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1 – 10 of 340Rudolf O. Large, Nikolai Kramer and Rahel Katharina Hartmann
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is an impact, from a provider's perspective, of customer‐specific adaptations by third‐party logistics (3PL) providers on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is an impact, from a provider's perspective, of customer‐specific adaptations by third‐party logistics (3PL) providers on the success of 3PL‐relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A document analysis is presented and hypotheses are developed based on research in 3PL, relationship marketing and transaction cost theory. Structural equation modelling and causal analysis with partial least square were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
This study provides evidence that customer‐specific adaptation by providers is an important prerequisite to 3PL‐performance. Furthermore, according to the transaction cost theory, the results express the importance of providers' adaptation to maintain 3PL‐relationships.
Research limitations/implications
Further research should compare customers' perceptions of partner‐specific adaptations and 3PL‐relationship success with the results of this study.
Originality/value
The paper shows that 3PL‐providers should adapt their systems and procedures to customers' specific requirements, to ensure high‐relationship performance. Satisfied customers should promote the providers' adaptations, because these adaptations enhance the probability of contract renewal and reduce the risk of providers' unexpected termination of the contract.
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Achim Walter and Thomas Ritter
Suppliers do not only maintain relationships with customers for the customers’ benefits but also for their own sake. Various important value‐creating functions of business…
Abstract
Suppliers do not only maintain relationships with customers for the customers’ benefits but also for their own sake. Various important value‐creating functions of business relationships with customers have been identified in the past. However, the preconditions of this inter‐organizational value‐creation have not been addressed in depth. Drawing upon a database of over 200 customer‐supplier relationships, adaptations, trust and commitment are identified as key drivers for value creation. The results of this study have considerable consequences for the management of inter‐organizational relationships and networks regarding the process of how value could be created in business markets.
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This paper deals with the organizing of interactive product development. Developing products in interaction between firms may provide benefits in terms of specialization…
Abstract
This paper deals with the organizing of interactive product development. Developing products in interaction between firms may provide benefits in terms of specialization, increased innovation, and possibilities to perform development activities in parallel. However, the differentiation of product development among a number of firms also implies that various dependencies need to be dealt with across firm boundaries. How dependencies may be dealt with across firms is related to how product development is organized. The purpose of the paper is to explore dependencies and how interactive product development may be organized with regard to these dependencies.
The analytical framework is based on the industrial network approach, and deals with the development of products in terms of adaptation and combination of heterogeneous resources. There are dependencies between resources, that is, they are embedded, implying that no resource can be developed in isolation. The characteristics of and dependencies related to four main categories of resources (products, production facilities, business units and business relationships) provide a basis for analyzing the organizing of interactive product development.
Three in-depth case studies are used to explore the organizing of interactive product development with regard to dependencies. The first two cases are based on the development of the electrical system and the seats for Volvo’s large car platform (P2), performed in interaction with Delphi and Lear respectively. The third case is based on the interaction between Scania and Dayco/DFC Tech for the development of various pipes and hoses for a new truck model.
The analysis is focused on what different dependencies the firms considered and dealt with, and how product development was organized with regard to these dependencies. It is concluded that there is a complex and dynamic pattern of dependencies that reaches far beyond the developed product as well as beyond individual business units. To deal with these dependencies, development may be organized in teams where several business units are represented. This enables interaction between different business units’ resource collections, which is important for resource adaptation as well as for innovation. The delimiting and relating functions of the team boundary are elaborated upon and it is argued that also teams may be regarded as actors. It is also concluded that a modular product structure may entail a modular organization with regard to the teams, though, interaction between business units and teams is needed. A strong connection between the technical structure and the organizational structure is identified and it is concluded that policies regarding the technical structure (e.g. concerning “carry-over”) cannot be separated from the management of the organizational structure (e.g. the supplier structure). The organizing of product development is in itself a complex and dynamic task that needs to be subject to interaction between business units.
Mika Hyötyläinen and Kristian Möller
Business services have an important role in the development of global knowledge‐base economy. This is particularly clear in the field of ICT services where business customers are…
Abstract
Purpose
Business services have an important role in the development of global knowledge‐base economy. This is particularly clear in the field of ICT services where business customers are requiring an increasing amount of complex services in order to support their utilization of advanced ERP, SCM and CRM solutions for boosting their business processes and competitive advantage. The complexity of these services and customers' requests for special adaptations form a critical challenge for service providers. This paper seeks to develop solutions for managing this complexity.
Design/methodology/approach
Three service design and development methods – service industrialization, tangibilization, and service blueprinting – are introduced and then analyzed as to how they can be utilized as an integrated system to reduce the complexity of ICT services. This is carried out through an action research‐based case study of an ICT service provider.
Findings
The results include a service architecture framework, which can be used for creating a modularized offering and implementation system for complex business services. It reduces the complexity of services while allowing their customer specific adaptation.
Practical implications
Key aspects are the identification of service modules and interfaces in a multi‐actor service offering setting and the providing of adequate resources for the design phase of the customized service project. This is essential in order to be able to simultaneously respond to customer specific needs and to reduce the number of existing technologies and overlapping functionalities, seemingly contra dictionary aims.
Originality/value
Findings of the paper offer significant theoretical and managerial implications for the design and production of complex business services.
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Patricia Deflorin, Maike Scherrer and Katrin Schillo
The coordination of a manufacturing network is a challenging task and may be contingent upon the manufacturing environment. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how industrial…
Abstract
Purpose
The coordination of a manufacturing network is a challenging task and may be contingent upon the manufacturing environment. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and manufacturing network coordination relate.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a single case study, the paper at hand provides insights on IIoT enablers and the relationship to manufacturing coordination mechanism. The data sample is based on 15 group interviews with overall eight employees from headquarters and business units.
Findings
The derived results show that the IIoT enablers (digital technologies, connectivity, data, capabilities and management) are highly related to the manufacturing network coordination mechanism. The results indicate that IIoT initiatives and manufacturing network coordination should be designed to support each other.
Originality/value
The implementation if IIoT initiatives is often analysed in isolation without considering the manufacturing network and more specifically the manufacturing network coordination mechanism. The results highlight how the implementation of IIoT initiatives may act as trigger to adapt formal manufacturing network coordination mechanism.
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This paper aims to analyse how well enterprise systems capture the business network in which an industrial company is involved. Enterprise systems have been presented as a “dream…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse how well enterprise systems capture the business network in which an industrial company is involved. Enterprise systems have been presented as a “dream come true” with a seamless integration of business data through a common database and software modules that can be customized to the companies’ different functions. However, research shows that companies’ utilization of enterprise systems is limited, and that internal processes are prioritized.
Design/methodology/approach
European multinational companies and some of their partners have been followed through case studies between 2003 and 2010. The pattern-matching analysis has been supported by a theoretical framework that depicts industrial companies as engaged in business relationships in a network setting.
Findings
The results show that the company’s relationship-oriented activities are badly captured by the enterprise system. The study highlights limitations that future enterprise systems need to address if they are to be able to offer the company a better insight into its business network.
Originality/value
The traditionally internal focus on enterprise systems means that important business information transcending inter-organizational activities will be missed. To be worthy of the name enterprise system, more customer- and supplier-oriented activities need to be supported and captured.
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The first purpose of this paper is to describe the demands from supply chain performance management (PM) on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The second purpose is to…
Abstract
Purpose
The first purpose of this paper is to describe the demands from supply chain performance management (PM) on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The second purpose is to evaluate the corresponding capabilities of common ERP systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The first purpose is handled conceptually: by a literature review, a framework for the demand on ERP systems from supply chain PM is developed. The second purpose is handled with an empirical study, based on the framework. Respondents for 12 common ERP systems on the Swedish market are interviewed.
Findings
A framework for the demand on ERP systems from supply chain PM is developed containing ten demands: a theoretical contribution. The studied ERP systems are found overall to have good supply chain PM capabilities, where the most supporting systems in this sense are Oracle and iScala.
Research limitations/implications
The findings imply that future research on supply chain PM could focus less on ERP systems' capabilities and more on how ERP systems are applied.
Practical implications
The findings can give two types of input to companies purchasing or upgrading ERP systems; a “checklist” of demands from supply chain PM to consider and an evaluation of the corresponding capabilities for common ERP systems.
Originality/value
Even though investments in ERP systems represent significant costs for companies, few studies in the area of ERP systems and supply chain PM are identified.
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Mika Ruokonen, Niina Nummela, Kaisu Puumalainen and Sami Saarenketo
This paper aims to analyse the role of market orientation in the internationalisation of small software firms.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the role of market orientation in the internationalisation of small software firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The study combines qualitative case studies with quantitative data from the firms in question.
Findings
Market orientation in the internationalisation of knowledge‐intensive small firms consists of three elements: customer orientation, competitor orientation and value‐network coordination. Achieving a successful balance between these elements will considerably smoothen the internationalisation process.
Practical implications
The results of this study suggest that small companies should consider their market‐oriented behaviour in line with their value network. The role of market orientation may also vary according to market‐pull or technology‐push conditions.
Originality/value
This study is among the first empirical contributions to combine the internationalisation and market‐orientation approaches in studying SMEs. It also contributes to achieving a better understanding of the market‐orientation concept from the perspective of small high‐technology firms.
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Saeidi Ramyani Saleh, Ehsan Mousavi Khaneghah, Nosratollah Shadnosh and Amirhosein Reyhani ShowkatAbad
This paper aims to propose a mathematical model for describing and clarifying the relationships among the indicators governing the social values of special customers in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a mathematical model for describing and clarifying the relationships among the indicators governing the social values of special customers in business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce systems. This mathematical model is also able to describe the degree of adaptability of e-commerce systems to the social values of specific clients, and commercial firms are able to use the parameters described in this paper to increase the versatility and has the power to trade with special customers in different areas.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, while analyzing the issue of trading from the point of view of the customer as an element of trading, the affecting factors the trading space have been extracted. These affecting factors are categorized in three major groups: culture, technology and customers. This classification is based on the e-commerce and developing the traditional commerce. Using the mapping functions, the effects of each element in these three spaces on the concept of social values have been analyzed. The result of this analysis is the mathematical model governing each parameter and its semantic relation with the concept of social value.
Findings
The presence of a mathematical model between the indicators influencing the model adaptability and social values space allows e-commerce system designers to be able to make decisions on the adaptability of the model with a quantitative approach. To examine the proposed mathematical models, important frameworks and patterns in the field of e-commerce have been analyzed with an Islamic approach, as one of the adaptations of B2C e-commerce model.
Research limitations/implications
Regarding the innovation of the work, the case has been made, and the concept of social value and the model governing the elements of social values in this paper, in a B2C e-commerce model, has been discussed in general; the problem is parametric solved.
Practical implications
One of the key concepts in commerce is the ability of the commerce model to adapt to the requirements of special customers. This is more important in costumer-based e-commerce models. In these types of systems, if the commerce cannot match the customer’s characteristics, it will not be accepted and used by customers. This is especially more important in the field of social values for customers.
Originality/value
In this paper, a mathematical model is presented to examine the adaptability of e-commerce systems to the social values of special customers. In examining this model, the relationship between each element affecting the social value of specific customers and the factors affecting trade has been studied.
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Risto Rajala, Saara A. Brax, Ari Virtanen and Anna Salonen
The purpose of this paper is to identify integrated solutions business as the first generation of servitized offerings and modular solution offerings as the second development…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify integrated solutions business as the first generation of servitized offerings and modular solution offerings as the second development phase in servitization of original equipment manufacturers. This study examines how the servitized manufacturer, Kone, moves from integrated solutions to modular solutions business and develops the requisite capabilities to design, produce and implement modular solution offerings.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports a longitudinal case study of a provider of integrated solutions installed in buildings. During the ten years studied, the manufacturer implemented a strategic initiative to modularize its integrated solutions offering.
Findings
The firm’s transition to modular solutions progressed through three major capability development phases: solutions based on ad hoc integration, smart solutions based on modular design and through-chain modularity. The modular structure aims at fostering the efficiency of the solution offering and the associated production system.
Research limitations/implications
Leveraging the benefits of modularity calls for an aligned combination of strategic, operational and technical capabilities contributing to the integration of resources in a modular production system for the solution providers’ competitive performance.
Practical implications
The study reports how a solution provider can develop the operational capabilities to integrate the core and peripheral components into the solution, and orchestrate the modular production system.
Originality/value
This study is a rare longitudinal analysis of how a manufacturer builds a modular offering, the solution platform and the required competitive capabilities to provide the solution.
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