DMS should be considered in an early stage of forming such value chains. This paper introduces an engineering-based approach to develop and design new business models based on a distinction of four business model elements and using a three level model for designing, planning and managing operations to achieve production excellence in each production unit and ensure strategic probability to enhance implemented DMS to the next evolutionary stages

Framing open innovation in start-ups' incubators: A complexity theory perspective

Recently, concepts and principles from the Complexity Theory (or, generally speaking, the complexity sciences) have been applied as a perspective for capturing the influence of the context, interaction, and adaption in the innovation processes, such as the ones enabled in the business incubators. The purpose of this paper is to implement a frame of reference for understanding the start-ups’ incubator as a complex system where innovation, learning, and self-organization take place. We build on the interfaces between the Complexity Theory (i.e., complexity sciences) and Open Innovation literature to identify principles, patterns, and conditions that frame the incubation practices as simple rules aimed to sustain the innovation process towards the creation of new ventures. Results from the multiple case studies conducted in five incubators show that the features of variety, nonlinear interaction, interdependence, autonomy, and emergence of the incubation process framed as a complex system are enabled in different ways by the combination of the open innovation practices and services provided by the start-ups’ incubators, including the provision of physical infrastructure, access to funding streams, experts/entrepreneurs networking, education/workshops, mentorship, and advice

Psychological and behavioral disease during developmental age: the importance of the alliance with parents

The aim of the study is to analyze the clinician’s alliance with parents during the diagnostic process in relation to therapeutic compliance and clinical evolution of individuals aged 0–11 years. The sample was formed by 84 individuals aged 0 to 11 years (18 < 6 years, 66 aged 6 to 11 years; 62 males and 22 females) who came to the Neuropsychiatric Unit for Children and Adolescents for a consultation regarding psychorelational and behavioral problems. Neuropsychiatric consultation took place in five diagnostic interviews with child and parents, separately. The last session was devoted to communication of psychiatric diagnosis (according to ICD 10) and therapeutic suggestions, if any. The clinician’s relationship with parents and patients’ participation were evaluated in terms of collaboration and quality of interaction, on the basis of pre-established criteria. Data about patients’ therapeutic compliance and clinical outcome were collected during a follow-up visit eight months after the last session. Results suggest that the better the alliance between parents and clinician, the higher the therapeutic compliance and the likelihood of a positive outcome for patients. Our data suggest that good communication with parents benefits child patients, both in terms of response to the parents’ need to report their children’s worrying behavior and as a response to the discomfort expressed by children when they come in for consultation

VALS: Virtual Alliances for Learning Society

[EN] VALS has the aims of establishing sustainable methods and processes to build knowledge partnerships between Higher Education and companies to collaborate on resolving authentic business problems through open innovation mediated by the use of Open Source Software. Open Source solutions provide the means whereby educational institutions, students, businesses and foundations can all collaborate to resolve authentic business problems. Not only Open Software provides the necessary shared infrastructure and collaborative practice, the foundations that manage the software are also hubs, which channel the operational challenges of their users through to the people who can solve them. This has great potential for enabling students and supervisors to collaborate in resolving the problems of businesses, but is constrained by the lack of support for managing and promoting collaboration across the two sectors. VALS should 1) provide the methods, practice, documentation and infrastructure to unlock this potential through virtual placements in businesses and other public and private bodies; and 2) pilot and promote these as the “Semester of Code”. To achieve its goals the project develops guidance for educational institutions, and for businesses and foundations, detailing the opportunities and the benefits to be gained from the Semester of Code, and the changes to organisation and practice required. A Virtual Placement System is going to be developed, adapting Apache Melange, and extending it where necessary. In piloting, the necessary adaptations to practice will be carried out, particularly in universities, and commitments will be established between problem owners and applicants for virtual placements

L'organizzazione per il corporate foresight: evidenza da casi studio multipli nel settore delle telecomunicazioni

Men and organizations always tried to imagine their future. In 424 BC, Herodotus claimed the importance of vision and planning for the future: “Nothing stays the same, and those who do not want to grow, will soon be overtaken by those that want it! If you do not plan for the future in a realistic way, the alternative looks terribly bleak.” How we imagine our technological, economic and social future? How does the market move? What are the tastes of consumers? What will happen in the next 5-10 years? How do we develop scenarios into new products or services? If you want to steer through the future, you need to understand the complex forces that induce change, including new technologies, competitive dynamics, emerging trends of convergence, the potential locations, the alternative scenarios. As in meteorology, the continuous monitoring of complex and interrelated sets of forces allows us to develop a perspective on how these forces can collide to impact on our world in terms of weather, similarly visionary organizations establish a process for monitoring key trends that can have a potential impact on their business. Therefore this conducts to a need for companies of methodological tools, and organizational and managerial practices to anticipate changes. This “challenge of the future” for organizations has been emphasized by several lines of research: Innovation Management claims the need to be able to imagine different scenarios from the present reality and Strategic Management that the secret to the success of company is based on “orientation to the future”, foresight and a strong capacity for flexible and adaptable. This thesis finds itself in the meeting point between these two strands. Its object is the study of Corporate Foresight (CF): a set of methods, processes, actors and organizational forms used by companies to identify weak signals and information from the periphery, anticipating trends and emerging markets and managing the strategy innovation in order to prepare for an uncertain future. The CF helps companies to understand the complex forces driving the change, thus supporting the process of decision-making and strategy and feed the R & D for innovation. The main objective of the PhD is to investigate how companies define their strategies, plan and manage their organization activities to anticipate future trends and detect the weak signals, and whether and how the system affects the performance of CF CF. The research project was divided into four phases. During the first phase, a systematic literature review was carried out and it allowed me to achieve a synthesis of CF and highlighting the main areas of study and the most important features. This study highlights two important gaps: the lack of analysis of the organizational dimension of CF and the lack of a study on the factors that affect the CF performance. The second phase (exploration) was a pilot study in an innovative company in the ICT sector, Eurotech. It allowed us to understand more deeply the issue, identify important aspects of CF and develop practices and detail the research questions. In particular, I understood the importance of the organizational aspects for foresight and the importance of identifying the relationship between practices and performance of CF. The third phase, a second focused review of the literature, deepen the analysis of the gaps and identified a system of key performance indicators (KPI) for foresight. Finally, the fourth phase was based on the empirical research methodology of multiple case study: the objectives were to identify and describe the key organizational and managerial variables of CF, identify links between these variables and their connection with the performance of CF and finally understand why. We followed two approaches for the theory bulding: the approach of configurational theory and the approach of variance theory. The selection of case studies took place in the telecommunications sector because of its relevance to the foresight (a long time to enter the market, high uncertainty and strong impact of technology on the economic system). The cases were divided thanks to two main contrast variables: the different level in strategy and foresight and the different level of CF performance. Moreover, I performed an action research that led to the refinement of the interpretive framework. A first result is part of the broader organizational literature on innovation, particularly in the separation of research and development. The research results show that the separation of the R&D may be a solution for companies that are driven by priorities of speed and efficiency, to focus on innovation, and suggests how to configure, support and manage it, highlighting advantages and disadvantages. Other results are the identification of the different organisational forms to support CF activities (characterized by different variables, such as nature, coordination, centralization, etc..). Other important advancements are the hypotheses on influencing factors (size and level in the value chain), the link between organizational forms and types of foresight, and the perspective of change management (agents of change, barriers, incentives, etc.). Finally, a last important result concerns the model of the theoretical propositions of the impact of organizational and managerial foresight variables on performance measures of CF. Surprisingly, techniques and technologies to support the CF do not seem to have a direct impact on the performance of CF, one can therefore hypothesize a mediated impact and emphasize the importance of the “human factor” (as the ability to build relationships) for the CF. The research led then to achieve significant results that have both theoretical and practical implications: - from a theoretical point of view: the research permitted to build interpretive frameworks for strategy, organization, management and technology support for the CF and secondly to hypothesize a model linking these variables with performances of CF. - from a practical point of view: the research suggests how to implement and support the foresight in the company (for example, build a dedicated unit for the foresight strongly linked with the search, separate R & D, foster relationships with internal factors such as the Scientific Committee , external support network, building a control system for the procedures and support a system of soft factors) and identifies indicators that enable us to understand how to shape a company more oriented towards innovation and long-term strategy.Uomo e organizzazioni hanno da sempre cercato di immaginare il proprio futuro. Nel 424 a.c., Erodoto sosteneva l’importanza della visione e della pianificazione del futuro: “Niente rimane uguale, e chi non vuole crescere, sarà presto superato da quelli che invece lo vorranno! Se non pianifichiamo il futuro in maniera realistica, l’alternativa appare terribilmente tetra.” Come immaginiamo il nostro futuro tecnologico, economico e sociale? Come si muoverà il mercato? Quali saranno i gusti dei consumatori? Cosa succederà nei prossimi 5-10 anni? Come decliniamo gli scenari elaborati in nuovi prodotti o servizi? Se ci si vuole orientare nel labirinto del futuro bisogna tentare di capire le forze complesse che inducono il cambiamento, comprendendo le nuove tecnologie, le dinamiche competitive, i trend emergenti di convergenza, le dislocazioni potenziali, gli scenari alternativi. Come nella meteorologia, il monitoraggio continuo di insiemi di forze complesse e interrelate ci permette di sviluppare un punto di vista su come queste forze possano collidere per impattare sul nostro mondo in termini atmosferici, similmente le organizzazioni visionarie stabiliscono un processo di monitoraggio dei trend chiave che possono potenzialmente impattare sui propri business. Ecco allora il bisogno per le aziende di strumenti metodologici, manageriali ed organizzativi per anticipare il cambiamento. Questa “sfida del futuro” per le organizzazioni è stato sottolineato da diversi filoni di ricerca: il filone dell’innovation Management sostiene che per innovare è necessario saper immaginare scenari diversi dalla realtà presente e il filone dello Strategic Management che il segreto per il successo di un’azienda è basato sull’ “orientamento al futuro”, una forte capacità di foresight e sistemi flessibili e adattabili. Questa tesi di dottorato si colloca prorpio nel punto di incontro tra questi due filoni. Essa ha come oggetto lo studio del Corporate Foresight (CF): un insieme di metodi, processi, attori e forme organizzative usate dalle aziende per identificare i segnali deboli e le informazioni dalla “periferia”, anticipare i trend e i mercati emergenti e gestire la strategia e l’innovazione per prepararsi per un futuro incerto. Il CF aiuta le aziende a capire le complesse forze che guidano il cambiamento, di conseguenza supportare il processo di decision-making e la strategia e nutrire la R&S per l’innovazione. L’obiettivo principale di dottorato è investigare come le aziende definiscono le loro strategie, progettano la loro organizzazione e gestiscono le attività per anticipare i trend futuri e intercettare i segnali deboli, e se e come il sistema di CF influenza le performance di CF. Il progetto di ricerca è stato suddiviso in quattro fasi. Durante la prima fase è stata effettuata una review sistematica della letteratura che ha permesso di realizzare un quadro di sintesi sul tema del CF evidenziandone i principali ambiti di studio e le caratteristiche più importanti. Questo studio ha consentito di evidenziare due importanti gap: la mancanza di un’analisi della dimensione organizzativa del CF e la mancanza di uno studio sugli elementi che influenzano le performance di CF. La seconda fase, di tipo esplorativo, ha portato allo studio pilota in un’azienda innovativa del settore ICT, Eurotech. Esso ha permesso di capire più profondamente il tema, identificare aspetti importanti delle pratiche di CF e sviluppare e dettagliare in misura maggiore le domande di ricerca. In particolare, è stata compresa l’importanza degli aspetti organizzativi per il foresight e l’importanza di identificare la relazione tra pratiche e le performance di CF. La terza fase, una seconda analisi della letteratura focalizzata, ha permesso di evidenziare in misura maggiore i gap e identificare un sistema di indicatori chiave di performance (KPI) per il foresight. Infine, la quarta fase empirica ha seguito la metodologia di ricerca del caso studio multiplo: gli obiettivi sono stati di identificare e descrivere le variabili chiave a livello organizzativo e manageriale del CF, identificare i link tra queste variabili e il loro legame con le performance di CF e infine comprenderne i motivi. Sono stati seguiti due approcci per il theory bulding: l’approccio di configurational theory e l’approccio di variance theory. La selezione dei casi studio è avvenuta all’interno del settore delle telecomunicazioni a causa della sua rilevanza per il foresight (lunghi tempi di entrata sul mercato, alta incertezza e forte impatto delle tecnologie sul sistema economico). I casi sono stati suddivisi secondo due principali variabili di contrasto: le differenze nella strategia di foresight e in termini di differenze di performance di CF. Inoltre, in due aziende la dottoranda ha potuto svolgere un’action research che ha portato al raffinamento dei framework interpretativi. Un primo risultato si inserisce nella letteratura più generale dell’organizzazione per l’innovazione con particolare riferimento alla separazione della ricerca e sviluppo. I risultati della ricerca evidenziano come la separazione della R&S possa essere una soluzione per le aziende che si trovano spinte da priorità di velocità ed efficienza, per concentrarsi sull’innovazione, e suggerisce come configurarle, supportarle e gestirle, evidenziando vantaggi e svantaggi. Altri risultati riguardano le diverse forme organizzative trovate per supportare le attività di CF (caratterizzate da diverse variabili, come la natura, il coordinamento, la centralizzazione ecc.), le ipotesi sui fattori di influenza (dimensione e livello nella catena del valore), il legame tra forme organizzative di foresight e tipologie di foresight, e la prospettiva di change management (agenti del cambiamento, barriere, incentivi, ecc.). Infine, un ultimo importante risultato riguarda il modello di ipotesi tra gli aspetti organizzativi e manageriali del foresight con le misure di performance di CF. Sorprendentemente, tecniche e tecnologie a supporto del CF sembrano non avere un impatto diretto sulle performance di CF; si può dunque ipotizzarne un impatto mediato e sottolineare l’importanza per il CF del “fattore umano” come la capacità di costruire relazioni. La ricerca ha permesso quindi di pervenire a significativi risultati che hanno sia implicazioni teoriche che pratiche: - da un punto di vista teorico: la ricerca ha permesso di costruire framework interpretativi per quanto riguarda la strategia, l’organizzazione, la gestione e le tecnologie di supporto per il CF e in secondo luogo di ipotizzare un modello che lega queste variabili con le performance di CF. - da un punto di vista pratico: la ricerca suggerisce come implementare e supportare il foresight in azienda (per esempio: costruire un’unità dedicata per il foresight fortemente connessa con la ricerca, separare R&S, favorire le relazioni interne con elementi come il comitato scientifico, favorire network esterni, costruire un sistema di controllo per le procedure e sostenere con un sistema di fattori soft) ed identifica alcuni indicatori che permettono di comprendere quale sia la conformazione organizzativa maggiormente orientata alla strategia e all’innovazione di lungo termine

The motivational drivers in open innovation web-based platforms: an explorative study

The paper deals with the topic of increasing integration of (external) individuals and companies in (originally internal) innovation processes by means of open innovation web-based platforms (OIPs). A very important issue concerns how to stimulate the users’ participation and the knowledge-sharing inside OIPs. The literature focused on motivations, but a still important open question remains: what are the characteristics of the OIPs and the managerial actions that can be done inside the OIPs (i.e. the drivers for motivations) to enhance these motiva-tions? We examine the interactions among specific drivers for enhancing specific motivations to collaborate and innovate. The methodology is an empirical qualita-tive analysis of 20 OIPs that led to a cause-effect map of drivers and motivations. The research results identify nine groups of drivers, classify them in three groups and suggest strategies for driving the motivations which could encourage users to play an active role in the OIPs