Reasons for roadmapping: A study of the Singaporean SME manufacturing sector

To encourage Singaporean small and medium sized enterprises to move up the value chain, Operation and Technology Roadmapping (OTR) has been developed and introduced to the sector. This technique is based upon the T-Plan process developed at Cambridge University. To-date close to thirty companies have used the process to create a 'first-cut' roadmap. This paper initially reviews the application of roadmapping in small companies, and then highlights the various areas where the companies have applied the roadmapping technique. © 2004 IEEE.

Exploring the financial consequences of the servitization of manufacturing

Commentators suggest that to survive in developed economies manufacturing firms have to move up the value chain, innovating and creating ever more sophisticated products and services, so they do not have to compete on the basis of cost. While this strategy is proving increasingly popular with policy makers and academics there is limited empirical evidence to explore the extent to which it is being adopted in practice. And if so, what the impact of this servitization of manufacturing might be. This paper seeks to fill a gap in the literature by presenting empirical evidence on the range and extent of servitization. Data are drawn from the OSIRIS database on 10,028 firms incorporated in 25 different countries. The paper presents an analysis of these data which suggests that: [i] manufacturing firms in developed economies are adopting a range of servitization strategies-12 separate approaches to servitization are identified; [ii] these 12 categories can be used to extend the traditional three options for servitization-product oriented Product-Service Systems, use oriented Product-Service Systems and result oriented Product-Service Systems, by adding two new categories "integration oriented Product-Service Systems" and "service oriented Product-Service Systems"; [iii] while the manufacturing firms that have servitized are larger than traditional manufacturing firms in terms of sales revenues, at the aggregate level they also generate lower profits as a % of sales; [iv] these findings are moderated by firm size (measured in terms of numbers of employees). In smaller firms servitization appears to pay off while in larger firms it proves more problematic; and [v] there are some hidden risks associated with servitization-the sample contains a greater proportion of bankrupt servitized firms than would be expected. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009.

The Nile perch fishery: traditional and emerging fisheries, overfishing and the use of illegal gears on Lake Albert

The fisheries of Lake Albert have come under increasing focus due to several driving forces that have synergistically evolved resulting into concerns from diverse stakeholders. The driving forces include: the commercialization of the fisheries with entry into the value chain of industrial fish processing, a decline in fish stocks especially of the large-size fishes and the emergency of the light - fishing targeting small pelagic fishes. In addition, the assumption by some opinion leaders that light-fishing (use of light) has destroyed the Nile perch fishery of Lake Albert, other factors such as cross-border fishing conflicts, the emergence of oil, an influx of traders in fish-related activities, and the limited regulatory and enforcement regimes for the diverse commercially exploited fish fauna of Lake Albert all require continuous information and action.

Aquaculture technologies in Bangladesh: an assessment of technical and economic performance and producer behavior

This study evaluates the performance of a wide range of aquaculture systems in Bangladesh. It is by far the largest of its kind attempted to date. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the most important production systems, rather than to provide a nationally representative overview of the entire aquaculture sector of Bangladesh. As such, the study yields a huge amount of new information on production technologies that have never been thoroughly researched before. The study reveals an extremely diverse array of specialized, dynamic and rapidly evolving production technologies, adapted to a variety of market niches and local environmental conditions. This is a testament to the innovativeness of farmers and other value chain actors who have been the principal drivers of this development in Bangladesh. Data was collected from six geographical hubs. This survey was conducted from November 2011 to June 2012. Technological performance in terms of detailed input and output information, fish management practices, credit and marketing, and social and environmental issues were captured by the survey questionnaire, which had both open and closed format questions. The study generated insights that enable better understanding of aquaculture development in Bangladesh.

Building more sustainable solutions in production-consumption systems: the case of food for people with reduced access

In new product development, the ability to integrate different dimensions of sustainability at a value chain level is still a complex, problematic goal. As product-service approaches are increasingly enabling the introduction of more sustainable paths, this paper describes the authors' experience thus far when building insights into conditions for the implementation of integrated solutions in a process of co-development and testing in real life conditions, which are driven by a social need focusing on food for people with reduced access. Throughout this process, which brought together producers, consumers and other stakeholders to design and test industrialised, sustainable solutions, empirical evidence demonstrates feasibility and usefulness of the approach and insight into the conditions for implementing interactive, comprehensive multi-stakeholder processes in real life situations. In addition, results show that the delivery of innovative solutions enabled to offer social added value, economic profits and environmental improvements under specific experimental conditions. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global solutions

As manufacturing enterprises become increasingly globalised, the supply chain is becoming more fragmented, with multiple players engaged in key aspects of the value chain. This has seen the emergence of suppliers offering specialised operations (research, design, production, service) which are capable of serving widely dispersed markets. It is generally assumed that managing these increasingly complex international supply chains requires sophisticated management techniques. Many companies have installed advanced planning systems for just this reason - systems that require skilled staff to implement the complex processes involved.

Market-pull and technology-push in manufacturing start-ups in emerging industries

Purpose - As traditional manufacturing, previously vital to the UK economy, is increasingly outsourced to lower-cost locations, policy makers seek leadership in emerging industries by encouraging innovative start-up firms to pursue competitive opportunities. Emerging industries can either be those where a technology exists but the corresponding downstream value chain is unclear, or a new technology may subvert the existing value chain to satisfy existing customer needs. Hence, this area shows evidence of both technology-push and market-pull forces. The purpose of this paper is to focus on market-pull and technology-push orientations in manufacturing ventures, specifically examining how and why this orientation shifts during the firm's formative years. Design/methodology/approach - A multiple case study approach of 25 UK start-ups in emerging industries is used to examine this seldom explored area. The authors offer two models of dynamic business-orientation in start-ups and explain the common reasons for shifts in orientation and why these two orientations do not generally co-exist during early firm development. Findings - Separate evolution paths were found for strategic orientation in manufacturing start-ups and separate reasons for them to shift in their early development. Technology-push start-ups often changed to a market-pull orientation because of new partners, new market information or shift in management priorities. In contrast, many of the start-ups beginning with a market-pull orientation shifted to a technology-push orientation because early market experiences necessitated a focus on improving processes in order to increase productivity or meet partner specifications, or meet a demand for complementary products. Originality/value - While a significant body of work exists regarding manufacturing strategy in established firms, little work has been found that investigates how manufacturing strategy emerges in start-up companies, particularly those in emerging industries. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Defining product-service network configurations and location roles: A current and future state analysis framework for international engineering operations

Many manufacturing firms have developed a service dimension to their product portfolio. In response to this growing trend of servitisation, organisations, often involved in complex, long-lifecycle product-service system (PSS) provision, need to reconfigure their global engineering networks to support integrated PSS offerings. Drawing on parallel concepts in 'production' networks, the idea of 'location role' now becomes increasingly complex, in terms of service delivery. As new markets develop, locations in a specific region may need to grow/adapt engineering service 'competencies' along the value chain, from design and build to support and service, in order to serve future location-specific requirements and, potentially, those requirements of the overall network. The purpose of this paper is to advance understanding of how best to design complex multi-organisational engineering service networks, through extension of the 'production' network location role concept to a PSS context, capturing both traditional engineering 'design and build' and engineering 'service' requirements. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

A framework for the transformation of the creative industries in a digital age.

The creative industries sector faces a constantly changing context characterised by the speed of the development and deployment of digital information systems and Information Communications Technologies (ICT) on a global scale. This continuous digital disruption has had significant impact on the whole value chain of the sector: creation and production; discovery and distribution; and consumption of cultural goods and services. As a result, creative enterprises must evolve business and operational models and practices to be sustainable. Enterprises of all scales, type, and operational model are affected, and all sectors face ongoing digital disruption. Management consultancy practitioners and business strategy academics have called for new strategy development frameworks and toolkits, fit for a continuously changing world. This thesis investigates a novel approach to organisational change appropriate to the digital age, in the context of the creative sector in Scotland. A set of concepts, methods, tools, and processes to generate theoretical learning and practical knowing was created to support enterprises to digitally adapt through undertaking journeys of change and organisational development. The framework is called The AmbITion Approach. It was developed by blending participatory action research (PAR) methods and modern management consultancy, design, and creative practices. Empirical work also introduced to the framework Coghlan and Rashford’s change categories. These enabled the definition and description of the extent to which organisations developed: whether they experienced first order (change), second order (adaptation) or third order (transformation) change. Digital research tools for inquiry were tested by a pilot study, and then embedded in a longitudinal study over two years of twentyone participant organisations from Scotland’s creative sector. The author applied and investigated the novel approach in a national digital development programme for Scotland’s creative industries. The programme was designed and delivered by the author and ran nationally between 2012-14. Detailed grounded thematic analysis of the data corpus was undertaken, along with analysis of rich media case studies produced by the organisations about their change journeys. The results of studies on participants, and validation criteria applied to the results, demonstrated that the framework triggers second (adaptation) and third order change (transformation) in creative industry enterprises. The AmbITion Approach framework is suitable for the continuing landscape of digital disruption within the creative sector. The thesis contributes to practice the concepts, methods, tools, and processes of The AmbITion Approach, which have been empirically tested in the field, and validated as a new framework for business transformation in a digital age. The thesis contributes to knowledge a theoretical and conceptual framework with a specific set of constructs and criteria that define first, second, and third order change in creative enterprises, and a robust research and action framework for the analysis of the quality, validity and change achieved by action research based development programmes. The thesis additionally contributes to the practice of research, adding to our understanding of the value of PAR and design thinking approaches and creative practices as methods for change.

Furnishing a Globalized World: Local Distinctiveness in the International Furniture Industry

Advances in technology, communication, and transportation over the past thirty years have led to tighter linkages and enhanced collaboration across traditional borders between nations, institutions, and cultures. This thesis uses the furniture industry as a lens to examine the impacts of globalization on individual countries and companies as they interact on an international scale. Using global value chain analysis and international trade data, I break down the furniture production process and explore how countries have specialized in particular stages of production to differentiate themselves from competitors and maximize the benefits of global involvement. Through interviews with company representatives and evaluation of branding strategies such as advertisements, webpages, and partnerships, I investigate across four country cases how furniture companies construct strong brands in an effort to stand out as unique to consumers with access to products made around the globe. Branding often serves to highlight distinctiveness and associate companies with national identities, thus revealing that in today’s globalized and interconnected society, local differences and diversity are more significant than ever.

Why the World Suddenly Cares About Global Supply Chains

The global value chain (GVC) concept has gained popularity as a way to analyze the international expansion and geographical fragmentation of contemporary supply chains and value creation and capture therein. It has been used broadly in academic publications that examine a wide range of global industries, and by many of the international organizations concerned with economic development. This note highlights some of the main features of GVC analysis and discusses the relationship between the core concepts of governance and upgrading. The key dynamics of contemporary global supply chains and their implications for global production and trade are illustrated by: (1) the consolidation of global value chains and the new geography of value creation and capture, with an emphasis on China; (2) the key roles of global supermarkets and private standards in agri-food supply chains; and (3) how the recent economic crisis contributes to shifting end markets and the regionalization of value chains. It concludes with a discussion of the future direction of GVC analysis and a potential collaboration with supply chain researchers. © 2012 Institute for Supply Management, Inc.

D7.1 - Summary Report of Business Models

This report provides a comparative analysis of the existing and emergent Business models currently employed in the Entertainment digital game industry (referred to in this report as the Leisure industry) and the “serious”, or in the context of the RAGE project and this report, the Applied Games industry. In conjunction with the accompanying WP 7.2 report providing a value chain analysis this report will inform the development of a business mode or models for the proposed RAGE ecosystem.

Gestão baseada no contributo: um estudo exploratório

O propósito deste trabalho é identificar no âmbito da Estratégia como se dá a quantificação da importância estratégica de um recurso, uma solução ou uma organização sob o pronto de vista do cliente, ou seja, do ponto de vista de quem tem uma carência de algo. A motivação para seu desenvolvimento decorreu da constatação de uma crescente banalização dos termos relacionados com a Estratégia, principalmente após os trabalhos de Porter. Esse fenômeno banalizou, por exemplo, a utilização do termo importância estratégica pois tudo ou quase tudo passou a ser qualificado como sendo estrategicamente importante. Outro termo também banalizado foi o valor e seus derivados, como: criar valor, agregar valor, transferir valor etc. A banalização é tamanha que não é difícil encontrar iletrados tratando desses termos como se dominassem seu significado. A análise bibliográfica dos referidos termos a partir da visão de vários autores acabou por conduzir à “desconstrução” de conceitos, principalmente dos que representam um esteio para a visão Porteriana. Entre eles, sobressai o valor, sobre o qual o trabalho faz uma análise do seu significado segundo algumas áreas do conhecimento, como Filosofia, Economia, Qualidade, Estratégia e Marketing. Através desse processo, foi possível constatar que as teorias que embasam as perspectivas de análise da origem da vantagem competitiva apresentam visões estáticas e parciais do ambiente competitivo. Foi também possível verificar que as definições de diversos autores sobre Estratégia não são tão fiéis às teorias como seria de se esperar, pois estas muitas vezes são inconclusivas e parecem “navegar” entre elas. Tais inconsistências evidenciam a necessidade de uma nova proposta teórica que colmate as lacunas das atuais. Daí que este trabalho propõe o conceito de Contributo, em substituição ao valor, e no Sistema de Criação de Contributos, em substituição à cadeia de viii valor, dando origem a uma nova visão estruturada da organização voltada para os macroatributos que colmatam as carências dos clientes. Essa nova perspectiva de obtenção de vantagem competitiva, denominada Gestão Baseada no Contributo, é integradora pois considera sob uma perspectiva dinâmica, não só os fatores exógenos à organização (os mercados) como também aos endógenos (os recursos). Além disso, permite a quantificação da importância estratégica, o que até então não era possível de ser feito na forma de pontuação (absoluta) e na forma de percentual (relativa ao Cliente).

O desenvolvimento dos sistemas de valor do sector segurador em Portugal

A investigação em apreço tem como horizonte de ocorrência o espaço inter-organizacional onde as empresas se relacionam entre si, com os seus fornecedores, canais e Clientes. É pretendido estudar o actual estado das parcerias inter-organizacionais do sector segurador nacional e definir uma estratégia de desenvolvimento integrado dos sistemas de valor. Com base num modelo de análise ancorado na (1) racionalidade económica inscrita na TCE (teoria dos custos de transacção) e (2) na óptica das Capacidades Dinâmicas, é proposto o Modelo GPS (Gestão Integrada de Parcerias) compaginável com uma visão holística e dinâmica. A metodologia de verificação empírica compreendeu (1) recolha de dados através de questionário, dirigido a Companhias e Parceiros e (2) entrevistas semi-estruturadas. A análise descritiva dos dados permitiu validar o modelo GPS e caracterizar um sistema de valor heterogéneo, complexo e diversificado relativamente à natureza e intensidade de relacionamentos. O sistema de relacionamentos foi enquadrado numa escala de maturidade onde foram posicionadas as várias práticas de gestão de parcerias. Actualmente nos seguros estamos perante um sistema mais economic-intensive, transaccional, do que knowledge-intensive. No teste de hipóteses, efectuado com a ferramenta SPSS, assinalam-se as correlações que se esperavam encontrar, bem como as (principais) ausências. De facto, a ausência de vestígios de correlação entre governance social/confiança e colaboração nos seguros não era esperada e constitui uma chamada de atenção para uma dimensão sub-explorada, conducente a um quadro tensional. No final, com base na realidade captada, foram traçadas recomendações de desenvolvimento dos sistemas de valor visando alcançar níveis colaborativos mais eficazes, assentes na força dos laços fortes. Todavia, esta nova narrativa de gestão não é neutral face aos modelos vigentes, implicando algum grau de ruptura. A continuação de especialização em actividades core, desconstruindo de forma (mais) pronunciada a cadeia de valor, secundada por maior níveis de colaboração e socialização entre pares, são elementos constitutivos da realidade futura. Vendo para além da linha do horizonte, os gestores seguradores não podem ficar indiferentes à projecção de uma matriz de fundo de relacionamentos mais colaborativos enquanto terreno fértil de inovação e renovação de fontes de vantagem competitiva.

Technology-related strategies in labour-intensive industries from Southern European Regions: consequences for local employment

Tese dout., Economia, Universidade do Algarve, 2010