Boundary Spanning in Business Process Management: Theoretical Framing and Case Study

Based on dynamic capability and boundary spanning theory, this study develops a theoretical framework for collaborative BPM in inter-organizational networks. The framework presents collaborative BPM as an organizational capability that serves for connecting business processes through the purposeful employment of boundary objects (e.g., information systems) and boundary spanners (people) at the interfaces between different network partners. Collaborative BPM itself is also considered to rely on boundary spanners and boundary objects as they are needed to facilitate the cross-organizational sensing, seizing, and implementation of business process changes. The framework is applied in a multiple case study in which the collaborative BPM efforts of three exemplary organizations, which all participate in inter-organizational networks, are analyzed. As for practice, the framework provides a systematic blueprint that organizations can use to reflect on their capabilities for collaborative BPM. As for research, the study provides a theoretical framing from which future studies can depart to explore phenomena related to collaborative BPM

Modularity Canvas – A Framework for Visualizing Potentials of Service Modularity

Service modularity has been proposed as a possible solution to the dilemma between the customer-driven thirst for individualization and the standardization ambitions of service providers. However, current modularization methods that intend to support the corresponding transformation process remain mostly on a conceptual level with little real-life application. Therefore, we develop the Modularity Canvas – a generic framework for the structured information capturing and identification of potentials for advancing towards a modular service architecture. The artifact is developed following the Design Science Research Methodology. The results include the artifact itself and first insights from five demonstration workshops at industrial service providers from contract logistics, wind energy and automotive engineering sectors. The contribution of the paper lies in the deeper understanding of what dimensions need to be considered when preparing service providers for their move towards a modular service architecture

Online service delivery models : an international comparison in the public sector

Governments around the world are facing the challenge of responding to increased expectations by their customers with regard to public service delivery. Citizens, for example, expect governments to provide better and more efficient electronic services on the Web in an integrated way. Online portals have become the approach of choice in online service delivery to meet these requirements and become more customer-focussed. This study describes and analyses existing variants of online service delivery models based upon an empirical study and provides valuable insights for researchers and practitioners in government. For this study, we have conducted interviews with senior management representatives from five international governments. Based on our findings, we distinguish three different classes of service delivery models. We describe and characterise each of these models in detail and provide an in-depth discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches

Simulation-based business model innovation process for business-to-business contexts

Innovating service-oriented business models in industrial business-to-business (B2B) contexts presents a complex and risky endeavor. Recently, System Dynamics (SD) modelling and simulation has been suggested as a tool for prototyping and experimentation in business model innovation (BMI). However, knowledge of how to best utilise SD in BMI is scarce. Therefore, our research objective was to develop a new simulation-based approach for BMI, particularly for B2B contexts. We conducted a two-and-a-half-year action design research study with two industrial firms, Alpha (start-up) and Beta (incumbent firm). We developed and simulated new service-oriented business models as part of the two BMI teams. Our study resulted in the simulation-based BMI process containing phases, tools/techniques, and goals. Our findings demonstrate that SD, as a dynamic and visual modelling language, facilitates collaborative and cognitive activities during BMI, such as communication, design, evaluation, and decision-making

How Do We Progress? An Exploration of Alternate Explanations for BPM Capability Development

Business process management (BPM) is a topic that has received immense attention in information systems research and practice. While the existing literature comprehensively covers BPM methods, techniques, and tools, the development of BPM capability in organizations remains under-researched. Existing studies mainly present maturity models with generic sequences of distinct stages that provide a rather simplistic perspective on BPM capability progress. Taking a process theory view and drawing from organizational change literature, we elaborate on alternate templates for explaining BPM capability development. By revisiting two case studies on BPM capability development, we analyze the explanatory power of four basic theories of capability development and thus advance existing approaches to explain BPM capability progress. Our analysis shows the general applicability of these theories and points to particular advantages, disadvantages, and application conditions. Using the four basic theories as alternate templates, we also offer a much more-detailed explanation of the mechanisms behind the episodes of BPM capability progress that we observed in the two case studies. In particular, the different theoretical templates allow one to better understand the influence of internal and external contexts on BPM capability progress

BI Systems Managers’ Perception of Critical Contextual Success Factors: A Delphi Study

The present article investigates critical contextual success factors (CCSFs) that influence business intelligence (BI) system success in terms of their relevance and controllability. The initial set of CCSFs is based on an analysis of existing literature and serves as the basis for further exploration of these factors. Advances to previous studies are the validation of possible CCSFs influencing BI system design by domain experts in a Delphi Study and the multi-dimensional view of these factors. A carefully selected expert panel investigated CCSFs not only with regard to the dimensions of relevance – which is typical for ranking-type Delphi studies – they also assessed each factor in the dimension of controllability. This two-dimensional approach allowed us to identify five distinct clusters of CCSFs that influence BI system success. This paper contributes to information systems (IS) research on critical success factors in general and provides the BI domain with specific insights. The results contribute to the BI success factor literature and can potentially be generalized to other IS. BI managers may use the results to assess their daily challenges in BI system development and maintenance projects

Understanding the Cloud Computing Ecosystem: Results from a Quantitative Content Analysis

An increasing number of companies make use of CloudComputing services in order to reduce costs and increaseflexibility of their IT infrastructure. This has enlivened a debateon the benefits and risks of Cloud Computing, among bothpractitioners and researchers. This study applies quantitativecontent analysis to explore the Cloud Computing ecosystem. Theanalyzed data comprises high quality research articles andpractitioner-oriented articles from magazines and web sites. Weapply n-grams and the cluster algorithm k-means to analyze theliterature. The contribution of this paper is twofold: First, itidentifies the key terms and topics that are part of the CloudComputing ecosystem which we aggregated to a comprehensivemodel. Second, this paper discloses the sentiments of key topicsas reflected in articles from both practice and academia

Developing Maturity Models for IT Management – A Procedure Model and its Application

Maturity models are valuable instruments for IT managers because they allow the assessment of the current situation of a company as well as the identification of reasonable improvement measures. Over the last few years, more than a hundred maturity models have been developed to support IT management. They address a broad range of different application areas, comprising holistic assessments of IT management as well as appraisals of specific subareas (e. g. Business Process Management, Business Intelligence). The evergrowing number of maturity models indicates a certain degree of arbitrariness concerning their development processes. Especially, this is highlighted by incomplete documentation of methodologies applied for maturity model development. In this paper, we will try to work against this trend by proposing requirements concerning the development of maturity models. A selection of the few well-documented maturity models is compared to these requirements. The results lead us to a generic and consolidated procedure model for the design of maturity models. It provides a manual for the theoretically founded development and evaluation of maturity models. Finally, we will apply this procedure model to the development of the IT Performance Measurement Maturity Model (ITPM3)

Corporate Influencers in Business-to-Business Sales: A Grounded Theory Study

The importance of professional social media usage by business-to-business (B2B) sales employees has been well acknowledged, but the understanding of corporate influencers in B2B marketing a more thorough investigation. Literature has primarily focused on salespeople’s social media behavior, performance outcomes and effects on customer relations. However, little is known about salespeople’s motivation to act as corporate influencers, their actual activities on social media when they enact this role, as well as opportunities and challenges of salespeople who purposefully take on a corporate influencer role. We use a grounded theory approach to investigate this phenomenon. Based on in-depth interviews with experts from various B2B industries, we identify intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors that drive LinkedIn usage as well as opportunities and challenges of corporate influencer activities. These findings extend previous corporate influencer research. Moreover, we offer actionable practical implications

Maturity Models in Information Systems Research: Literature Search and Analysis

This article collects and analyzes seventy-six maturity model articles that have been published in leading Information Systems (IS) journals and conference proceedings during the past fifteen years. We study the IS literature on maturity models from three different perspectives: a research perspective, which is particularly relevant for scholars who are interested in the design and adoption of maturity models; a publication perspective, which reflects the interests of authors and reviewers of maturity model articles; and a practitioner’s perspective, which is especially relevant for maturity model users and consultants. The results are interesting in several respects. From the research perspective, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is the most dominant foundation of past IS research on maturity models. In contrast, theories on the design and adoption of maturity models are distinctly rare in our sample. The publication outlets that are considered feature quantitative and qualitative empirical research alike, but―with a decreasing number―purely conceptual research as well. Of late, past maturity model research can mainly be located in the area of IT and organizations, while the formerly very popular domain of IS development is of less interest today. As for the publication perspective, we find that the level of publication activity in the field has generally been increasing over the last fifteen years, with North American and European researchers dominating the academic discussion. Finally, with regard to the practitioner’s perspective, we compile advice on the practical application of maturity models from a critical analysis of the literature. It is hoped that the results can stimulate and guide future research in the field and inform the development and usage of theoretically sound maturity models in practice