Collaborative services provision for solar power plants

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to support effective business services provision along the life cycle of complex service-enhanced products, such as the case of solar power plants, and to explore collaborative approaches for multi-stakeholder business services.

Design/methodology/approach

Design and implementation of adequate collaboration strategies and cloud-based support mechanisms to facilitate creation and management of collaborative networks in this sector. For this purpose, a conceptual framework, a cloud-based platform and a set of collaboration support tools are proposed. Validation is based on a pilot implementation and interactions with a large group of end users.

Findings

Validation results confirmed the suitability of the collaborative networks approach in this sector, which often involves multiple small and medium size enterprises.

Originality/value

The interplay between long-term strategic networks and goal-oriented collaborative networks and their interaction with the various phases of the product-services life cycle correspond to a novel approach in this sector, traditionally focused on a sub-contracting model. This opens new opportunities for enhancing the value of complex products through collaborative value-added services. Of particular relevance is also the adoption of collaborative approaches for service co-creation.

Citation

Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Oliveira, A.I., Ferrada, F. and Thamburaj, V. (2017), "Collaborative services provision for solar power plants", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 117 No. 5, pp. 946-966. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-06-2016-0246