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Digitalisierung bei Genossenschaften
Abstract
Zusammenfassung
Das Thema Digitalisierung ist in Bezug auf Genossenschaften eine noch fast unerforschte, neue Problemstellung in der Genossenschaftswissenschaft, ist aber von hoher Relevanz für die Zukunft der Genossenschaften. Dieser Artikel führt in die Problematik ein, strukturiert sie und liefert dazu erste empirische Ergebnisse zum Stand der Digitalisierung bei Genossenschaften in der Schweiz. Methodisch wurde neben einer kurzen Literaturrecherche eine empirische Untersuchung bei den zwanzig größten Aktiengesellschaften und Genossenschaften in der Schweiz durchgeführt. Dabei zeigte sich, dass der Einsatz von ausgewählten Digitalisierungstechnologien bei Genossenschaften gegenüber Aktiengesellschaften noch ausbaufähig ist. Der wissenschaftliche Beitrag dieses Artikels liegt einerseits in der Strukturierung der Problematik, die sich spezifisch für Genossenschaften im Rahmen der Digitalisierung stellen, andererseits in ersten Befunden zur empirischen Realität des Einsatzes von Digitalisierungstechnologien sowie weitere Forschungsfragen zum Thema.
... Es gilt, den zunehmenden Anforderungen der Supply Chain Koordination gerecht zu werden, um die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit weiterhin zu sichern. Dennoch stellen die spezifischen Merkmale der Genossenschaft, wie der risikoaverse Unternehmenszweck, die notwendige Überwindung multipler Stakeholderinteressen (Mitglieder, LieferantInnen, KundInnen usw.) und die lokale Verankerung, Hemmnisse für das Vorantreiben der Digitalisierung dar (Peter und Jungmeister, 2017). Frey (2016) bezeichnet Genossenschaften in Bezug auf die Adoption neuer Technologien als ,,late adopter" und empfiehlt, dies branchenspezifisch zu untersuchen und empirisch nachzuvollziehen. ...
Zusammenfassung
Der Einsatz digitaler Informationssysteme wird als notwendig angesehen, um dem verpflichtenden Doku-mentationsaufwand entlang der Wertschöpfungskette (WSK) Fleisch gerecht zu werden. Besonders die ge-nossenschaftlich geprägte WSK der Rotfleischwirtschaft steht vor einer digitalen Transformation des Ge-schäftsmodells. Aufgrund dessen werden in diesem Beitrag nutzenbestimmende Faktoren bezüglich der Akzeptanz internetbasierter Informationssysteme anhand einer Befragung von Zulieferern eines genossen-schaftlich organisierten Viehvermarktungsunternehmens in Deutschland analysiert. Als Ergebnis wurden drei übergreifende nutzenbestimmende Faktoren identifiziert, die ein internetbasiertes Informationssystem liefert (Betriebsinterne Dokumentations-und Verwaltungsaufgaben (B2A), Überbetrieblicher Austausch der Daten (B2B), Integration von externen Daten). Auf dem Weg zur eigentlichen Implementierung dieser Systeme bietet sich seitens genossenschaftlich geprägter Viehvermarktungsunternehmen an, die LandwirtInnen bei der Einführung zu unterstützen und ihnen beratend zur Seite zu stehen.
Summary
The use of digital information systems is considered necessary in order to meet the obligatory documentation requirements along the meat value chain. Especially the cooperative value chain of the red meat industry is facing a digital transformation of its business model. Therefore, this paper analyses benefit-determining factors regarding the acceptance of internet-based information systems by means of a survey of suppliers of a cooperative-based livestock marketing company in Germany. As a result, three overarching benefit-determining factors were identified that an internet-based information system provides (internal documentation and administration tasks (B2A), inter-company data exchange (B2B), integration of external data). On the way to the actual implementation of these systems, cooperative-based livestock marketing companies can offer their support and advise to farmers during the introduction.
Swiss cooperatives are currently in focus: while a number of legal framework amendments are on the way, still little research is done on this form of corporate governance. In the current urgency of addressing grand challenges, cooperatives have regained importance in the economic and societal landscapes. Comprehensive data-driven studies would support legislative modernization. Participatory governance is a conspicuous characteristic of cooperatives. The type and levels of participation are idiosyncratic to a given cooperative and hence exist in various forms. Our anthropological interview-based research yields three tensions. First, participation does not imply inclusion; second, cooperatives can be perceived as outdated, yet they evolve and experiment with forms; third, both idealist and pragmatic approaches are required to sustain the business and address any mission drift. The above enhances the comprehension of the cooperative form, challenging the perceived outdatedness of this hybrid-missioned entrepreneurship.
Die Schweiz ist – auch im Vergleich zu ihren Nachbarländern – ein genossenschaftsreiches Land mit einer langen genossenschaftlichen Tradition, die bis ins Mittelalter zurückreicht. Stichworte sind hier „Allmendegenossenschaften“, „Eidgenossenschaft“. Die wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Genossenschaften in der Schweiz ist aber auch heute noch gross, dies gemessen an der absoluten Zahl der Genossenschaften im Land, dem Anteil der 20 grössten Genossenschaften am BIP, der Anzahl Genossenschaftsmitglieder im Verhältnis zur Bevölkerung sowie der Dominanz der Rechtsform Genossenschaft in einige Industriesektoren wie zum Beispiel im Lebensmittel-Einzelhandel Coop und Migros und Fenaco in der Landwirtschaft. Hier wurden und werden die Genossenschaften teilweise sogar als marktbeherrschend taxiert – auch 2017 wurden noch knapp 80 % des Umsatzes der 10 grössten Unternehmen im Detailhandel der Schweiz von Genossenschaften erbracht. Allerdings werden kaum noch Genossenschaften – zugunsten von AG und GmbH – neu gegründet, die Anzahl der Genossenschaftsunternehmen sinkt durch Übernahmen langsam aber stetig, trotz steigendem Umsatz. Damit stehen die – heute nach wie vor wirtschaftlich erfolgreichen – Genossenschaften vor einigen Herausforderungen. Diese liegen begründet insbesondere in der Globalisierung, der Digitalisierung, sowie der Lage der Schweiz als Hochlohnland inmitten Europas und einer seit 1936 nicht mehr revidierten gesetzlichen Grundlage, die zudem oft im Konflikt mit dem aktuellen Aufsichtsrecht steht.
Der genossenschaftliche Landhandel sieht sich einem Verdrängungswettbewerb ausgesetzt, was insgesamt eine zunehmende Marktkonzentration begünstigt und zu größeren Unternehmensstrukturen führt. Während Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien sowie E-Business in vielen Branchen zu einem Wandel führten und den Unternehmen Wettbewerbsvorteile erbrachten, war dies im Agrar- und Ernährungssektor nicht der Fall. Aufgrund dessen wird in diesem Beitrag anhand einer erstmalig durchgeführten empirischen Befragung von GeschäftsführerInnen von Warengenossenschaften der aktuelle Status quo der Adoption digitaler Technologien erfasst und analysiert. Dabei konnten anhand einer Clusteranalyse die Genossenschaften dem Cluster der „Basic Adopters“ (n=48) und der „Advanced service-orientated Adopters“ (n=18) zugeordnet werden. Die „Basic Adopters“ setzten dabei überwiegend äußerst grundlegende digitale Technologien zur Unterstützung der Geschäftsprozesse (z.B. Elektronisches Warenwirtschaftssystem, Dokumentation und Auswertung der Kundenaktivitäten) ein, wobei die „Advanced service-orientated Adopters“ schon einige komplexere digitale Technologien zur Unterstützung eines ganzheitlichen Kundenbeziehungsmanagements (z.B. CRM-Software, Social Media) und zur Effizienzsteigerung der Logistik (z.B. Rechnergestützte Tourenplanungssysteme, Dispositionssoftware) nutzen. Faktoren, die zu einer höheren Adoption digitaler Technologien führen, konnten anhand der Ergebnisse dieser Studie vor allem auf die Größe der Genossenschaften, die räumlichen Entfernung zu deren Stakeholdern und auf ein hohes Level an Kooperationsbereitschaft zurückgeführt werden. Insgesamt deuten die Untersuchungsergebnisse darauf hin, dass die überwiegende Anzahl der Genossenschaften (28%) digitale Technologien nur auf einem unterentwickelten Niveau nutzen. Vor dem Hintergrund des anhaltenden Verdrängungswettbewerbs wird den Warengenossenschaften empfohlen, den Weg einer „digitalen“ Differenzierungsstrategie in Betracht zu ziehen und konkrete digitale Kompetenzen aufzubauen, um ihr Geschäftsmodell bzw. die Geschäftsprozesse an die aktuellen Branchenentwicklungen anzupassen.
Zusammenfassung
Der Einsatz digitaler Technologien wird als notwendig eingeordnet, um sich der verschärften Wettbewerbssituation, die sich entlang der gesamten agro-food Wertschöpfungskette vollzieht, zu stellen. Auch der genossenschaftliche Agrarhandel muss sich dementsprechend auf eine digitale Transformation des Geschäftsmodells einstellen. Aufgrund dessen wird in diesem Beitrag anhand einer empirischen Befragung von Geschäftsführerinnen von Warengenossenschaften analysiert, inwieweit zwischen digitalen Technologien bezüglich der erwarteten Werte der Nutzung und zwischen verschiedenen tatsächlichen Werten der Einstellung gegenüber der Akzeptanz digitaler Technologien unterschieden werden kann. Insgesamt konnte eine sogenannte Einstellungsakzeptanz gegenüber der Implementierung digitaler Technologien bei den Warengenossenschaften nachgewiesen werden. Als größte Herausforderung auf dem Weg zur Implementierung digitaler Technologien konnten personelle und finanzielle sowie strategische und operationeile Faktoren identifiziert werden. Chancen, die sich durch den genossenschaftlichen Verbund ergeben, müssen daher gezielt genutzt werden, um Herausforderungen zu stemmen und Risiken gemeinsam abzufedern.
Aufgrund von anhaltenden Wandlungsprozessen verändern sich die Rahmenbedingungen für ländliche Genossenschaften (e.G.) und ihre Mitglieder ständig. Wandlungsprozesse sind von Interesse, weil sie u.a. Bedürfnisse von Menschen und dementsprechend Geschäftsfelder beeinflussen. Im Zuge der Wandlungsprozesse nimmt die Komplexität der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion zu und daraus folgt, dass Landwirte ein gesteigertes Bedürfnis nach Wissen und Informationen haben, um ihren Betrieb weiter zu entwickeln. Eine Organisationsform, welche ihre Mitglieder z.B. in Form von Beratung fördert, sind e.G. Zusätzlich nimmt der Wettbewerbsdruck auf ländliche e.G. zu. Um sich den Veränderungen in der Agrarwirtschaft anzupassen, nehmen ländliche e.G. strukturelle Veränderungen vor. Im Zuge des Konsolidierungsprozesses im Genossenschaftssektor steigt zum einen bspw. die Heterogenität von Mitarbeitern und Mitgliedern an und zum anderen kann es zwischen Organbetrieb und Genossenschaftsmitglied zu einem Verlust von Vertrauen kommen. Folglich kann Selbstverpflichtung und Loyalität des Mitgliedes in Bezug auf seine e.G. abnehmen. Vor dem Hintergrund beschriebener Transformationen Anpassungs- und Innovationsdruck von deutschen Landwirten und des Konsolidierungsprozesses im Genossenschaftssektor und deren strategischer Bedeutung für die Agrar- und Ernährungsbrache sowie der Ansicht, dass die Genossenschaftsforschung eine anwendungsorientierte Wissenschaft ist, verfolgt die vorliegende Dissertation das Ziel, ländlichen e.G. praxisrelevante Fragestellungen im Rahmen ihres Mitgliedermanagements zu beantworten. Dadurch kann ein Erkenntnistransfer von der Forschung in die Praxis ermöglicht sowie eine nachhaltige Entwicklung von ländlichen e.G. begünstigt werden. Demzufolge wurden auf Grundlage der Neuen Institutionenökonomie, verhaltensökonomischer Ansätze und mit Hilfe analytischer Tests, wie des U-Tests nach Mann und Whitney, sowie Regressionsanalysen, folgende Forschungsfragen (FF) behandelt: FFi: Was verstehen Mitglieder ländlicher Genossenschaften unter der von ihrer Genossenschaft ausgeführten Servicequalität? FFii: Wodurch lassen sich Vertrauensbeziehungen zwischen Mitgliedern und Mitarbeitern in ländlichen Genossenschaften erfolgversprechend gestalten? FFiii: Welche Förderleistungen können Genossenschaften zur Entwicklung ländlicher Regionen übernehmen? Die in dieser kumulativen Dissertation aufgeführten Studien beruhen vermehrt auf Datensätzen, welche im Bundesland Baden-Württemberg mittels quantitativer Erhebungsinstrumente wie schriftlichen Fragebögen, im Zeitraum 2016 bis 2017, erhoben wurden. U.a. findet das MemberValue Modell Anwendung. Hierbei wird die Wirksamkeit des spezifischen Förderauftrages der jeweiligen e.G. anwendend analysiert. Die unterschiedlichen Stichproben der dieser Dissertation beiliegenden Studien setzen sich aus Befragungen von Mitarbeitern, Mitgliedern und leitenden Mitgliedern von gemeinwesenorientierten und einer ländlichen e.G. zusammen. Mitarbeiter stellen einen notwendigen Faktor zur Erfüllung der Mitgliederzufriedenheit und loyalität dar. Nach derzeitigem Wissen des Autors wurde daher erstmalig die Mitglieder MitarbeiterBeziehung in letztgenannter ländlicher e.G. näher beleuchtet. Diese kumulative Dissertation liefert neue Erkenntnisse für das innerorganisationale Verständnis von e.G. im deutschsprachigen Raum insbesondere in Bezug auf weiche Faktoren wie Partizipation, Vertrauen und Zufriedenheit.
Vor dem Hintergrund des gesellschaftlichen, (infra-)strukturellen, landwirtschaftlichen und demografischen Wandels entstehen für die ländlichen Räume neue Herausforderungen. Besonders kleinere Gemeinden, ohne leistungsfähige Infrastruktur, sind vom demografischen Wandel betroffen (IREUS 2011, S. 64 f.). Eine zentrale Herausforderung, die sämtliche (Lebens-)Bereiche betrifft stellt dabei die flächendeckende Daseinsvorsorge dar. Ausgehend von den Herausforderungen der flächendeckenden Daseinsvorsorge wurde ein bereits stellenweise praktizierter Lösungsansatz analysiert und weiterentwickelt. Aus dem vergangenen Jahrzehnt liegen Beobachtungen, Hinweise und statistische Aufzeichnungen vor, die davon zeugen, dass die vielfältigen Aufgaben der Daseinsvorsorge partiell von Genossenschaften übernommen werden (vgl. BLOME-DREES et al. 2015; DOLUSCHITZ et al. 2013a; GOESCHEL 2012, S. 51; KLEMISCH und BODDENBERG 2012, S. 570; KLUTH 2017; MARTENS 2012, S. 145; MÜNKNER 2012, S. 332; STAPPEL 2016, S. 66), mit dem Ziel, spezifische lokale Probleme zu lösen (HAUNSTEIN und THÜRLING 2017, S. 2). Aufgrund mangelnder Grundlage spezifisch notwendiger Sekundärdaten wurde ein umfassender Datensatz deutschlandweit erhoben, mithilfe dessen die Spezifika sowie die Hintergründe der Entstehung der neu gegründeten Genossenschaften der Daseinsvorsorge analysiert werden konnten. Die gewonnenen Ergebnisse bekräftigen die in der Literatur genannten Hintergründe der Gründungen wie der Wunsch nach einer angemessenen Infrastruktur, regionale Defizite (BLOME-DREES et al. 2015, S. 134), Bedrohung der Infrastruktur, gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen (vgl. WIEG 2016, S. 78) und spezifische lokale bzw. regionale Probleme (HAUNSTEIN und THÜRLING, 2017, S. 2). Die Analyse der Intentionen, welche hinter den Gründungen von Genossenschaften stehen und zu diesen geführt haben, liefert darüber hinaus jedoch ergänzende und neue Befunde. Weitere Intentionen sind zum einen karitative Gründe wie zum Beispiel die Schaffung von sozialen Anknüpfungspunkten und zum anderen die Gründung aufgrund des Wunsches/der Initiative von Gleichgesinnten zur Organisation von z. B. Fortbildungen. Rund zwei Drittel der antwortenden Genossenschaften der Daseinsvorsorge, speziell in den ländlichen Räumen, schaffen ein neues Angebot für ihre Mitglieder sowie für Nicht-Mitglieder. Rund ein Drittel der analysierten Genossenschaften soll bestehende Einrichtungen und Leistungen erhalten oder wieder aktivieren, die aufgrund unterschiedlicher Herausforderungen wegzubrechen drohen oder bereits weggebrochen sind. Ausgehend von der unzureichenden Versorgungssituation in den ländlichen Räumen sowie den Herausforderungen bestehender Genossenschaften der Daseinsvorsorge wurde ein Modell entwickelt, welches die Kooperation mehrerer Primärorganisationen unterschiedlicher Sparten beinhaltet. Das Modell ist als eine genossenschaftliche ,Second-Level-Kooperation, ähnlich einer Holdingstruktur zu verstehen. Da im Kern mehrere Primärorganisationen unter einem gemeinsamen Dach zusammenarbeiten, wird das Modell ,Geno-Haus genannt. Das gemeinsame Dach des Geno-Hauses kann sinnbildlich aber auch ausdrücklich z. B. in Form eines gemeinschaftlich genutzten Gebäudes oder Räumlichkeiten verstanden werden. Ein zweiter mit der Daseinsvorsorge verbundener Aspekt dieser Dissertation liegt auf der Digitalisierung des Agrar- und Ernährungssektors. Insgesamt zeichnet sich hinsichtlich der Digitalisierung entlang der Wertschöpfungskette ein heterogenes Bild ab. Im Ergebnis gliedern sich die analysierten Unternehmen in Pioniere, Einsteiger und Folger. Im Zuge einer Befragung von praktizierenden Landwirten hinsichtlich der Nutzung von E-Commerce Strukturen beim Bezug von landwirtschaftlichen Betriebsmitteln wurden Nutzerstrukturen analysiert. Diese erwiesen sich als alters-, betriebsgrößen-, ortsunabhängig und losgelöst von der Betriebsausrichtung. Als Hauptmotiv für die Beschaffung von Betriebsmitteln über E-Commerce-Kanäle wurden auf Basis der Befragungen Zeitvorteile ermittelt, was im Widerspruch zu den in der Literatur genannten Kostenvorteilen steht (vgl. CLASEN 2005, S. 54 f.).
Zusammenfassung
Heutzutage werden Genossenschaften (e.G.) als geeignete Organisationsform von menschgetragenen Bewegungen wahrgenommen, was u. a. in Form der gestiegenen e.G. Gründungen im Gemeinwesen deutlich wird. Verglichen mit e.G. in klassischen Sparten sind diese e.G. überwiegend von heterogenen Mitgliederstrukturen gekennzeichnet. Heterogenität hat Vorteile und wird als Ressource betrachtet. Im Sommer 2017 wurde in gemeinwesenorientierten e.G. eine quantitative Onlinebefragung von Organvertretern und Mitgliedern durchgeführt. Die operative Voraussetzung, um Wissen und Fähigkeiten der Ressource Mitglied in die e.G. einbinden zu können, ist gegeben. Jedoch kann nicht bestätigt werden, dass das partizipierende Mitglied als potentielle Ressource verstanden wird.
Die Digitale Transformation hat Hochkonjunktur: Seit etwa 2014/2015 gehört dieses Schlagwort zum Handwerk aller Mitarbeitenden in Beratungsfirmen und auf Geschäftsleitungs-, Abteilungs- und Projektleitungsebenen.
Die Treiber der Digitalen Transformation sind unzählige neue Datenquellen, neue Technologien sowie Anforderungen vom Markt und von Geschäftspartnern. Durch diesen Druck entstehen Potenziale, welche Unternehmen und die öffentliche Verwaltung aktiv und in einer gesunden Balance nutzen können.
Die Prozessoptimierung und der Einsatz moderner Technologien werden gerade bei KMU gefördert, um den neuen Kundenanforderungen gerecht zu werden. In Grossunternehmen findet sich zudem der Druck nach Kosteneinsparungen unter den drei grössten Treibern. Primär werden durch die Digitale Transformation das Geschäftsmodell und die Unternehmensprozesse erneuert, aber auch der Einfluss auf die Unternehmenskultur und neue Führungsansätze stehen weit oben auf der Prioritätenliste.
Um einen Einblick in die Digitale Transformation von Schweizer Unternehmen zu schaffen, hat die FHNW Hochschule für Wirtschaft mit der Unterstützung von Sponsoren und Partnern eine grosse Studie zu den Rahmenbedingungen und Projekten der Transformationsvorhaben durchgeführt. 2'590 Befragte aus 1'854 Unternehmen haben sich beteiligt. Dies hat die Grundlage für einen Gesamtüberblick über den aktuellen Stand der Digitalen Transformation geschaffen.
Im Zentrum der Publikation steht ein Praxismodell mit den sieben Handlungsfeldern der Digitalen Transformation. Aus über 4'250 Themennennungen wurden die wichtigsten Handlungsfelder bestimmt. Die Handlungsfelder werden mit Checklisten und Fallstudien aus den jeweiligen Gebieten sowie Fachartikeln für die Praxis von einem erfahrenen Autorenteam bereichert.
Obwohl die Studie für KMU angelegt war, sind die Ergebnisse und der Praxisleitfaden auch für Grossunternehmen relevant. Aus der Praxis für die Praxis: Die Forschungsresultate und der Praxisleitfaden für die Digitale Transformation.
Unter Mitarbeit und mit Beiträgen von Martina Dalla Vecchia, Andrea Eichmüller, Susan Göldi, Stella Gatziu Grivas, Alexander Jungmeister, Jonas Konrad, Nora Kradolfer, Corin Kraft, Ulrich Pekruhl, Marc K. Peter, Dino Schwaferts, Luzia Sennrich, Martha Streitenberger, Joachim Tillessen, Toni Wäfler, Hans Friedrich Witschel und Cécile Zachlod.
Jungmeister, Alexander / Taisch, Franco (2014), Erfolgreiches Schweizer Genossenschaftsbanking vor strategischen Herausforderungen, Zeitschrift für das gesamte Kreditwesen ZfgK, S. 712 – 718, Frankfurt a.M., Ausgabe 14-2014 vom 15.7. 2014.
Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit Unternehmensgruppen mit genossenschaftlicher Prägung. Trotz der feststellbaren Heterogenität innerhalb dieser Gruppierungen lassen sich vier Grundtypen identifizieren, welche auf die direkten Steuerungsmöglichkeiten untersucht werden. Anschliessend wird der Identitätskonflikt, welcher durch die Beteiligungen ande-rer Rechtsformen (AG/GmbH) in diesen Gruppierungen entsteht, betrachtet. Sowohl für die direkten Steuerungsmöglichkeiten, als auch für die Behebung der Identitätskonflikte lässt sich ein Zusammenspiel von gesellschafts-und vertragsrechtlichen Elementen erkennen.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the European economy. A critical challenge faced by SME leaders, as a consequence of the continuing digital technology revolution, is how to optimally align business strategy with digital technology to fully leverage the potential offered by these technologies in pursuit of longevity and growth. There is a paucity of empirical research examining how e-leadership in SMEs drives successful alignment between business strategy and digital technology fostering longevity and growth. To address this gap, in this paper we develop an empirically derived e-leadership model. Initially we develop a theoretical model of e-leadership drawing on strategic alignment theory. This provides a theoretical foundation on how SMEs can harness digital technology in support of their business strategy enabling sustainable growth. An in-depth empirical study was undertaken interviewing 42 successful European SME leaders to validate, advance and substantiate our theoretically driven model. The outcome of the two stage process - inductive development of a theoretically driven e-leadership model and deductive advancement to develop a complete model through in-depth interviews with successful European SME leaders - is an e-leadership model with specific constructs fostering effective strategic alignment. The resulting diagnostic model enables SME decision makers to exercise effective e-leadership by creating productive alignment between business strategy and digital technology improving longevity and growth prospects.
Value creation is a major sustainability factor for enterprises, in addition to profit maximization and revenue generation. Modern enterprises collect big data from various inbound and outbound data sources. The inbound data sources handle data generated from the results of business operations, such as manufacturing, supply chain management, marketing, and human resource management, among others. Outbound data sources handle customer-generated data which are acquired directly or indirectly from customers, market analysis, surveys, product reviews, and transactional histories. However, cloud service utilization costs increase because of big data analytics and value creation activities for enterprises and customers. This article presents a novel concept of big data reduction at the customer end in which early data reduction operations are performed to achieve multiple objectives, such as a) lowering the service utilization cost, b) enhancing the trust between customers and enterprises, c) preserving privacy of customers, d) enabling secure data sharing, and e) delegating data sharing control to customers. We also propose a framework for early data reduction at customer end and present a business model for end-to-end data reduction in enterprise applications. The article further presents a business model canvas and maps the future application areas with its nine components. Finally, the article discusses the technology adoption challenges for value creation through big data reduction in enterprise applications.
Despite numerous testimonials of first movers, the underlying mechanisms of organizations big data analytics (BDA) usage deserves close investigation. Our study addresses two essential research questions: (1) How does organizational BDA usage affect value creation? and (2) What are key antecedents of organizational-level BDA usage? We draw on dynamic capabilities theory to conceptualize BDA use as a unique information processing capability that brings competitive advantage to organizations. Furthermore, we employ the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework to identify and theorize paths via which factors influence the actual usage of BDA. Survey data collected from 161 U.S.-based companies show that: organizational-level BDA usage affects organizational value creation; the degree to which BDA usage influences such creation is moderated by environmental dynamism; technological factors directly influence organizational BDA usage; and organizational and environmental factors indirectly influence organizational BDA usage through top management support. Collectively, these findings provide a theory-based understanding of the impacts and antecedents of organizational BDA usage, while also providing guidance regarding what managers should expect from usage of this rapidly emerging technology.
Zusammenfassung
Die vorliegende Studie reflektiert den erfolgreichen Strukturwandel der Genossenschaftsbanken in der Schweiz und in Deutschland vor dem Hintergrund der rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen anhand empirischer Daten. Strategische Herausforderungen liegen u. a. in verstärkter Regulierung, neuen Mitbewerbern wie non- and near banks und technologischem Wandel. Das Genossenschaftsbanking der Zukunft erfordert vermutlich weniger, aber neu positionierte und gestaltete Filialen mit lokalem Begegnungs- und Erlebnischarakter sowie neue, vermehrt erlebnisorientiert gestaltete Bankingapplikationen auf mobilen Plattformen.
Over the last three decades, the prevailing view of information technology strategy has been that it is a functional-level strategy that must be aligned with the firm's chosen business strategy. Even within this socalled alignment view, business strategy directed IT strategy. During the last decade, the business infrastructure has become digital with increased interconnections among products, processes, and services. Across many firms spanning different industries and sectors, digital technologies (viewed as combinations of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies) are fundamentally transforming business strategies, business processes, firm capabilities, products and services, and key interfirm relationships in extended business networks. Accordingly, we argue that the time is right to rethink the role of IT strategy, from that of a functional-level strategy-aligned but essentially always subordinate to business strategy-to one that reflects a fusion between IT strategy and business strategy. This fusion is herein termed digital business strategy. We identify four key themes to guide our thinking on digital business strategy and help provide a framework to define the next generation of insights. The four themes are (1) the scope of digital business strategy, (2) the scale of digital business strategy, (3) the speed of digital business strategy, and (4) the sources of business value creation and capture in digital business strategy. After elaborating on each of these four themes, we discuss the success metrics and potential performance implications from pursuing a digital business strategy. We also show how the papers in the special issue shed light on digital strategies and offer directions to advance insights and shape future research.
This paper introduces some technologies that are fit for an architecture of digital democracy or E-democracy. It aims at proposing an architectural style emerged from tested and validated approaches, without relying on some radical innovation. Firstly, we propose an input-system-output model of E-democracy and knowledge society. This model is subject to permanent optimization following a trial and error paradigm similar to the artificial intelligence method of backpropagation. Secondly, we describe and advocate for some technologies and methodologies such as Cloud, Service-Oriented Architecture, Agile Development, Web-Oriented Architecture, Semantic Web and Linked Data. Finally, we assemble all these technologies and methodologies in an architectural style that follows several key concepts such as flexibility and adapability, citizen-oriented software development or abstract notions like participation, deliberation and inclusion.
Börsennotierte Unternehmen erkennen vermehrt, wie attraktiv Online Communities für ihre Finanzkommunikation sind. Vor einem Einsatz sollten Unternehmen die verfügbaren Optionen aber sorgfältig prüfen. Forschungsergebnisse geben Aufschluss, wie eine erfolgreiche Einbindung von Aktionären über Online-Plattformen gelingen kann.Digitale Medien sind heute ein alltäglicher Bestandteil der Finanzkommunikation. Ihr Einsatz gehört zu den guten Geschäftspraktiken der Investor Relations (IR). Kein DAX, M-, S- oder TecDAX-Unternehmen kann auf eine professionell gepflegte IR-Webseite verzichten. Diverse Rankings analysieren und prämieren jährlich die Funktionalität und Nutzerfreundlichkeit von IR-Webseiten.Die Popularität digitaler Medien in der Finanzkommunikation ist wenig verwunderlich, denn das Internet bietet ihr zahlreiche Vorteile: • fokussierte Ansprache der interessierten Zielgruppe,• simultane Abdeckung diverser Informationsbedürfnisse,• hohe Geschwindigkeit der Kommunikation, ...
Researchers in the fields of arts and culture in recent years have extensively investigated the participation of consumers in value creation. Surprisingly, however, the music industry, which has undergone profound changes, has not been the subject of much research. The author uses the data from 18 qualitative interviews to try to better understand consumers' participation in value creation and to put the phenomenon into perspective in terms of the literature.
Our ‘stakeholder synergy’ perspective identifies new value creation opportunities that are especially effective strategically because a single strategic action: (1) increases different types of value for two or more essential stakeholder groups, simultaneously, and (2) does not reduce the value already received by any other essential stakeholder group. This result is obtainable because multiple potential sources of value creation exist for each essential stakeholder group. Actions that meet these criteria increase the size of the value ‘pie’ available for essential stakeholder groups and, thereby, serve to attract exceptional stakeholders and obtain their increasing effort and commitment. The stakeholder synergy perspective extends stakeholder theory further into the strategy realm, and offers insights for realizing broader value creation that is more likely to produce sustainable competitive advantage.
We conducted case research of 20 large companies in North America and Europe across different industries to discover the effects of new information technologies (NIT) in transforming industries and value chains. Participants included Alstom, Amazon.com Inc., AutoNation Inc., Boo.com, Cemex, Chemdex, Dell Computer Corp., Eastman Chemical Co., easyJet Airline Co., FedEx Corp., Google, Lafarge, Levi Strauss & Co., Oracle Corp., Polaroid Corp., Ryanair, Schneider Electric, Tesco, Thomson and Toys “R” Us. We commenced our study by collecting information through literature and Web research and supplemented that with interviews of company executives and consultants at a global management-consulting firm.
Today's information technologies accelerate the speed at which enterprises make decisions, process information, and collaborate to solve problems, but do they provide a competitive advantage? Only if the organization transforms how it does business--using the same old approaches with new software aren't sufficient.
In electronic commerce, businesses require to integrate two kinds of activities – ones that are embedded into the physical value chains and the others that are built through information into the virtual chain. Although the relative importance of these two kinds of chain depends on the characteristics of the products and services, their integration, nevertheless, plays a critical role in the success of e-commerce. In e-commerce, more and more value chain activities are conducted electronically, therefore, businesses should understand the implication of the virtual value chain activities. The virtual chain offers a number of distinct advantages over the physical value chain. Some of these advantages lie in forging alliances between customers and manufacturers, advertising products and services selectively with effects of audio, video, and graphics, and saving time and money in efficiently processing customer orders and enquiries. Besides, e-commerce offers flexibility in option pricing and customization of products and service, by reducing the constraints of time and space.
The content industry has been undergoing a tremendous transformation in the last two decades. We focus in this paper on recent changes in the form of social computing. Although the content industry has implemented social computing to a large extent, it has done so from a techno-centric approach in which social features are viewed as complementary rather than integral to content. This approach does not capitalize on users’ social behavior in the website and does not answer the content industry’s need to elicit payment from consumers. We suggest that both these objectives can be achieved by acknowledging the fusion between content and community, making the social experience central to the content website's digital business strategy. We use data from Last.fm, a site offering both music consumption and online community features. The basic use of Last.fm is free, and premium services are provided for a fixed monthly subscription fee. Although the premium services on Last.fm are mainly aimed at improving the content consumption experience, we find that willingness to pay for premium services is strongly associated with the level of community participation of the user. Drawing from the literature on levels of participation in online communities, we show that consumers’ willingness to pay increases as they climb the so-called ‘ladder of participation’ on the website. Moreover, we find that willingness to pay is more strongly linked to community participation than to the volume of content consumption. We control for self-selection bias by using propensity score matching. We extend our results by estimating a hazard model to study the effect of community activity on the time between joining the website and the subscription decision. Our results suggest that firms whose digital business models remain viable in a world of “freemium” will be those that take a strategic rather than techno-centric view of social media, that integrate social media into the consumption and purchase experience rather than using it merely as a substitute for offline soft marketing. We provide new evidence of the importance of fusing social computing with content delivery and, in the process, lay a foundation for a broader strategic path for the digital content industry in an age of growing user participation.
Much of strategy has been about defense, building the largest castle with the thickest walls to defend position and tying down the customer with switching costs, standards, and transaction costs. The digital age changed that, making ineffective the usual competitive advantages of size and scope, infrastructure, and the former capabilities. The metaphor has moved from walls to windows: for transparency, fresh air, connection, and some protection from the harsher elements. A proactive windows strategy assembles scale and scope collaboratively, creates relationships that make switching unattractive, develops intangible resources all along the value chain, and builds cospecialized capabilities. Illustrative examples come from three companies that have thrived in the digital age: eBay (a new company and industry), Lending Tree (new in an old industry), and Charles Schwab (old in an old industry).
b>Purpose – This paper proposes the concepts of Communities of Enterprise (CoEs) and Virtual Communities of Enterprise (VCoEs) to describe business networking patterns in regional areas where there is no central organisational or industry focus and small and medium enterprises dominate the economy. Design/methodology/approach – Based on analysis of the literature this paper builds on theoretical understandings of knowledge management, clustering and regional development.
Findings – The concept of CoEs is most appropriate for regional areas characterised by many small enterprises in diverse industries. CoEs enhance development of regional clusters by contributing to their intellectual capital, innovation culture, value networks and social capital. The incorporation of ICT creates VCoEs which provide added potential by enabling regions to expand their learning potential through innovation.
Research limitations/implications – This paper provides a conceptual foundation for empirical research into regional network or cluster development using ICT.
Practical implications – Virtual Communities of Enterprise value creation potential is substantial but only when the socioeconomic elements of regional clusters are understood. The VCoE approach addresses the fact that without an industry focus it can be difficult to engage and link SMEs from different industries, although this is where the greatest potential
for value creation in regional clusters is to be found.
Originality/value – The Virtual Communities of Enterprise (VCoEs) concept specifically addresses the unique requirements of SMEs in regions. It has the potential to provide value for regions in a way few ICT based regional development initiatives have been able to achieve.<br /
With V. Sambamurthy, A. Bharadwaj, “ Strategic Agility through Digital Options: Reconceptualization the Role of IT in Contemporary Firms,” MIS Quarterly, Vol.27, No.2, 2003, pp.237-265.
Agility is vital to the innovation and competitive performance of firms in contemporary business environments. Firms are increasingly relying on information technologies, including process, knowledge, and communication technologies, to enhance their agility. The purpose of this paper is to broaden understanding about the strategic role of IT by examining the nomological network of influences through which IT impacts firm performance. By drawing upon recent thinking in the strategy, entrepreneurship, and IT management literatures, this paper uses a multitheoretic lens to argue that information technology investments and capabilities influence firm performance through three significant organizational capabilities (agility, digital options, and entrepreneurial alertness) and strategic processes (capability-building, entrepreneurial action, and coevolutionary adaptation). We also propose that these dynamic capabilities and strategic processes impact the ability of firms to launch many and varied competitive actions and that, in turn, these competitive actions are a significant antecedent of firm performance. Through our theorizing, we draw attention to a significant and reframed role of IT as a digital options generator in contemporary firms.
Globaler Wettbewerb, kürzere Produktlebenszyklen, steigende Kundenerwartungen und erhöhter Preisdruck sind die Herausforderungen, denen sich Unternehmen verstärkt stellen müssen. Durch die Integration der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie in unternehmensinterne und -übergreifende Geschäftsprozesse lassen sich operationale Effizienzsteigerungen und Kostensenkungen erzielen. Großunternehmen und global agierende Konzerne haben die Vorteile des E-Business erkannt und in die entsprechende Infrastruktur investiert, während in kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen E-Business bisher eher selten Anwendung findet. Das Buch zeigt, wie auch kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen von digitalen Business-Strategien profitieren können, und gibt praxisorientiert eine systematische Einführung in die wesentlichen organisatorischen, strategischen und technischen Aspekte des E-Business.
Although project management, benefits management, change management, and transformation management are everyday terms in many organizations, projects still experience high failure rates. Particularly business transformation projects are prone to fail because they affect multiple layers of the enterprise architecture, involve many stakeholders, last several years, and tie up considerable amounts of corporate capital. In order to handle their complexity, it is recommended to structure business transformation projects into portfolios of interdependent, yet smaller and thus manageable projects. So far, there is little guidance on how to achieve this. To share first-hand experience and stimulate research, we present and reflect on a project conducted with Infineon Technologies where we co-developed Infineon’s Finance IT roadmap. The Finance IT roadmap served as the foundation for transforming Infineon’s Finance IT setup to tackle future challenges of financial management in the semiconductor industry from a business, process, and IT perspective.
Full-text: http://www.fim-rc.de/Paperbibliothek/Veroeffentlicht/462/wi-462.pdf
Zusammenfassung
Die Digitalisierung führt aktuell zu erheblichen Veränderungen in der Finanzierungsbranche. Insbesondere Genossenschaftsbanken scheinen mit ihrem traditionellen, regional-orientierten Geschäftsmodell dem Digitalisierungstrend entgegenzustehen. Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert das Geschäftsmodell von Genossenschaftsbanken auf Basis von Experteninterviews, um die Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung genauer zu untersuchen. Es wird deutlich, dass das Geschäftsmodell der Genossenschaftsbanken in all seinen Facetten betroffen ist und im Zuge der Digitalisierung angepasst werden muss.
Big data analytics has become an imperative for business leaders across every industry sector. Analytics applications that can deliver a competitive advantage appear all along the supply chain decision spectrum-from targeted location-based marketing to optimizing supply chain inventories to enabling supplier risk assessment. While many companies have used it to extract new insights and create new forms of value, other companies have yet to leverage big data to transform their supply chain operations. This article examines how leading companies use big data analytics to drive their supply chains and offers a framework for implementation based on lessons learned.
Technology has transformed individuals from mere consumers of products to empowered participants in value co-creation. While numerous firms experiment with involving a crowd in value creation, few companies turn crowdsourcing projects into thriving platforms with a powerful business model. To address this challenge, this article analyzes successful platforms to identify patterns of effective crowdsourcing-based business models. The results provide guidance for managers who need to create new (or adapt existing) business models.
Purpose
– Based on extensive interviews and analysis, the article aims to explain how the next digital transformation, which is already underway, will result in a paradigm shift from one that is customer-centricity to an everyone-to-everyone (E2E) economy.
Design/methodology/approach
– For the 2013 IBM Digital Reinvention Study that this article is based on, IBM researchers surveyed approximately 1,100 business and government executives and 5,000 consumers across 15 countries. Thirty leading futurists were also interviewed. Of those interviewed for the executive study, 42 percent are C-level executives, with Chief Executive Officers comprising 10 percent of that group. More than three-fourths of the consumer study participants are university graduates, with 68 percent between the ages of 25 and 54.
Findings
– E2E is characterized by hyper-connectedness and collaboration of consumers and organizations across the gamut of value chain activities: co-design, co-creation, co-production, co-marketing, co-distribution and co-funding. Prospering in an E2E setting demands disruptive innovation that challenges established norms and blurs organizational boundaries.
Practical implications
– In the future, organizations will operate in ecosystems of converging products, services and industries.
Originality/value
– The four key dimensions of the new E2E business models are: connectivity, interactivity, awareness and intelligence.
This work aims at providing a framework for the analysis of governance in networks of cooperative firms. It builds on four bodies of literature: cooperation, transaction costs, monopoly capitalism, production networks. The framework associates the specific principles that define the identity of cooperative organizations (self-help, member ownership, democratic control, financial participation, limited capital remuneration) alongside more general governance levels (embodied values, property rights, control, resource allocation). We then apply the same dimensions to production networks and propose a stylized networking model for cooperatives. We introduce market power, and identify two polarized types of networks: (1) heterarchical forms of coordination based on cooperation and mutual help, (2) hierarchical coordination based on exclusive direction. We compare both types with our normative framework providing examples and brief case studies for each network type. Recommendations to scholars and practitioners point at the opportunity to discriminate inter-firm relations and production development strategy in terms of the values of cooperation, at all governance levels.
True supply chain excellence will only come from making a digital business transformation. It's a transformation that exploits all that technology has to offer, facilitates supply chain collaboration, and leads to new levels of operational excellence. More than a one-time project, the transformation is a journey—and the time to start that journey is now. The model for creating business value has changed. Companies today participate in extended supply chains, where real operational efficiency and revenue enhancement come from greater visibility, integration, and synchronization among connected partners. In short, collaboration among the partners in the extended supply chain—collaboration beyond the physical walls of the enterprise—is the new arena for value creation. Collaboration occurs when companies work together for mutual benefit. It happens when supply chain partners leverage each other's operational capabilities so that in combination they perform better than they could possibly do alone. Collaboration can occur at all points along the supply chain—from design through procurement to final distribution. When done effectively, it enables companies to share information that can dramatically shorten processing time, eliminate value-depleting activities, and improve quality, accuracy, and asset productivity—all of which are fundamental to long-term success.
Purpose
– While information communication technologies (ICTs) are essential for social and economic development in today's emerging digital society, the problem of the digital divide persists. To close this gap, the European Union has proposed eInclusive policies. However, a general belief has emerged that this issue must be dealt with at the local level. The purpose of this paper is to report on such an effort, the Digital Local Agenda (DLA). It aims to show the DLA development in Europe and provide an example of its utilization in practice through a European initiative.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper explains the rationale for the DLA, and examines implementation of the DLA in pilot sites in five European countries to support civil servants in small municipalities, and empower them to develop and utilize their capacities to use ICTs and reach people most in danger of eExclusion.
Findings
– Preliminary findings indicate that the DLA should be considered when looking for solutions to the persistent problem of digital exclusion in Europe. Implementing the DLA may improve public service provision and reduce the digital divide faced by disempowered groups.
Originality/value
– Given the flexible and adaptable instruments provided for in the DLA, the paper argues that the DLA is an effective and strategic approach to translate policy frameworks into solutions that practitioners can deploy to overcome the barriers of accessing eGovernment, reduce the digital divide among marginalized groups in Europe and include all stakeholders in decision making processes.
Purpose
According to IBM research, companies seeking opportunities in an era of constant customer connectivity focus on two complementary activities: reshaping customer value propositions and transforming their operations using digital technologies for greater customer interaction and collaboration. This paper aims to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explains that businesses aiming to generate new customer value propositions or transform their operating models need to develop a new portfolio of capabilities for flexibility and responsiveness to fast‐changing customer requirements.
Findings
The paper finds that engaging with customers at every point where value is created is what differentiates a customer‐centered business from one that simply targets customers well. Customer interaction in these areas often leads to open collaboration that accelerates innovation using online communities.
Practical implications
Companies focused on fully reshaping the operating model optimize all elements of the value chain around points of customer engagement.
Originality/value
The article explains how companies with a cohesive plan for integrating the digital and physical components of operations can successfully transform their business models.
This article discusses digital democracy with particular reference to the political context of the EU. The reasons for adopting tools for digital democracy include fostering closer contact with citizens, sharing ideas, improving the delivery of one’s message, crowdsourcing and facilitating digital direct democracy. Twitter has become the medium of choice for Brussels influencers. This is especially so for journalists, whose role has changed in recent years; politicians seem to be following suit. Politicians and political organisations that are actively involved in digital democracy gain the trust of the citizenry if they are approachable and open to discussion and if their online presence reflects their real-life existence.
Online innovation communities are often seen as a rich source of innovation that offers added value to its members. However, innovation in collaboration with communities may also create frustration and evoke angry reactions. This article with two combined studies investigates triggers of both positive and negative behavior of members of the ‘SPAR Bag Design Contest’ and helps to explain the bright and dark side of co-creation. It shows that dis-/satisfaction with the outcome, perceived fairness, and sense of community are beside co-creation experience major determinants for negative as well as positive reactions of innovation community members. The findings unfold that perceived unfairness and dis-/satisfaction with the outcome can cause negative reactions of participants like negative word-of-mouth. Perceived fairness and sense of community on the other hand are suggested as prerequisite for positive actions of members of co-creation communities. Thus, the results challenge the direct influence of co-creation experience on members' actions as e.g. sense of community fully mediates its influence on willingness to pay for and willingness to positively talk about the co-created outcome. The article further shows that dealing with such critical situations and managing conflicts in co-creation communities means an open dialog in the public sphere which requires co-negotiation and co-moderation.
This article provides a systematic descriptive and analytical framework for understanding the comparative advantages of member-owned businesses (MOBs) such as cooperatives, mutuals, and economic associations. First, it provides a short description of two main ownership types—consumer and producer—then it provides a taxonomy of all the main sub-types. An overview of the literature on comparative advantage follows. The three elements of ownership, control, and benefit are identified, and then advantages arising from these elements are identified and discussed with historical examples and empirical evidence derived mainly from the author's previous work. There is a brief discussion of the wider advantages to society in general from the presence of an MOB sector. A section on disadvantages identifies problems such as difficulty in raising capital, and governance failure due to lack of member participation. The final section considers the comparative nature of advantage, comparing MOBs with other ownership types, and making a distinction between comparative advantage and competitive advantage under particular market conditions.
Purpose
To provide the framework for digital government in its e‐government and e‐democracy aspects.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the aspects‐and‐opportunities framework of the internet‐web compound, the nodal aspects of the continuing and potential technologically‐based change known as digital government are discussed. Reallocation of certain government functions to the market becomes newly attractive economically in the presence of the web as marketplace. The web as a broadly accessible medium and a forum offers new opportunities in digital democracy. The utilitarian aspects of the internet‐web, those of the universal telecommunications network, delivery vehicle, and a common development platform, render the compound a new societal infrastructure, with the consequent benefits and exposures. The opportunities, as well as vulnerabilities, need to be the focus of information specialists as technologists and as citizens.
Findings
Opportunities are surfaced to reallocate the functions of e‐government from the hierarchy to the market using e‐commerce methods and tools.
Research limitations/implications
Vulnerabilities of the web‐internet combine in the application to e‐government are not investigated here.
Practical implications
Move from the bureaucratic to market‐oriented structures is implied.
Originality/value
A broad application of e‐commerce facilities to digital government is presented within a disciplined framework.
The objective of the paper is to discuss the space and scale of knowledge networks for innovation. The point of departure is a critical review of territorialised innovation theories according to which the source of growth and competitiveness is to be found in the innovative interplay among local actors and institutions. The region is believed to play a particular role as incubator or mediator for small firms. On this background the question raised is what globalisation and the emergence of time and space shrinking technologies imply to the spatial scale of knowledge networks. It is shown that the territorialised innovation theories rest on simplistic perceptions of embeddedness and space, and on functional notions of proximity which treat the firms as black box. The result is a considerable regional determinism. On the basis of recent network theory and empirical results, it is argued that firms do find knowledge sources on different spatial scales. Global networks or distant knowledge sources are particularly beneficial to innovation and firms are able to establish and participate in knowledge networks on all spatial scales. The political focus on local and regional innovation networks should therefore be changed and the role of the region redefined.
In this paper, we develop the concept of participative innovation, conciliating innovation and quality management. Those two views of management are often opposed, the first being associated with emergence and exploration, while the latter is based on control and exploitation. Through interviews with key actors in innovation and quality management, we underline the divergences and convergences of those management approaches. With those actors, we try to find areas where both approaches could be conciliated. The study of emerging practices where every member of the firm is asked to participate in the innovation process gives us an area of intersection. We show that such practices are at the crossroads between innovation and quality management. As a matter of fact, participative innovation meets the key principles of quality management while offering new perspectives for creative innovation. We propose a definition of participative innovation and a method to implement it in companies.
Purpose
This paper seeks to report the results of an empirical study examining the value creation process of e‐business (EB) applications from a supply chain perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was sent to procurement managers located in the German automotive supply chain. Interaction effects were examined through regression analyses to illustrate the moderating role of the suppliers' EB readiness in the value creation process throughout the supply chain.
Findings
Based on the resource‐based view (RBV) and previous research this study illustrates that EB applications (i.e. EB interaction applications, EB coordination applications and EB integration applications) have a significantly stronger positive impact on operational performance when a company's key suppliers are ready and willing to engage in EB (suppliers' EB readiness).
Originality/value
Although research on the performance impact and business value of EB applications has advanced over the past years, there is still a scarcity of research taking a supply chain perspective on EB value. This study addresses this gap through reporting results of an empirical study examining the value creation of EB applications through the moderating role of suppliers' EB readiness on the EB applications‐operational performance relationship throughout the supply chain. This paper will thus be beneficial for supply chain managers considering investing in EB systems and will support further research in EB value creation in supply chains.
This paper presents a case study of how, over the last six years a large, a traditional corporation simultaneously created new service markets and established a dominant position in the competitive information and communication technology field in Japan. The corporation accepted a new organizational body that has an entrepreneurial spirit and consists of different types of personnel, then the company continuously promoted entrepreneurial strategies based on time pacing. At the same time, in an attempt to implement strategic innovation, the company integrated the above strategies with deliberate strategies based on event-based pacing practiced by the existing line organizational body. Through a case study, this paper discusses the factors for success and the problems encountered in the course of achieving strategic innovation in the communications field, i.e. the creation of a new market, through intentionally and strategically having, and furthermore integrating, paradoxical organizations and strategies under a single corporate umbrella.
Many senior executives equate “going digital” with specific phenomena such as the advent of the personal computer, the proliferation of e-mail, the growth of enterprise resource planning systems, or the popularity of the Internet. But to think of digital business design as the sum total of the high-tech innovations multiplying around us is a fatally incomplete view. The discipline of digital business design is about serving customers, creating unique value propositions, leveraging talent, achieving order-of-magnitude improvements in productivity, and increasing and protecting profits. Learn from the companies that have created great value propositions for customers and employees, achieved significant improvements in productivity, created a robust profit model, and protected both their profit streams and their customer relationships from being eroded by competitors.
This paper presents a business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B EC) model for enabling supply chain management (SCM). The application of this model is substantiated by a case study of a leading clothing manufacturer in Hong Kong. On the technical side, the findings support the notion of harnessing information technologies (the Web, e-mail, and electronic data interchange) to integrate business processes across the clothing supply chain. That is, information technologies could facilitate SCM, adding more value to customers. On the managerial side, the study highlights that manufacturers can assume a proactive role in leading changes in a supply chain, and that a fair share of gains from co-operation must exist if collaboration between supply chain members is to be developed. Additionally, it is important for the members to have a thorough understanding of the impact of EC on inter-firm relation- ship as well as the role they play in a supply chain before they engage in the virtual business world.
Dramatic developments in digital technologies and the diffusion of the Internet protocol as an open and efficient communication standard are wiping out the specialized symbiotic link between content and technology. That's how and see the digital world, and here they reveal three trends that companies need to prepare for.
Purpose
This paper presents best practices of global and local initiatives for social and economic capital development. It introduces the notion of “megacommunities” representing broad multilateral stakeholder groups that work together for the resolutions of large‐scale health, environmental and social problems. The paper also takes a more local view by discussing a few regional and municipal examples of “intelligent communities” at the forefront of the knowledge economy. These mega and intelligent communities are often the first to adopt information and communication technologies (ICT), especially pervasive broadband technologies services, for achieving superior social, human and economic wellbeing. The objective of the paper is to identify common drivers and characteristics of these communities and how they utilize ICT to promote higher‐level growth.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of a general review. The paper introduces the notions of wellbeing, human, social and economic capital. It presents examples of mega and intelligent communities that represent the best practices in the achievement of wellbeing.
Findings
The review finds that technological empowerment – in particular information and communication technologies (ICT) – is fundamental to integrate mega and intelligent communities for social, human and economic wellbeing. Through the best practice examples presented in this research, ICT is regarded as the key driver for supporting a sustainable economic development at the global, regional and local levels. Through ICT, it is viable (and essential) to establish a global knowledge base, shared and contributed to by a variety of experts and professionals throughout the world in different fields.
Research limitations/implications
The paper presents examples based on case studies conducted by the authors and based on reviews of the best practice approaches. Based upon the observation of the key success factors and commonalities among the cases, ICT plays an essential role for the sustainable outcomes from the current mega and intelligent community initiatives. Further empirical testing is needed to demonstrate the success factor relationships introduced in this paper.
Practical implications
The paper raises awareness of relevant initiatives that could be adopted and replicated to facilitate sustainable development.
Originality/value
The value of the paper stems from the link between the macro and micro dimensions of different communities. Using the best practice cases as examples, this paper presents worthy lessons to policy makers, governments, global knowledge management, other practitioners and professionals. In particular, it opens up potential opportunities for more effective and efficient global collaborations through highlighting the role of information and communication technologies in the successful management of community practices.
Prinzipien sollen seit jeher die charakteristischen Z�ge und das Wirken der "modernen" Genossenschaften festlegen sowie deren Eigenart in die Zukunft tragen. Auf l�ngere Sicht kann eine ver�nderte Anwendung selbst der Kernelemente eines genossenschaftlichen Wertesystems erforderlich werden. Geschieht dies typgem��, so wird ein diffuses Selbstverst�ndnis infolge sukzessiven Identit�tsabbaus vermieden. Weniger um der Tradition willen als viel mehr im Interesse der Sicherung von Zukunftsf�higkeit und Erzielung von Wettbewerbs-, Gesch�ftsergebnis- und F�rdervorteilen gelingt dadurch eine klare Unterscheidung von anderen Unternehmensformen. --
In this article, the author states that interest in the use of computers for improving a democracy widely considered decayed seems to be increasing with the growing use of the Internet. Search for "electronic democracy" on AltaVista yielded well over 5,000 pages; much of the material discusses projects trying to make an impact on democratic practices. Electronic democracy, sometimes teledemocracy or digital democracy, are terms often used synonymously to refer to the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to connect politicians and citizens by means of information, voting, polling, or discussion. The argument is that the role of the electronic medium in the democratic system extends far beyond electronic town hall meetings and polling. The use of ICT permeates most activities related to societal planning, governance, and political organization, including organization in the civil society; which means using ICT also has implications for working democracy in representative systems. Therefore, to understand the role of ICT in the working process of the democratic system, e-democracy research should be framed in a context encompassing all aspects of the system.