Inga-Britt Gustafsson, Lars Wallin, Ulrika Winblad and Mio Fredriksson
A local healthcare organisation providing healthcare to 288,000 residents in Sweden struggled with a longstanding budget deficit. Several attempts to overcome the demanding…
Abstract
Purpose
A local healthcare organisation providing healthcare to 288,000 residents in Sweden struggled with a longstanding budget deficit. Several attempts to overcome the demanding financial situation have failed. A decommissioning programme was launched, and two years later, an evaluation indicated positive outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore factors politicians and public servants perceived as enablers to the successful implementation of the programme.
Design/methodology/approach
A deductive content analysis approach using a framework of factors facilitating successful implementation of decommissioning decisions was applied to analyse interviews with 18 informants.
Findings
Important factors were: (1) a review report contributing to the clarity of evidence, which (2) made the clarity of the rationale for change undeniable and (3) strengthened the political support for change. Additional factors were: (4) the strength of executive leadership, (5) the strength of clinical leadership supported by (6) the quality of project management and (7) a cultural and behavioural change seen as an important outcome for the path forward. A way to maximise the potential for a successful implementation of a large-scale decommissioning programme is to build a shared vision and a collaboration grounded in convincing evidence. Include public servants with a clinical background in the executive leadership team to contribute with legitimacy, competence, and trust in the decommissioning programme’s intention.
Originality/value
The paper addresses the limited knowledge of best practices in decommissioning processes and contributes empirical knowledge from a successful case.
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[Editor's comment: In the event that readers may feel that undue emphasis has been given to the reporting of exhibitions in this issue, it should be pointed out that this is not…
Abstract
[Editor's comment: In the event that readers may feel that undue emphasis has been given to the reporting of exhibitions in this issue, it should be pointed out that this is not intended to set the pattern for future issues. It does, however, to some extent reflect the surfeit of events taking place in the UK/Europe in this quarter of the year. The exhibitions are reported in chronoligical order.]
Arto Juhani Wallin and Lars Fuglsang
Although the digital era has given rise to major transformations in many industries, health care has been remarkably resistant to radical innovations coming outside the field. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the digital era has given rise to major transformations in many industries, health care has been remarkably resistant to radical innovations coming outside the field. The purpose of this paper is to explore and explain how new ventures aim to break institutional arrangements (i.e. regulations, normative rules, and cultural-cognitive beliefs) protecting the field by introducing digitally enabled service innovations into health care markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is qualitative and interpretative in nature and utilizes case study as a research strategy. The paper is based on data that were collected through narrative interviews and document analysis from seven new ventures participating in a start-up accelerator program.
Findings
Results indicate that service innovations that require a change in the institutional structures of the health care system are enacted through three highly iterative key processes: institutional sensemaking that creates an understanding of prevailing institutional arrangements and that constructs meaning for institutional change efforts, theorization of change through linguistic device, and modifications of institutions by building legitimacy and mobilizing external constituencies.
Practical implications
The findings provide practical insights into how new ventures struggle, navigate, and negotiate on specific alternatives related to institutional change while pursuing the introduction of innovations to market.
Originality/value
This research extends the institutional perspective on service innovation by zooming into micro-level processes of institutional change driven by new ventures. The study develops the theory of institutional entrepreneurship by highlighting cognitive processes of change, and suggests incorporating “institutional thinking” more tightly into the study and management of service innovation.
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Linus Dahlander, Lars Bo Jeppesen and Henning Piezunka
Crowdsourcing – a form of collaboration across organizational boundaries – provides access to knowledge beyond an organization’s local knowledge base. Integrating work on…
Abstract
Crowdsourcing – a form of collaboration across organizational boundaries – provides access to knowledge beyond an organization’s local knowledge base. Integrating work on organization theory and innovation, the authors first develop a framework that characterizes crowdsourcing into a main sequential process, through which organizations (1) define the task they wish to have completed; (2) broadcast to a pool of potential contributors; (3) attract a crowd of contributors; and (4) select among the inputs they receive. For each of these phases, the authors identify the key decisions organizations make, provide a basic explanation for each decision, discuss the trade-offs organizations face when choosing among decision alternatives, and explore how organizations may resolve these trade-offs. Using this decision-centric approach, the authors continue by showing that there are fundamental interdependencies in the process that makes the coordination of crowdsourcing challenging.
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Lars Witell, Laurel Anderson, Roderick J. Brodie, Maria Colurcio, Bo Edvardsson, Per Kristensson, Line Lervik-Olsen, Roberta Sebastiani and Tor Wallin Andreassen
– The purpose of this study is to explore three paradoxes of service innovation and provide a way forward for fresh thinking on the topic.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore three paradoxes of service innovation and provide a way forward for fresh thinking on the topic.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a conceptual model of service innovation research, the authors challenge the “pro-change” bias and explore what can be learnt from the duality of service innovation.
Findings
This paper suggests that research moves beyond a firm perspective to study service innovation on multiple levels of abstraction. A conceptual model based on two dimensions, level (individual, organization and society) and outcome (success, failure), is used to pinpoint and explore three dualities of service innovation: adopt–reject, change–static and good–bad.
Originality/value
By challenging the traditional perspective on service innovation, the authors present new avenues for fresh thinking in research on service innovation. In this paper, the authors encourage researchers and managers to learn from failures and to acknowledge the negative effects of service innovation.
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Kjell Mattiasson, Lars Bernspång and Alf Samuelsson
Argues that the dynamic‐explicit approach has in recent years been successfully applied to the solution of various quasi‐static, elastic‐plastic problems, especially in the metal…
Abstract
Argues that the dynamic‐explicit approach has in recent years been successfully applied to the solution of various quasi‐static, elastic‐plastic problems, especially in the metal forming area. A condition for the success has, however, been that the problems have been displacement‐driven. The solution of similar force‐driven problems, using this approach, has been shown to be much more complicated and computationally time consuming because of the difficulties in controlling the unphysical dynamic forces. Describes a project aiming to develop a methodology by which a force‐driven problem can be analysed with similar computational effort as a corresponding displacement‐driven one. To this end an adaptive loading procedure has been developed, in which the loading rate is controlled by a prescribed velocity norm. Presents several examples in order to exhibit the merits of the proposed procedure.
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Per Myhren, Lars Witell, Anders Gustafsson and Heiko Gebauer
Open service innovation is an emergent new service development practice, where knowledge on how to organize development work is scarce. The purpose of the present research is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Open service innovation is an emergent new service development practice, where knowledge on how to organize development work is scarce. The purpose of the present research is to identify and describe relevant archetypes of open service innovation. The study views an archetype as an organizing template that includes the competence of participants, organizing co-creation among participants and ties between participants. In particular, the study’s interest lies in how open service innovation archetypes are used for incremental and radical service innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
For the research, a nested case study was performed, in which an industrial firm with nine open service innovation groups was identified. Forty-five interviews were conducted with participants. For each case, first a within-case analysis was performed, and how to perform open service innovation in practice was described. Then, a cross-case analysis identifying similarities and differences between the open service innovation groups was performed. On the basis of the cross-case analysis, three archetypes for open service innovation were identified.
Findings
The nested case study identified three archetypes for open service innovation: internal group development, satellite team development and rocket team development. This study shows that different archetypes are used for incremental and radical service innovation and that a firm can have multiple open service innovation groups using different archetypes.
Practical implications
This study provides suggestions on how firms can organize for open service innovation. The identified archetypes can guide managers to set up, develop or be part of open service innovation groups.
Originality/value
This paper uses open service innovation as a mid-range theory to extend existing research on new service development in networks or service ecosystems. In particular, it shows how open service innovation can be organized to develop both incremental and radical service innovations.
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Monica Elisabeth Nyström, Rickard Garvare, Anna Westerlund and Lars Weinehall
Competing activities and projects can interfere with implementing new knowledge and approaches. The purpose, therefore, was to investigate processes and impact related to…
Abstract
Purpose
Competing activities and projects can interfere with implementing new knowledge and approaches. The purpose, therefore, was to investigate processes and impact related to implementing two concurrent quality initiatives in a Swedish hospital. These were a regionally initiated, system-wide organizational learning programme called the Dynamic and Viable Organization (DVO) and a national initiative on stopping healthcare-associated and hospital-acquired infections (SHAI). Both undertakings aspired to increase staff competence in systematic improvement approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple methods were applied including surveys, observations, interviews, process diaries, documents and organizational measurements. Respondents were unit managers, change facilitators and improvement team members.
Findings
Even though both initiatives shared the same improvement approach, there was no strong indication that they were strategically combined to benefit each other. The initiatives existed side by side with some coordination and some conflict. Despite absent management strategies to utilize the national SHAI initiative, positive developments in QI culture and communication were reported. The current study illustrates the inherent difficulties coordinating change initiatives, even in favourable circumstances.
Orginality/value
This article addresses the lesser studied but common situation of coinciding and competing projects in organizations.
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Judith Shamian, Linda O’Brien‐Pallas, Donna Thomson, Chris Alksnis and Michael Steven Kerr
States Canadian governments have, after a decade of health care downsizing, started to focus on issues of health human resources. Posits that nurses in particular experience…
Abstract
States Canadian governments have, after a decade of health care downsizing, started to focus on issues of health human resources. Posits that nurses in particular experience higher rates of absenteeism and injury than other types of Canadian workers. Advocates that this study’s findings offers numerous ideas to managers of the system, unions, nurses, government and other parties on how to manage the system better for all involved and the improvement of the health care system.