Ride-Hailing App Strategies of Finnish Taxi Dispatch Organizations

The Finnish taxi industry has already long been technologically developed, and since 2011 taxi hailing apps have been available in Finland. The amount of these apps has steadily increased, spurred by the arrival of Uber and Taxify in Finland in 2014, and by the de-regulation of the Finnish taxi industry in July 2018. In the present paper, the aim was to identify ridehailing app acquisition related strategies that traditional Finnish dispatch organizations (DOs) employ. A qualitative case study with five focus organizations was conducted between 2018-2020. This study contributes to extant research in two ways. First, by identifying five ride-hailing app strategies employed by DOs (three related to the question of make vs. buy, two related to discontinuing/selling). Second, by showing that different ridehailing apps can play different strategic roles – which helps explain DOs’ multihoming strategy – and that the strategic role of a specific ride-hailing app can change over time

SOFTWARE BUSINESS IN INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES: IDENTIFYING CAPABILITIES FOR THREE TYPES OF SOFTWARE BUSINESS

The development of organizational capabilities takes time and resources, and they are difficult to change once they have been created. Recently, also non-software companies – so-called industrial companies – have started to sell software and related services. So far it has been unclear which capabilities are needed in, and whether they differ for, different types of software business in industrial companies. The present research closes this gap and identifies 20 software business capabilities by studying the capabilities relevant in three types of software business in industrial companies. Of these capabilities, some proved to be relevant for all types of software business, some for software product and/or enterprise solution system business, and some for software service business. Based on our findings, industrial companies could improve their competitive position by directing their resources at the development or improvement of specifically those capabilities that proved to be relevant for a certain type of software business

CHALLENGES OF CURRENT REGULATION OF AI-BASED HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY (AIHT) AND POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE EUROPEAN AI ACT PROPOSAL

The utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has been steadily increasing, but the regula-tion of AI is challenging. Inspired by the recently proposed European AI regulation, we conducted a case study among Finnish healthcare stakeholders to identify challenges that current regulation of AI-based healthcare technology (AIHT) poses to development of AIHT, and what the potential conse-quences of the recently proposed European AI regulation would be for AIHT development. One of the main challenges we identified is the already existing ambiguity arising from several regulations that AIHT are subject to. More importantly, we found that this ambiguity would even increase through a European AI regulation. Another important finding is that the European AI Act might hamper innovation in AIHT and decelerate the development of AIHT. Our main contribution is to the recent information systems research opening on regulation of technology

Non-Adoption of Dynamic Pricing in Traditional Taxi Dispatch Organizations

Dynamic pricing (DP) was introduced into the taxi industry through ride-sharing platforms such as Uber. Prior research has identified benefits of DP for ride-sharing organizations, drivers and consumers. A legal reform in Finland in July 2018 made DP of taxi rides legally possible. However, even though traditional Finnish dispatch organizations have adopted different technology (e.g., ride-hailing apps), they have not adopted DP. To find out the reasons for the non-adoption, we conducted a qualitative case study among Finnish dispatch organizations. Utilizing IT artifact as an analytical lens, we identified ten aspects related to the technology, the structure and the context within which DP is embedded that help explain why it has not been adopted. We propose that DP in the taxi industry should be seen more broadly than just as “Uber-type” real-time DP, as it has been viewed in previous literature. Our findings have implications for research and practice

Open Innovation In Online Brand Communities

The explosive growth of social media and online communities offers companies new unique opportunities to utilize information and knowledge capital by involving users in the company’s innovation activities. Companies started to realize the huge potential of online brand communities as a source of R&D innovations, and the ability to utilize and manage customer knowledge effectively can create competitive advantage for companies. The objective of this research is to identify factors which explain community members’ participation in open innovation activities in online brand communities. It is important from the research and business viewpoint to identify the factors which motivate users to participate in open innovation and enable new value creation for the company’s services and products. Structural equation modeling results indicate that both task involvement and utility explain significantly information and knowledge sharing and willingness to participate in open innovation activities. In addition, information and knowledge sharing has a strong significant impact on participation in open innovation. Implications for research and practice are suggested

INFORMATION SECURITY CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR COMPANIES

For companies and its employees, social media allows new ways to communicate with customers and colleagues. Vast amounts of information are being exchanged in social media. Information is a highly valuable asset, and therefore questions concerning information security become increasingly important. Companies are becoming increasingly worried about information security in social media, but so far, this issue has not been studied. The present research closes this gap by studying the information security challenges social media represents for organizations. The research was conducted as a qualitative case study; eleven information security managers have been interviewed. The study has three main findings. First, challenges arising from employees actions or unawareness in social media (especially reputation damage) seem to represent bigger threats to information security than threats caused by outside attacks. Second, the confusion of private and professional roles in social media represents an information security risk, and distinguishing between these roles becomes more difficult the higher an employee\u27s position in the company. Third, communication with employees and colleagues represents an information security challenge especially when communication is not steered by the company. Implications for research and practice are discussed

A Review of Challenges and Critiques of the European Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA)

The Information Systems (IS) research community has been interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for many years. The European Commission proposed the European Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) in April 2021 with the goal of providing a harmonized regulatory framework for the development and deployment of AI technology. The AIA is a unique initiative which holds great significance for IS research and practice. Although the Act has gained significant attention, research has highlighted various challenges and critiques. This systematic literature review categorizes and summarizes existing AIA research to identify these issues, which primarily pertain to the regulation\u27s formulation, compliance, enforcement, and anticipated impacts on industry and civil society. We suggest future IS research directions, focusing on compliance with regulation, formulation of legal regulation, and longitudinal research covering multiple policy cycle stages

Examining relational digital transformation through the unfolding of local practices of the Finnish taxi industry

Digital transformation has become a central construct in information systems (IS) research. Current conceptualizations largely attribute transformation to intentionality, focus on transformation within a single organization, or assign technology the role of a disruptive agent of change. Likewise, “digital” tends to be a general category of technology, rather than a specific technology enacted in a time and place. Inspired by Schatzkian practice theory and its site ontology, we suggest a contextual viewpoint on digital transformation and call it “relational digital transformation.” We analyzed the change dynamics in the context of taxi dispatch practice in Finland, studying the changing taxi dispatch platforms over years. We investigated five powerful industry actors: two incumbents, two entrants, and a federation of taxi entrepreneurs. We identified events of change in the material arrangements in sites and explain the changes through the process dynamics in the focal practice. We define relational digital transformation as a process through which practice-arrangement bundles of digital technologies evolve over time. This approach assumes the default nature of an industry is to be found in the changing relations between entities rather than in entities themselves. This provides a theoretical extension to the prevailing views of digital transformation in IS literature. It enables studying digital transformation in retrospect without attributing change agency to any entities or technologies a priori. We also contribute to practice-theoretical IS literature by demonstrating how the applicability of practice theoretical analysis extends beyond microphenomena to larger industry-level changes.©2020 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Policy Ambiguity: a Problem, a Tool, or an Inherent Part of Policymaking?

It has been acknowledged that the Information Systems (IS) discipline needs to pay attention to policymaking. However, the IS field has not yet sufficiently acknowledged complexities of policymaking and the resulting ambiguity. We present two worldviews that underlie how IS research has approached policymaking and, indirectly, policy ambiguity. In the dominant “representationalist” view, a policy is planned and implemented in a linear manner, and ambiguity is seen as problematic. The “enactivist” view sees a policy and its implementation as mutually constitutive: a policy does not exist without its implementation but it also guides the implementation. This can result in unresolvable paradoxes that manifest as ambiguities. Based on our review of the extant IS research we present existing perspectives to policy(making) and ambiguity. We call for IS researchers invested in policy/regulation-related research to be aware of and explicit about the views to policy(making) and ambiguity guiding their research

Evolution of software business in industrial companies: Resources, capabilities and strategy

Abstract Research on software business has, so far, mainly concentrated on the software industry. However, software business has recently also been practised outside the software industry, in so-called industrial companies. This research aims at increasing empirical and theoretical understanding of the development of software business in industrial companies, shedding light on why a company not belonging to the software industry starts to do business involving software, how the company goes about starting such business, and how this in turn affects the company. First, past research on the resource-based approach, capability approach, dynamic capability approach and the concept of strategy is reviewed. Based on this review, four processes that hold the potential to give a company (sustained) competitive advantage – picking resources, exploiting resources, applying capabilities and developing capabilities – and three important dimensions of strategy – the objective of strategy, the process of strategy formation, and the focus of strategy – are identified. A conceptual framework for studying the development of software business in industrial companies is developed which encompasses the processes holding the potential for (sustained) competitive advantage and the different dimensions of strategy, as well as the company’s resource, capability and dynamic capability base. Following that, empirical data collected in two internationally operating industrial companies is analyzed with the help of the conceptual framework. As a result of the empirical data analysis, 23 capabilities and several resources important for software business in industrial companies could be identified. Capabilities are categorized according to their use in and applicability to different types of software business. Factors influencing the application, development and improvement of capabilities, as well as different ways of how industrial companies start to do software business, are identified. The conceptual framework is revised by adding the process of developing capabilities further to the processes which hold the potential for competitive advantage, and clarifying the role of dynamic capabilities in the development of software business in industrial companies