Ines Österle, Paulus T. Aditjandra, Carlo Vaghi, Gabriele Grea and Thomas H. Zunder
The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse a case of local freight stakeholder involvement to plan and design eco-efficient city logistics innovations in Como, a small…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse a case of local freight stakeholder involvement to plan and design eco-efficient city logistics innovations in Como, a small city in Italy. While the importance of a well-functioning urban goods distribution system is widely acknowledged, city authorities have become increasingly aware of the need to minimise the negative impacts associated to the system. There are now countless examples of attempts to increase the eco-efficiency of urban freight deliveries; however, very few have made a notable impact. The success of such schemes often depends upon the response of a range of private sector freight stakeholders and their involvement during the planning process of these solutions is crucial.
Design/methodology/approach
To engage local freight stakeholders within the planning process of a city logistics project, the logical framework approach, in the form of the design and monitoring framework (DMF) developed by the Asian Development Bank, has been applied.
Findings
The structured consultation process implied within the DMF approach allowed urban freight stakeholders to share their aspirations from the beginning of the city freight planning process, despite their differences in priorities in adopting eco-efficient logistics innovations. The process ensured that city stakeholders accepted and committed to the city logistics strategies formulated during the consultation process, namely: changes to the Limited Traffic Zone regulation, the use of an urban consolidation centre and hybrid electric truck adoption.
Research limitations/implications
The evaluation of the DMF application will be definitive after the demonstration/implementation stage of the city logistics project. It will then become clear if freight stakeholders have committed to the project and if it is effective in delivering the expected outputs and outcomes.
Practical implications
Local city authorities may find this method useful in situations where a structured consultation process is needed for addressing urban freight issues. This is especially the case in the context of introducing innovative, eco-efficiency solutions.
Originality/value
The application of DMF in the developed environment can be considered novel; this paper extends this with an application to the promotion of sustainable urban freight.
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Claudia Dias, Ricardo Gouveia Rodrigues and João J. Ferreira
Based on farm diversification's conventional and unconventional nature, the study intends to discriminate different profiles of farm diversification businesses. Furthermore, this…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on farm diversification's conventional and unconventional nature, the study intends to discriminate different profiles of farm diversification businesses. Furthermore, this study analyses the links between farm diversification efforts, (open) innovation networks as well as the environmental performance (EP) and financial performance (FP) of farms.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was administered through personal interviews with 160 fresh fruit farmers in an inland Portuguese region. Linear regression, latent class analysis (LCA) and multinomial logistic regression were used.
Findings
There are significant differences between the levels of diversification, performance and participation in (open) innovation networks of the three classes of farmers discriminated. Different types of diversification efforts and (open) innovation networks influence EP and FP, while FP and R&D projects are associated with the likelihood of being part of a farm diversification class. Moreover, this study shows that innovation networks, promoted by specialized agricultural advisors and R&D projects, are important forms of open innovation in the agricultural sector.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to understanding the agricultural sector's diversification efforts and (open) innovation networks and their association with EP and FP. The conventional or unconventional nature of farm diversification was self-reported.
Practical implications
European and local institutions are advised to develop more R&D programs directed to farmers, including environmental and financial issues, besides comprising agricultural and non-agricultural diversification.
Originality/value
This study provides new insights to understand the association between diversification efforts, (open) innovation networks and agricultural businesses' performance.
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Marinus Swanepoel, Adeline Du Toit and Pieter A. Van Brakel
The dependency of academic information services on information technology is growing, particularly as information technology is the primary infrastructure of a digital library…
Abstract
The dependency of academic information services on information technology is growing, particularly as information technology is the primary infrastructure of a digital library. This is compound by the fast changing/developing nature of information technology and the trend towards digitisation. The changing nature of information technology contributes to the need to manage it. The focus of this article is on the management of information technology with specific reference to the changing nature of this resource. To find a suitable model with which to manage information technology the management of change as well the management of technology was studied. In doing so 11 variables (which should be included in a management model) were distilled for literature. Directors of academic information services in the South African territory sector were approached to rank the variables. Of these 11 variables, the first six were identified as key criteria. When existing information technology models were evaluated, these key criteria were used as the most important measured of effectiveness. However, attempts to find suitable existing model that accommodates all six key criteria were unsuccessful. Ultimately, a new model was designed which could be implemented by academic information services (i.e. university libraries).
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Monika Malinova and Jan Mendling
The authors observe that actionable guidelines are missing from many reference works on business process management (BPM). Also, success factors are mostly not contextualized in…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors observe that actionable guidelines are missing from many reference works on business process management (BPM). Also, success factors are mostly not contextualized in the different phases and concerns of a BPM initiative. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design builds on a literature survey for building an integrated framework for BPM that is referred to as integrated BPM. It integrates lifecycle phases, capability areas and governance aspects. Then, the authors consolidate insights from expert interviews.
Findings
As a result, the authors provide a list of various activities that are associated with the different elements of BPM. Furthermore, the authors describe pitfalls for each of the elements that have been avoided in order to make the BPM initiative a success.
Research limitations/implications
The findings emphasize the potential to study BPM success and its factors on a more fine-granular activity level.
Practical implications
The list of activities and the list of pitfalls are directly applicable for practitioners.
Originality/value
The research on the integrated BPM framework consolidates insights from prior research and extends it with an expert perspective on pitfalls.
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Ana Isabel Jiménez‐Zarco, María Pilar Martínez‐Ruiz and Alicia Izquierdo‐Yusta
Culture makes firms unique and, depending on the implemented pattern of social and managerial culture, technology, and innovation, it can have an important influence on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Culture makes firms unique and, depending on the implemented pattern of social and managerial culture, technology, and innovation, it can have an important influence on the personality and behaviour of the firm. Although a cultural model of market orientation encourages product innovation and fosters cooperative relationships with clients, few studies analyse this important relationship from a service perspective. This research seeks to investigate the relevance of market orientation for the firm's client cooperation relationships in developing radical innovations in the service sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A descriptive investigation uses 433 Spanish service firms that introduced radical innovations in their product fields in the past two years. The paper conducted four discriminant analyses: one for the total sample of firms and three for the sub‐samples defined by the extent to which firms use information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their activities.
Findings
The four models reveal that customer orientation, competitor orientation, and inter‐functional coordination provide means to differentiate between firms that cooperate with their clients to innovate and firms that do not. In each model, the significance and weight of the three variables change, depending on the degree to which the firms use ICT. Therefore, the distinction between firms that cooperate and those that do not is possible mainly for the total sample of firms. For the sub‐samples, not all MO dimensions can discriminate this way.
Practical implications
This study offers important contributions for both researchers and managers in the field of service innovation. It identifies explicitly the relationship between market orientation and cooperation, which makes it possible to extend the study and enhance comprehension of this concept to the relationship that the firm has with other agents in the value chain. Market orientation, as an inter‐firm phenomenon, may favour the design of market orientation strategies that offer superior value to the market. On the other hand, the empirical analysis shows which factors (philosophical principles, strategic implications of proactive market orientation) have the highest discriminatory power for innovative firms, according to their sector of activity. This work also identifies market orientation as an element that fosters a cooperation strategy.
Originality/value
Despite the importance of market orientation for developing cooperative relationships with clients, few studies analyse the relevance of these relationships in the firm's service innovation process. The findings thus offer a valuable contribution by showing the relevance of this relationship in developing new service innovations. Furthermore, the application of Spanish ICT contributes to existing research in Spain.
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Behjat Zuhaira and Naveed Ahmad
Significant numbers of business process management (BPM) projects fail. Their failure is attributed toward many factors. Among them, low quality of BPM is one reason. Some of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Significant numbers of business process management (BPM) projects fail. Their failure is attributed toward many factors. Among them, low quality of BPM is one reason. Some of the tasks in BPM have their roots in business process reengineering (BPR). The literature has cited many different critical success and failure factors for quality BPM and BPR. Lack of software tools is one of the technology-oriented factors that results in poor BPM and BPR. This paper aims to build a generic feature set offered by software tools for process modeling their analysis implementation and management. It presents an objective analysis in identifying weaknesses and strengths of these tools, primarily for BPM.
Design/methodology/approach
A method is proposed to evaluate the quality of process reengineering and management delivered by software tools. It consists of four phases: feature extraction, tool selection, data extraction and tool evaluation.
Findings
The data gathered is quantified to test research hypotheses, the results are statistically significant and highlight multiple areas for future improvements. Moreover, the cluster visualizations created also help to understand the strengths and weaknesses of BPM/BPR tools.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the research approach used, there is a chance of subjectivity when it comes to evaluating different tools.
Practical implications
The paper includes implications for practitioners and researchers for choosing appropriate software tool for process modeling, analysis, implementation and management, matching their requirements with BPM and BPR. It also identifies features that are missing in these tools.
Originality/value
This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of BPM and supporting tools, relates them to key stages of BPM life cycle and BPR methodologies. It also identifies various areas for further development in these tools.
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Morten Brinch, Jan Stentoft and Dag Näslund
While big data creates business value, knowledge on how value is created remains limited and research is needed to discover big data’s value mechanism. The purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
While big data creates business value, knowledge on how value is created remains limited and research is needed to discover big data’s value mechanism. The purpose of this paper is to explore value creation capabilities of big data through an alignment perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a single case study of a service division of a large Danish wind turbine generator manufacturer based on 18 semi-structured interviews.
Findings
A strategic alignment framework comprising human, information technology, organization, performance, process and strategic practices are used as a basis to identify 15 types of alignment capabilities and their inter-dependent variables fostering the value creation of big data. The alignment framework is accompanied by seven propositions to obtain alignment of big data in service processes.
Research limitations/implications
The study demonstrates empirical anchoring of how alignment capabilities affect a company’s ability to create value from big data as identified in a service supply chain.
Practical implications
Service supply chains and big data are complex matters. Therefore, understanding how alignment affects a company’s ability to create value of big data may help the company to overcome challenges of big data.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates how value from big data can be created following an alignment logic. By this, both critical and complementary alignment capabilities have been identified.