Search results

The objective of this study is to deepen how blockchain technology through smart contracts can support the development of sustainable business models (SBMs). Particularly, the authors aim to determine the key elements enabling SBMs by applying smart contracts.

The research context focusses on the case study of SmartInsurance, which is a fictitious name for a start-up in the insurance sector and the real name of which is not to be revealed. The start-up was able to collect 18m euros in 80 s in a crowdfunding operation, using smart contracts and a revolutionary business model. Internal as well as external documents of different sources are analysed and coded to gather information about the company, its values and its business and what it pursues with employing blockchain technology.

The results show how smart contracts can reduce the costs of transactions, increase social trust and foster social proof behaviours that sustain the development of new SBMs.

This study contributes to both the transaction cost theory and social proof theory, showing how new technologies such as the blockchain can provide a fresh perspective to support the development of SBMs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how modularity manifests in the design of services. The study brings new insights on the organization of service firms by empirically exploring and theoretically advancing the intersection of modularity and service design.

The paper compares two companies that offer similar services in the same geographical region but represent polar case types. A framework grounded on extant literature is constructed and applied to the two cases to assess its practicality and provide theoretical insights.

The paper demonstrates the effects of modularity and integrality on a range of different analytical levels in service architectures. Taking a holistic approach, the authors synthesize and empirically deploy a framework comprised of the three most prevalent themes in modularity and service design literature: Offering (service concept), intra-firm organization (service delivery system), and inter-firm relationships (service network). They posit that service architectures require the examination of different analytical levels due to the complex and dynamic nature of service business. Additionally, the analysis provides new insights on the mirroring hypothesis of modularity theory to services.

The paper provides a conceptualization of service architectures drawing on service design, modularity, and market relationships. The study enriches service design literature with elements from modularity theory and elaborates on the theoretical implications of service modularity in general.

This paper aims to contribute to the scholarly debate on the origins and nature of industrial servitization. By resorting to contract manufacturing (CM) as an empirical case, it is posited that any product-service solution that a manufacturing firm is capable of delivering on a competitive basis mirrors its goals in value creation and capture, positioning within its value networks and the pool of assets and competences it holds.

To support this argument, a comparative case study of two CM firms that represent polar cases in the industry was conducted. The primary data were collected through participatory methodology, observations and semi-structured interviews of company representatives. The business experiences of an industry practitioner provided a distinct contribution to the content analysis and modelling.

It was concluded that servitization becomes endogenous as contract manufacturers aim for higher profitability through the insource of customer activities and hence extend their offering downstream in the supply chain. The findings suggest that the way out of the servitization trap is a shift toward original design and manufacturing business, where high value-adding modules are insourced and integrated into replicable solutions for various types of customers and market segments.

The generalization of the conclusion is constrained by the limited focus on two cases only. More industry and company data are therefore required to further validate this argument. Particularly valuable will be the data on the intermediate business models between the two polar cases.

Building on contested business practices, this paper outlines the logic of competitive strategy in CM on the basis of specific characteristics and implications of the various business concepts. In this case, the principal drivers of servitization are the acquisition of supporting capabilities and insourcing of customer activities. The case study method integrates theory with academic observation and managerial experiences.

Purpose – By exploring what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not, its opposite termed Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI), we raise understanding and focus awareness on the material differences and associated arguments for and against.

Approach – Background, context, and theory introduce the concept of a continuum between CSI and CSR, which is illustrated in a progression of graphic figures.

Findings – Focus on the affirmation of CSR has distracted attention and resources from a more addressable concern: identification and denunciation of antisocial business behavior. Focusing instead on the opposite, defined here as CSI, avoids much of the ambiguity of CSR and presents a clarifying continuum between the two.

Originality – Using engaging logic, uncommon connections are made between such erstwhile polar-opposites as Friedman and Carroll to reveal broad agreement that CSI is destructive and can be universally opposed.

Implications – While promotion of CSR remains contentious, a broader range of business and thought leaders can find common ground by focusing on the CSI side of the continuum and uniting against it. Practitioners, academicians, and activists alike can agree that social benefits are greater from focusing on reduction of CSI rather than on promotion of CSR.

This article reviews the literature on the subject of “emotional intelligence” (EQ) and attempts to pin‐down and define this nebulous construct, using competency‐based and personality factor scales. In an exploratory study, the reliability and construct and predictive validity of three scales were investigated. An EQ scale based on 16 relevant competencies showed highly promising reliability and validity. The results also showed the relevance of two other competency‐based scales – intellectual intelligence (IQ) and managerial intelligence (MQ) – which both predicted organisational advancement. Taken together, however, the three scales had even higher validity. The overall results supported the view that EQ constructs can be measured more effectively by “performance analysis” than “classic paper and pencil tests”. In addition they provide support for the proposition that the combination of EQ and IQ is a more powerful predictor of “success” than either measure alone.

This paper aims at shedding some light on the various avenues marketers can undertake until finally an endorsement contract is signed. The focus of the study lies on verifying the generally held assumption that endorser selection is usually taken care of by creative agencies, vetting several candidates by means of subtle evaluation procedures.

A case study research has been carried out among companies experienced in celebrity endorsements to learn more about the endorser selection process in practise. Based on these cases theory is inductively developed.

The research suggests that the generally held assumption that endorsers being selected and thoroughly vetted by a creative agency may not be universally valid. A normative model to illustrate the continuum of the selection process in practise is suggested and the two polar case studies (Swiss brand Lindt and Austrian Vitatherm) are presented in depth.

As the results of the study suggest, generally held assumptions towards the endorser selection process may be challenged. Consequently, this affects the necessary accuracy of models to evaluate the brand‐endorser matchup.

Conducted case studies indicate that there are various avenues how brands come to their endorser. This paper could not find evidence of a best practice strategy.

A normative model for the celebrity endorser selection process is suggested.

Judgement is a pivotal notion for understanding learning. But how we view judgement is crucially shaped by our favoured conception of learning. The favoured conception of learning is shown to distort judgement, while an emerging conception of learning does justice both to judgement and learning from work.

In this paper we look at patents as alternative to trade secrets. We disentangle the disclosure motive for patent protection from the traditional reward motive by adjusting the level of patent protection so as to make the innovator just indifferent between patenting and keeping the innovation secret. Thus, we keep the reward (expected profits) to the innovator fixed and focus on ex post efficiency. When duplication is not feasible and secrecy only entails the risk of public disclosure (a leakage), patents and secrets are perfect substitutes. Yet, a distinctive features of trade secret protection is that it allows for independent creation. The duplicative efforts to reproduce a concealed innovation make patents and secrets imperfect substitutes. If such duplicative efforts are actually exerted under secrecy, patents provide the pre-specified incentive to innovate at least social cost. If, however, the threat of duplication induces the innovator to preemptively license her trade secret, and such licensing agreements allow the innovator to appropriate all the saved duplication costs, then secrets can reward innovative activity more efficiently than patents. Thus, the issue of whether patents are socially preferable to secrets boils down to an assessment of the prevalence and the efficiency of trade secret licensing. The available empirical evidence suggests that licensing of trade secret information is limited and so hints at the superiority of patents.

This paper aims to explore the cognitive processing mechanisms of concepts and categories by examining the methodologies behind how branded‐product concepts behave in the second of two co‐incident alternative constructs – as a member of a product category, and in some cases, as a category by itself. General proposals for such mechanisms present language as a facilitator in the process. Therefore, linguistic concept assessment models are proposed to confirm the “brand as category” hypothesis evident in an example brand.

The study extended conventional semantic differentiation (SD) methodologies; sets of bi‐polar measures of concept properties describing the concept “semantic space”, to the brand category. Through iteration, the SD tool is refined and the effects of weighted scales understood.

The results provide evidence that some brands do act as categories, with clearly identifiable exemplar positions within the brand‐category “semantic space”.

This paper offers interesting alternatives to established brand and product development activities concerned with the provision of product features and consumer benefits. Specifically, for many emotive, non‐utilitarian products, brand attributes highly influence purchase decision, and therefore brand accuracy and differentiation, measured in the product's properties, are key – characteristics that can be most saliently depicted in the “brand as category” alternative.

This paper applies SD to the brand category for the first time. It provides a new methodology with advantages for brand and product managers concerned with the development of products that are not only “good” but also “right” for the brand.

While service scholars see modularisation as balancing the efficiency of standardisation with the value added through customisation the relationships between these concepts are under-theorised. In addition, although information and communication technologies can facilitate all three service strategies, the degree to which they codify service knowledge is not explicitly considered in the extant literature. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model that examines service strategy trajectories by specifically considering the ICTs used and the degree of knowledge codification employed.

This study draws on three qualitative case studies of service departments of firms involved in cardiovascular applications, orthopaedic, spinal and neuroscience product development and information technology support. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews, document analysis and non-participant observation.

Findings show that ICTs were increasingly used to codify both standardised and customised services, though in different ways. For standardised services ICTs codified the service process, making them even more rigid. Due to the dynamic nature of customised services, drawing on experts' tacit knowledge, ICTs codified the possessors of knowledge rather than the service process they undertook. This study also identified a duality between the tacit development of customised services and modular service codification.

The model is validated using case studies from three companies in the medical and information technology sectors limiting its generalisability.

The importance of considering the degree of tacitness or explicitness of service knowledge is important for service codification. The paper provides managers with empirical examples of how ICTs are used to support all three strategies, allows them to identify their current position and indicates possible future trajectories.

The papers main contribution is the development of a model that integrates the literature on service strategies with knowledge management strategies to classify service standardisation, customisation and modularisation in terms of both service orientation and degree of ICT codification.