Manufacturer’s identity challenges when becoming 'Smart'

Purpose: The present paper was set out to understand manufacturer’s identity challenges when moving towards provision of product-service-software solutions. Design/Methodology/Approach: This conceptual study uses illustrative cases to show certain aspects, challenges and practices regarding identity formation and building when manufacturers are becoming smart solution providers. The study builds on rich organization identity theory that is surprisingly underutilized in the extant digital servitization research. Findings: The study suggests that when building and forming new identity, managers should be aware of potential issues, namely ambiguity among personnel, frustration among middle -managers, and confusion among key external stakeholders. This paper suggests that successful identity building requires dynamic capabilities not only inside the firm but across the boundaries, hence contributing to the crossroads of identity, capability, and digital servitization literatures. Originality/value: For managers, this paper unfolds some useful practices how to mitigate identity inertia when managing strategic transition towards smart solutions.©2022 The Advanced Services Group.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

35 years of research on business intelligence process : a synthesis of a fragmented literature

Purpose: The business intelligence (BI) research witnessed a proliferation of contributions during the past three decades, yet the knowledge about the interdependencies between the BI process and organizational context is scant. This has resulted in a proliferation of fragmented literature duplicating identical endeavors. Although such pluralism expands the understanding of the idiosyncrasies of BI conceptualizations, attributes and characteristics, it cannot cumulate existing contributions to better advance the BI body of knowledge. In response, this study aims to provide an integrative framework that integrates the interrelationships across the BI process and its organizational context and outlines the covered research areas and the underexplored ones. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reviews 120 articles spanning the course of 35 years of research on BI process, antecedents and outcomes published in top tier ABS ranked journals. Findings: Building on a process framework, this review identifies major patterns and contradictions across eight dimensions, namely, environmental antecedents; organizational antecedents; managerial and individual antecedents; BI process; strategic outcomes; firm performance outcomes; decision-making; and organizational intelligence. Finally, the review pinpoints to gaps in linkages across the BI process, its antecedents and outcomes for future researchers to build upon. Practical implications: This review carries some implications for practitioners and particularly the role they ought to play should they seek actionable intelligence as an outcome of the BI process. Across the studies this review examined, managerial reluctance to open their intelligence practices to close examination was omnipresent. Although their apathy is understandable, due to their frustration regarding the lack of measurability of intelligence constructs, managers manifestly share a significant amount of responsibility in turning out explorative and descriptive studies partly due to their defensive managerial participation. Interestingly, managers would rather keep an ineffective BI unit confidential than open it for assessment in fear of competition or bad publicity. Therefore, this review highlights the value open participation of managers in longitudinal studies could bring to the BI research and by extent the new open intelligence culture across their organizations where knowledge is overt, intelligence is participative, not selective and where double loop learning alongside scholars is continuous. Their commitment to open participation and longitudinal studies will help generate new research that better integrates the BI process within its context and fosters new measures for intelligence performance. Originality/value: This study provides an integrative framework that integrates the interrelationships across the BI process and its organizational context and outlines the covered research areas and the underexplored ones. By so doing, the developed framework sets the ground for scholars to further develop insights within each dimension and across their interrelationships.© Yassine Talaoui and Marko Kohtamaki. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ legalcodefi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Solution providers’ strategic capabilities

Purpose – Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this study analyzes solution providers’ strategic capabilities that facilitate above-average returns. Design/methodology/approach – The study applies a qualitative comparative case method. In addition to an extensive set of secondary data, the results are based on interviews with 35 executives from nine leading industrial solution providers, their strategic customers, and suppliers. The analyzed solution providers were identified based on quantitative survey data. Findings – By observing six distinctive resources and three strategic business processes, the present study identifies seven strategic capabilities that occur in different phases of solution development and deployment: 1) fleet management capability, 2) technology-development capability, 3) M&A (mergers and acquisitions) capability, 4) value quantifying capability, 5) project management capability, 6) supplier network management capability and 7) value co-creation capability. Research limitations/implications – The study develops a generic model for the strategic capabilities of servitization. Application of the developed model to different contexts would further validate and enhance it. Practical implications – Managers can use the developed model to benchmark, identify, build, and manage solution providers’ strategic capabilities and associated practices. Originality/value – The study develops a valuable conceptual model based on the comparative case data. Case firms were selected for the study based on a representative quantitative dataset. The results were verified and triangulated with external data.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Of BI research : a tale of two communities

The Business intelligence (BI) literature is in flux, yet the knowledge about its varying theoretical roots remains elusive. This state of affairs draws from two different scientific communities (informatics and business) that have generated multiple research streams, which duplicate research, neglect each other’s contributions, and overlook important research gaps. In response, we structure the BI scientific landscape and map its evolution to offer scholars a clear view of where research on BI stands and the way forward. For this endeavor, we systematically review articles published in top-tier ABS journals and identify 120 articles covering 35 years of scientific research on BI. We then run a co-citation analysis of selected articles and their reference lists. This yields the structuring of BI scholarly community around six research clusters: Environmental Scanning (ES), Competitive Intelligence (CI), Market Intelligence (MI), Decision Support (DS), Analytics Technologies (AT), and Analytics Capabilities (AC). The Co-citation network exposed overlapping and divergent theoretical roots across the six clusters and permitted mapping the evolution of BI research following two pendulum swings. Our article contributes by 1) structuring the theoretical landscape of BI research, 2) deciphering the theoretical roots of BI literature, 3) mapping the evolution of BI scholarly community, and 4) suggesting an agenda for future research.© 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY–NC 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Ecosystem of outcome-based contracts : a complex of economic outcomes, availability and performance

The number of studies concerning outcome-based contracts (OBCs) has gradually increased over the past decade, with a focus on servitizing companies. The mutually beneficial baseline logic behind such contracting provides a fascinating area for research because, for instance, it facilitates overcoming the service paradox through network-driven value co-creation. In addition to contractual techniques, the digitization of services in product-service systems (PSS) has gained attention as the enabler of the given business models. We set out to research OBCs that are based on economic value (eOBCs) in the energy technology sector. We mapped the ecosystem surrounding IPP-provider contract relationships and found that the outcomes sold ultimately consist of value propositions made to serve economic outcomes that subsume availability guarantees, which subsequently subsume performance. The depiction of the value system serves as a basis on which to develop future findings concerning practices comprising the outcomes.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Digital service innovation (DSI) : a multidisciplinary (re)view of its origins and progress using bibliometric and text mining methods

Purpose This paper studies the Digital Service Innovation (DSI) concept by systematically reviewing earlier studies from various scholarly communities. This study aims to recognize how recent advances in DSI literature from different research streams complement and can be incorporated into the growing digital servitization literature to define better and understand DSI. Design/methodology/approach After systematically identifying 123 relevant articles, this study employed complementary methods, such as author bibliographic coupling, linguistic text mining/textual analysis and qualitative content analyses. Findings This paper first maps the intellectual structure and boundaries of the DSI-related communities and qualitatively assesses their characteristics. These communities are (1) Innovation for digital servitization, (2) Service innovation in the digital age and (3) Adoption of novel e-services enabled by information system development. Next, the composition of the DSI concept is examined and depicted to comprehend the notion's critical dimensions. The findings discuss the range of theories and methods in the existing research, including antecedents, processes and outcomes of DSI. Originality/value This study reviews, extends the understanding of origins and critically evaluates DSI-related research. Moreover, the paper redefines and clarifies the structure and boundaries of the DSI-concept. In doing so, it elaborates on the substance of DSI and identifies the essential themes for its understanding and conceptualization. Thus, the study helps the future development of the concept and allows knowledge accumulation by bridging adjacent research communities. It helps researchers and managers navigate the foggy emerging research landscape.© Rodrigo Rabetino, Marko Kohtamäki and Tuomas Huikkola. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcodefi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Recongifuring assets for digital servitization : interplay and capability enhancing practices

This paper investigates how manufacturing companies reconfigure their assets in their digital servitization journey (transition from selling products to selling product-service-software offerings). By studying five leading manufacturers for a longer time-period (2010-2018), we found that depending on their previous role of being whether system sellers or system integrators, their capability development practices differed: system sellers used practices emphasizing control (e.g., insourcing, acquisitions) whereas system integrators stressed practices that enabled flexibility (e.g., outsourcing, alliances). Based on these findings, manufacturers should establish their vision as provider of smart, connected solutions, and develop associated capabilities and practices that support this vision achievement.©2022 The authors. Published by Universitat Politècnica de València. Please cite the original version: Huikkola, T., Kohtamäki, M. & Ylimäki, J. (2022). Recongifuring assets for digital servitization: interplay and capability enhancing practices. In: Tracey, B., Heinonen, K., Trull-Domínguez, O. & Peiró-Signes, Á. (eds.) Proceedings of the QUIS17 : The 17th International Research Symposium on Service Excellence in Management. València: Universitat Politècnica de València. http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/QUIS17.2022.15169fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Do Markets Value Advanced Service Development?

Purpose: Markets have a proven propensity for valuing research and development (R&D) intensity of manufacturing firms. This paper investigates whether coupling R&D intensity with advanced services (ADS) yields even higher market performance effect. Design/Methodology/Approach: The longitudinal financial and annual report data covered a period from 1994 to 2020 (n = 164, N = 2 844). Panel regression (fixed effects estimator) was used to investigate the relationships between market performance (regressand), R&D intensity (regressor) and annual report-level discourse related to ADS (moderator). Findings: The findings confirm that markets do in fact value R&D intensity of manufacturers more if the manufacturer publicizes ADS. However, in alignment with extant research the direct relationship between market performance and ADS discourse proved to be negative and significant. Originality/Value: The current study shows that ADS publicizing adds to the R&D-driven market value of manufacturing firms. Thus, the study contributes to the literature on financial consequences of servitization. However, it also highlights the challenging nature of ADS strategies.©2022 The Advanced Services Group.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Becoming a smart solution provider : Reconfiguring a product manufacturer's strategic capabilities and processes to facilitate business model innovation

The present study analyzes how a product manufacturer alters its strategic capabilities to become a smart solution provider by employing its dynamic capabilities. We scrutinize how a manufacturer facilitates strategic change by realigning its strategic capabilities and processes from a focus on technical product-development capabilities to product-service-software development capabilities, reconfiguring organizational routines focused on efficiency to routines focused on customer productivity, and shifting from a product logic to a service logic. By studying six leading manufacturing firms based on 86 manager interviews, the present study finds that strategic capabilities are renewed through dynamic capabilities, which involve a reconfiguration of strategic capabilities and processes. Furthermore, manufacturers need to consider the dynamic interplay between resource realignment modes (building digital capabilities, leveraging existing capabilities, accessing external capabilities, and releasing decaying capabilities), hence stressing their reinforcing mechanism to converge products, services, and software. For managers, our study highlights several strategic renewal practices designed to assist and benchmark how strategic capabilities are altered.© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd under a Creative Commons license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Worth the risk? The profit impact of outcome-based service offerings for manufacturing firms

Because research on outcome-based service offerings (OBS) is very case study oriented, we lack empirical knowledge of OBS provider profitability in general. Drawing upon an unbalanced panel dataset (n = 1566, N = 14,756), we found that an average OBS provider manufacturer has a 4.40-percentage-point higher gross margin than an average non-OBS manufacturer. In addition, we found that large OBS providers generate lower profits. Since OBS offerings are complex and highly customized, scaling them is a challenge that requires investments in digital technologies and solution modularity. Thus, we tested the moderating role of R&D investments on the scale-profitability relationship and found that for OBS firms, R&D investments moderate the negative relationship between scale and profitability. For managers, these results highlight the profit potential of OBS but also that large OBS providers in particular must be prepared to invest in digital servitization to ensure profitability.© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed