Company Boundaries Research Articles

Problem constraints in ideation contests: How different types of constraints matter

Companies are turning to ideation contests to engage ideators outside company boundaries to solve their complex problems. Our research focusses on how articulating the problem, specifically the number and type of constraints described within the problem statement (brief), is related to the number of ideas submitted by participants in ideation contests. Specifically, we find that participant engagement, in terms of ideas submitted, varies with three different types of constraints—input, process and output. Contributions to the creativity literature as well as managerial implications are discussed.

Strategic decision‐making at platform transitions: The case of Nokia (2010–2011)

AbstractResearch SummaryWe develop new theory on incumbent firms' strategic decision‐making and the associated emotional dynamics at platform transitions. Based on in‐depth interviews with Nokia's senior leaders about their decision to adopt the Windows platform in 2011, we suggest that highly capable platform companies' entry into the established phone industry invalidated senior leaders' long‐held core assumptions about the industry, triggering existential anxiety and stunting self‐regulation. Distinct mechanisms then influenced senior leaders' emotions toward external platform options—myopic appraisals of firm competitiveness inside a platform (vs. platform competitiveness against other platforms), appraisals of changing firm boundaries, and emotional resonance of potential partners. These emotions contributed to emotional drift, with top managers ultimately favoring the emotionally attractive option. Our theorizing extends theory on platforms, strategy, and emotion.Managerial SummaryThis research provides fresh insights into how emotions play a crucial role in incumbent firms' strategic choices, especially in the context of evolving technology platforms and major industry shifts. Our research focused on Nokia's 2011 decision to adopt the Windows platform. We discovered that when new players, like platform companies, enter a market, they can unsettle longstanding beliefs, causing anxiety and decision‐making challenges among top management. Specifically, we found that executives often focus too narrowly on their firm's ability to compete within a new platform rather than the platform's overall competitiveness. Additionally, changes in company boundaries and the emotional appeal of potential partners significantly influence these decisions. Executives' analyses emotionally drift such that they start favoring the emotionally attractive options.

Value stream mapping for sustainability: A management tool proposal for more sustainable companies

Few manufacturing companies consider sustainability aspects in their strategic planning. An alternative to overcoming this operational barrier is to integrate sustainability aspects into widely used management tools, with Value Stream Mapping (VSM) playing a prominent role. While the scientific literature offers attempts to incorporate sustainability aspects into VSM, most fail to comprehensively consider economic, social, and environmental capitals in an integrated manner. Furthermore, they often lack an epistemologically grounded conceptual model of sustainability. This study aims to propose the Value Stream Mapping for Sustainability (VSM4S), a model that combines the advantages of traditional VSM with the inclusion of sustainability aspects rooted in the concepts of the Five Sectors Sustainability Model (5SEnSU) and its related indicator named the Sustainability Synthetic Indicator of System (SSIS). As a result, all procedures for applying the VSM4S are presented in detail, making them replicable in any company. The VSM4S provides the SSIS for the company's planned future scenario under different strategic goals, as well as the cost-benefit ratio (B/C) and full-time equivalent (FTE) indicators. These three indicators are graphically represented in a cube-figure to facilitate the overall interpretation of different scenarios and to support more effective decision-making regarding which scenario should be implemented. While the operational applicability of VSM4S merits further attention, it effectively integrates sustainability aspects into a company's strategic planning, thereby promoting greater sustainability within and beyond the company's boundaries.

Analysing Industry 4.0 technology-solution dependencies: a support framework for successful Industry 4.0 adoption in the product generation process

Industry 4.0 (i4.0) is central to advanced manufacturing. Building on novel digital technologies, it enables smart and flexible manufacturing with systems connected across company boundaries and product lifecycle phases. Despite its benefits, the adoption of i4.0 has been limited, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises. A key challenge is the technological complexity of i4.0. While advanced functionality requires technological complexity, it complicates an understanding of which enabling technologies are particularly useful and required. This article presents a framework to support successful i4.0 adoption across the entire product generation process through a systematic matrix-based dependency analysis of i4.0 solutions and underlying i4.0 technologies. Through increasing transparency around technological complexity of i4.0 solutions, this research contributes to a better understanding of which technologies are required for specific i4.0 solutions and which technologies could be strategic enablers for a broad variety of i4.0 applications. Knowing these technological dependencies supports both, the systematic adoption of existing i4.0 solutions and the development of new i4.0 solutions. This also sets the basis for a future socio-technical investigation.

Circular Economy in SMEs – The Role of Commitment to Sustainability and Digitalization

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a decisive part of the efforts against climate change. However, they are late in terms of sustainability and circular economy (CE). Little is known about the factors that facilitate the implementation of CE practices in SMEs. Due to CE leading to cost savings, new business models or reputation gains, companies can achieve a competitive advantage. To realize this competitive advantage the strategic orientation of a firm is pointed out. Various theoretical papers have shown how CE can be enabled and how it can be inhibited. However, empirical studies that support the existing literature are lacking. The goal of this paper is to investigate the influence of two mechanisms, namely commitment to sustainability (CtS) and digitalization as strategic orientations on CE implementation. Therefore, we conduct a study with a self-developed sample of 754 German SMEs. Using multiple linear regression analyses, the results show that digitalization and CtS positively influence CE implementation in SMEs. Interestingly, the complementary effect of pursuing a dual strategy toward digitalization and sustainability is not significant for CE implementation. Our study contributes to the CE literature by giving a nuanced understanding of various antecedents of CE implementation. This study provides several approaches for managers of SMEs to improve their CE practices. First, digitalization is indeed an effective tool for implementing CE practices. Therefore, practitioners should strengthen their digitalization efforts when considering increased CE implementation. Second, a general focus on sustainability increases the implementation of CE practices. Therefore, practitioners should raise awareness of sustainability throughout the organization. Third, the combined focus on CtS and digitalization needs to be carefully considered. To implement CE, digitalization should be embedded in the sustainability strategy. Due to the liability of smallness, SMEs should seek their resources for digitalization and sustainability commitment not only within but also outside the company boundaries.

Architecture for manufacturing-X: Bringing asset administration shell, eclipse dataspace connector and OPC UA together

Manufacturing-X represents the idea of a decentralized data economy. The aim is to increase sustainability, competitiveness and resilience by digitizing supply chains. Technically, this requires three technologies. First, a standardized data model to ensure interoperability across company boundaries. Second, a solution to realize sovereign inter-organizational data exchange. And thirdly, a component for the company’s internal data communication. Asset Administration Shell (AAS), Eclipse Dataspace Connector (EDSC) and Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture (OPC UA) are suitable solutions. This paper introduces an appropriate architecture to combine these technologies in an industrial production environment and discusses existing challenges, limitations and future potentials.

Transformation of corporate law: quasi-corporate and quasi-public structures

The purpose of the research is to study certain aspects of transformation of corporate relations and corporate law, in the light of blurring of company boundaries and development of digital communications and startup culture. The results and conclusions are obtained based on general scientific and private scientific methods of research. Research studies examples of quasi-corporate and quasi-public structures created through (1) deferred share transfer agreements (SAFE), (2) crowdfunding agreements, (3) public market intermediary companies (SPAC), (4) exchanges for private companies. With the emergence of cross-border hybrid corporate structures at intersection of debt and equity, public and private financing, the current debates on the objectives of corporate law and the purpose of the corporation acquire a new perspective, as the very boundaries of the corporation become fluid. At the same time, decision-making procedures are mediated by third parties and digital technologies, with the prospect of conflict of interest, and are regulated, among other things, by standards emerging so to say from below. In the digital era, flexibility in the choice of elements of the structure allows to detach from the current state corporate regulation and attach to it in the right place and at the right time. It is concluded that the explosive growth of hybrid structures forms new areas of development of legal regulation by rejecting the dichotomy of soft and hard law. Among the vectors of transformation, the growing importance of private law unifications, the development of theoretical apparatus based on the concept of transnational law, the emergence of its subsystems, including lex corporatoria are noted. Among the tasks of lex corporatoria the formation of standards and customs in the field of corporate finance is also postulated as a regulatory framework for functioning of the hybrid structures under study.

АСПЕКТИ ЦИФРОВОЇ КОНВЕРГЕНЦІЇ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ В УМОВАХ ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ ІННОВАЦІЙНО-ДІЛОВОЇ ЕКОСИСТЕМИ

The important challenge of the digital economy from a business management perspective, in the context of digital transformation, is the development of digital platforms and the formation of innovative business ecosystems based on them. These ecosystems not only change the ways of organizing and conducting economic and labor activities but also disrupt existing production business models. The application of an ecosystem approach contributes to a comprehensive analysis of the development of an innovative business ecosystem, including the evaluation of infrastructure, new forms of relationships, and economic interests of stakeholders within the digital transformation of the economy, scientific and production cooperation, especially in the conditions of the high-tech and intellectual services market, as well as the processes of creating, accumulating, and transmitting new knowledge. In this context, platforms become a kind of "building blocks" of the digital economy, as they "attract" external resources, investments, and innovations from other companies to develop complementary products and services. The paper explores aspects of the phenomenon of «platformization» related to the widespread use of digital platforms as new business models. The digitization of all areas of life in an information-networked society is a mandatory attribute of the social and economic development of the country and its regions. The processes of active implementation of digital technologies, new for sustainable economic growth of states, represent new factors for ensuring leadership and competitiveness in the global market, and, most importantly, create conditions for effective interaction of innovation-active participants based on partnership relations, shaping an innovative business ecosystem. The main conditions for the emergence of platforms at the boundaries of companies forming a business ecosystem, a dynamically developed community of actors creating new values through both interaction and competition, are discussed in the paper. The paper presents the process of information exchange among participants in the digital platform within the innovative business ecosystem. The technological and compositional capabilities of the digital platform transform them into a format of innovative development, ensuring quick adaptation to changes in business conditions. The paper proposes a methodological approach to monitoring global trends in digitization, based on identified mature, sectoral, breakthrough, cross-cutting, and technological trends, as well as business trends. The authors suggest an algorithm for implementing the main stages of the procedure for monitoring global trends in digitization and platformization. A methodology for assessing the level of digital maturity is proposed based on determining the level of development of digitization and platformization of the innovative business ecosystem. The authors of this work propose a conceptual methodological model for the formation of an innovative business ecosystem. The paper presents a basic algorithm for calculating the economic effect and efficiency of implementing a digital platform. Recommendations for improving ecosystem management in the conditions of economic platformization are also provided.

Proofs of Existence for Data in Cross-Company Blockchain Networks

The safe-UR-chain project is focused on the tamper-proof storage of production-related data and its exchange across company boundaries. The system is based on 'entangled' blockchains, i.e., each company maintains its own blockchain and sporadically integrates block hashes from the blockchains of other companies into it. This makes it possible, to verify the existence and integrity of data from another company’s blockchain later. To prove that the data has not been tampered with, an efficient cryptographic accumulator is used. This accumulator makes it possible to show, that a block is included at a certain position within a blockchain. Based on this proof, the existence and integrity of data in another company’s blockchain can be verified.

Implemented occupational health surveillance limits the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron at the workplace.

The global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has put an enormous pressure on human societies, at both health and economic levels. Early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has proved an efficient method to rapidly isolate positive individuals and reduce transmission rates, thus alleviating its negative impact on society’s well-being and economic growth. In this work, through a coordinated and centralized effort to monitor SARS-CoV-2 circulation in companies from the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we have detected and linked an early rise of infection rates in January 2022 to the introduction of the Omicron variant of concern (VoC) (BA.1). Interestingly, when the Omicron genomic isolates were compared to correlates from public datasets, it was revealed that introduction events were multiple, with possible migration routes mapping to: Mali; Oman and United States; and Italy, Latin America, and United States. In addition, we have built a haplotype network with our genomic dataset and found no strong evidence of transmission chains, between and within companies. Considering Omicron’s particularly high transmissibility, and that most of our samples (>87%) arose from 3 out of 10 companies, these findings suggest that workers from such environments were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 outside their company boundaries. Thus, using a mixed strategy in which quick molecular diagnosis finds support in comprehensive genomic analysis, we have shown that a successfully implemented occupational health program should contribute to document emerging VoC and to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 at the workplace.

A Computer Science Perspective on Digital Transformation in Production

The Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) promises significant improvements for the manufacturing industry by facilitating the integration of manufacturing systems by Digital Twins. However, ecological and economic demands also require a cross-domain linkage of multiple scientific perspectives from material sciences, engineering, operations, business, and ergonomics, as optimization opportunities can be derived from any of these perspectives. To extend the IIoT to a trueInternet of Production, two concepts are required: first, a complex, interrelated network of Digital Shadows which combine domain-specific models with data-driven AI methods; and second, the integration of a large number of research labs, engineering, and production sites as a World Wide Lab which offers controlled exchange of selected, innovation-relevant data even across company boundaries. In this article, we define the underlying Computer Science challenges implied by these novel concepts in four layers:Smart human interfacesprovide access to information that has been generated bymodel-integrated AI. Given the large variety of manufacturing data, newdata modelingtechniques should enable efficient management of Digital Shadows, which is supported by aninterconnected infrastructure. Based on a detailed analysis of these challenges, we derive a systematized research roadmap to make the vision of the Internet of Production a reality.

The Study of Emotional Effects of Digitalised Work: The Case of Higher Education in the Sustainable Development

This paper reports on the experiences of working with new digital tools along with the experience of new remote work. We explore the emotional experiences of working from home during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic and their implications. There were two groups of respondents participating in the study, those who had experience working remotely before the pandemic [digital natives] and those who started working remotely during the pandemic [digital immigrants]. The results show that emotional experiences while working from home do not differ depending on the profession, age, gender, length of experience and from previous remote work. This suggests that the digital natives had to deal with the same emotions as the digital immigrants. The study found that independent external changes determine the growth of competence in employees, in this particular case, to work remotely. Working in conditions that are difficult for everyone obliges employees to cooperate, even across company boundaries, and increases each other’s competencies. In such situations, the management is required to be emotionally involved and closer to the employee.

Adaptive and Dynamic Feedback Loops between Production System and Production Network based on the Asset Administration Shell

In production networks, production must run efficiently across company boundaries. Companies must be able to react quickly as a single unit. Two trends are influencing this situation: On the one hand, the progressing servitization leads to the increased offering of digital services in the field of manufacturing. From the literature, it is known that digital services let manufacturers, suppliers, and industrial customers interact more closely and frequently in a production network. On the other hand, the concept of the digital twin is trending. It promises the real-time prognosis and control of production systems. Although the concept of the digital twin itself can be vague there are some technologies trying to implement the digital twin of production. The asset administration shell (AAS) is an example of such a technology that draws growing attention. Picking up the initial situation these two trends could be used to create a feedback loop between the production system and network and thus improve the overall efficiency in production networks. Based on this idea, the paper first presents an approach to model systematically a possibility for a feedback loop orienting to the business model concept. Second, a reference architecture is derived from the RAMI 4.0 standard. The specified reference architecture is the basis for the specific implementation. Third, a procedure is developed to implement a specific architecture. For implementing an architecture, the usage of the asset administration shell is assumed. Finally, the approach is validated in a use case from the high precision weight industry.

Principles and Design Strategies for Ultra‐efficient Production Systems in the Process Industry

AbstractA sustainable design of production systems, both within and beyond company boundaries, is essential for the future viability of the process industry. In this context, the concept of ultra‐efficiency has recently been developed, aiming at achieving holistic improvements in the fields of action energy and material efficiency, emission reduction, organization, human and staff, with the goal of establishing a positive impact factory. In this paper, the concept developed mainly for the discrete manufacturing industry is transferred to the process industry. It is put into the scientific sub context and elementary approaches, methods and strategies for factory planning and design of production processes in the process industry are summarized.

Supply Chain Carbon Footprinting and Climate Change Disclosures of Global Firms

The content of climate change disclosures of large, global companies evolved from 2007 to 2016. Within that window, the same set of firms started measuring and disclosing their supply chain carbon emissions. Does carbon footprinting influence the nature and content of a firm's disclosure on the climate change risks that are expected to affect its business? We explore this question using more than 10,925 climate change disclosures collected by the CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) from 2,003 firms worldwide. We use singular value decomposition and text similarity scores to quantitatively examine the content of the CDP disclosures from 2007 to 2016. Using fixed effects and dynamic panel models, we find that measuring supply chain carbon emissions (Scope 3) explains a substantial shift in the content and nature of the disclosures. We find no evidence that measuring and disclosing direct emissions (Scope 1) are associated with substantial changes in the content of the disclosures. One explanation for this is that most of the climate change‐related risks are in the supply chain, not within the company boundaries of large, global firms. Our results show the importance of encouraging firms to voluntarily measure their supply chain carbon emissions if they are not yet aware of their contribution and exposure to climate change. Our work shows that firms’ response to climate change is dynamic, and it may take a decade to detect these shifts.

Food traditions and consumer preferences for cured meats: Role of information in geographical indications

Growth and development are two economic concepts that should go hand in hand. In a specific territory, the search for sustainable development is intertwined with the objectives of private operators but also with the public ones of collective well-being. As we know from the economic literature, the presence of information asymmetries leads to market failure as sustainability in the production of food products determines positive externalities that are not adequately remunerated. In this work some evolutionary trends in the demand for cured meats are analyzed, highlighting the relevant innovations introduced by sustainable consumption. Faced with this evolution of demand, with consumers increasingly responsible for the effects deriving from their choices, instead, the company has the possibility of improving its competitiveness through diversification strategies, with an ideal expansion of the business boundaries of companies that go beyond from a conventional food production to a competitive and attentive to the consumer. Through the analysis of the dynamics of supply and demand, it is highlighted how the redefinition of the production strategies of food companies can offer the opportunity to reduce, if not synergistic, the competitiveness objectives of the food sector with the public's expectations of sustainability. environmental. In this case, market failure is reduced thanks to the redefinition of corporate strategies, through which some public goods and guaranteed externalities become productive resources for the same companies, helping to broaden and better define the offer of economic goods and services they produce. The study examined the consumer's preferences for a food product, the San'Angelo di Brolo salami, a Protected Geographical Indication. The study highlights that the Protected Geographical Indication reduces the inforamative asymmetry and creates a long-term developmental condition.

Workforces and local communities against corporate restructuring: a comparative case study of resistance to plant closures in Northern Spain

ABSTRACT The article examines the formation of local networks of resistance to production relocation plans. We present evidence from three case studies characterized by strong local defiance to plant closure plans in three American-owned transnational companies with four production sites in Northern Spain. The article explores the repertoire of protest and support mobilization leading the workforces to forge local alliances with trade unions, public authorities and other local community organizations and collectives. We focus on labour conflicts that transcend company boundaries through mobilizing urban communities. The methodology used is qualitative. Our analysis is grounded on a theoretically informed comparative case study based on the literature on power relations and micro-political struggles in transnational companies. We also make use of conceptual insights from the labour geography perspective. The article delves into the contra-hegemonic potential of labour-community alliances. Our findings substantiate the role of micro-politics in transnational companies and reveal opportunities and constraints for effective local responses to corporate restructuring.

Benchmarking management techniques for massive IIoT time series in a fog architecture

Within the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) scenario, the online availability of a growing number of assets in factories enables the collection of vast amounts of data. Each asset produces time-series collections that must be handled with proper techniques while providing effective ingestion and retrieval performance in complex architectures, maintaining compliance with company and infrastructure boundaries. In this paper, we describe an experience in the management of massive time-series, conducted in a plant of Avio Aero. Firstly, we propose a fog-based architecture to ease the collection and analysis of these massive datasets. Then, we present the results of an empirical comparison of four DBMSs (PostgreSQL, Cassandra, MongoDB, and InfluxDB) in the ingestion and retrieval of gigabytes of real IIoT data. In particular, we tested different DBMS features under different types of queries. Results show that InfluxDB provides very good performance, but PostgreSQL can still be an interesting alternative.

Blockchains – achieving consensus in oil and gas business processes

As the oil and gas industry comes under increasing pressure from government, activist groups and society on carbon offsetting, a trend that is building is the disclosure of consistent, comparable and reliable data. As companies develop their abatement plans, it is critical that the accounting and reporting of activities are made transparent or companies risk not achieving the social license to operate they are aiming to build. This proposal will discuss the opportunity for operators to use blockchain to digitise the information and processes that operate between unincorporated joint ventures, companies and third parties they deal with – customers, suppliers, government and society. At its heart, blockchain is a distributed ledger that offers the potential to make processes between companies more efficient through standardised processes and trusted data; in the same way companies have implemented internal Enterprise Resource Planning systems to achieve this goal within their own entities. The current landscape of systems and processes has been set up to optimise internally, but when processes cross company boundaries, they execute via email and analogue processes. Gartner predicts that by 2030 $3.1 trillion of goods and services will be tracked by blockchain technology. This is a technology that will revolutionise supply chains and company-to-company interactions. The energy sector has embraced contractors and suppliers who support engineering, operations, maintenance, services and supply of parts. Blockchain is therefore a technology that offers great opportunity in optimising in-bound supply chain and increasingly will be required to communicate on their outbound product with more transparent and trusted data enabled by blockchain technology.

Open Innovation in the Financial Services - The Magic Bullet

Rapid and unpredictable events as we have experienced with the financial crisis or recently with COVID-19 together with macro trends that change societies and businesses over ten years have become recurring themes in the global competitive landscape. The open innovation concept helps firms to reconfigure their resources across company boundaries and in turn, nurtures organisational agility and entrepreneurial flexibility. Collaboration and co-creation are the core elements of a new management mindset to serve specific client demands fast, precisely, and effectively. A long-term study, exploring the impacts of emerging open business models in financial services, found that digital convergence accelerates the disruption of established banking businesses. Based on a literature review, complemented with information from case studies of notable banks, this abstract shows what affects markets and society most and provides insights into a sector that is in transformation. It broadens the understanding of scholars as well as practitioners that acknowledge open innovation to develop opportunities by creating and capturing value in business ecosystems.