Opportunities For Value Creation Research Articles

Entrepreneurial learning as practice: a video-ethnographic analysis

PurposeDespite the gains that have been made by adopting contemporary theories of practice in entrepreneurship studies, the field still lacks a comprehensive practice theory of entrepreneurial learning. In this article, we develop a practice theory of entrepreneurial learning by elaborating on the relations between practicing, knowing and learning.Design/methodology/approachUsing a video ethnography of a two-day “Startup Weekend for Refugees” event in Amsterdam, our aim is to further theorise the relational, material and embodied nature of entrepreneurial learning through analysing video fragments of naturally occurring practices.FindingsOur findings demonstrate that entrepreneurial learning transpires through, and is emergent from, practices and their relations. On the one hand, practitioners learn to competently participate in various practices by sensing, observing and experimenting with the meaning of others' gestures and utterances. On the other, the learning of new opportunities for value creation emerges as practitioners connect various practices to one another through translation.Originality/valueThis article contributes by illustrating and explaining real-time instances of learning to develop a practice theory of entrepreneurial learning. This contributes to the literature by detailing the relations between learning, knowing and practising entrepreneurship, which leads to a novel alternative to existing individual- and organisational-level learning theories.

How to leverage internet of things data to generate benefits for sales and marketing

Across a variety of industries, companies both large and small are leveraging the flood of data generated by the internet of things (IoT) to develop new business models, initiate disruptive innovations and open up new sources of revenue. This paper explores how sales and marketing functions, in particular, can benefit from IoT data. Using concrete examples from the areas of smart homes and wearables, connected cars and smart factories, the paper describes the data generated in each area, shows opportunities for value creation, and explains some essential technologies, methods and skills as well as critical success factors.

Is open innovation always the best for SMEs? An exploratory analysis at the project level

Open innovation (OI) projects are increasingly adopted by small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Yet, undertaking OI is not only a source of opportunities for SMEs as it can, at the same time, present risks. How SMEs manage the balance between the potential benefits and the emerging challenges of OI is still an overlooked topic in the literature. Using evidence gathered through multiple case studies and drawing upon the relational view of the firm, we explore how and why value creation opportunities and different managerial challenges emerge for SMEs pursuing OI projects. We analyze different stages of OI projects in several different contexts of their implementation. Our analysis sheds light on the different nature and dynamics of knowledge involved within OI projects as important boundary conditions affecting successful search paths, learning processes, and the development of appropriability mechanisms. By offering a contextualized view of OI in SMEs, this study also provides insights to business managers on the situational opportunities and constraints of OI, including managerial suggestions on actions to manage tensions within differing OI projects.

Data Visualization: Business Value, Value Amplifiers, and a Pitfall

Data visualization is a powerful tool for value creation in business. This short article helps managers frame the opportunities for value creation, recognize the amplifiers of value, and avoid a key pitfall.

INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND EDUCATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH

Developments and rapid changes in the international community, moving from traditional society to the information society, as well as changing the national economy to the global economy, require different solutions to enable economic growth and development in society. In fact, entrepreneurship, which is the concept of the discovery and exploitation of opportunities for value creation in the various sectors, is the basis for an all-round development. For this reason, to develop the countries pay special attention to the entrepreneurship is very important. So, this study is trying to investigate the effects of entrepreneurship and education on economic growth in 25 selected countries using the panel-data method in the period of 2001 to 2015. The results show that entrepreneurship and education have positive effects on economic growth, so that by increasing one percent of each variable, respectively, economic growth will increase by 0.41 and 0.21 percent.
 Badri, A. K. | Department of Economics, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran

Quantified Global Broadband Strategies for Connecting Unconnected Communities

Delivering prosperity to all requires efficient and equitable access to infrastructure. This is certainly true for digital infrastructure which is now essential for both societal and economic development, as the internet provides a range of new opportunities for (monetary and non-monetary) value creation. Surprisingly, our understanding of how to connect people to the internet is largely based on local or national case studies, as opposed to any systematic unifying assessment. Indeed, the existing tools and data available to decision makers is scant with most approaches treating countries as homogeneous units without providing the sub-national comparative economic assessment of different digital infrastructure strategies. Reflecting spatial heterogeneity in engineering-economic models is essential and can help prioritise limited financial resources to different locations based on the cost of delivering connectivity. Hence, the aim of this paper is to develop a globally-scalable assessment framework which can be applied to any country to support national and international policy making on narrowing the digital divide for 4G connectivity. Such an approach is applied here to Uganda, where the strategies tested include both passive and active infrastructure sharing (‘neutral hosting’) in rural locations to reduce costs, as well as quantifying the efficiency of fixed fibre versus microwave backhaul technologies. The globally-scalable software developed contributes the necessary tools for undertaking continental, or even global, digital infrastructure assessment.

Value Creation and Value Capture Alignment in Business Model Innovation: A Process View on Outcome‐Based Business Models

Industrial manufacturers are innovating their business models by shifting from selling products to selling outcome‐based services, where the provider (manufacturer) guarantees to deliver the performance outcomes of the products and services. This form of business model innovation requires a profound yet little understood shift in how value is created, delivered, and captured. To address this research gap, our study examines two successful and four unsuccessful cases of this shift. We find that effectiveness in business model innovation hinges on the three process phases that unfold in collaboration with the customers: value proposition definition, value provision design, and value‐in‐use delivery. We also find that that success is determined by the alignment of specific value creation and value capture activities in each phase: identifying value creation opportunities—agreeing on value distribution in value proposition definition, designing the value offering—deciding on the profit formula in the value provision design, and finally refining value creation processes—regulating incentive structures in the value‐in‐use delivery. Our process model contributes to the literature and practice on business model innovation by providing a thorough understanding of how alignment of value creation and value capture processes is ensured, whilst paying special attention to their interdependence and the interactions between provider and customer.

Applying the circular economy to a business model: an illustrative case study of a pioneering energy company

While the circular economy (CE) has awakened discussion in business model literature, understanding of the circular business model (CBM) and value-creation opportunities in practice has been limited. This study focuses on one sustainable business model archetype: creating value from waste. It supports sustainable development by material circulation. We aim to provide an answer to the question of how a company converts its resources and capabilities into economic value by creating value from waste. This single case study in the Finnish energy sector focuses on a pioneering company applying CBM. The analysis more specifically illustrates the nine main elements of a business model: customer value proposition, segments, customer relationships, channels, key resources, key activities, partners, costs and revenues. Furthermore, we illustrate the internal and external adoption factors required to transform a business model canvas (BMC) to a CBM framework.

Preference-Based Privacy Markets

In the modern era of the mobile apps (the era of surveillance capitalism - as termed by Shoshana Zuboff) huge quantities of surveillance data about consumers and their activities offer a wave of opportunities for economic and societal value creation. ln-app advertising - a multi-billion dollar industry, is an essential part of the current digital ecosystem driven by free mobile applications, where the ecosystem entities usually comprise consumer apps, their clients (consumers), ad-networks, and advertisers. Sensitive consumer information is often being sold downstream in this ecosystem without the knowledge of consumers, and in many cases to their annoyance. While this practice, in cases, may result in long-term benefits for the consumers, it can result in serious information privacy breaches of very significant impact (e.g., breach of genetic data) in the short term. The question we raise through this paper is: Is it economically feasible to trade consumer personal information with their formal consent (permission) and in return provide them incentives (monetary or otherwise)?. In view of (a) the behavioral assumption that humans are `compromising' beings and have privacy preferences, (b) privacy as a good not having strict boundaries, and (c) the practical inevitability of inappropriate data leakage by data holders downstream in the data-release supply-chain, we propose a design of regulated efficient/bounded inefficient economic mechanisms for oligopoly data trading markets using a novel preference function bidding approach on a simplified sellers-broker market. Our methodology preserves the heterogeneous privacy preservation constraints (at a grouped consumer, i.e., app, level) upto certain compromise levels, and at the same time satisfies information demand (via the broker) of agencies (e.g., advertising organizations) that collect client data for the purpose of targeted behavioral advertising.

Coated microneedles for transdermal delivery of a potent pharmaceutical peptide.

Minimally invasive delivery of peptide and protein molecules represents a significant opportunity for product differentiation and value creation versus standard injectable routes of administration. One such technology utilizes microneedle (MN) patches and it has made considerable clinical advances in systemic delivery of potent macromolecules and vaccines. A sub-class of this technology has focused on preparation of solid dense MN arrays followed by precision formulation coating on the tips of the MN. The objective of this study was to develop a drug product using the MN technology that has similar bioperformance when compared to subcutaneous route of delivery and can provide improved stability under storage. Therapeutic peptide (Peptide A, Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA) is being developed as a subcutaneous injection for chronic dosing with a submilligram estimated therapeutic dose. Peptide A has chemical and physical stability challenges in solution and this led to exploration of a viable drug product which could provide therapeutic dosages while overcoming the stability issues seen with the compound. This work focused on developing a coated solid microstructure transdermal system (sMTS) for Peptide A followed by detailed in vitro and preclinical evaluation for two different coating formulations. Based on initial assessment, ~250μg of Peptide A could be coated with precision on a 1.27cm2 patch which contained 316 MN's. The delivery from these systems was achieved with absolute bioavailability being similar to the subcutaneous delivery (88% and 74% for coated sMTS 1 & 2 and 75% for subcutaneous delivery). Stability of Peptide A was also found to be significantly improved when coated on the sMTS system with minimal degradation recorded at room temperature storage as compared to the subcutaneous liquid formulation. Additionally, skin irritation (on pig skin) was also measured in this study and it was found to be minimal and self-resolving. This evaluation provided a viable option for developing a drug product with improved stability and successful delivery of the investigated molecule. Graphical abstractSchematic showing uncoated sMTS, resulting product with coated peptide, successful skin penetration with high delivery efficiency and bioavailability.

Digital services governance: IT4IT™ for management of technology

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present, analyse and demonstrate the impact and potentials of a pragmatically derived information technology (IT) governance framework, IT4IT™, for the discipline of management of technology (MoT) especially within the IT industry. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on an extensive literature study working with the limitations of the relatively recent publication of IT4IT™ and the normative character of IT4IT™. A mixed-method case study is presented based on an IT service provider organisation. Both a qualitative method and a systems and design oriented method are being used. Findings IT4IT™ can provide value and a clearer understanding of the service delivery framework if the technological core of the focal organisation is adapted to a value stream thinking. This suggests a more operational character of all IT processes and analogue to general MoT frameworks and corporate governance models. Research limitations/implications Given the recent publication of the IT4IT™ framework, this study is primarily ex ante and suggests further full-scale ex post research in the future. Practical implications Validation and successful implementation of the IT4IT™ framework will give companies better opportunities for safe and controlled value creation using IT. Control connects with risk reduction and less risk can encourage innovation and “tame” development complexity. Using value streams will align IT better with manufacturing and services. Originality/value Companies are striving to seek governance and risk minimisation in IT development and operations. This paper is discussing the applicability of the IT4IT™ framework for finding a better understanding of the value creation and value proposition delivered by introducing controlled processes minimising risk.

How a ground lease affects the market value of a hotel

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a land lease may affect the market value of a hotel. Since the 1980s, hotels that sit on ground leases have become increasingly prevalent in urban locations throughout the US. As land becomes dearer and construction costs rise in densely urbanised areas, the frequency of land leases in the development of hotels is likely to increase in the future. To date, research on hotel land leases has primarily been undertaken by appraisers, brokers, hotel owners and/or operators and lawyers, as opposed to the academic community. Furthermore, the literature review identified a gap in research relating to the value implications of a ground lease on hotel investment transactions. As such, the literature review component of this paper focuses on valuation methodologies in hotel investment analyses and approach to leasehold positions, the associated land lease terms and provisions that have an impact on the value and opportunities for value creation by utilising a land lease. To complement the literature review, primary research was undertaken via interviews with hotel owners, operators, appraisers, brokers, mortgage bankers and brand representatives, which provided insight into how the market gauges the impact of a ground lease’s terms and provisions on a hotel asset’s market value. While the sample of stakeholders interviewed was robust, the lessor side of the equation was not sufficiently represented, which represents one limitation of the research. A further limitation was a substantially subjective element in valuation methodology undertaken by the survey respondents. Nonetheless, it is hoped that this research will aid hotel investors, as well as other industry stakeholders, to better understand land leases and their prospective impact on value.

How legacy firms can embrace the digital ecosystem via digital customer orientation

Because of modern digital technologies, business environments are turning into digital ecosystems, wherein a firm’s traditional interdependencies are increasingly influenced by digital connectivity. For legacy firms, or firms yet to incorporate these technologies into their business models, this shift ushers in new opportunities for value creation, albeit through new capabilities. In this article, we focus on how legacy firms can embrace digital ecosystems to create value through a new capability: digital customer orientation. We define digital customer orientation as offering customized and enriched customer experiences made possible by embracing digital ecosystems. We develop a framework for legacy firms to develop capabilities for digital customer orientation in three steps: (1) by distilling key insights on how digital natives such as Amazon, Google and Facebook leverage their digital ecosystems for digital customer orientation; (2) by showing how legacy firms can apply those insights to harness their digital ecosystems and develop their own approaches for digital customer orientation; and (3) by offering a road map and a research agenda for legacy firms to engage in digital customer orientation—both by highlighting the organizational attributes needed, and by framing those attributes within the principles of transformative marketing.

How B2B suppliers articulate customer value propositions in the circular economy: Four innovation-driven value creation logics

The transition toward the sustainability-driven circular economy is emerging across global markets. The circular economy refers to a regenerative and restorative economic system that aims to optimize resource usage and reduce waste, and offers potential to innovate novel value creation opportunities in B2B markets. However, how the value creation opportunities in circular economy are captured in supplier firms’ customer value propositions (CVPs) remains underexplored. To address this critical gap, we develop a theoretical framework that illustrates the architecture of CVPs, and use it to conduct an extensive multiple-case study across several industries, offering types, and firm sizes, analyzing 74 documented CVPs in the Finnish circular economy. The results reveal that CVPs in the circular economy embody four alternative value creation logics (resurrect, share, optimize, and replace value) that are built on different forms of innovations, and highlight different design elements. This study advances current marketing theory by illustrating how suppliers articulate CVPs in the circular economy, and highlighting the key differences to prevailing insights from linear economy. For managers, this study offers important insights into designing CVPs that resonate with circular economy–oriented customers and broader stakeholders.

Privacy trading in the surveillance capitalism age viewpoints on 'privacy-preserving' societal value creation

In the modern era of the mobile apps (part of the era of surveillance capitalism , a famously coined term by Shoshana Zuboff), huge quantities of data about individuals and their activities offer a wave of opportunities for economic and societal value creation. However, the current personal data ecosystem is mostly de-regulated, fragmented, and inefficient. On one hand, end-users are often not able to control access (either technologically, by policy, or psychologically) to their personal data which results in issues related to privacy, personal data ownership, transparency, and value distribution. On the other hand, this puts the burden of managing and protecting user data on profit-driven apps and ad-driven entities (e.g., an ad-network) at a cost of trust and regulatory accountability. Data holders (e.g., apps) may hence take commercial advantage of the individuals' inability to fully anticipate the potential uses of their private information, with detrimental effects for social welfare. As steps to improve social welfare, we comment on the the existence and design of efficient consumer-data releasing ecosystems aimed at achieving a maximum social welfare state amongst competing data holders. In view of (a) the behavioral assumption that humans are 'compromising' beings, (b) privacy not being a well-boundaried good, and (c) the practical inevitability of inappropriate data leakage by data holders upstream in the supply-chain, we showcase the idea of a regulated and radical privacy trading mechanism that preserves the heterogeneous privacy preservation constraints (at an aggregate consumer, i.e., app, level) upto certain compromise levels, and at the same time satisfying commercial requirements of agencies (e.g., advertising organizations) that collect and trade client data for the purpose of behavioral advertising. More specifically, our idea merges supply function economics , introduced by Klemperer and Meyer, with differential privacy, that, together with their powerful theoretical properties, leads to a stable and efficient, i.e., a maximum social welfare, state, and that too in an algorithmically scalable manner. As part of future research, we also discuss interesting additional techno-economic challenges related to realizing effective privacy trading ecosystems.

Categorical cognition and outcome efficiency in impact investing decisions

AbstractResearch SummaryThe emerging practice of “impact investing” optimizes both financial and social outcomes, and thus promises to support hybrid organizations that simultaneously pursue financial and social goals. We argue, however, that impact investing decisions may be prone to behavioral factors that limit their outcome efficiency. In a portfolio allocation task designed to reflect the essential features of an impact investing decision, we find across a range of scenarios that individuals systematically fail to choose investment portfolios that achieve financial and social outcomes efficiently and thereby waste opportunities for value creation. We further show in online and in‐person experiments that outcome inefficiency is related to “categorical cognition”: suppression of categorical labels on investment options increases efficiency.Managerial SummaryThe “impact investing” approach promises to encourage greater financial investments in hybrid organizations that pursue a combination of financial and social goals. We experimentally demonstrate a challenge of this approach: People struggle to identify portfolios of investments that simultaneously optimize across financial and social outcomes. This is partly due to “categorical cognition”: a natural tendency to view investments in terms of known categories rather than the actual outcomes they produce. Our experiments show that removing the labels “for‐profit company,” “charity,” and “social enterprise” from investment options—thus making it more difficult to think about them categorically—increases outcome‐efficient allocations. We therefore show that realizing the full potential of impact investing will require that investors transcend conventional thinking about business and charity as separate domains.

Outcome Efficiency in Impact Investing Decisions

The emerging practice of “impact investing” optimizes both financial and social outcomes, and thus promises to support hybrid organizations that simultaneously pursue financial and social goals. We argue, however, that impact investing decisions may be prone to behavioral factors that limit their outcome efficiency. In a portfolio allocation task designed to reflect the essential features of an impact investing decision, we find across a range of scenarios that individuals systematically fail to choose investment portfolios that achieve financial and social outcomes efficiently and thereby waste opportunities for value creation. We further show in online and in-person experiments that outcome inefficiency is related to “categorical cognition”: suppression of categorical labels on investment options increases efficiency.

Towards a circular supply chain for PV modules: Review of today's challenges in PV recycling, refurbishment and re‐certification

AbstractPhotovoltaic (PV) waste, associated to the exponentially growing PV installations on global scale, presents today an emerging environmental challenge but also brings unprecedented and multifold value creation opportunities. In this context, significant PV business and research and development (R&D) efforts shift towards establishing a more sustainable, environmentally friendly and economically viable end‐of‐life (EoL) management for PV modules: including recycling, recovery of raw materials, repair/refurbishment and even re‐use of decommissioned or failed PV modules. In the CIRCUSOL project, PV partners aspire to formalize the repair/refurbish and re‐use value chains in the PV industry and propose a circular business model, based on a product‐service system (PSS). Towards these goals, this review study introduces the relevant research groundwork, a status overview and today's R&D and business challenges in PV recycling, repair/refurbishment and re‐certification aspects for second‐life PV modules. The topics and the relevant reported literature are examined from both circular economy and technology perspective. The review indicates a considerable technological and operational know‐how in PV EoL management that already exists and continuously evolves in mature PV markets. On the other hand, R&D in repair/refurbishment of decommissioned and/or failed PV modules remains scarce, and best practices and commercial services for reliability testing/re‐certification and trading of second‐life PV modules are neither standardized nor consolidated into any PSS or business model.

Improving Societal Outcomes in Communities Affected by Large Resource Projects

This paper examines opportunities for shared value creation between communities and large resource projects. The shared value perspective has potential to minimise negative social externalities for...

Open educational resources (OER) Edupreneurship business models for different stakeholders

This paper contributes in establishing Open Educational Resources (OER)-based edupreneurship business models for different stakeholders. It restages the emergence of OER in higher education institutions (HEI) within educational entrepreneurship, hereafter edupreneurship. Then, it presents three analyses based on OER literature and environments. Finally, it introduces four edupreneurship business models for different stakeholders. First, it reviews the literature to identify and align existing OER business models to deduce a pattern linking OER provision, organizations’ investments and users. Second, it applies Osterwalder and Pigneur’s business canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur 2010) to analyze value creation opportunities and activities within OER environments. Third, it examines OER environments to elicit the elements used for generating revenue streams. Consequently, four edupreneurship business models are provided to resolve some of the complexities found in OER environments and support stakeholders in deciding their ventures. The paper concludes that OER environments process unstable amalgamation of networks that continually changes to adapt to the complexity, multi-functioning and multi-processing of customers and providers’ motivations. OER projects disrupt the educational market worldwide. This is not due to the OER humanistic view of Openness as ‘free of charge’ and ‘for free use’ but to Openness being a premium business value that creates edupreneurship opportunities within the digital age.