Qualitative aspects of the evaluation and control of research and development projects

Decisions in research and development are usually based on a variety of data inputs. Some of these will be concerned with the returns offered by projects in money terms. Others will relate to more qualitative aspects of research work such as, perhaps, the establishment of a base in a new area of technology or the achievement of a stronger market position. This paper describes and illustrates how checklists may be used to assemble qualitative data for purposes of decision. These were formulated in an industrial R & D laboratory and the illustrative examples in the text make reference to real projects. The checklists described are an integral part of a comprehensive system of project evaluation and control in R & D which includes an analysis of the financial implications using net present value or discounted cash flow rate of return of the project risk, analysis and sensitivity tests. The detail of this part of the scheme is conventional and is therefore omitted from the paper.     

Are rigor and transparency enough? Review and future directions for case studies in technology and innovation Management

It is crucial to assess how technology and innovation management (TIM) scholars use case-based research. Our study provides a theoretical systematic review of qualitative case-based articles published in 31 TIM journals from 2013 to 2018. Our analysis of 311 articles uncovers patterns regarding rigor (including case justification and selection), transparency (including data collection and analytical methods), and paradigmatic consistency and pluralism. Our findings show some evidence of emerging pluralism in how TIM researchers perform qualitative case studies, but also highlight some worrying trends: paradigmatic inconsistencies, lack of transparency, and over-reliance on specific approaches, all of which affect the value of case study research. We provide methodological guidelines for improving the use of qualitative case research in TIM.     

Paradigms of derived exchange value effects in market network

Customer consumption value ultimately derives from enterprise production the consumption benefits which originating from inter-organizational cooperation as well as the transferred and accumulated exchange value of the enterprise with external organizations. This study plans to clarify the effect of the derived exchange relationship on enterprise exchange value, and also to identify the network models of different derived effect relationships. An analysis of the Taiwanese public health system revealed both positive and negative exchange value effects that impacted relationships among actors in the overall health system. Four generic models were presented by analyzing the qualitative data from phenomenon of different types of inter-organizational exchange behaviors, and other more complex models deduced from four generic models were also proposed.     

A relationship value perspective of social capital in networks of software SMEs

Utilizing theories on social capital, business networks, social networks and relationship value, we explore the aspects that provide specific value in relationships with different actors in the software industry. The motive for the study is the assumption that some relationships are regarded as more important than others, and companies strive to focus on fewer relationships with greater outcomes. The study is guided by the premise that social capital is a foundation for relationship value, and its identified elements differ among relationships. We take the perspective of software companies and classify their relationships with business partners into three distinctive types according to their function in the value creation process. The findings of our empirical analysis, based on a qualitative case study of eight software SMEs indicate that the aspects of social capital, like the sources of relationship value, vary systematically by the types of relationships. Thus, we are able to provide some theoretical and managerial implications on the management of small- and medium-sized companies.     

The external effect of marketing accountability in business relationships: Exploring the role of customer perceived value

This paper explores where and how marketing accountability of a supplier meets customer perceived value in a business relationship setting. If the supplier's firm implements marketing accountability processes, marketing activities are improved, as well as the communication of the value proposition to customers. The supplier's value proposition is in turn reflected through the creation of superior customer perceived value, which triggers attitudinal and behavioral value outcomes. Hence, the marketing accountability of the supplier, through its external manifestation with customers, ultimately influences the supplier's financial results. The aim of the paper is to discuss the external effect of marketing accountability in a business relationship context, which is often suppressed by the prevailing focus on the internal manifestations of marketing accountability, or the inside-out approach. As marketing accountability is an evolving field, bibliometric co-citation analysis is carried out to gain a better understanding of the marketing accountability's domain and scope. On the grounds of the relationship marketing theory and resource-based view, qualitative research was carried out and insights from interviews with marketing managers from different industries were analyzed. The paper concludes by suggesting the operationalization of the marketing accountability construct and pointing out the need for a multilevel and dyadic design of further empirical studies for testing the proposed external effect of marketing accountability.     

Value propositions as market-shaping devices: A qualitative comparative analysis

Forward-looking firms are increasingly viewing markets as malleable and plastic systems that can be influenced. Hence, they are engaging in market-shaping to proactively augment existing business opportunities or to create new ones. One of the recurring themes in the emerging market-shaping literature is the importance of value propositions. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to identify configurations of value proposition characteristics that are effective for focal firms engaging in market-shaping strategies. In our empirical study, we analyze market-shaping actions carried out by 21 case firms using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. We identify four characteristics of market-shaping value propositions: (1) enhanced resource integration and related support as the core content of market-shaping value propositions, and (2) collaborative value proposing process, (3) systemic and verified value promise, and (4) new representations used in communication as the design characteristics of market-shaping value propositions. Further, we show that even though value propositions can shape markets without displaying all four of these characteristics, none of these characteristics alone can create all the expected outcomes. Hence, we identify distinct configurations of value proposition characteristics that are successful in either changing the elements comprising the market system or inducing an overall system-level market change.     

Scenarios of the organic food market in Europe

Scenario analysis is a qualitative tool for strategic policy analysis that enables researchers and policymakers to support decision making, and a systemic analysis of the main determinants of a business or sector. In this study, a scenario analysis is developed regarding the future development of the market of organic food products in Europe. The scenario follows a participatory approach, exploiting potential interactions among the relevant driving forces, as selected by experts. Network analysis is used to identify the roles of driving forces in the different scenarios, and the results are discussed in comparison with the main findings from existing scenarios on the future development of the organic sector.     

Paths Toward Radical Service Innovation in Manufacturing Companies—A Service‐Dominant Logic Perspective

Research on servitization of manufacturing companies concentrates on typologies of product–service bundles, on transition pathways to increased servitization, and on resource and capabilities configurations necessary to accomplish this transition. Missing from existing research is an analysis of the degree of novelty of service innovations introduced by manufacturing companies. Therefore, this article shifts the focus from the transition process itself to the question of how manufacturing companies can introduce radical service innovations to the market. This article links servitization literature with service innovation literature and investigates how manufacturing companies can introduce radically new services in terms of three forms of innovations: service concept innovations, customer experience innovations, and service process innovations. Service‐dominant logic (SDL) is applied as the theoretical lens because it covers four significant factors influencing the success of companies’ innovation activities: actor value networks, resource liquefaction, resource density, and resource integration. Based on a multiple case study of 24 Danish business‐to‐business manufacturing small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises and through a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, different configurations of the principles of SDL are analyzed. They describe the paths to radical service innovation. Digitalization appears as a central causal condition in the bulk of the configurations. Big and rich data generated internally within the focal company in combination with for instance customer data can enhance the innovativeness of the service offerings. However, digitalization is not a sufficient condition for launching radical service innovation—it should be combined with an efficient mobilization of resources internally within the focal company and/or collaboration with other organizations within the value system. In addition, the analysis hints to a need to detach from immediate customers as the prime driver of service innovation.     

Reinventing the wheel? A critical view of demand-chain management

Demand–supply alignment as a means for value creation in the marketplace is not a new concept either in the marketing or supply chain management literature. Recent developments in demand chain management (DCM) revamp this issue, which is particularly critical for today's firms. DCM studies, however, remain isolated from wider academic debates and are unclear on the processes required for the demand–supply alignment inside the firm, incurring the risk of becoming irrelevant. Through a systematic literature review and qualitative content analysis, we leveraged the existing knowledge on interfaces between intra-firm departments to identify the dimensions of demand–supply alignment and map the drivers, enablers and consequences of implementing such an alignment. These outcomes, together with theoretical perspectives, are used to improve the idea of DCM, ground theoretical reflections on the concept and suggest avenues for research. This study should interest researchers and practitioners willing to adopt the DCM strategy.     

Changes in sponsorship value: Competencies and capabilities of successful sponsorship relationships

The sponsorship relationship has evolved considerably over the past few years. As a result, the value delivered to both sponsors and the sports entities with which they form relationships needed to be redefined. While some of these partners have made the necessary leap forward, some sponsors have also been confronted with resistance on the part of sport entities to adapt to evolving perceptions of value. Based on a qualitative study aimed at canvassing the views of some of the most prominent experts in the field and spanning 4 years and four continents, we document this evolution of sponsorship value and identify those key competencies that differentiate successful sponsors from less successful ones. Our research provides insights for other inter-firm relationships, particularly those in the service sector.     

山西省“十二五”公共租赁住房建设研究

针对山西省公共租赁房还只停留在政策制定层面上,没有规划也没有具体实施等问题,界定了公共租赁房的内涵,采用定性分析与定量分析相结合的方法,预测分析得到城镇居民人均可支配家庭收入、商品住房市场均价,确定了"十二五"期间城镇保障公共租赁住房居民家庭所对应的年收入保障线标准和需要保障的比例,从而预测出"十二五"期间城镇公共租赁住房的年均建设数量,并提出了公共租赁住房建设的政策建议.     

The supplier's side of outsourcing: Taking over activities and blurring organizational boundaries

Since most of the literature on outsourcing focuses only to the buying (outsourcing) company, this paper aims to highlight the supplier's side from a relational perspective. The paper stresses the importance of business relationships between suppliers of outsourced activities and their customers. The paper's purpose is specified in two research questions: (1) how is value created within outsourcing and (2) how does the supplier interact with the outsourcing company? Our method relies on an in-depth qualitative case study of Logoplaste, a Portuguese packaging company which supplies large consumer goods manufacturers through complex outsourcing activities. Our analysis identifies three key dimensions of outsourcing relationships: (1) value co-creation via inter-firm coordination (as opposed to unilateral externalization of activities); (2) mutual dependence between supplier and customer due to the supplier's taking over activities; and (3) the blurring of organizational boundaries because of mutual dependence. These dimensions manifest themselves, even though in different degrees, after the initiation of any outsourcing relationship: these variables are new to the literature on outsourcing, which focuses on the ex ante dimensions that influence the customer's pre-relational choices such as “make or buy” and relationship type.     

The Different Roles of Product Appearance in Consumer Choice*

Product design has been recognized as an opportunity for differential advantage in the market place. The appearance of a product influences consumer product choice in several ways. To help product development managers in optimizing the appearance of products, the present study identified the different ways in which the appearance of a product plays a role in consumer product evaluation and, hence, choice. In addition, the implications for product design of each role are listed, and managerial recommendations for optimizing the appearance of products are given. Based on a literature review, six different roles of product appearance for consumers are identified: (1) communication of aesthetic, (2) symbolic, (3) functional, and (4) ergonomic information; (5) attention drawing; and (6) categorization. A product's appearance can have aesthetic and symbolic value for consumers, can communicate functional characteristics and give a quality impression (functional value), and can communicate ease of use (ergonomic value). In addition, it can draw attention and can influence the ease of categorization of the product. In a large qualitative study (N=142) it was tested whether these roles indeed exist in consumers' process of product choice and whether they are sufficient to describe the way in which product appearance plays a role for consumers. In addition, qualitative insight into these roles was gained. After making a choice between two answering machines, subjects were interviewed about the reasons for their choice and the product information they used to form the judgments underlying their choice reasons. The six appearance roles indeed proved relevant for consumers and were sufficient to describe the influence of product appearance on product choice. The number of ways in which appearance played a role for consumers differed between 0 and 5; most subjects mentioned two different ways in which appearance influenced their product choice. The aesthetic and symbolic roles were mentioned most often. The preferred shape (e.g., rounded or angular), color, or size were found to differ depending on the way in which product appearance played a role for subjects. For example, bright colors may be valued from an aesthetic point of view but may diminish the impression of quality (i.e., functional value). This makes it difficult to optimize all roles and illustrates that the product value that is most important for consumers when purchasing a specific kind of product should be the starting point in the design of the product appearance. Furthermore, the influence of shape, color, or size on a certain kind of product value—aesthetic, symbolic, ergonomic, or functional—differed between subjects. One person may like a rounded shape, while another may prefer a rectangular shape. This means that the value of guidelines indicating how the perception of a specific kind of product value can be engendered by means of shape, color, and size is limited. This is especially the case for aesthetic and symbolic product value, which are very personal. Therefore it is recommended to test the performance of the appearance of a newly developed product on these six roles with the target group of consumers. Insight into the different ways in which appearance characteristics, such as form and color, may influence consumer choice will increase managers' awareness about how to use product appearance as a marketing tool. In addition, distinguishing these six appearance roles will help product development managers to optimize the product appearance better to market needs, as the roles have different and sometimes even conflicting implications for the design of the product appearance.     

Evaluating growth options as sources of value for pharmaceutical research projects

The financial value of research projects is difficult to assess because they are highly uncertain. Often, the result is either an overly conservative approach to strategic innovation, based on net present value analyses, or an overly aggressive approach based on optimistic qualitative portfolios. R&D project evaluation requires recognizing threats as well as opportunities from uncertain events, and incorporating flexibility in managerial action in response to them. Real options pricing analysis is a widely discussed tool for evaluating such managerial flexibility. The limitation of options pricing lies in its requirement for complete financial markets, in which a replicating asset can be found that reproduces (or, at least, is correlated with) the project’s payoffs in all possible states of the world. However, the major risks of research projects are typically project specific and cannot be replicated in external markets. In this situation, a decision tree is a better tool to represent managerial options during execution of the project, and to evaluate its value. A decision tree is equivalent to options pricing for risks that can be priced in the financial markets (if trading of securities is explicitly included), and moreover, it can incorporate risks and flexibility that are not traded in financial markets. Using decision trees, we demonstrate a quantitative evaluation of compound growth options from research at BestPharma, a large international pharmaceutical company. A growth option is a future opportunity that may arise from a current R&D investment. The growth option may not be related to the primary purpose of the R&D project, or not even be directly foreseeable. Kester (1984) has argued that growth options may account for a large part of project value. BestPharma faced the problem of choosing among several strategic research initiatives. They developed a decision tree representation of the projects, which helped to provide transparency about project value and strategic options. Most importantly, carefully thinking through the tree helped to identify growth options, represented by additional branches in the tree, and to quantify that they represented major sources of value.     

Value co-creation in knowledge intensive business services: A dyadic perspective on the joint problem solving process

This paper examines the collaborative process of value co-creation in the context of knowledge intensive business services. Through 120 qualitative interviews with suppliers and buyers of knowledge intensive services, the extensive exploratory study analyzes the activities, roles and resources of buyers and suppliers in the reciprocal value co-creation process, and their implications for the resulting value-in-use. The paper draws on the literature on value creation, solutions and professional services marketing, and service-dominant logic. It provides a framework depicting value co-creation that occurs through a dyadic problem solving process, comprising activities such as diagnosing needs, designing and producing solutions, organizing the process and resources, managing value conflicts, and implementing the solution. The framework serves as a managerial tool to determine critical resources and roles for suppliers and customers, facilitate joint activities, and optimize resource utilization. Insights from this research are broadly applicable to the contexts of knowledge intensive and solutions business.     

The intermediator role in value co-creation within a triadic business service relationship

This study aims to enhance the knowledge of the roles played in value co-creation adopted by parties to triadic service business relationships. We approach the research issue through theoretical considerations and explore it empirically with a qualitative case study of triadic service relationships in the property maintenance business.     

It ain't over 'til it's over: Evaluating reacquisition opportunities in business-to-business markets

Using a qualitative critical incident research technique, this paper examines how sales firms evaluate defected customers in order to determine their worthiness for reacquisition. Findings from interviews with fifty professional salespeople suggest that, when sales firms assess reacquisition opportunities, these opportunities are evaluated based on the likelihood of reacquisition and the value of the customer (i.e., ease of reacquisition and value of the customer). Salespeople report that the barriers to reacquisition, leveraging remaining customer relationship and investigating their own value-adding capabilities are critical in determining the ease of reacquisition. In addition, salespeople report that account size, profitability, market influence and cross-selling potential are fundamental in determining the value of a customer. Furthermore, the importance of ease and value in reacquisition assessments varies with (1) the reason for the customer defection, (2) the formalization of a firm's reacquisition process, and (3) market opportunities. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.     

消费者感知的行业污名维度：一个探索实证研究

行业的污名维度是行业内的企业开展形象修复运动的重要前提。为了揭示国内消费者感知的行业污名维度,首先通过文献研究法和德尔菲法确定国内、外典型行业及消费者的污名印象;进而在大样本问卷调查的基础上,通过因子分析,探讨了消费者感知的行业污名的维度,以及消费者的行业涉入时行业污名维度感知的影响。结果显示：国内外消费者对行业污名的感知存在明显差异;国内消费者感知的行业污名维度包括：业务型行业污名和形象型行业污名。     

质量体系定量评价模型研究

针对企业质量体系审核中采用的传统的定性评价方法所存在的缺陷,以模糊层次评价法为基础,分别对多指标系统的模糊优选模型以及以次多指标系统的模糊优先方法进行了分析论述,建立了一种适用于ＩＳＯ９０００质量体系的定量评价模型。意在减少评价过程中的主观性,保证评价结果的科学性和公正性,客观地反映企业ＩＳＯ９０００质量体系运行的真实情况。     

公允价值会计的反思

公允价值与历史成本之间的孰优孰劣一直就伴随着争议。我们不应该忽视公允价值固有的内涵缺陷及其与财务会计概念框架的冲突,以及在金融危机中的顺周期效应。文章将从会计决策有用目标和会计信息质量以及准则的经济后果角度重新反思公允价值会计。