Creating and managing value in collaborative networks

This is a theoretical paper that examines the interplay between individual and collective capabilities and competencies and value transactions in collaborative environments. The theory behind value creation is examined and two types of value are identified, internal value (Shareholder value) and external value (Value proposition). The literature on collaborative enterprises/network is also examined with particular emphasis on supply chains, extended/virtual enterprises and clusters as representatives of different forms and maturities of collaboration. The interplay of value transactions and competencies and capabilities are examined and discussed in detail. Finally, a model is presented which consists of value transactions and a table which compares the characteristics of different types of collaborative enterprises/networks. It is proposed that this model presents a platform for further research to develop an in-depth understanding into how value may be created and managed in collaborative enterprises/networks.

Premium e-grocery:exploring value in logistics integrated service solutions

E-grocery is gradually becoming viable or a necessity for many families. Yet, most e-supermarkets are seen as providers of low value "staple" and bulky goods mainly. While each store has a large number of SKU available, these products are mainly necessity goods with low marginal value for hedonistic consumption. A need to acquire diverse products (e.g., organic), premium priced products (e.g., wine) for special occasions (e.g., anniversary, birthday), or products just for health related reasons (e.g., allergies, diabetes) are yet to be served via one-stop e-tailers. In this paper, we design a mathematical model that takes into account consumers' geo-demographics and multi-product sourcing capacity for creating critical mass and profit. Our mathematical model is a variant of Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (CVRPTW), which we extend by adding intermediate locations for trucks to meet and exchange goods. We illustrate our model for the city of Istanbul using GIS maps, and discuss its various extensions as well as managerial implications.

Marketing strategy : making sense of industry dynamics:is there still value in strategic group research?

This paper looks selectively at strategic group theory and seeks to explore the benefits and limitations of modern strategic group analysis within the context of practical strategy making in the pharmaceutical industry. The rise and fall of strategic group research is reviewed and suggestions advanced as to the reasons why strategic group research suffered criticism and frequently produced conflicting results. The paper concludes that strategic group research offers a valuable way to classify firms by their strategy and provides some suggestions as to how industry strategists may benefit from strategic group analysis and avoid the pitfalls exposed by previous research.

Is there still value in strategic group research?

This paper offers a selected review of strategic group theory and seeks to explore the benefits and limitations of modern strategic group analysis within the context of the Pharmaceutical Industry. The rise and fall of strategic group research is reviewed and some suggestions advanced as to the reasons why strategic group research has often produced conflicting results, particularly with regard to the link between group membership and performance. The review concludes that strategic group research continues to offer a valuable way to classify firms by their strategy and provides some suggestions as to how future studies may avoid the pitfalls exposed by previous research.

Strategy as practice:recursiveness, adaptation, and practices-in-use

In this article, a social theory framework is developed to explain the common themes of recursive and adaptive practice underpinning the existing strategic management literature. In practice, there is a coexistent tension between recursive and adaptive forms of strategic action that spans multiple levels from macro-institutional and competitive contexts to within-firm levels of analysis to individual cognition. This tension may be better understood by examining how management practices are used to put strategy into practice. Such practices span multiple levels of context and are adaptable to their circumstances of use, serving to highlight both general characteristics and localized idiosyncrasies of strategy as practice. The article develops the concept of management practices-in-use into a research agenda and nine broad research questions that may be used to investigate empirically strategy as practice.

Sharing of value in business relationships:a theoretical model

This paper explores the sharing of value in business transactions. Although there is an increased usage of the terminology of value in marketing (such concepts as value based selling and pricing), as well as in purchasing (value-based purchasing), the definition of the term is still vague. In order to better understand the definition of value, the author’s argue that it is important to understand the sharing of value, in general and the element of power for the sharing of value in particular. The aim of this paper is to add to this debate and this requires us to critique the current models. The key process that the analysis of power will help to explain is the division of the available revenue stream flowing up the chain from the buyer's customers. If the buyer and supplier do not cooperate, then power will be key in the sharing of that money flow. If buyers and suppliers fully cooperate, they may be able to reduce their costs and/or increase the quality of the sales offering the buyer makes to their customer.

Challenges of product-service systems:a real-life case study

A Product-Service System (PSS) is an integrated product and service offering that delivers value in use. This paper presents a real-life case study of a large company which has moved towards PSS. A research protocol has been created to conduct an extensive series of interviews with key personnel within the case study company. The results of the study and implications for research are explored.

The servitization of manufacturing:a review of literature and reflection on future challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the state-of-the-art of servitization by presenting a clinical review of literature currently available on the topic. The paper aims to define the servitization concept, report on its origin, features and drivers and give examples of its adoption along with future research challenges. Design/methodology/approach – In determining the scope of this study, the focus is on articles that are central and relevant to servitization within a wider manufacturing context. The methodology consists of identifying relevant publication databases, searching these using a wide range of key words and phrases associated with servitization, and then fully reviewing each article in turn. The key findings and their implications for research are all described. Findings – Servitization is the innovation of an organisation's capabilities and processes to shift from selling products to selling integrated products and services that deliver value in use. There are a diverse range of servitization examples in the literature. These tend to emphasize the potential to maintain revenue streams and improve profitability. Practical implications – Servitization does not represent a panacea for manufactures. However, it is a concept of significant potential value, providing routes for companies to move up the value chain and exploit higher value business activities. There is little work to date that can be used to help practitioners. Originality/value – This paper provides a useful review of servitization and a platform on which to base more in-depth research into the broader topic of service-led competitive strategy by drawing on the work from other related research communities.

Shareholder value application in UK listed companies

This paper is based upon the initial findings of a CIMA research project into the way in which corporate performance measurement systems are influenced by the use of shareholder value management techniques. It compares and contrasts the techniques in use in a sample of 10 companies that either explicitly use shareholder value techniques also known as Value-Based Management (VBM), or explicitly do not use such techniques. The analysis undertaken is based upon the finding of semi-structured interviews with company representatives which formed the first part of the data collection process of the project. The analysis traces the interactions between corporate objectives, decision making criteria, performance measurement systems and executive incentive schemes in order to develop an understanding of the effects of such shareholder value techniques upon corporate behaviour. The literature reviewed suggests that the other aspects of the planning and control system should be aligned with the corporate objectives whether a company has adopted VBM or not. Therefore this research contributes new evidence on the use of VBM techniques in the UK and also more generally on whether VBM and non-VBM companies internal planning and control systems are aligned.

Increasing cell biomass in Saccharomyces cerevisiae increases recombinant protein yield:the use of a respiratory strain as a microbial cell factory

BACKGROUND: Recombinant protein production is universally employed as a solution to obtain the milligram to gram quantities of a given protein required for applications as diverse as structural genomics and biopharmaceutical manufacture. Yeast is a well-established recombinant host cell for these purposes. In this study we wanted to investigate whether our respiratory Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain, TM6*, could be used to enhance the productivity of recombinant proteins over that obtained from corresponding wild type, respiro-fermentative strains when cultured under the same laboratory conditions. RESULTS: Here we demonstrate at least a doubling in productivity over wild-type strains for three recombinant membrane proteins and one recombinant soluble protein produced in TM6* cells. In all cases, this was attributed to the improved biomass properties of the strain. The yield profile across the growth curve was also more stable than in a wild-type strain, and was not further improved by lowering culture temperatures. This has the added benefit that improved yields can be attained rapidly at the yeast's optimal growth conditions. Importantly, improved productivity could not be reproduced in wild-type strains by culturing them under glucose fed-batch conditions: despite having achieved very similar biomass yields to those achieved by TM6* cultures, the total volumetric yields were not concomitantly increased. Furthermore, the productivity of TM6* was unaffected by growing cultures in the presence of ethanol. These findings support the unique properties of TM6* as a microbial cell factory. CONCLUSIONS: The accumulation of biomass in yeast cell factories is not necessarily correlated with a proportional increase in the functional yield of the recombinant protein being produced. The respiratory S. cerevisiae strain reported here is therefore a useful addition to the matrix of production hosts currently available as its improved biomass properties do lead to increased volumetric yields without the need to resort to complex control or cultivation schemes. This is anticipated to be of particular value in the production of challenging targets such as membrane proteins.

The use of maturity models in improving project management performance:an empirical investigation

Purpose – The purpose of the paper was to conduct an empirical investigation to explore the impact of project management maturity models (PMMMs) on improving project performance. Design/methodology/approach – The investigation used a cross-case analysis involving over 90 individuals in seven organisations. Findings – The findings of the empirical investigation indicate that PMMMs demonstrate very high levels of variability in individual's assessment of project management maturity. Furthermore, at higher levels of maturity, the type of performance improvement adopted following their application is related to the type of PMMM used in the assessment. The paradox of the unreliability of PMMMs and their widespread acceptance is resolved by calling upon the “wisdom of crowds” phenomenon which has implications for the use of maturity model assessments in other arena. Research limitations/implications – The investigation does have the usual issues associated with case research, but the steps that have been taken in the cross-case construction and analysis have improved the overall robustness and extendibility of the findings. Practical implications – The tendency for PMMMs to shape improvements based on their own inherent structure needs further understanding. Originality/value – The use of empirical methods to investigate the link between project maturity models and extant changes in project management performance is highly novel and the findings that result from this have added resonance.

Evaluating corporate performance:a critique of economic value added

There has been a revival of interest in economic techniques to measure the value of a firm through the use of economic value added as a technique for measuring such value to shareholders. This technique, based upon the concept of economic value equating to total value, is founded upon the assumptions of classical liberal economic theory. Such techniques have been subject to criticism both from the point of view of the level of adjustment to published accounts needed to make the technique work and from the point of view of the validity of such techniques in actually measuring value in a meaningful context. This paper critiques economic value added techniques as a means of calculating changes in shareholder value, contrasting such techniques with more traditional techniques of measuring value added. It uses the company Severn Trent plc as an actual example in order to evaluate and contrast the techniques in action. The paper demonstrates discrepancies between the calculated results from using economic value added analysis and those reported using conventional accounting measures. It considers the merits of the respective techniques in explaining shareholder and managerial behaviour and the problems with using such techniques in considering the wider stakeholder concept of value. It concludes that this economic value added technique has merits when compared with traditional accounting measures of performance but that it does not provide the universal panacea claimed by its proponents.

The role of the sales employee in securing customer satisfaction

Purpose: Previous research has emphasized the pivotal role that salespeople play in customer satisfaction. In this regard, the relationship between salespeople's attitudes, skills, and characteristics, and customer satisfaction remains an area of interest. The paper aims to make three contributions: first, it seeks to examine the impact of salespeople's satisfaction, adaptive selling, and dominance on customer satisfaction. Second, this research aims to use dyadic data, which is a better test of the relationships between constructs since it avoids common method variance. Finally, in contrast to previous research, it aims to test all of the customers of salespeople rather than customers selected by salespeople. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs multilevel analysis to examine the relationship between salespeople's satisfaction with the firm on customer satisfaction, using a dyadic, matched business-to-business sample of a large European financial service provider that comprises 188 customers and 18 employees. Findings: The paper finds that customers' evaluation of service quality, product quality, and value influence customer satisfaction. The analysis at the selling firm's employee level shows that adaptive selling and employee satisfaction positively impact customer satisfaction, while dominance is negatively related to customer satisfaction. Practical implications: Research shows that customer-focus is a key driver in the success of service companies. Customer satisfaction is regarded as a prerequisite for establishing long-term, profitable relations between company and customer, and customer contact employees are key to nurturing this relationship. The role of salespeople's attitudes, skills, and characteristics in the customer satisfaction process are highlighted in this paper. Originality/value: The use of dyadic, multilevel studies to assess the nature of the relationship between employees and customers is, to date, surprisingly limited. The paper examines the link between employee attitudes, skills, and characteristics, and customer satisfaction in a business-to-business setting in the financial service sector, differentiating between customer- and employee-level drivers of business customer satisfaction.