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1 – 10 of over 5000Yao Chen, Liangqing Zhang, Meng Chen and Hefu Liu
Drawing on the knowledge-based view, this study investigates how IT–business alignment influences business model design via organizational learning and examines the moderating…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the knowledge-based view, this study investigates how IT–business alignment influences business model design via organizational learning and examines the moderating role of data-driven culture in the relationship between IT–business alignment and business model design via organizational learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Using multi-respondent survey data collected from 597 Chinese firms, mediation and moderated mediation analyses were used to examine this study's hypotheses.
Findings
The mediation test results revealed organizational learning served as a mediator between IT–business alignment and two types of business model design (i.e. novelty- and efficiency-centered). In addition, data-driven culture strengthened the indirect effects of IT–business alignment on these two types of business model design via organizational learning.
Originality/value
This study extends current understandings of the relationship between IT–business alignment and business model design by revealing the mediating role of organizational learning and investigating its indirect effects under various degrees of data-driven culture. As such, it contributes to the literature on the business model and IT–business alignment and provides insights for managers seeking to achieve the expected business model design.
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Tomasz Mucha, Sijia Ma and Kaveh Abhari
Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, at its core, Machine Learning (ML) offer opportunities for organizations to develop new or enhance existing capabilities…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, at its core, Machine Learning (ML) offer opportunities for organizations to develop new or enhance existing capabilities. Despite the endless possibilities, organizations face operational challenges in harvesting the value of ML-based capabilities (MLbC), and current research has yet to explicate these challenges and theorize their remedies. To bridge the gap, this study explored the current practices to propose a systematic way of orchestrating MLbC development, which is an extension of ongoing digitalization of organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from Finland's Artificial Intelligence Accelerator (FAIA) and complemented by follow-up interviews with experts outside FAIA in Europe, China and the United States over four years. Data were analyzed through open coding, thematic analysis and cross-comparison to develop a comprehensive understanding of the MLbC development process.
Findings
The analysis identified the main components of MLbC development, its three phases (development, release and operation) and two major MLbC development challenges: Temporal Complexity and Context Sensitivity. The study then introduced Fostering Temporal Congruence and Cultivating Organizational Meta-learning as strategic practices addressing these challenges.
Originality/value
This study offers a better theoretical explanation for the MLbC development process beyond MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) and its hindrances. It also proposes a practical way to align ML-based applications with business needs while accounting for their structural limitations. Beyond the MLbC context, this study offers a strategic framework that can be adapted for different cases of digital transformation that include automation and augmentation of work.
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Wim Coreynen, Paul Matthyssens, Bieke Struyf and Wim Vanhaverbeke
This study aims to develop theory on the process toward digital service innovation (DSI) and to generate insights into how companies deal with the rising complexity associated…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop theory on the process toward digital service innovation (DSI) and to generate insights into how companies deal with the rising complexity associated with DSI, both inside and outside of the organization, through organizational learning and alignment.
Design/methodology/approach
After purposeful sampling, in-depth, longitudinal case studies of three manufacturers are presented as illustration. Per case, multiple semi-structured interviews are conducted, and insights are validated through rich additional data gathering. Each company's DSI pathway is reconstructed with critical incident technique. Next, using systematic combining, a middle-range theory is developed by proposing a theoretical frame concerning the relations between DSI maturity, learning and alignment.
Findings
The authors posit that, as companies gradually develop and progress toward DSI maturity, they deal with a rising degree of complexity, fueling their learning needs. Companies that are apt to learn, pass through multiple cycles of learning and alignment to overcome specific complexities associated with different DSI stages, with each cycle unlocking new DSI opportunities and challenges.
Originality/value
The study applies a stage-based view on DSI combined with complexity management and organizational learning and alignment theory. It offers a theoretical frame and propositions to be used by researchers for future DSI studies and by managers to evaluate alternative DSI strategies and implementation steps.
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Javier Santiago Cortes Lopez, Guillermo Rodriguez Abitia, Juan Gomez Reynoso and Angel Eduardo Muñoz Zavala
This qualitative study aims to fill gaps in a widely studied and relevant organizational feature: the alignment between information technologies and business strategies.
Abstract
Purpose
This qualitative study aims to fill gaps in a widely studied and relevant organizational feature: the alignment between information technologies and business strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is a qualitative study. The authors used focus groups, content analysis and semantic networks as research approaches to identify the main factors that prevent or foster such alignment.
Findings
Results reveal a leading role of innovation, organizational culture, access to information and financial factors that could promote or inhibit alignment and competitiveness.
Originality/value
This research was conducted only in small and medium organizations in Mexico, which represents about 52% of the Mexican Gross Domestic Product (for Mexico as one of the leading trade partners of the USA).
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Federico Paolo Zasa and Tommaso Buganza
In response to environmental uncertainty, organizations rely on independent, empowered teams to increase their responsiveness to change. The purpose of this paper is to analyze…
Abstract
Purpose
In response to environmental uncertainty, organizations rely on independent, empowered teams to increase their responsiveness to change. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how objectives and key results (OKRs) can contribute to creating a shared vision which keeps the different, empowered teams aligned.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a qualitative study, this paper develops a conceptual model of how OKRs lead to a shared vision. The authors interview professionals in nine organizations differing in size and industry who recently introduced agile, focusing on the main hurdles encountered and benefits obtained from the methodology.
Findings
The findings confirm that OKRs are an effective goal-setting methodology and suggest that their successful implementation builds on the new ways of organizing introduced by the agile methods. Moreover, the findings suggest that OKRs contribute to developing a shared vision and increase the alignment: first, the organizational vision becomes clear and its definition is participatory; second at the team level, individuals align around a shared team vision through participative definition of objectives.
Originality/value
The contribution of the paper is two-fold: this study provide an overview on the methodology, which is diffused from a practice perspective, but has not yet been addressed from a theoretical point of view. And this study connects OKRs to extant theory on goal-setting and vision development. This study shows they act as a coupling mechanism which helps empowered and independent teams together.
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Nima Heirati, Sabrina C. Thornton, Alexander Leischnig and Stephan C. Henneberg
Advanced servitization is the process that involves the combination of different services that facilitate both the use of a product and customer operations. Although servitization…
Abstract
Purpose
Advanced servitization is the process that involves the combination of different services that facilitate both the use of a product and customer operations. Although servitization has emerged as a frequent strategy for manufacturers to differentiate themselves from the competition, its implementation can pose major challenges and may not always result in superior firm performance. Consequently, successful advanced servitization may require specific organizational capabilities to unleash performance-enhancing effects. To date, little is known about how to effectively configure advanced servitization to achieve such performance gains.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a fit theory perspective and using a configurational approach, we examine the interplay between servitization, organizational capabilities, contextual factors and financial performance. Specifically, we focus on advanced servitization and assess its necessity and sufficiency for achieving high financial performance. In addition, we study how the alignment of servitization approaches with organizational capabilities and contextual factors affects financial performance. We analyze data from 151 manufacturers in an emerging economy using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA).
Findings
Our findings indicate that advanced servitization is sufficient, but not necessary for high financial performance. In addition, the findings indicate that the alignment of servitization approaches with specific service-related capabilities unfolds complementarity effects that contribute to achieving high financial performance for manufacturers with different firm size and competitive intensity. The findings indicate three configurations that may serve as templates for managers to orchestrate resource allocation and successfully deploy advanced servitization.
Originality/value
Our study advances the servitization literature by further illuminating advanced servitization as a more complex servitization process. We show how high-performing manufacturers align servitization and organizational capabilities across different contexts, and thus provide design choices for managers in configuring servitization.
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Heather Keathley-Herring, Eileen Van Aken and Geert Letens
This study assesses performance measurement (PM) system implementation efforts across various organizational contexts and investigates which factors are critical to achieving…
Abstract
Purpose
This study assesses performance measurement (PM) system implementation efforts across various organizational contexts and investigates which factors are critical to achieving implementation success (IS).
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical field study was conducted to refine a framework of PM system IS that consists of 5 dimensions of success and 29 factors. A survey questionnaire was used to investigate actual organizational practice and exploratory factor analysis was conducted to refine constructs corresponding to potential factors and dimensions of IS. The resulting variables were then investigated using multiple regression analysis to identify critical success factors for implementing PM systems.
Findings
The survey was completed by representatives from 124 organizations and the exploratory factor analysis results indicated that there are three underlying dimensions of IS (i.e. Use of the System, PM System Performance, and Improved Results and Processes) and 12 factors. Of the factors, nine can be considered critical success factors having a significant relationship with at least one dimension of IS: Leader Support, Design and Implementation Approach, Reward System Alignment, Organizational Acceptance, Organizational Culture and Climate, Easy to Define Environment, IT Infrastructure Capabilities, PM System Design Quality, and PM Participation and Training.
Originality/value
The results show that there are distinct dimensions of IS and, although some factors are associated with all dimensions, most are more closely related to only one dimension. This suggests that different strategies should be utilized based on the types of challenges experienced during implementation.
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Jose Celso Contador, Jose Luiz Contador and Walter Cardoso Satyro
This paper proposes the “fields and weapons of the competition model applied to business networks” – CAC-Redes (in Portuguese, Campos e Armas da Competição – Redes de negócio), an…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes the “fields and weapons of the competition model applied to business networks” – CAC-Redes (in Portuguese, Campos e Armas da Competição – Redes de negócio), an extension of the fields and weapons of the competition model (CAC) – to study the competition and competitiveness of companies operating in business networks in a competitive environment while integrating organizational competencies, interorganizational ties and company positioning to provide competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
CAC-Redes is born from the cross-fertilization process of various theoretical perspectives, namely, industrial organization, traditional view of operational activities and resources, relational view, strategic alignment, transaction cost theory and social perspectives in networks, structured according to systems theory and under the mantle of competitive advantage theory. To discover the structure of existing models of competitiveness in networks, a bibliographic search was conducted in the Scopus database. Quali-quantitative empirical research was undertaken in companies from six different economic sectors through structured questionnaires and personal interviews to understand how companies competed and discover the determining factors of their competitive advantage.
Findings
Only seven models of competitiveness in network were found, and their structures and characteristics are quite different from those of CAC-Redes. Empirical research confirms all the hypotheses that support CAC-Redes, which, combined with those of CAC, indicate the CAC-Redes corroboration.
Research limitations/implications
CAC-Redes does not apply to networks without intercompany competition, studies on network governance and corporate strategy formulation.
Practical implications
CAC-Redes is effective in studying complex competitiveness phenomena because it considers multiple influences; provides a process based on qualitative and quantitative variables that increase the probability of formulating successful competitive strategies; simplifies the differentiation of skills from core competencies and determines them; proposes a competitive advantage criterion to select suppliers; creates a unifying language to represent the different strategic specificities of companies, competitors, suppliers, customers and the company environment and provides a library containing 181 weapons (resources) and dozens of interorganizational ties that can be used in empirical studies with other methodologies.
Social implications
CAC-Redes, due to its originality and peculiarities, theoretically contributes to theory of resources because it dispenses with the assumption, “unique resource, source of competitive advantage”; to relational view because it considers interorganizational relationships as a competence and treats it quali-quantitatively and to core competencies because if the strategy changes, different core competencies will be needed. Furthermore, it is an alternative to the dynamic capabilities perspective, and it transforms the five manufacturing performance objectives into nine for the entire company.
Originality/value
CAC-Redes is an original model because its structure and characteristics comparatively differ from those of existing models, and 14 singularities are detected.
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Kushagra Sharan, Deepak Dhayanithy and Deepa Sethi
This paper aims to examine the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and technology through the lens of strategic factors and to ascertain future research directions.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and technology through the lens of strategic factors and to ascertain future research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The systematic literature review method was applied in three stages to the 76 articles obtained from Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and EBSCO databases.
Findings
This research revealed the evolution of the role of OL in innovation, performance, knowledge management and technological adoption and showcases a detailed conceptual model relating technology outcomes (technological innovation and capabilities) to OL outcomes (technology absorptive capacity, technological proactivity, as well as information technology [IT] and organization process alignment).
Research limitations/implications
This review includes articles mainly in English and excludes conference proceedings.
Practical implications
This research attempts to guide managers and policymakers to foster an organizational culture conducive to technological adoption and OL. It helps organizations develop strategies for new product development, including strategic alliances and strategic leadership.
Originality/value
This review formalizes the linkages between technological absorptive capacity, technological proactivity and IT with technological innovation and capabilities. It identifies research gaps and elucidates future research directions.
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Rick Forster, Andrew Lyons, Nigel Caldwell, Jennifer Davies and Hossein Sharifi
The study sets out to demonstrate how a lifecycle perspective on complex, public-sector procurement projects can be used for making qualitative assessments of procurement policy…
Abstract
Purpose
The study sets out to demonstrate how a lifecycle perspective on complex, public-sector procurement projects can be used for making qualitative assessments of procurement policy and practice and reveal those procurement capabilities that are most impactful for operating effectively.
Design/methodology/approach
Agency theory, institutional theory and the lifecycle analysis technique are combined to abductively develop a framework to identify, analyse and compare complex procurement policies and practices in public sector organisations. Defence is the focal case and is compared with cases in the Nuclear, Local Government and Health sectors.
Findings
The study provides a framework for undertaking a lifecycle analysis to understand the challenges and capabilities of complex, public-sector buyers. Eighteen hierarchically-arranged themes are identified and used in conjunction with agency theory and institutional theory to explain complex procurement policy and practice variation in some of the UK’s highest-profile public buyers. The study findings provide a classification of complex buyers and offer valuable guidance for practitioners and researchers navigating complex procurement contexts.
Originality/value
The lifecycle approach proposed is a new research tool providing a bespoke application of theory by considering each lifecycle phase as an individual but related element that is governed by unique institutional pressures and principal-agent relationships.
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