Value Creation Networks Research Articles

How Can Knowledge Leakage be Stopped

This article discusses how leakage of knowledge can occur in value creation networks embedded in knowledge-intensive firms, and how a collaborative approach can be utilized to minimize risk and increase sustainability. For knowledge to be preserved from unintentional outflow, its confidential nature and description must be understood at all levels. Loss of knowledge can occur at any point; whether it is through the process of consultation or when employees do their work. Forfeiture of information can be unintended or a planned effort. To prevent such unintended leakage, it is important to develop a shared mindset among employees to minimize the risk. The socio-technical system design is a philosophical framework that enables companies to simultaneously consider both ethical and technical systems in order to best match the technology and the people involved. History has shown through a number of situations that firms that failed to comprehend new opportunities were often limited by stakeholders' thoughts and actions.

Smart Pipe System for a Shipyard 4.0.

As a result of the progressive implantation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm, many industries are experimenting a revolution that shipyards cannot ignore. Therefore, the application of the principles of Industry 4.0 to shipyards are leading to the creation of Shipyards 4.0. Due to this, Navantia, one of the 10 largest shipbuilders in the world, is updating its whole inner workings to keep up with the near-future challenges that a Shipyard 4.0 will have to face. Such challenges can be divided into three groups: the vertical integration of production systems, the horizontal integration of a new generation of value creation networks, and the re-engineering of the entire production chain, making changes that affect the entire life cycle of each piece of a ship. Pipes, which exist in a huge number and varied typology on a ship, are one of the key pieces, and its monitoring constitutes a prospective cyber-physical system. Their improved identification, traceability, and indoor location, from production and through their life, can enhance shipyard productivity and safety. In order to perform such tasks, this article first conducts a thorough analysis of the shipyard environment. From this analysis, the essential hardware and software technical requirements are determined. Next, the concept of smart pipe is presented and defined as an object able to transmit signals periodically that allows for providing enhanced services in a shipyard. In order to build a smart pipe system, different technologies are selected and evaluated, concluding that passive and active RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) are currently the most appropriate technologies to create it. Furthermore, some promising indoor positioning results obtained in a pipe workshop are presented, showing that multi-antenna algorithms and Kalman filtering can help to stabilize Received Signal Strength (RSS) and improve the overall accuracy of the system.

Collaborative Business Service Modelling in Knowledge-Intensive Enterprises

Nowadays, knowledge-intensive enterprises, which offer knowledge-based products and services to the market, play a vital role in the knowledge-based economy. In the global networked age, collaborative business services have raised as one of the most important knowledge-intensive services that help enterprises to gain the competitive advantage. These services greatly depend on the ability to use network architectures to collaborate efficiently with business partners. This paper introduces the KB-CBSM (Knowledge-Based Collaborative Business Service Modelling) approach, which aims at providing a conceptual foundation for modelling effectively and improving incrementally collaborative business services in knowledge-intensives enterprises. The paper begins by presenting the necessity and principles of the KB-CBSM approach. Next, it presents the conceptual foundation that consists of three levels: Service value creation network, Service system and Service levels. The paper continues with a discussion and review of the relevant literature and ends with the conclusion and suggestions for further research.

BUSINESS MODEL PATTERNS FOR DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

Companies nowadays face a myriad of business opportunities as a direct consequence of manifold disruptive technology developments. As a basic characteristic, disruptive technologies lead to a severe shift in value-creation networks giving rise to new market segments. One of the key challenges is to anticipate the business logics within these nascent and formerly unknown markets. Business model patterns promise to tackle this challenge. They can be interpreted as proven business model elements, which reveal valuable insights about pursued business logics. The approach in general helps increasing efficiency in business models design processes, but especially lacks methodological support so far. The paper at hand, therefore presents a methodology for pattern-based business model design simplifying development and analysis of business models for disruptive technologies. The methodology has been validated within several industrial projects.

Inclusion of territorial resources in the product development process

Facing globalization, territorial competitiveness is considered by (French) public policy makers as promising both economic and social value creation locally. Companies consider territorial specificities when selecting a location (e.g. low production costs, highly qualified labor pool) in a utilitarian perspective. This research proposes encouraging companies to consider territory as a value creation network where exploitable resources flow. The proposal presented in this paper is to integrate these latent territorial resources into the product development process to create value for both the company and its territory in a sustainable perspective. The literature review highlights that current eco design practices have great impact on territories, but that this dimension is not considered in terms of resources. Moreover, current assessment practices are not adapted to overall performance evaluation and need revision to meet the system innovation goal. After clarifying the concept of territory, two industrial cases are provided to analyze how territorial resources were included in the design process and how it improved the overall performance of the company-territory system. From the success factors emerging from literature and cases, a method to release the potential of territorial resources is presented. A revised strategic process dedicated to senior management is proposed as the enabler of system innovation with the intention of improving the design of sustainable products. This paper concludes with the necessary cultural evolution that every stakeholder in the value network must undergo to promote territorial values in a sustainable perspective. This study contributes to the emerging discipline of design for local value creation.

Conceptual modelling of interactions among value creation factors for improved sustainable value creation

Technological and socio-political changes driven by ever-increasing competition have posed a challenge to manufacturing. The manufacturing activities can be modified, after potential areas for improvement are identified. Manufacturing systems represent value creation networks comprised of value creation modules. Each module which is specified by five value creation factors is considered within the economic, environmental and social contexts that continuously challenge companies to create sustainable value. A conceptual model is presented to show the interactions among all factors. Characteristics of factors are identified to foster decision-making based on developed sustainability attributes and are evaluated according to the impact on the sustainability metrics. Company initiatives are analysed to build a guideline for future implementation. In the case studies, three factors (equipment, organisation and human) are considered changeable, as they influence the entire process. The two remaining factors, product and process, are treated as fixed factors determining the impact of the proposed model.

Budowanie wartości w sieciach organizacyjnych

Participation in a network and the ability to effectively use information and knowledge is a source of value. Taking this assumption as its starting point, the article presents the problem of creating value in organisational networks. It discusses the concept of value from the point of view of network efficiency, and the mechanisms and factors of value creation in organisational networks. It also looks at the problem of synergies in organisational networks and the importance of knowledge management processes and learning for value creation networks.

Network Value Creation through Marketing

Purpose: The article is devoted to critical refl ection on the commonly used value chain model taking the perspective of contemporary role of client and technological advancement in multifaceted organizational development and management. It attempts to outline and thoroughly describe the new perspective of value creation and value management taking into account digital technologies and social media platforms. Methodology: Deductive approach have been implemented, secondary data and sources have been used. Finally, the model of Value chain 2.0 was presented, conceptualized and described from both theoretical and practical sides. Design: The fi rst part of the article is focused on the explanation of present potential of client for any enterprise. The second part attempts to explain the role of virtualization processes, exemplifi ed by social media, semantic web approach or virtual organization in the shift of value creation. Finally, the concept of value chain 2.0 is proposed and discussed. Findings: There is a rapid transformation of value creation where linearity, control and inter organizational resources are gradually being replaced by network value creation where clients’ activities play pivotal role in organization performance and where value is defi ned in much broader way. Practical implications: The conclusions have profound meaning for companies and organizations striving for engagement of clients, partners and employees in value creation processes. The paper presents both theoretical foundations along with practical implications for value co-creation. Originality: The thorough and detailed analysis and interpretation of multifaceted shift and transformation of value creation and value management is presented. The article describes the ways the social media, digital technologies and contemporary marketing infl uence the way organization creates value.

A mathematically-based framework for evaluating the technical and economic potential of integrating bioenergy production within pulp and paper mills

To overcome declining markets and low-cost competition, Canadian pulp and paper (P&P) mills are considering the diversification of their product platform. Investing in bioenergy is emerging as a promising way to boost the sector. In this paper, we present a mathematical programming approach to evaluate the profitability of bioenergy investments in the case of a P&P mill, while assessing technical and associated economic risks. The mill, called the integrated forest biorefinery (IFBR), could produce a set of high-value bioproducts from biomass generated in the mill or supplied from outside. P&P activity generates residues, such as black liquor and pulp sludge, which could be used to produce bioenergy. P&P activity should then be well managed, by considering the possibility of temporarily stopping the production of P&P, while assuming the costs associated with the shutdowns. The objective is to develop a mathematically-based approach for investors and stakeholders, within the forest sector that aims to optimise the value creation network of the IFBR and to maximise the profitability of future investments in bioenergy, while optimising the existing P&P activity.

Managerial perceptions of service-infused IORs in China & India: A discursive view of value co-creation

This paper explores the managerial challenges facing firms seeking to build relationships with other network actors while doing business in foreign markets. By taking a critical perspective on an area of increasing importance in both manufacturing and service sectors, that of value co-creation, the paper explores how managers in different cultural contexts make sense of the notion of ‘value’ in inter-organizational B2B relationships between New Zealand service and service-infused supplier firms and buyers in China and India. From an analysis of the interview-based accounts on both sides of the buyer–seller dyad marked differences emerge regarding value-creation within managers' discourse around partnerships, collaboration and cooperation. Our findings suggest that the Indian manager's discursive use of ‘partnership’ draws on service-dominant logic in viewing this type of interaction as a means for co-creating value; they and their New Zealand suppliers are jointly involved in co-creating value within a service system, creating value-in-use. In contrast, the predominant perspective seen in the discourse of Chinese managers is the use of cooperation as a means of making transactions more cost-effective, or to fill gaps in their supply chains, resulting in the creation of transaction-based, co-production of value, which suggests a value-in-exchange orientation. In both cases, there is repeated reference to more peripheral actors whose efforts result in what we interpret as network value creation, based on their interactions with actors within the buyer–seller dyad.

Knowledge Management in Value Creation Networks: Establishing a New Business Model through the Role of a Knowledge-Intermediary

The spatial distribution and growing granularity of value chains within manufacturing networks increase the complexity of inter-organizational value creation processes and pose new challenges for their coordination and a common innovation development. “Knowledge” is the essential resource to cope with this complexity. However, in an inter-organizational context conflicts between knowledge management objectives and general management objectives can arise, which have to be compensated. The presented article describes the role of a knowledge intermediary, which represents a support function within value creation networks. The intermediary supports value creation structures, processes and the artifact, which ensure an appropriate symbiosis between knowledge management objectives and general management objectives.

Transcendence for business logics in value networks for sustainable service business

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding of transcendence as business logic and to advance value co-creation and value network thinking. The authors are looking for business logic to have wider understanding of sustainable business. Understanding how value is “networked” and “co-created” by what the authors will call “transcendent business logic” in specific contextual settings is deemed essential in securing sustainable business, which social and environmental perspectives and governance issues are embedded. The authors lay the foundation for enriching the transcendence for business logics for a sustainable business based on sustainability, stakeholder-unifying perspective and value creation network theories. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a qualitative approach, using multiple case studies to undertake an analysis of the role of transcendence for business logics. Four case studies of private companies and parallel case studies of retail, health care and pu...

Pattern-based Business Model Development for Cyber-Physical Production Systems

The application of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) in production systems leads to Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) or the Smart Factory, respectively. In such an environment products, production resources as well as processes are each individually characterised by the special qualities of CPS. The current and future business potentials of production networks with decentralized coordination are enormous. However it is difficult for companies to keep track of the risks and chances of CPPS and develop appropriate business models. Therefore in this contribution a methodology for the pattern-based development and realization of business models in the context of Cyber-Physical Production Systems is presented. The methodology comprises three main modules that cover the most important aspects of business models for CPPS. In the first module patterns of established business models are gathered and their applicability in the context of CPPS is examined. The resulting library is then extended with patterns explicitly dedicated to CPPS and represents the base for a development procedure model. In the second module the developed business models are assessed with regard to their risks. For this purpose a method to analyse the risks of different business models and the perception of customers is elaborated. The focus of the third module is on the operationalization of abstract business models into company-specific business processes. It contains a design scheme to model value creation networks as well as typical configurations of these networks. The overall methodology is therefore supposed to make the opportunities of CPPS not only available to big corporations but also to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Innovative Business Models in the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Case on Exploiting Value Networks to Stay Competitive

The search to find a more efficient and effective way of managing processes, while maintaining the integrity of research and manufacturing activities, has led pharmaceutical firms, and other actors of the renewed pharmaceutical supply chain, to modify their own business models. This article aims to emphasize this dimension, highlighting, via the observation of a network of firms operating at different stages of the pharmaceutical supply chain, how business models have succeeded in complementing each other and in originating a value creation network.

Network Logics and Societal Challenges: An Extended Framework for Business Model Innovation

We argue that ICT offers significant contributions to solving societal challenges if organizations couple ICT with business models that fit heterogeneous or, sometimes, competing logics. Therefore, we suggest that IT-enabled business models for societal challenges are embedded into combinations of institutional logics that arise on the level of value creation networks, e.g. what we coin network logics. We draw this insight from an inductive, interpretive case study of business model innovation for treating chronic diseases. Contributions arise in three areas: first, our argument shows that IT-enabled business model innovation for societal challenges is best understood by integrating research on IT-enabled business models with institutional theory. Second, we suggest that the institutional logics literature holds the currency to enhance the idea of “value creation logics”, which is prominent in business model research. Third, our study sug-gests that information systems research and organization theory need to be further aligned.

Barriers affecting organisational adoption of higher order customer engagement in tourism service interactions

In this study, consumer engagement was examined from a service-dominant logic perspective in tourism service interactions. Extensive field interviews and focus groups in the context of three upscale hotels in Hong Kong identified numerous barriers towards successfully engaging consumers, extending from consumer, technological, and strategic cases to organisational cases. In all, a firm's overall strategy, organisational structure and culture are the most important barriers determining whether consumer engagement as depicted in the literature can be successfully deployed within hotel organisations. Implications call for a more intensive study of engaging consumers from an organisational context with a reassessment of progressive stages that include leadership interventions and the incorporation of consumer feedback at all stages of the firm's value-creating network.

Traveling the Network: A Proposal for Destination Performance Metrics

AbstractNew destination metrics are developed which conceptualize the destination as a constellation of four visitor centric value creation networks which represent the processes of marketing and promotion, sales and distribution, experience design, and partnership coordination. Considered individually, the structure of each value creation network can provide valuable insights into destination performance for each value creation process, but when the value creation networks are considered as an integrated system they can be used to conceptualize a strategic network management approach to improving destination competitiveness and performance. The potential sources of data for generating the proposed metrics are discussed, as well as the potential implications for destination marketing.

Outcome aware ranking in value creation networks

In this paper, we consider a natural ranking problem that arises in settings in which a community of people (or agents) are engaged in regular interactions with an end goal of creating value. Examples of such scenarios are academic collaboration networks, creative collaborations, and interactions between agents of a service delivery organization. For instance, consider a service delivery organization which essentially resolves a sequence of service requests from its customers by deploying its agents to resolve the requests. Typically, resolving a request requires interaction between multiple agents and results in an outcome (or value). The outcome could be success or failure of problem resolution or an index of customer satisfaction. For this scenario, the ranking of the agents of the network should take into account two aspects: importance of the agents in the network structure that arises as a result of interactions and the value generated by the interactions involving the respective agents. Such a ranking can be used for several purposes such as identifying influential agents of the interaction network, effective and efficient spreading of messages in the network. In this paper, we formally model the above ranking problem and develop a novel algorithm for computing the ranking. The key aspect of our approach is creating special nodes in the interaction network corresponding to the outcomes and endowing them independent, external status. The algorithm then iteratively spreads the external status of the outcomes to the agents based on their interactions and the outcome of those interactions. This results in an eigenvector like formulation, which results in a method requiring computing the inverse of a matrix rather than the eigenvector. We present several theoretical characterizations of our algorithmic approach. We present experimental results on the public domain real-life datasets from the Internet Movie Database and a dataset constructed by retrieving impact and citation ratings for papers listed in the DBLP database.

Information-Driven Framework for Collaborative Business Service Modelling

In the context of a network of enterprises, the competitive advantage of each enterprise depends greatly on the ability to use network architectures to collaborate efficiently in business services. The paper introduces a conceptual framework, called the CBSM (Collaborative Business Service Modelling) framework, which provides an intellectual foundation for understanding thoroughly and modelling effectively collaborative business services. The paper begins by presenting the necessity for and principles of the conceptual framework. Then it presents the architecture of the CBSM framework that consists of three different levels: the service level for service operation, the service system level for service creation, and the service value creation network level for service proposal. The paper continues with a discussion and review of the relevant literature, followed by the conclusion and suggestions for further research.

CREATING VALUE IN NETWORKS

Recent studies has pointed out the emergence of a new model of network, called value creation networks (VCNs), to respond effectively to changes in the business environment and customer demands. VCN model posits networks, communities of individuals, and refusal of a centralized mindset as the core elements of their frame of reference. Their networked configuration is characterized by flatter hierarchy and teambased work organization, to respond efficiently to changes in the business environment. The aim of this introductory paper is to discuss some strategic issues concerning VCNs: their concept of value,their strategic role in the so-calledknowledge economy, their intangible benefits. Moreover, we highlight theopportunities deriving from informationand communication technologies (ICTs) to create further intangible value. In the final section, werelate the other papers in this special issue to our discussion.