Katri Valkokari

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland | vtt · Division of Business and Innovation Research

Positive energy districts (PEDs) are central in the global transition toward sustainable, decentralized, and self-sufficient energy systems. Energy transformation taking place locally in cities may trigger broader sustainability transitions (STs) toward PED ecosystems at macro level. The work adopts a service ecosystems perspective to tackle the co...

The starting point of this study is a broad review of the literature related to collaborative innovation and innovation partnerships. Based on this review, the concept of Living Labs was identified as a proper enabler of regional collaborative innovation among a variety of stakeholders. The aim of this study was to identify practices for successful...

This article contributes to expanding the literature on and understanding about urban circular economy (CE) transitions towards circular cities, with a particular focus on the circularity of critical raw materials (CRMs), by identifying barriers in the transition’s exploration phase. We collected our empirical research data from 7 Finnish cities by...

The pursuit of a sustainable industry is facilitated by the evolution of diverse cooperative networks. There is a limited understanding of how industrial actors can collectively foster the continuity in learning required to address wicked problems of sustainability. This study explores how industry stakeholders collectively address this wicked prob...

Manufacturing companies struggle with overwhelming expectations, disruptions and trends sweeping over their business environment. The evident climate change, together with rising sustainable development goals, is forcing companies to discover their environmental impact, in addition to the more familiar economic one. The transformation from a linear...

Positive energy districts (PEDs) are central in the global transition towards sustainable, decentralized, and self-sufficient energy systems. Energy trans-formation taking place locally in cities may trigger broader sustainability transitions (STs) towards PED ecosystems at macro-level. The work adopts a service ecosystems perspective to tackle the...

Cities hold a strategic role in the emergence of sustainable, decentralized, and fossil-free energy systems, including positive energy districts (PEDs). Within this urban transformation, a ecosystems and value-based views are being adopted since no actor alone can promote a systemic change. This presents a challenge, as it necessitates profound shi...

Objective of the study: The research in this paper contributes to the understanding of how physical, virtual, and cognitive structures support innovation ecosystems’ multi-actor research, development, and innovation (R&D&I) collaboration in its different phases. Methodology/Approach: The research’s methodological approach is based on a qualitative...

The complexity of industrial challenges is emerging together with the exponentially developing information and communication technologies (ICT) that provide several implementation approaches for systems engineering. It is difficult for a single company to follow technological development and remain a pioneer in every topic. Still, the industrial ch...

Demand for solving systemic problems has resulted in the need for new forms of innovation. Accordingly, the concept of innovation ecosystem has emerged. Ecosystems are intrinsically more fluid than networks, which set ups the need to understand and orchestrate the internal dynamics of innovation ecosystem in order to have successful innovation outc...

As a practical digital transformation case, this study focuses on an innovation ecosystem that aims tot the business ecosystem in the smart building context. The purpose is to explore digital transformation within an innovation ecosystem, specifically in the context of an emerging digital platform. To study the transformation from the inside out, t...

In capital intensive industries, the purchasing of IoT, predictive maintenance or other digital solutions is very complex as there already exists several separate legacy systems. Also for a single solution provider, the customer needs and expectations can be huge, and they might not have all resources or competences needed for the delivery. In our...

Managing the continuation of an innovation funnel from scientific knowledge to commercialisation in a collaborative setting is a challenging task. The purpose of this paper is to explore the best practices for governing the collaborative industry–academy innovation process. As an outcome, the paper presents best practices as well as the weaknesses...

The principles of a circular economy (CE)—social, economic and environmental—could enhance the sustainability of the manufacturing sector, but radical transitions and collaboration are required in order to fully engage with this paradigm change. This study is based on the assumption that, through collaborative strategies, a CE could transform the i...

In capital intensive industries, the purchasing of IoT, predictive maintenance or other digital solutions is very complex as there already exists several separate legacy systems. Also for a single solution provider, the customer needs and expectations can be huge, and they might not have all resources or competences needed for the delivery. In our...

The principles of a circular economy (CE)-social, economic and environmental could enhance the sustainability of the manufacturing sector, but radical transitions and collaboration are required in order to fully engage with this paradigm change. This study is based on the assumption that, through col-laborative strategies, a CE could transform the...

Circular Economy (CE) is gaining momentum and its diffusion in manufacturing companies remains a key element to be addressed. Indeed, the principles and practice of circularity can enhance sustainability in the manufacturing sector, but changes are required in organizations in order to fully embrace this paradigm. Therefore, several assessment mode...

Circular Economy (CE) is gaining momentum and its diffusion in manufacturing companies remains a key element to be addressed. Indeed, the principles and practice of circularity can enhance sustainability in the manufacturing sector, but changes are required in organizations in order to fully embrace this paradigm. Therefore, several assessment mode...

The aim of this white paper is to increase the understanding of the platform economy and the platform business. We use the concept and Finnish examples to talk about the diversity of platform economy and try to encourage everyone to look at the possibilities of the platform economy. The first section introduces the key concepts and diversities in...

The paper provides on empirical example of co-innovation process within an Industry 4.0 ecosystem between Finnish IT sector, service designers, researchers and the forest industry companies. Based on empirical evidence the paper summarizes some of key challenges in building business impact from digitalization.

The paper describes findings about knowledge management in innovation constellations that are calling themselves as innovation ecosystems. The focus is in tension between knowledge sharing and knowledge protection, i.e. in the paradox of openness. The research asked whether an ecosystemic and open way of innovation differs to innovation in networks...

The paper explores how open innovation manifests in the innovation ecosystems. The empirical data was collected through 35 in-depth interviews and three round table discussions in 13 innovation ecosystems. The findings suggest that resource sharing and integration take predominantly place in dyadic relationships in individual innovation projects. O...

The purpose of this paper is to study what aspects a sales function needs to consider when selling new data-based value in business-to-business (B2B) markets. The paper combines literature on the business-to-business sales process with data-based value. The study includes altogether 29 qualitative interviews from eight companies, representing selle...

Beyond IoT Business reflects our view on digital transformation within manufacturing sectors. It aims to provide new insights into emerging possibilities and future development paths.

Despite the many recent discussions on “innovation ecosystems” as well as on open innovation or other co-innovation models, a more in-depth understanding of the multi-actor processes of value co-creation remains rather scarce. Hence, in this case study, we provide significant novel insight about innovation ecosystems as structures enabling multi-ac...

This report reviews the status of domestic creative economy ecosystem development, benchmarks creative economy focused policies and models in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and gives recommendations on how to support cross-sectoral use of creative competencies in ecosystem development in Finland. In the...

The present study investigates activities and actors’ roles in how companies utilise and adopt big data and cognitive systems in their business processes. Based on the literature review, a qualitative analysis of 18 in-depth interviews with participants from six companies and a complementary review of five illustrative case companies, we identify f...

Digitalisation and data are stated to be significant drivers of change, technology disruption, and new business. The purpose of this study is to explore the business impacts of technology disruption, more specifically the adoption of cognitive systems within collaborative networks through a design science approach. In accordance with design studies...

The ecosystem approach to value co-creation represents a significant departure from the extant literature on innovation management regarding collaboration for innovation. Due to the dominant limited focus of analysis on interactions and value transactions, little is known about how value between multi-actor networks of individuals and organisations...

The purpose of the paper is to study the types of challenges B2B companies face when trying to create new business through big data utilization. The paper combines literature on new business creation and big data. The study includes 19 qualitative interviews from six different case companies, representing companies at different stages in the big da...

The purpose of the paper is to empirically study firms’ practises of knowledge and intellectual property (IP) management in customer-supplier relationships. The work applies the qualitative methodology of multiple case studies, and the material was collected in semistructured interviews with management personnel at 36 organisations in Finland and i...

Arvonluonti on nykypäivän taikasana, joka kuuluu jokaisen liiketoiminnan kehittäjän työkalupakkiin. Mutta mitä arvonluonti oikeastaan tarkoittaa ja mistä asioista se koostuu? Onko arvonluonti jotenkin erilaista digitalisoituvassa liiketoimintaympäristössä? Miten voimme tunnistaa ja jopa mitata asiakkaalle syntynyttä arvoa? Entä miten tähän kai...

About IPLATE Project and this report IPLATE (Integrating platform competences toward network effects) is a research project prompted by the success and disruption by digital platforms, platform companies and platform-based business models. The project approaches platforms as an interactive, collaborative marketplace: integrating technical competenc...

The platform economy is disrupting innovation while presenting both opportunities and challenges for startups. Platforms support value creation between multiple participant groups, and this operationalization of an ecosystem’s value co-creation represents the “core interaction” of a platform. This article focuses on that core interaction and studie...

Firms need comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the opportunities available in the market by creating supply market intelligence (SMI). SMI can facilitate in finding the best partners and combination of capabilities within collaborative networks (CN). However, despite of its evident managerial relevance, SMI is still little researched topic...

Suppliers have been recognised as critical sources for innovation in the literature. However, less consideration has been given to the suppliers’ viewpoint on what motivates them to share their best knowledge with the buying company. Here, we empirically identified ways to increase suppliers’ willingness to contribute to the buyer’s innovation proc...

Recently the concept of the Circular Economy (CE) has attracted growing interest as a novel economic model aiming to foster sustainable economic growth, boost global competitiveness, and generate new jobs. A system-wide disruptive innovation shaping new ecosystems and changing the whole process of value creation is needed to tackle the current chal...

We conceptualize a networks-as-practice model by grounding our systems framework in the resource-based view (RBV), on the one hand, and in the strategy-as-practice perspective, on the other. From the RBV, we adopt the idea of valuable resources that are developed or deployed through activities. These activities are analogous to the practices in the...

The future structure and paths of development of dynamic business networks are fundamentally unknowable. The managerial challenge is to influence the development within a business network crossing organizational boundaries. Practical tools are needed to map out how actors’ network strategies actually come into being while organizations continuously...

No organization is an island—all need relationships with other organizations to survive and grow. Furthermore, in the present networked environment the traditional focus on firms as discrete entities is increasingly inappropriate, and multiple values and conflicting interests must be considered at both value network and business ecosystem levels (V...

A sustainable business modelling (SBM) process and toolset needs to—embed sustainability ethos and initiatives into the business purpose and value network activities, integrate a broader multistakeholder view on generating environmental, social and economic value, identify and develop collaborations between the stakeholders to eliminate negative en...

In the introductory chapter of the book we present the framework for network dynamics and management based on a comprehensive practice-based perspective. The framework serves as platform through which it is possible to figure out the holistic system-like nature of networking. In the framework, we use ideas adapted from the strategy-as-practice rese...

Presenting 17 tools developed through rigorous design science research, this book bridges the relevance gap within network management. In so doing, it proposes a novel system-framework and establishes a path towards a networks-as-practice view on inter-organizational relationships. The systems-framework builds on three institutionalized business pr...

Manufacturers' servitization development is a prevalent trend in the current business world. Companies then aim to increase customer closeness and complement product offerings with services. However, extant literature on distribution and marketing channels literature remains limited in terms of the implications of servitization for global business-...

Through a design science approach, the paper explores how actors in a network create and sustain competitive advantage independently and through participation in a system of actors (i.e., a collaborative network) who are not hierarchically managed but, rather, act toward their own goals within the innovation ecosystem. In accordance with design stu...

The transition towards a circular economy cannot be achieved if individual organizations advance their own interests independently. Companies need to build new collaborative networks for value co-creation. Therefore, identification of what kind of value will be created or destroyed for different partners in the networks is critical. In this paper,...

The circular economy concept is a novel economic model aiming to foster sustainable economic growth, boost global competitiveness, and generate new jobs. In order to make the circular economy mainstream, radical and systemic innovation is needed. Currently, a majority of the business modelling tools and methods lack at least some of the identified...

Final publication of StraSus project, see: http://www.vtt.fi/sites/strasus/en/strategic-business-models-and-governance-for-sustainable-solutions

There is a need to accelerate the change from the current linear economy towards a circular economy (CE), which is regenerative by intention and design. The transformation towards CE entails radical changes in the business environment. Thus, in CE-based business model (BM) innovation, we need to understand consumer preferences, their everyday life,...

In today’s networked business environment, companies need to include their employees, customers and other external parties in innovation in a more structured and consistent manner. Recently, social media utilization in companies is a topic that has attracted a lot of interest in academia and business. Nevertheless the existing research is rather li...

In management studies, the ecosystem metaphor is often utilized without clear definition and, thereby, several partially overlapping concepts such as industrial, business, service, innovation, and knowledge ecosystems have been introduced. The purpose of this conceptual article is to go beyond the confusion to define what is meant by different conc...

The purpose of this paper is to deepen our understanding of network dynamics in business nets in the context of the manufacturing industry. Using the abductive approach, the network dynamics are described and defined through an intertwined process of case research and theory building in three case nets. The paper suggests the concepts of strategic...

This paper brings together theoretical premises of service networks and entry modes used by companies in internationalisation. It explores how companies organise and manage so called ‘glocal’ service networks when combining global and local aspects in downstream service networks. This paper analyses three medium-sized industrial companies and their...

The aim of this paper is to extend our understanding of business network management, especially from the viewpoint of SMEs operating in a B2B context. The paper focuses on exploring swarm intelligence to create new thinking on the management of business networks. Thus, the interaction between business organisations is at the heart of the network ap...

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the required changes, outline business potential, and envisage the key steps that a networked manufacturing industry needs to take in order to reach more sustainably performing manufacturing in the future. Design/methodology/approach: The paper utilises a visionary road-mapping approach to study the...

To enhance servitization of industrial companies there is a need for better understanding of why and how business customers purchase services. The purpose of this study is therefore to identify the factors affecting customer's service procurement. The study combines the theoretical bases of servitization, key account management and customer knowled...

Success in the dynamic and competitive global markets of the future cannot be guaranteed through fixed and slowly evolving network structures. Our objective with this publication is to present a new model of networking that enables companies to better respond to future challenges. We also intervene in the terminological discussion surrounding netwo...

Shaping markets towards sustainability is a phenomenon that concerns many actors. However, in order to succeed in that, networked innovation plays a key role in order to facilitate the change process. The main question of this study is to explore how shaping sustainable markets can be facilitated by means of networked innovation, e.g. how the susta...

The paper describes empirical findings on how openness is realized in practical innovation projects involving different organizations. The purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of how openness should be managed in the various forms of inter-organizational innovation development. The main research interest is in how openness is manif...

The purpose of this paper is to describe a practical example of a company striving for changes in customer-supplier relationships through the development of new services for companies operating in different positions within the value chain. The business and service development of the studied case company is motivated by competition and technologica...

This paper presents a model for addressing sustainability governance in manufacturing networks. The model developed addresses sustainability governance within a manufacturing network as a process to guide the activities of all actors involved toward sustainable development and performance throughout the product life cycle. According to the model, t...

The purpose of this paper is to study how value is co-created in b2b networks and how the compatibility of business models affects value creation. A contribution is made to value creation literature by addressing the subject of perceived value and the compatibility of business models as the basic antecedents of value co-creation in b2b networks. Th...

The purpose of this paper is to research firms’ knowledge management practices within the context of networked innovation between multiple actors. The analysis is based on case research carried out with six companies. Based on earlier literature and the theoretical framework of the paper, two models of networked innovation can be distinguished acco...

The purpose of this study is to research the transition towards collaborative smart supply chains and the capabilities required by its actors in different network roles. Based on earlier literature the preliminary framework of the paper defines the four roles (customer, manufacturer, supplier, and partner) and the different required capabilities. T...

The growing trends of outsourcing and specialization have led many industrial customers to centralize their purchases and seek suppliers that can provide more extensive solutions [1][1; 2; 3]. The focus in the solutions marketing literature has been inherently product-centred, and there has been a shortage of research into solutions originating in...

Tykes reports 75 Linking Theory and Practice - Learning Networks at the Service of Workplace Innovation. Alasoini, Lahtonen, Rouhiainen, Sweins, Hulkko-Nyman & Spangar (toim.), 91 - 113 This article reviews the progress, phases and turning points of the Open Innovation Learning Network Project, from the viewpoints of project evolution, organisation...

The paper describes findings from a multiple case study about the innovation management challenges of a system integrator (SI) whose operation is characterized by a high demand of innovation and whose focus of integration capabilities is, accordingly, changing from component assembly to knowledge integration. The study involved six diverse case fir...

The purpose of the paper is to empirically study firms' practises of knowledge and intellectual property (IP) management in customer–supplier relationships. The work applies the qualitative methodology of multiple case studies, and the material was collected in semi-structured interviews with management personnel at 36 organisations in Finland and...

The paper describes findings from an interview study about intellectual property management practices in inter-organisational relationships. A total of 40 companies and public organisations in Finland and in the Netherlands were studied using semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The organisations represented different sizes and fields of indust...

The main objective of this study is to deepen the understanding of business network development processes and their antecedents. In addition, the study aims to clarify how strategic intent and shared identity can be formed at the business network level. To this end, the practices related to network strategy and sense-making processes in three diffe...

Future competitiveness can be create by management, which broader that present management is able to buil-up and share dynamic vision in order to lead the organization's operations. Continuous renewal is a key success factors and possible only with commited personnel and network partners. Concurrently, new approaches to management are required due...

VTT Tiedotteita - Research Notes 2510 Tässä raportissa kuvataan teräspalvelutoiminnan odotettavissa olevia kehityspolkuja, uusia palvelu- ja yhteistyömalleja. Samalla annetaan ehdotuksia, miten terästen toimittajien, komponentti- ja järjestelmätoimittajien ja asiakkaiden muodostama tuotantoketju saadaan mahdollisimman kannattavaksi, luotettavaksi j...