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Based on an exploratory case-based approach, the purpose of this paper is to open the KM black box and examine the relationships that link knowledge management (KM) inputs (i.e. knowledge resources and KM practices) via knowledge processes to KM performance. This paper aims to identify the underlying mechanisms and explain how KM performance is enabled.

This in-depth case study conducted at a medium-sized consultancy in the supply chain management industry empirically examines knowledge flows to uncover the relationships between KM inputs, knowledge processes and KM performance. We adopt the viable system model (VSM) as a theoretical lens to identify KM mechanisms.

By identifying six KM mechanisms, we contribute to the theoretical understanding of how KM inputs are interconnected and lead to KM performance via knowledge processes.

Based on the insights gained, we provide propositions that organizations should consider in designing viable KM. Our findings help organizations in understanding their KM with the help of knowledge flow analysis and identifying how critical KM elements are interconnected.

Collaborative consumption, such as car sharing, specifically implicates customer-to-customer interaction, which must be regulated by service providers (companies, peers and self-regulating communities), comprising different challenges for business organizations. While in conventional business relations, consumers are protected from undesirable customer behavior by laws, regulations (power) in the context of collaborative consumption are rare, so that trust becomes more relevant. It is the purpose of the study to investigate possible mechanisms to prevent undesirable customers in collaborative consumption.

In between subject designs, samples of 186 and 328 consumers filled in experimental online questionnaires with vignettes. Analyses were made of differences among car sharing companies, private persons and car sharing communities in terms of the power of providers, trust in providers and trust in other users of the shared goods, undesirable customer behavior and consumer–provider relations.

Companies, private persons and self-regulating communities differ in terms of perceived power and trust. Participants specifically perceive mainly coercive power with the car sharing company, but with the private person and the community, reason-based trust in other users is perceived as prevalent. Nevertheless, undesirable customer behavior varies only marginally over the models.

The present study is the first to investigate measures to prevent undesirable customer behavior over different collaborative consumption models. This enables appropriate identification of market segments and tailoring of services. The study identifies opportunities for companies in contrast to private persons and self-regulating communities and, in doing so, provides important stimulation for marketing strategy and theory development.

The purpose is to identify and explore barriers to overcome for developing collaborative innovation between a global service supplier and two of its industrial customers in Sweden.

The research had an action-based research approach in which the researchers were interacting and collaborating with the practitioners in the companies. The empirical part includes primary data from multiple interviews, and two workshops with dialogues with participants from the involved companies. The use of complementary data collection methods gave rich input to understanding the context for collaborative innovation, and to uncovering barriers, to develop solutions for collaborative innovation. The empirical barriers were analysed using theoretically derived barriers from a literature review. The analysis generated four broad themes of barriers which were discussed and led to conclusions and theoretical and practical implications on: the customer's safety culture, the business model, the parties' understanding of innovation and the management of collaborative innovation in supply chains.

The thematic analysis generated four broad themes: the customer's safety culture, the business model, the parties' understanding of innovation and the management of collaborative innovation. These themes where analysed using theoretically derived barriers from a literature review. The industrial context, the understanding of innovation and its management created barriers.

The unique access to the service supplier and its two independent industrial customers adds a rich contextual framing to the process of identifying and exploring the barriers to collaborative innovation. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of an industrial business context, the business logic in terms of business models and for the understanding and management of collaborative innovation.

This paper aims at understanding the differences between user profiles in collaborative consumption (CC) platforms in order to improve their management approaches and set up customized strategies. Particularly, the authors investigate the emerging role of prosumers and their influence on the active participation and growth of CC platforms. Moreover, the authors study user experience to help promoting users' recommendation and offering intention.

The sample includes responses from 6,388 users of CC platforms across the EU. The data were collected through the European Commission's Flash Eurobarometer survey 467 and analyzed through a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The PLS-SEM findings suggest that prosumers are more likely than consumers to recommend and offer services through CC platforms. Furthermore, previous experience using platforms positively affects the switch from consumers to prosumers. The fsQCA suggests that only economic advantages affect the switchover decision.

This study deepens the hitherto unexplored prosumer role in CC platforms and its antecedents and drivers.

The main limitations concern the generalizability outside of the EU, the unbalanced coverage of sectors and the number of moderator variables.

Prosumers act as golden actors because they contribute to enlarge both the customer base (through recommendations) and the provider base (through offering intention). Hence, managers should focus on prosumers' experiences to increase the critical mass and positive externalities of CC platforms.

This study helps understand the importance of the role of prosumers in the growth of CC platforms. The study provides more robust results through a cross-country and mixed-method research.

This paper aims to investigate the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via supply chain agility (SCA) in the service industry at higher and lower collaborative relationships.

The hypothesised model is operationalised with survey data from 245 Australian service firms collected via LinkedIn and analysed using structural equation modelling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The analysis found that SCA significantly mediates the relationship between innovativeness and performance. Further, the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via SCA was significant when the collaborative relationship was high. Results also revealed that a configuration of both innovativeness and agility better predicts performance.

This study is an early attempt to investigate SCA in service industries by scrutinizing SCA from an innovative point of view. While previous studies have demonstrated the role of innovativeness in enhancing a firm's performance, this study explores this link further by investigating the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via SCA at different levels of collaborative relationships.

This study aims to focus on a key unanswered question about how digitalization and the knowledge processes it enables affect firms’ strategies in the international arena.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies covering over 20 years of research (from 2000 to 2023) and including 73 journal papers.

This review allows us to highlight a relationship between firms’ international strategies and the knowledge processes enabled by applying digital technologies. Specifically, the authors discuss the characteristics of patterns of knowledge flows and knowledge processes (their origin, the type of knowledge they carry on and their directionality) as determinants for the emergence of diverse international strategies embraced by single firms or by populations of firms within ecosystems, networks, global value chains or alliances.

Despite digital technologies constituting important antecedents and critical factors for the internationalization process, and international businesses in general, and operating cross borders implies the enactment of highly knowledge-intensive processes, current literature still fails to provide a holistic picture of how firms strategically use what they know and seek out what they do not know in the international environment, using the affordances of digital technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore barriers and benefits of establishing relationships between humanitarian organizations (HOs) and logistics service providers (LSPs) in order to improve humanitarian disaster relief operations (DROs). The perceptions of a variety of actors are explored to determine key factors which influence collaboration.

This study comprises of qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken alongside an online survey with a variety of respondents. Descriptive statistics, data visualization and qualitative data analysis were implemented to analyse survey results. A follow-up survey and interviews with LSPs validated the results.

The research presents the opinions of a variety of actors involved in DROs and reveals barriers which affect HO/LSP collaboration. Explanations for these barriers and possible solutions to mitigate them are disclosed. The findings also uncover gaps between research and practice; providing new insights into behaviour in the humanitarian field.

The authors provide an in-depth understanding of the barriers and challenges faced in this field and suggest a reevaluation of corporate decision making in order to increase trust between LSPs and HOs. The authors identify future research topics including the impact of donors and military organizations on HO decision making, and analysis of variables which may affect the formation of collaborative partnerships.

The authors introduce a unique empirical insight into the perspectives of HOs, LSPs and academics and offers suggestions for mitigating the numerous barriers associated with successful collaborative partnerships between HOs and LSPs.

This article investigates the practical implementation of the ecosystem approach in different branches of public management within an urban context. It explores how ecosystem thinking is introduced, disseminated and applied in a local government organization.

We utilize a qualitative case study methodology, relying on official documents and expert interviews. Our study focuses on the city of Espoo, Finland, which has actively embraced ecosystem thinking as a fundamental framework for its organizational development for almost a decade.

The case of Espoo highlights elements that have not been commonly attributed to the ecosystem approach in the public sector. These elements include (1) the significance of complementary services, (2) the existence of both collaborative and competitive relationships among actors in public service ecosystems and (3) the utilization of digital platforms for resource orchestration. Our study also emphasizes the need for an incremental adoption of ecosystem thinking in organizational contexts to enable its successful implementation.

The study provides valuable insights into the introduction and dissemination of ecosystem thinking in public management. It also further develops previously developed hypotheses regarding public service ecosystems.

This study aims to investigate different types of platform providers (PPs) to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics and underlying logic of this group within collaborative consumption (CC). As CC occurs with three groups of actors (PP, peer service provider and customer) and is predominantly viewed from the customer perspective, this study offers insights from the under-researched PP perspective.

This research applies a multiple case study approach and analyzes descriptively and thematically 92 cases of CC PPs gathered through the Crunchbase database.

The authors derive four archetypes of CC PPs, namely, the hedonist, functionalist, environmentalist and connector, that differ in their offered values, dominating motives and activities across industries.

The authors conceptualize CC by clearly describing the four archetypes and their characteristics. However, further research would benefit from including databases other than Crunchbase.

PPs need to understand their value offerings and customer preferences to develop convincing value propositions and offer engaging activities. PPs would benefit from a more active social media presence to build strong relations with customers and peer service providers to effectively communicate their values.

The paper is pioneering as it encompasses the perspective of CC PPs and operationalizes the concept of CC. The authors address the lack of research on CC by conducting an extensive case study.

The purpose of this paper is to assess, clarify and consolidate the terminology around the co-creation of services, establish its forms and identify its outcomes, to resolve the conceptual pluralism in service co-creation literature.

A focused literature review screened the articles published in five major service research journals to determine relevant contributions on the concept of co-creation of services. Then, a thematic analysis identifies the forms, themes and outcomes of co-creating services in the set of 80 qualifying articles.

The study reduces conceptual pluralism by establishing different forms of co-creating services and developing an explicit definition of co-creation in services. The authors develop an integrative framework that recognizes involvement, engagement and participation as prerequisites for co-creation. Relating to the different phases of the service process, the specific co-creation forms of co-ideation, co-valuation, co-design, co-testing and co-launching are classified as regenerative co-creation, while the specific co-creation forms of co-production and co-consumption are recognized as operative co-creation. Both beneficial and counterproductive outcomes of co-creation are identified and arranged into a typology.

The integrative framework illustrates that service providers and customers are involved, engaged and participate in co-creating services, which manifests in specific forms of co-creation; they attain beneficial and counterproductive outcomes (personal, social, hedonic, cognitive, economic and pragmatic); and are influenced by a contextual multi-actor network.

Co-creation in services is actionable; the typology of outcomes suggests service managers ways to motivate customers and employees to participate in co-creating services.

This paper defines and establishes the conceptual forms of co-creating services and the identified outcomes, and develops an integrative framework of co-creation in services.