Increasing the Number of Women on Boards: The Role of Actors and Processes

In this article, we offer an approach of how participative stakeholder innovation can be evaluated in complex multistakeholder settings that address wicked issues. Based on the principle of mutual value creation, we present an evaluation framework that accounts for the social interaction process during which stakeholders integrate their resources and capabilities to develop innovative products and services. To assess this evaluation framework, we collected multiple data from the case study of the Swiss Cardiovascular Network, which represents a multistakeholder setting related to the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Our findings indicate that the evaluation dimensions of the stakeholders’ mindsets, the process and context of the stakeholder interactions, as well as the outcomes are useful concepts to account for a cooperative process of innovation in a multistakeholder setting. We discuss both the theoretical and practical insights of our analysis for participative stakeholder innovation.     

Service Design in the NHS: Collaboration or Conflict?

Continuous new service design / redesign is a key contributor to organisational performance. The NSD literature, originally evolving from new product development studies, often emphasised a sequential, linear process. More recently, however, the role of culture, internal politics and social dynamics in the NSD process has been highlighted. The potential for an enhanced role for political behaviour and stakeholder conflict within public sector organisations is apparent. In view of the increasing importance of consumer opinion as both an input into, and evaluation of, the design of public sector services, the need to understand the process of new service formation and its impact on consumer perceived service quality is of major importance. This study examines the design process for three mental health resource centres. Through interviews with a range of stakeholders, the role of conflict within complex, multi-organisational decision making is highlighted and the impact on the final consumer is assessed.     

Development of new technology-based services

In an environment where customers can hardly describe new technology-based services (TBSs) of the future and technological engineers are unlikely to understand how a new technology can work for new services, a guideline to generate ideas for TBS can be utilized to achieve successful service innovation. Thus, this paper aims to develop an ideation framework for TBS. Two methods – the technology tree and the function analysis systems technique – are employed to identify core utilities expected from a new technology. Then a new method, the service encounter value matrix, which is based on morphology analysis and is used for generating potential service ideas, is suggested. Finally, these ideas are evaluated, and only those that are of a high priority according to customers’ expectations of future society are selected. In this study, the framework is applied to telecommunication technology, which is timely and useful for designing future services.     

Commentary on “Working consumers: Co-creation of brand identity,consumer identity,and brand community identity”

This commentary highlights the specific role of the political marketing agent, which, in the case of the “Yes Scotland” campaign triggered multiple dynamic opportunities to create dialogues between all stakeholders, thus enhancing reciprocal value co-creation. Two processes contribute to the reciprocal identity and value co-creation: Brand Identification and Branding as Shared and Common Meanings. In the first process, the political marketing agent acts as the initiator of the physical identity; in the second process, the agent acts as a facilitator of interactions, which eventually result in a co-creation process. A discussion of how the learning objectives and marketing activities differ among the two processes concludes the commentary.     

Innovation dialectics: an extended process perspective on innovation in services

Services are characterised by the involvement of customers and other interest groups in the innovation process. The aim of this study is to understand how and why, in the service context, tensions and potential conflicts between heterogeneous interest groups unfold during processes of innovation. The empirical field in which the investigation was set is facility services, a type of business-to-business support services. The findings were extracted from a longitudinal, in-depth case study of a Danish, multi-national organisation over 13 years, complemented with an explorative study in the Danish facility service context. The findings suggest that tensions and conflicts between heterogeneous interest groups are an intrinsic element of innovation processes in services, and that emphasising them might actually support a clearer understanding of processes of innovation in services. The outcome of the analysis is a process model, which proposes innovation dialectics as one of the driving mechanisms of innovation in services.     

To bribe or to convince? Political stakeholders and political activities in German multinational corporations

In this paper, the relevance of political stakeholders and political activities in German multinational corporations (MNCs) is examined. The focus is on three main questions: First, which political stakeholders influence the behavior of MNCs? Second, which political activities do MNCs develop to cope with stakeholder interests? Third, how are political stakeholders and political activities influenced by situational conditions?A seemingly unrelated regression (SUREG) analysis of data collected from the largest 19 German MNCs in their home country and in their subsidiaries in China, France, India, Russia, and the US demonstrates that the influence of political stakeholders increases with the size of the MNC. Both the relevance of political stakeholders and the intensity of political activities depend on several country- and firm-specific conditions. Moreover, a strong influence due to the impact of political stakeholders on the intensity of political activities can be observed.     

Service innovation: Inward and outward related activities and cooperation mode

Knowledge of how customers co-create value, the way that suppliers and providers co-produce services, and how research and development centers and universities transfer technologies is becoming increasingly important to scholars' understanding of service innovation. This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between inward and outward innovation activities in service organizations and their modes of innovation, using network innovation premises and an extended innovation model. Empirical data from retail, health and education sector service organizations show the existence of a relationship between the degree of development of the inward innovation process and the degree of development of outward innovation activities. The majority of service organizations have innovation processes with an orientation toward customers and suppliers rather than other service network members, and leading service organizations follow a path that the literature defines as oriented toward the service value network. Findings lead to implications of how innovation managers could develop their internal innovation capacity to balance inward and outward activities properly.     

Artistic intervention,intellectual capital,and service innovation: a case study of a Taiwan’s hotel

This study adopts the perspective of artistic intervention to argue that art is a catalyst. Interdisciplinary cooperation between artists and managers prompts artists to enter the corporate world, intervening in organizational routines and operations and thereby promoting service innovation. This paper, which also adopts the perspective of intellectual capital (IC), explores the characteristics of IC management through an in-depth case study of a successful art-focused Taiwanese hotel that has adopted long-term artistic intervention. The results show the importance of analyzing IC as a stock of resources. Hotel managers must emphasize the importance of managing the physical and the intangible resources, and both embedded in employees and processes of hotels. The relationship of a hotel with its external stakeholders and customers are particularly good sources for improving IC and promoting service innovation. This paper has management implications for the artistic interventions of the studied hotel and recommends future research directions.     

Value logics for service innovation: practice-driven implications for service-dominant logic

Service-dominant logic (SDL) provides a conceptual understanding of and widens the view on value creation in service innovation for product-centric companies. However, empirical research linking SDL and service innovation is still limited albeit expanding. This study provides insights beyond existing discussions on product and service dimensions using the theoretical lens of the value logic perspective. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to examine how value can be understood, targeted, and created in the pursuit of service innovation by product-centric manufacturing companies. Building on a previous investigation of two multinational product-centric manufacturing companies, this paper identifies and develops a theoretical model to describe the space shift in service innovation with four different kinds of value logics, namely, product-based value logic, service-based value logic, virtual-based value logic, and systemic-based value logic. Using a digitalization-driven new service innovation, namely the My Control System, which is a web-based service delivery platform, this paper describes space shifts to enhance value through four value logics as efforts. Further, challenges associated with different value logics are described in terms of complexity traps and service gaps. The study also contributes to bridging the gap between SDL theory and practice by developing a midrange theoretical model for value creation as a specification and amendment to SDL that supports SDL-guided service innovation and servitization in practice.     

知识动态能力视角的电商平台大数据分析价值链战略

电子商务领域信息技术的开放性提高了服务创新的可见性,为适应多维度要素交互的平台竞争环境,需要基于电商平台丰富的数据资源,通过大数据分析提高战略规划的动态性、灵活性和响应敏捷性,形成一种能够快速集合与组织资源的模式,实现业务价值传递的可持续,满足竞争对抗与互动以及时间轴动态演化的需要。鉴于此,基于大数据分析、知识管理、动态能力、业务流程理论和指向性网络调查数据,构建大数据分析价值链战略研究模型,探讨大数据分析、动态能力、流程级创新与核心竞争力及战略绩效之间的关联。研究结果表明,大数据分析能实现有效的内生源和外生源知识管理,帮助企业形成动态能力,构建核心竞争力,进而提高战略绩效;大数据分析能提高企业组织的灵活性,可作为企业在竞争中赖以生存发展的战略投资;外生源知识管理和内生源知识管理均可单独运作产生知识动态能力,但外生源知识管理的作用更显著有效,更值得重视;知识共享是流程级创新的潜在障碍,与合作商进行知识共享需要选择合适的路径;动态能力既可直接影响流程级创新与核心竞争力,也可调节知识资产对竞争力的影响。总之,大数据分析能够通过影响动态能力和流程级创新来提高核心竞争力,且动态能力在知识管理与流程级创新及核心竞争力(战略绩效)间具有中介作用,电商平台应客观认识大数据分析潜在价值,将之纳入信息技术战略,通过梳理大数据分析→动态能力→核心竞争力→战略绩效的价值链过程,形成战略协同,最终提高知识创新的边际绩效。     

The antecedents of political capabilities: A study of ownership,cross-border activity and organization at legacy airlines in a deregulatory context

Governments and ownership structures can both facilitate and constrain organizational value creation. Firm-level political strategy is a frequent response to protect or promote organizational interests. When effectively configured and implemented, these political strategies can become capabilities. This inductive study examines the antecedents of political capabilities in European airlines within the context of cross-border market deregulation. Our central contribution is an understanding of how management teams from non-state and state airlines organize and develop divergent corporate political capabilities in this context. While managers’ actions in response to specific public policy processes can create political capabilities, the outcome is moderated by the nature of corporate ownership and the relative influence of public and private stakeholders on capability formation. Our theoretical contribution is to extend the study of organizational capabilities into the non-market context through analyzing how European flag carrier airlines organized their political capabilities in anticipation of a changing transnational policy context.     

An exploration of inter-functional integration in the new service development process

This article explores the nature of inter-functional integration in the new service development process through a detailed study of two new internal ICT services developed at one of Europe's largest service providers: Consignia, the UK postal service. The study develops a conceptual framework, incorporating dimensions of process, context and outcomes, to inform the analysis. The empirical findings reveal that the level and timing of appropriate functional stakeholders, influence of relationships with external stakeholders, formalisation and ownership of authority, shared understanding of goals and the influence of shifting organisational contexts act as critical factors underlying the nature of inter-functional activities and outcomes. Managerial implications and future research directions are drawn.     

Innovative ways of raising funds and adding value: A stakeholder approach to whole business securitization

Whole business (WB) securitization is a corporate fundraising strategy that allows companies to realize the full value of their operating assets in cooperation with their stakeholders. In a WB securitization, the company raises funds by issuing securitization bonds backed by its operating assets. A characteristic feature of this funding strategy is that it allows investors to impose operating conditions which obligate the company to develop its business strategy and operations. Hence, investors can influence the branding and customer service practices, as well as the stakeholder relationships of the company. Herein, we outline how managers of the securitized assets and investors can add value by adopting a stakeholder approach to whole business securitization.     

New Service Development Process

Abstract

To continue to grow, more and more U.S. service firms have looked overseas in recent years to find markets for their offerings. Thus, innovation in the global context has become a strategic imperative for many service firms. While the issue of how to foster service innovation has been an area of extensive research, the cross-national comparison of innovation practices particularly between developed and emerging countries has been only a nascent field of research. To address this gap in the literature we conducted a comparative study of new service development process and stages of the financial service firms in an emerging country, India, and a developed country, the United States. The results support the central argument of the article that significant cross-national differences do exist with regard to a firm's new service development process. The findings should be of value to managers faced with the tasks of selecting and managing service innovation in emerging markets, as well as those firms experiencing international competition.     

Investigating the formation of service supply chains

Existing research on service supply chains assumes the existence of an established and mature chain. Empirical or conceptual insights into service supply chain formation are therefore limited. The initial formation of a service supply chain, however, is suspected to determine its future performance. It is therefore of significant academic and managerial value to understand how and why service supply chains are formed, and how this process is coordinated. Drawing on an exploratory case study set in the management consulting industry, the inductive theory-building process underlying this study culminates in propositions and a conceptual model that provides a distinct understanding of service supply chain formation and the coordination mechanisms utilized within each stage. This study contributes to the service science, service supply chains, and service sourcing literatures; outlines managerial implications; and proposes future research directions.     

Strategic fit: Key to growing enterprise value through organizational capital

Organizational capital is an intangible asset that is a continuous creator of value through generating above-normal revenue growth, innovation, operational excellence, and stakeholder relationships. The elusive nature of organizational capital stems from competing perspectives on how it can be defined and managed. This article presents a comprehensive model for understanding the critical process, components, and necessary linkages that result in increased enterprise value through the creation of organizational capital. Attention is given to the factors that influence organizational capital (fit among leadership, strategy, and organization design), its influence on human capital, and, ultimately, the impact on operational excellence, stakeholder capital, and the essential levels of innovation that drive capital efficient growth. Guidance is provided for the CEO, CFO, and CHRO wishing to harness the power of organizational capital and increase both current and future value of the firm.     

物业服务质量对顾客价值及顾客忠诚的影响:居住档次的调节作用

在竞争日益加剧的市场环境中如何提供高质量的服务,提升顾客感知价值以及顾客忠诚度是企业获取竞争优势的关键所在.本文以物业服务行业为研究背景,建构服务质量各维度对顾客价值和顾客忠诚的影响机制模型,并检验居住档次对该模型的调节效应.研究结果表明:与其他行业的服务质量维度构成不同,物业服务质量由实体环境、专业保障、服务效率和人文关怀四个维度构成;实体环境对顾客忠诚产生正向显著影响,而专业保障、服务效率、人文关怀三个服务维度虽然对顾客忠诚没有显著的直接影响,但均通过顾客价值对其产生间接影响;顾客价值是解释服务质量影响顾客忠诚的重要中介变量;居住档次部分调节了实体环境、专业保障、服务效率和人文关怀对顾客价值及顾客忠诚的影响.     

Discussion of “Recognizing Ethical Issues: An Examination of Practicing Industry Accountants and Accounting Students”

Although the political and consumer consciousness has turned increasingly green, many firms continue to resist the adoption of environment-friendly technological innovations—even in the face of higher costs, negative health effects, and stricter government oversight. This article examines how business owners weigh the trade-offs associated with environment-friendly innovations by examining the role of prosocial motivation in their decision-making process. We use primary data to overcome a common restriction in studying environmental innovations—the scarcity of relevant data—to analyze how business owners’ expectations, perceptions, and motivations affect innovation in organizational processes and, consequently, the level of environmental friendliness of their products or services. We found that prosocial motivation had a significant negative impact on innovation adoption and that it is expressed differently under high and low levels of customer compatibility—possibly because business owners have a larger number of competing social objectives and priorities. Our results further showed that the innovation’s ability to satisfy downstream customer demands has the greatest impact on environment-friendly innovation adoption decisions by business owners. This study enhances our understanding of how business owners make innovation decisions based on competing business, environmental and social objectives and provides a foundation for future research in this area.     

Innovation quantity or quality? The role of political connections

Based on the heterogeneity of innovation quantity and quality, this study investigates the impact of political connections on enterprises' innovation. Using the data of Chinese listed enterprises from 2003 to 2015, we find that political connections have a positive impact on enterprises' innovation quantity, but they are detrimental to innovation quality. We further find that political connections weaken the promotion of government subsidies on innovation quality and even reduce the R&D intensity of enterprises, which serves as an essential determinant of innovation quality. The government can stimulate enterprises' innovation quality by improving marketization, intellectual property protection, and anti-corruption.     

A Framework for Managing Environmental Strategy

Over the last ten years, environmental strategy has taken an increasing amount of top management time, and the trend seems likely to continue. This article argues that most firms' environmental strategy is based on the overly simplistic model of quantitative Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) which basically aims merely to minimise emissions relative to inputs (energy, materials). The author outlines a broader framework based on identifying priority stakeholders, including future stakeholders and future alliances between stakeholders. Whilst recognising the practical difficulties, he argues that direct stakeholder consultation is a net gain to companies because it helps to identify in advance the limits for what they can and cannot achieve in practice: getting approval from stakeholders in advance will often make action easier and becomes a critical success factor in industries which are intensively scrutinised. Changing to this approach also converts environmental strategy from being purely a potential source of costs to a potential source of market value creation, making it more likely that the Board will view it within a positive framework.