Service aggregators in business networks

This position paper examines the development of a dedicated service aggregator role in business networks. We predict that these intermediaries will soon emerge in service ecosystems and add value through the application of dedicated domain knowledge in the process of creating new, innovative services or service bundles based on the aggregation, composition, integration or orchestration of existing services procured from different service providers in the service ecosystem. We discuss general foundations of service aggregators and present Fourth-Party Logistics Providers as a real-world example of emerging business service aggregators. We also point out a demand for future research, e.g. into governance models, risk management tools, service portfolio management approaches and service bundling techniques, to be able to better understand core determinants of competitiveness and success of service aggregators.

On the usage of labels and icons in business process modeling

The value of business process models is dependent not only on the choice of graphical elements in the model, but also on their annotation with additional textual and graphical information. This research discusses the use of text and icons for labeling the graphical constructs in a process model. We use two established verb classification schemes to examine the choice of activity labels in process modeling practice. Based on our findings, we synthesize a set of twenty-five activity label categories. We propose a systematic approach for graphically representing these label categories through the use of graphical icons, such that the resulting process models are easier and more readily understandable by end users. Our findings contribute to an ongoing stream of research investigating the practice of process modeling and thereby contribute to the body of knowledge about conceptual modeling quality overall.

60Sox and the 2bobmob : mentoring in an online learning community for creative industries graduates

Knowledge intensive services are the fastest growing segment of the international economy and the digital creative industries are a key segment therein. Australia is well positioned to exploit this opportunity but has a skills shortage in the digital content industries in terms of commercial ready graduates. We report on a solution to this problem, in the form of an online creative community of practice – www.60Sox.org - where new graduates are mentored by Australian industry leaders - the 2bobmob. We describe this community of practice as a virtual creative ecology and discuss networks, peer feedback and mentoring as key elements of post-tertiary learning, in the context of portfolio career progression.

Pockets of creativity in business processes

Creative processes, for instance, the development of visual effects or computer games, increasingly become part of the agenda of information systems researchers and practitioners. Such processes get their managerial challenges from the fact that they comprise both well-structured, transactional parts and creative parts. The latter can often not be precisely specified in terms of control flow, required resources, and outcome. The processes’ high uncertainty sets boundaries for the application of traditional business process management concepts, such as process automation, process modeling, process performance measurement, and risk management. Organizations must thus exercise caution when it comes to managing creative processes and supporting these with information technology. This, in turn, requires a profound understanding of the concept of creativity in business processes. In response to this, the present paper introduces a framework for conceptualizing creativity within business processes. The conceptual framework describes three types of uncertainty and constraints as well as the interrelationships among these. The study is grounded in the findings from three case studies that were conducted in the film and visual effects industry. Moreover, we provide initial evidence for the framework’s validity beyond this narrow focus. The framework is intended to serve as a sensitizing device that can guide further information systems research on creativity-related phenomena.

Modelling complex resource requirements in Business Process Management Systems

Real-world business processes are resource-intensive. In work environments human resources usually multitask, both human and non-human resources are typically shared between tasks, and multiple resources are sometimes necessary to undertake a single task. However, current Business Process Management Systems focus on task-resource allocation in terms of individual human resources only and lack support for a full spectrum of resource classes (e.g., human or non-human, application or non-application, individual or teamwork, schedulable or unschedulable) that could contribute to tasks within a business process. In this paper we develop a conceptual data model of resources that takes into account the various resource classes and their interactions. The resulting conceptual resource model is validated using a real-life healthcare scenario.

Co-creation in business service lifecycle management

Co-creation between customers and providers has recently gained more attention by business service providers as a promising endeavour. The different perspectives of co-creation - innovation, sourcing and marketing - are well deployed. From a provider’s point of view, the question of how to manage business services with respect to co-creation is vitally important. However, service engineering and service lifecycle management typically take a mostly internal, closed-loop approach, although a logical implication of acknowledging the value co-creation perspective on “service” would be to leverage customer and other stakeholder competences to the full extent. This paper aims at reconciling the perspectives of co-creation and makes a contribution by analysing where and how co-creation can be effectively utilised throughout the various stages of a generic business service lifecycle. The result will be a framework guiding companies in using co-creation when managing their business services.

The effectiveness of literalism-symbolism in business-to-business advertising

A basic element in advertising strategy is the choice of an appeal. In business-to-business (B2B) marketing communication, a long-standing approach relies on literal and factual, benefit-laden messages. Given the highly complex, costly and involved processes of business purchases, such approaches are certainly understandable. This project challenges the traditional B2B approach and asks if an alternative approach—using symbolic messages that operate at a more intrinsic or emotional level—is effective in the B2B arena. As an alternative to literal (factual) messages, there is an emerging body of literature that asserts stronger, more enduring results can be achieved through symbolic messages (imagery or text) in an advertisement. The present study contributes to this stream of research. From a theoretical standpoint, the study explores differences in literal-symbolic message content in B2B advertisements. There has been much discussion—mainly in the consumer literature—on the ability of symbolic messages to motivate a prospect to process advertising information by necessitating more elaborate processing and comprehension. Business buyers are regarded as less receptive to indirect or implicit appeals because their purchase decisions are based on direct evidence of product superiority. It is argued here, that these same buyers may be equally influenced by advertising that stimulates internally-directed motivation, feelings and cognitions about the brand. Thus far, studies on the effect of literalism and symbolism are fragmented, and few focus on the B2B market. While there have been many studies about the effects of symbolism no adequate scale exists to measure the continuum of literalism-symbolism. Therefore, a first task for this study was to develop such a scale. Following scale development, content analysis of 748 B2B print advertisements was undertaken to investigate whether differences in literalism-symbolism led to higher advertising performance. Variations of time and industry were also measured. From a practical perspective, the results challenge the prevailing B2B practice of relying on literal messages. While definitive support was not established for the use of symbolic message content, literal messages also failed to predict advertising performance. If the ‘fact, benefit laden’ assumption within B2B advertising cannot be supported, then other approaches used in the business-to-consumer (B2C) sector, such as symbolic messages may be also appropriate in business markets. Further research will need to test the potential effects of such messages, thereby building a revised foundation that can help drive advances in B2B advertising. Finally, the study offers a contribution to the growing body of knowledge on symbolism in advertising. While the specific focus of the study relates to B2B advertising, the Literalism-Symbolism scale developed here provides a reliable measure to evaluate literal and symbolic message content in all print advertisements. The value of this scale to advance our understanding about message strategy may be significant in future consumer and business advertising research.

Human resource behaviour simulation in business processes

The structure and dynamics of a modern business environment are very hard to model using traditional methods. Such complexity raises challenges to effective business analysis and improvement. The importance of applying business process simulation to analyze and improve business activities has been widely recognized. However, one remaining challenge is the development of approaches to human resource behavior simulation. To address this problem, we describe a novel simulation approach where intelligent agents are used to simulate human resources by performing allocated work from a workflow management system. The behavior of the intelligent agents is driven a by state transition mechanism called a Hierarchical Task Network (HTN). We demonstrate and validate our simulator via a medical treatment process case study. Analysis of the simulation results shows that the behavior driven by the HTN is consistent with design of the workflow model. We believe these preliminary results support the development of more sophisticated agent-based human resource simulation systems.

History-aware, real-time risk detection in business processes (Extended Version)

This paper proposes a novel approach for identifying risks in executable business processes and detecting them at run time. The approach considers risks in all phases of the business process management lifecycle, and is realized via a distributed, sensor-based architecture. At design-time, sensors are defined to specify risk conditions which when fulfilled, are a likely indicator of faults to occur. Both historical and current execution data can be used to compose such conditions. At run-time, each sensor independently notifies a sensor manager when a risk is detected. In turn, the sensor manager interacts with the monitoring component of a process automation suite to prompt the results to the user who may take remedial actions. The proposed architecture has been implemented in the YAWL system and its performance has been evaluated in practice.

Empirical research in business process management : introduction to the special issue

In this editorial letter, we provide the readers of Information Systems and e-Business Management with an introduction to Business Process Management and the challenges of empirical research in this field. We then briefly describe selected examples of current research efforts in this fields and how the papers accepted for this special issue contribute to extending our body of knowledge.

Towards an orchestration theory in business transformation management (research in progress)

Business transformations are large-scale organisational change projects that, evidence suggests, are often unsuccessful. This study aims to develop a conceptual model that explains how management services that are required for a business transformation are orchestrated during such a initiative. We classify management services such as (but not limited to) change management, risk management, IT management, financial management, program management and so forth as bearing transformational and/or transactional capabilities in a transformation initiative. We then draw upon three principles of musical composition, namely melody, harmony and rhythm, and illustrate how they apply to the orchestration of management services in the management of business transformations. In order to illustrate our emerging model, we examine the case of Malaysia Airlines, who have managed to successfully turnaround the near-bankrupt organisation beyond survival. We demonstrate how the notions of melody, harmony and rhythm can be used to describe their endeavour. We conclude by discussing next steps of our research.