New games, new rules: big data and the changing context of strategy

Big data and the mechanisms by which it is produced and disseminated introduce important changes in the ways information is generated and made relevant for organizations. Big data often represents miscellaneous records of the whereabouts of large and shifting online crowds. It is frequently agnostic, in the sense of being produced for generic purposes or purposes different from those sought by big data crunching. It is based on varying formats and modes of communication (e.g., texts, image and sound), raising severe problems of semiotic translation and meaning compatibility. Crucially, the usefulness of big data rests on their steady updatability, a condition that reduces the time span within which this data is useful or relevant. Jointly, these attributes challenge established rules of strategy making as these are manifested in the canons of procuring structured information of lasting value that addresses specific and long-term organizational objectives. The developments underlying big data thus seem to carry important implications for strategy making, and the data and information practices with which strategy has been associated. We conclude by placing the understanding of these changes within the wider social and institutional context of longstanding data practices and the significance they carry for management and organizations

Exploring the relationship between data science and circular economy: an enhanced CRISP-DM process model

To date, data science and analytics have received much attention from organizations seeking to explore how to use their massive volumes of data to create value and accelerate the adoption of Circular Economy (CE) concepts. The correct utilization of analytics with circular strategies may enable a step change that goes beyond incremental efficiency gains towards a more sustainable and circular economy. However, the adoption of such smart circular strategies by the industry is lagging, and few studies have detailed how to operationalize this potential at scale. Motivated by this, this study seeks to address how organizations can better structure their data understanding and preparation to align with overall business and CE goals. Therefore, based on the literature and a case study the relationship between data science and the CE is explored, and a generic process model is proposed. The proposed process model extends the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) with an additional phase of data validation and integrates the concept of analytic profiles. We demonstrate its application for the case study of a manufacturing company seeking to implement the smart circular strategy - predictive maintenance