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This article explores how the Danish public sector, over time, has followed different temporal strategies in order to extend the present and handle the system's increasing complexity, thereby counteracting a tendency towards entropy. It proposes that historical changes in the public sector's understandings of the concepts of “time” and “change” can be seen as the answer to the sector's enduring problem of ever-increasing complexity.

The authors conduct second-order observations of how the Danish public sector, in the period from 1900 until 2020, observes “time” and “change”. More specifically, they first observe how issues over time are temporalized in different forms, before employing the guiding distinction, operation/temporalization, to analyse the differences between temporalities.

The authors show that, today, the Danish public sector deals with the problems of complexity and entropy through, what is called, potentialization. Potentialization entails operations that aim to increase potentialities, rather than realize possibilities within a given potentiality. It works by extending the present, drawing on a particular temporality which is split into a present present and a future future.

The paper offers managers insights into the implications of their own observations of time and change, including how they might draw on different temporal semantics, through which managerial situations emerge differently. The paper also reveals that issues of transformation are not always about transformation, rather they concern the question of how to handle an increasing internal complexity.

The article shows that potentialization and its temporal semantic of “transformation” also comes with a price – namely that it dissolves the certainties of structures, which results in conflicting expectations.

The paper draws on systems theory, including its notions of time and entropy, to analyse the evolution of public administration and management. It thereby produces a diagnosis of the present which offers insights into contemporary conditions for public management.

The economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant consequences on the activities of companies worldwide. This study aims to unveil how open innovation fostered business model innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the pandemic.

The research adopts a qualitative approach, involving a multiple case study methodology, and focusses on six SMEs operating in various traditional sectors.

The findings highlight the impact of the external stimulus, COVID-19, on business model innovation and the key role of open innovation management in pursuing the business model innovation, which may also involve a digital transformation.

While some studies have examined how the pandemic has fostered business model transformation, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study analysing the pivotal role of open innovation in driving business model innovation during challenging times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital transformation has gained particular interest among academics and policymakers in recent years. However, the empirical quantification of digital transformation stages and their impact on innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains understudied. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of digital transformation stages on a differentiated measurement of innovation performance in SMEs.

The authors propose a simplified one-dimensional digital maturity path to estimate the stages of digital transformation in SMEs. The authors validate their approach with a cluster analysis and perform an ordered logistic regression to estimate the impact of digital transformation stages on SMEs' innovation performance.

The authors' results show that digital transformation in general has a positive impact on SMEs' innovation performance. More precisely, the authors find that the early stage of digital transformation has a detrimental effect on innovation performance, while significant and positive effects can be expected from the experimental stage onward. Furthermore, the advanced stage of digital transformation significantly increases the probability of producing radical innovations.

This study contributes to the ongoing discussion about the relationship between digital transformation and innovation in SMEs by presenting an approach to quantify digital transformation stages in SMEs. Additionally, this study provides new insights into the specific dynamics of the relationship between different stages of digital transformation and their impact on a differentiated measurement of innovation performance, including technological, non-technological and radical innovation.

Firms are driven to ride on the digital wave in today’s open innovation ecosystem. This study aims to explore the effect of digital transformation (DT) on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) firms’ innovation ambidexterity, namely, radical versus incremental innovation, respectively. Meanwhile, the authors evaluated the moderating role of the complexity of R&D collaboration portfolio (i.e. organizational diversity and geographic diversity) in the above relationships.

Using a panel data set of 171 Chinese listed firms in the information and communications technology services industry from 2010 to 2018, the proposed hypotheses were empirically attested.

It is found that DT has a positive relationship with radical innovation and an inverted U-shaped relationship with incremental innovation. In terms of the R&D collaboration portfolio, organizational diversity positively moderates the relationships between DT and innovation ambidexterity, respectively. The geographic diversity weakens the inverted U-shaped effect of DT on incremental innovation; however, its moderating role in the link between DT and radical innovation is not empirically verified.

Extant scholars mainly addressed the interplay between KIBS firms and their manufacturing clients, while this study reveals the different consequences of DT on KIBS firms’ innovation ambidexterity to highlight the role of KIBS firms is an independent and essential innovator in a knowledge-driven economy. Notably, the findings contribute to knowledge management (KM) and R&D literature by confirming the diversity of the R&D collaboration portfolio is a critical KM strategy for KIBS firms to develop and promote external knowledge resources.

High levels of child obesity alongside rising stunting and the absence of a coherent food policy have deemed UK’s food system to be broken. The National Food Strategy (NFS) was debated intensely in media, with discussions on how and who should fix the food system.

Using a mixed methods approach, the authors conduct framing analysis on traditional media and sentiment analysis of twitter reactions to the NFS to identify frames used to shape food system policy interventions.

The study finds evidence that the media coverage of the NFS often utilised the tropes of “culture wars” shaping the debate of who is responsible to fix the food system – the government, the public or the industry. NFS recommendations were portrayed as issues of free choice to shift the debate away from government action correcting for market failure. In contrast, the industry was showcased as equipped to intervene on its own accord. Dietary recommendations made by the NFS were depicted as hurting the poor, painting a picture of helplessness and loss of control, while their voices were omitted and not represented in traditional media.

British media’s alignment with free market economic thinking has implications for food systems reform, as it deters the government from acting and relies on the invisible hand of the market to fix the system. Media firms should move beyond tropes of culture wars to discuss interventions that reform the structural causes of the UK’s broken food systems.

As traditional media coverage struggles to capture the diversity of public perception; the authors supplement framing analysis with sentiment analysis of Twitter data. To the best of our knowledge, no such media (and social media) analysis of the NFS has been conducted. The paper is also original as it extends our understanding of how media alignment with free market economic thinking has implications for food systems reform, as it deters the government from acting and relies on the invisible hand of the market to fix the system.

This chapter describes practical lessons for leading transformational innovation in industrial firms. These lessons result from theory-building empirical research based on published studies and the authors’ personal observations. These latter are the results of interviews with over 100 senior managers. The research also discriminates between the capabilities for leading core, adjacent and transformational innovations. In practice, each form requires different leadership and skills to ensure success. In the past, firms that use this approach have been described as ambidextrous. However, this oversimplifies the situation rather than considering the continuum of innovation approaches within a firm necessary to ensure long-term sustainability. This is because firms must innovate long-term, deliver ongoing core innovation in their existing portfolio, and evolve their value propositions and business models through adjacent innovation.

The logistics industry has undergone a tremendous transformation. This transformation is necessary to cope with the fundamental changes in customer expectations and the need for digitalization imposed by the pandemic, changes in the socioeconomic world, and innovative technology solutions. This paper aims to present digital transformation as an integrated framework for transforming the operating model and applying advanced solutions to the ecosystem of a quintile logistics (5PL) company. 5PL operators are typically an ecosystem. Loosely coupled or self-organized entities that collaborate in a symbiotic relationship represent this ecosystem. They aim to jointly develop capabilities, create innovative services or solutions, share knowledge, facilitate transactions, and leverage network synergies in a logistics environment to provide optimized or novel customer- or partner-centric solutions (Lamberjohann and Otto, 2020).

Currently, there is no single definition of an integrated logistics operations model in 5PL practice, so the qualitative method used in this paper allows for investigation from an exploratory perspective. The paper follows a qualitative research methodology, collecting and analyzing data/facts through interviews and visits to subject matter experts, industry practitioners, and academic researchers, combined with an extensive review of academic publications, industry reports, and written and media content from established organizations in the marketplace. This paper follows a qualitative research methodology, as it is an inquiry rather than a statistical study. The qualitative method allows the study of the concepts of phenomena and definitions, their characteristics, and the defining features that serve as the basis (Berg, 2007). It emphasizes generalized interpretation and deeper understanding of concepts, which would be more difficult in quantitative, statistically based research. Fact-finding was conducted in two ways: in-depth interviews with experts from academia, information and communication technology organizations, and key players in the logistics industry; and academic publications, industry reports, and written and media content from established national and international organizations in the market.

The operations model introduced considers six aspects: persons, processes, platforms, partners, protection and preservation. A virtual team approach can support the personal side of the 5PL ecosystem’s digital transformation. Managing a 5PL ecosystem should be based on collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment methods (Parsa et al., 2020). A digital platform can support trust among the stakeholders in the ecosystem. A blockchain solution can powerfully support the 5PL ecosystem from partner relationships’ points of view. The implementation of a cybersecurity reference model is important for protection (Bandari, 2023). Reverse logistics and an integrated approach support the preservation of the ecosystem.

While the author has experience applying the different components of the operations model presented, it would be interesting to find a 5PL that would use all the components presented in an integrated way. The operations model presented applies to any similar ecosystem with minor adaptations.

This paper addresses operations models and digital transformation challenges for optimizing 5PL operators. It provides several opportunities and considerations for 5PL operators interested in improving their management and operations to cope with the growing challenges of today’s world.

The competitiveness and long-term performance of 5PL operators depend on selecting and carefully implementing their operations models. This paper emphasizes the importance of using advanced operations models.

The operations model derives from the author’s personal experiences in research and the innovative application of these models to logistics operators (DHL, UPS, Poste Italiane and others). This paper brings together academic and industry perspectives and operations models in an integrated business digital transformation. This paper defines an original optimal operations model for a 5PL operator and can add sustainable value to organizations and society. In doing so, it outlines different solution requirements, the critical success factors and the challenges for solutions and brings logistical performance objectives when implementing a digital business transformation.

The recent pandemic of Covid-19 has substantially changed people’s daily lives. They work and interact even more based on information and communication technologies (ICT). The use of new technologies and the interconnectivity specific to smart cities have intensified in the context of the pandemic. A significant part of the population works from home, participates in concerts and other remote social activities, organizes online parties, communicates virtually with friends and family, etc. These transformations required an extended and more stable infrastructure, significant investments in the development of software applications dedicated to remote activities (streaming, contact tracing, security, online ordering and delivery, telemedicine, etc.), in specific services (data storage and applications, electronic signature services, etc.) and the integration of subsystems used in smart cities. This chapter examines the role of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the acceleration of digital transformations in smart cities due to the need and desire to digitize communities and public administrations. It has become a top priority for both private and public companies from smart cities in the context created by the pandemic.

(Digital) servitization, referring to service-driven strategies and their increasing implementation in manufacturing, is one of the most rapidly growing areas in industrial service research. However, the cultural change involved in successful servitization is a phenomenon that is widely observed but poorly understood. This research aims to clarify the processes of social construction as manufacturers change their organizational culture to transform into industrial service providers.

This research takes a systematic approach to integrate disparate literature on servitization into a cohesive framework for cultural change, which is purposefully augmented by rationale culled from organizational learning and sensemaking literature.

The organizational learning framework for cultural change in servitization introduces a dynamic perspective on servitizing organizations by explaining social processes between organizational and member-level cultural properties. It identifies three major cultural orientations toward service, digital and learning that govern successful servitization.

This research contributes to the servitization literature by presenting a new approach to reframe and explore cultural change processes across multiple levels, thus providing a concrete starting point for further research in this area.