A critical evaluation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software sourcing and provision using theoretical constructs

Deliberating on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software sourcing and provision, this paper contrasts the corporate environment with the small business environment. The paper is about Enterprise Resource Planning client (ERPc) expectations and Enterprise Resource Planning vendor (ERPv) value propositions as a mutually compatible process for achieving acceptable standards of ERP software performance. It is suggested that a less-than-equitable vendor–client relationship would not contribute to the implementation of the optimum solution. Adapting selected theoretical concepts and models, the researchers analyse ERPv to ERPc relationship. This analysis is designed to discover if the provision of the very large ERP vendors who market systems such as SAP, and the provision of the smaller ERP vendors (in this instance Eshbel Technologies Ltd who market an ERP software solution called Priority) when framed as a value proposition (Walters, D. (2002) Operations Strategy. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave), is at all comparable or distinctive.

Collaboration model for SSMEnetUK: a service science perspective

This paper aims to design a collaboration model for a Knowledge Community - SSMEnetUK. The research identifies SSMEnetUK as a socio-technical system and uses the core concepts of Service Science to explore the subject domain. The paper is positioned within the concept of Knowledge Management (KM) and utilising Web 2.0 tools for collaboration. A qualitative case study method was adopted and multiple data sources were used. In achieving that, the degree of co-relation between knowledge management activities and Web 2.0 tools for collaboration in the scenario are pitted against the concept of value propositions offered by both customer/user and service provider. The proposed model provides a better understanding of how Knowledge Management and Web 2.0 tools can enable effective collaboration within SSMEnetUK. This research is relevant to the wider service design and innovation community because it provides a basis for building a service-centric collaboration platform for the benefit of both customer/user and service provider.

O impacto da convergência de indústrias na configuração da cadeia de valor em empresas na indústria de telecomunicações no Brasil : um estudo de caso

O mercado de telecomunicações mundial, em geral e brasileiro em particular, passou por mudanças significativas ao longo dos últimos dez anos, tanto em âmbito concorrencial, como regulatório. O modelo de serviço único prestado por empresas distintas foi transformado pela convergência de indústrias, com a criação de novas ofertas e proposições de valor a partir de um portfólio diversificado e complementar de serviços aos consumidores. Estes fatos criaram para as empresas que operam no setor a necessidade de revisão de suas cadeias de valor para adequarem-se à nova dinâmica da indústria. Ainda que esse processo venha ocorrendo ao longo dos últimos anos, há poucos estudos que procurem endereçar os impactos para a realidade brasileira. O propósito desse trabalho é o de avaliar os efeitos para a configuração da cadeia de valor que a convergência de indústrias no setor de telecomunicações brasileiro trouxe para o estudo de caso. Para endereçar a resposta à pergunta de pesquisa, primeiro é conduzida uma revisão teórica sobre a definição do setor de TICs (FRANSMAN, 2010), a relação com a indústria de telecomunicações e os aspectos que marcam o caso brasileiro. Em segundo, é feita a revisão teórica para as definições constitutivas relacionadas à convergência de indústrias (HACKLIN, F. et al., 2009), cadeia de valor (PORTER, 1985) e rede de valor (PIL e HOLWEG, 2006; MÖLLER e RAJALA, 2007; PARTANEN e MÖLLER, 2012). A partir da constituição teórica e a análise dos dados qualitativos pretende-se aplicar os conceitos ao estudo de caso brasileiro e verificar se há alguma configuração da cadeia de valor que seja referência para melhor lidar com os efeitos da convergência de indústrias. Como ferramenta de coleta de dados serão feitas entrevistas para constituir os aspectos mais relevantes das mudanças causadas pela convergência de indústrias e entender as transformações consequentes para as cadeias de valor.

Auto component supply chain: a path to global India

Supply chain management works to bring the supplier, the distributor, and the customer into one cohesive process. The Supply Chain Council defined supply chain as ‘Supply Chain: The flow and transformation of raw materials into products from suppliers through production and distribution facilities to the ultimate consumer., and then Sunil Chopra and Meindl, (2001) have define Supply chain management as ‘Supply Chain Management involves the flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximize total profitability.’ After 1950, supply chain management got a boost with the production and manufacturing sector getting highest attention. The inventory became the responsibility of the marketing, accounting and production areas. Order processing was part of accounting and sales. Supply chain management became one of the most powerful engines of business transformation. It is the one area where operational efficiency can be gained. It reduces organizations costs and enhances customer service. With the liberalization of world trade, globalization, and emergence of the new markets, many organizations have customers and competitions throughout the world, either directly or indirectly. Business communities are aware that global competitiveness is the key to the success of a business. Competitiveness is ability to produce, distribute and provide products and services for the open market in competition with others. The supply chain, a critical link between supplier, producer and customer is emerged now as an essential business process and a strategic lever, potential value contributor a differentiator for the success of any business. Supply chain management is the management of all internal and external processes or functions to satisfy a customer’s order (from raw materials through conversion and manufacture through logistics delivery.). Goods-either in raw form or processed, whole sale or retailed distribution, business or technology services, in everyday life- in the business or household- directly or indirectly supply chain is ubiquitously associated in expanding socio-economic development. Supply chain growth competitive performance and supporting strong growth impulse at micro as well as micro economic levels. Keeping the India vision at the core of the objective, the role of supply chain is to take up social economic challenges, improve competitive advantages, develop strategies, built capabilities, enhance value propositions, adapt right technology, collaborate with stakeholders and deliver environmentally sustainable outcomes with minimum resources.

Business models in the Smart Grid: challenges, opportunities and proposals for prosumer profitability.

Considering that non-renewable energy resources are dwindling, the smart grid turns out to be one of the most promising and compelling systems for the future of energy. Not only does it combine efficient energy consumption with avant-garde technologies related to renewable energies, but it is also capable of providing several beneficial utilities, such as power monitoring and data provision. When smart grid end users turn into prosumers, they become arguably the most important value creators within the smart grid and a decisive agent of change in terms of electricity usage. There is a plethora of research and development areas related to the smart grid that can be exploited for new business opportunities, thus spawning another branch of the so-called ?green economy? focused on turning smart energy usage into a profitable business. This paper deals with emerging business models for smart grid prosumers, their strengths and weaknesses and puts forward new prosumer-oriented business models, along with their value propositions.

Projeto de Investimento

Angola encontra-se em processo de restruturação e de desenvolvimento a nível económico e financeiro. A opção pelo investimento em Angola surgiu com as oportunidades de negócio que o país apresenta e também pela necessidade de descentralização do setor da restauração. Após efetuar uma pequena análise do mercado angolano, foi elaborado o projeto “Sweet Art” que está associado ao mercado da indústria alimentar e o mesmo orienta as respetivas propostas de valor para o conjunto de indivíduos e famílias que compram bens e serviços para o consumo próprio. O objetivo principal desse trabalho consiste na elaboração de um plano de negócios viável para a abertura de uma pastelaria em Angola, na província de Luanda - bairro do Talatona, com oferta de doces, salgados, gelados de frutos naturais e secos e também sumos e batidos naturais. Por sua vez, os seus objetivos específicos compreendem a: descrição da ideia; a composição de um plano estratégico, para um melhor estudo do meio envolvente; constituição de um plano operacional de marketing (marketing mix); o plano de operações; plano de pessoal; e um plano financeiro para analisar a sua viabilidade económica e financeira. Na primeira etapa do trabalho foi abordada a componente conceptual e, em seguida, foi apresentado o plano de negócios em si, que terá uma duração estimada de cinco anos, sendo que no terceiro ano se verifica o retorno do investimento. Após elaborado o plano de negócios foi possível concluir que o empreendimento Sweet Art é viável económica e financeiramente.

Creating and sustaining competitive advantage in collaborative systems:the what and the how

Initially this paper asks two questions: In order to create and sustain competitive advantage through collaborative systems WHAT should be managed? and HOW should it be managed? It introduces the competitive business structure and reviews some of the global trends in manufacturing and business, which leads to focus on manage processes, value propositions and extended business processes. It then goes on to develop a model of the collaborative architecture for extended enterprises and demonstrates the validity of this architecture through a case study. It concludes that, in order to create and sustain competitive advantage, collaborative systems should facilitate the management of: the collaborative architecture of the extended enterprise; the extended business processes and the value proposition for each extended enterprise through a meta level management process. It also identifies areas for further research, such as better understanding of: the exact nature and interaction of multiple strategies within an enterprise; how to manage people/teams working along extended business processes; and the nature and prerequisites of the manage processes.

What do public values mean for public action? Putting public values in their plural place

Public values are moving from a research concern to policy discourse and management practice. There are, though, different readings of what public values actually mean. Reflection suggests two distinct strands of thinking: a generative strand that sees public value emerging from processes of public debate; and an institutional interpretation that views public values as the attributes of government producers. Neither perspective seems to offer a persuasive account of how the public gains from strengthened public values. Key propositions on values are generated from comparison of influential texts. A provisional framework is presented of the values base of public institutions and the loosely coupled public propositions flowing from these values. Value propositions issue from different governing contexts, which are grouped into policy frames that then compete with other problem frames for citizens’ cognitive resources. Vital democratic commitments to pluralism require public values to be distributed in competition with other, respected, frames.

E-HR and international HRM:a critical perspective on the discursive framing of e-HR

In the current global economic climate, international HRM is facing unprecedented pressure to become more innovative, effective and efficient. New discourses are emerging around the application of information technology, with 'e-HR' (electronic-enablement of Human Resources), self-service portals and promises of improved services couched as various HR 'value propositions'. This study explores these issues through our engagement with the emergent stream of 'critical' HRM, the broader study of organizational discourse and ethical management theories. We have found that while there is growing research into the take-up of e-HR applications, there is a dearth of investigation into the impact of e-HR on the people involved; in particular, the (re)structuring of social relations between HR functions and line managers in the move away from face-to-face HR support services, to more technology-mediated 'self-service' relationships. We undertake a close reading of personal narratives from a multinational organization, deploying a critical discourse lens to examine different dimensions of e-HR and raise questions about the strong technocratic framing of the international language of people management, shaping line manager enactment of e-HR duties. We argue for a more reflexive stance in the conceptualization e-HR, and conclude with a discussion about the theoretical and practical implications of our study, limitations and suggestions for future research. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Kestävien arvoehdotelmien kommunikointi

Haastava taloustilanne ja kiristynyt kilpailu pakottaa yritykset kehittämään uusia keinoja kilpailukyvyn parantamiseksi. Työn tavoitteena on löytää toimivia ratkaisuja kestävien arvoehdotelmien kommunikoinnille. Tutkimus on tehty suomalaisten puhdasta teknologiaa tarjoavien pk-yritysten näkökulmasta. Työ pyrkii selvittämään kuinka cleantech-yritykset voivat havainnollistaa ja markkinoida ympäristöystävällisten ratkaisujen tuomia arvoja. Työ sisältää kirjallisuuskatsauksen ja empiriaosion, joka koostuu alan yritysten haastattelujen tuloksista ja näiden analysoinnista. Kirjallisuuskatsaus antaa kattavan kuvan siitä, minkälaista lisäarvoa cleantech-yritysten tarjoomat tuottavat asiakkaille. Yrityshaastattelujen avulla kartoitettiin kestävien arvoehdotelmien kommunikoinnin todellista nykytilaa Suomessa. Kirjallisuuskatsauksen ja haastattelujen pohjalta selviää, miten yritykset käytännössä demonstroivat ja kommunikoivat erilaisia asiakashyötyjä sekä siinä kohtaamansa suurimmat haasteet. Työssä selvitettiin erilaisia käytössä olevia kommunikointikeinoja ja niitä tukevia käytäntöjä, joiden pohjalta työn loppuun on koottu parhaat käytännöt suomalaisille cleantech-alan pk-yrityksille.

Plan de Negocios Bloompack

Bloompack nace a partir de la desaparición de una empresa que se dedicaba a la fabricación y comercialización de empaques para flores en el municipio de Cajicá, Cundinamarca y en la cual me desempeñaba como Jefe de Producción. Es decir, mi labor era recibir los pedidos que hacían las fincas floricultoras y responder por que la línea de producción elaborara la cantidad necesaria de empaques para cumplir con éstos. La producción se dará por fuente propia, se estableció la infraestructura necesaria para la elaboración de los empaques. Se adquirió la máquina para la elaboración de los empaques, una maquina que sella el plástico que se va a usar-polipropileno biorientado-y deja el empaque formado. De igual forma se adquirió media tonelada de plástico para atender los pedidos iniciales de los clientes. El establecimiento de la infraestructura de Bloompack significó una inversión inicial de $10’700.000.

Value Creation in Professional Service Processes. Propositions for Understanding Financial Value from a Customer Perspective

Many service management studies have suggested that service providers benefit from having long-term relationships with customers, but the argument from a customer perspective has been vague. However, especially in the business-to-business context, an analysis of financial value creation seems appropriate also from a customer perspective. Hence, the aim of this study is to develop a framework for understanding monetary value creation in professional service assignments from a customer perspective. The contribution of this study is an improved insight and framework for understanding financial value creation from a customer perspective in a professional service delivery process. The sources for monetary differences between transactional and long-term service providers are identified and quantified in case settings. This study contributes to the existing literature in service and relationship management by extending the customer’s viewpoint from perceived value to measurable monetary value. The contribution to the professional services lies in the process focus as opposed to the outcome focus, which is often accentuated in the existing professional services literature. The findings from the qualitative data suggest that a customer company may benefit from having an improved understanding of the service delivery (service assignment) process and the factors affecting the monetary value creation during the process. It is suggested that long-term relationships with service providers create financial value in the case settings in the short term. The findings also indicate that by using the improved understanding, a customer company can make more informed decisions when selecting a service provider for a specific assignment. Mirel Leino is associated with CERS, the Center for Relationship Marketing and Service Management at the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

Why perform pro-social behaviours? Understanding the key sources of perceived value in preventative health services

In maintaining quality of life, preventative health is an important area in which the performance of pro-social behaviours provides benefits to individuals who perform them as well as society. The establishment of the Preventative Health Taskforce in Australia demonstrates the significance of preventative health and aims to provide governments and health providers with evidence-based advice on preventative health issues (Preventative Health Taskforce, 2009). As preventative health behaviours are voluntary, for consumers to sustain this behaviour there needs to be a value proposition (Dann, 2008; Kotler and Lee, 2008). Customer value has been shown to influence repeat behaviour (McDougall and Levesque, 2000), word-of-mouth (Hartline and Jones, 1999), and attitudes (Dick and Basu, 2008). However to date there is little research that investigates the source of value for preventative health services. This qualitative study explores and identifies three categories of sources that influence four dimensions of value – functional, emotional, social and altruistic (Holbrook 2006). A conceptual model containing five propositions outlining these relationships is presented. This study provides evidence-based research that reveals sources of value that influence individuals’ decisions to perform pro-social behaviours in the long-term through their use of preventative health services. This research uses BreastScreen Queensland (BSQ), a cancer screening service, as the service context.

Gaps in organizational leadership : linking strategic and operational activities through design-led propositions

The relationship between design process and business systems has been of interest to both practitioners and researchers exploring the numerous opportunities and challenges of this unlikely relationship. Often the relationship is presented as building design thinking capability within an organization, which can be broadly described as the union of design and strategy. Brown (2008) notes that design thinking is ‘‘a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technically feasible and what business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunities’’ (p. 1). The value that design thinking brings to an organization is a different way of framing situations and possibilities, doing things, and tackling problems: essentially a cultural transformation of the way it undertakes its business. The work of Martin (2009) has clearly shown the generalized differences between design thinking and business thinking, highlighting many instances in which these differences have been overcome, but also noting the many obstacles of trying to unify both approaches within an organization. Liedtka (2010) encourages firms to try and persist in overcoming these barriers, as she has noted that ‘‘business strategy desperately needs design ... because design is all about action and business strategy too often turns out to be only about talk ... fewer than 10 percent of new strategies are ever fully executed’’ (p. 9).

The value of community wellbeing for locality based practice

This presentation put forward six propositions regarding the value and character of community wellbeing, in particular the economic contribution of social and community programs and initiatives. The six propositions are: 1. Community wellbeing is a useful umbrella concept 2. Everyone benefits from public programs 3. There is an economic as well as social cost of not responding well 4. Local government is key in fostering community wellbeing 5. Good practice involves bringing together a number of perspectives and levers, including social and cultural initiatives 6. Engaging with the community around wellbeing offers an opportunity to enhance the political process