861 research outputs found
Solutions for Integrated Systems
No full textRecent empirical evidences shows that in many sectors the provision of integrated bundles of products and services is increasing. An example is found in the information technology (IT) sector, in which ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems comprising hardware, software, and technical support and assistance are increasingly offered as turnkey solutions. The IT clients do not buy single components from different firms. Instead, they purchase a complete ERP system from a single supplier that provides software and hardware as well as consultancy services, post-sales assistance, system customization, and hardware maintenance. In some situations it is also possible to outsource the management of the complete IT system to the external provider, that charges a fixed rate for the storage, management, and processing of data and information.
The chapter will explore the implications for operations that firms should face while providing the new offering. In fact, firms that offer solutions are required to provide services previously carried out by business users (for example, after-sales support, maintenance, training, operations, financing, consultancy, and service provision). They must also develop embedded service technologies required to support the provision of integrated solutions. These include maintenance-oriented control technologies (mainly based on digital electronics), remote diagnostics, system operations, and so on
Configuring Capabilities for Integrated Solutions: Evidence from the IT Sector
No full textThis work aims to illustrate how environmental context and organizational structure influence firms strategic choices and how they lead to different capabilities configuration. Drawing upon the main assumption of contingency theory and resource-based view, this paper explores such issue in the specific context of integrated solutions in IT sectors. Integrated solution is an emerging business model that combines products and services; the integrated solutions context appears appropriate for such studies due to the novelty of the offer, the hi-tech characteristics and the big importance assumed by the development of adequate capabilities. The contributions of this paper are twofold: (a) the development of a preliminary taxonomy of capabilities required to offer integrated solutions in the IT sector and (b) analysis of the factors that lead to difference in capabilities configuration across firms
L’offerta di soluzioni integrate: verso una integrazione fra prodotti e servizi. I casi IBM e Rolls-Royce
Get PDFA Review of ‘‘Knowledge Work and Knowledge Intensive Firms’’ by Mats Alvesson, Oxford University Press, 2004
No full textCapabilities for integrated solutions: empirical evidence from the IT sector
No full textThe literature about integrated solutions focuses on changes in capabilities and in organizational structure required to offer integrated. The phenomenon of integrated solutions can be analysed as a particular configuration of the product bundling strategy. This strategy consists in the practice of selling products and services together (Adams and Yellen, 1976). Because the product bundling represents the theory underpinning the offer of integrated solution, a complete understanding of the integrated solution is possible only if analyzed trough the theoretical lens of the product bundling. The purpose of this research is to obtain a deeper understanding of the capabilities and the changes in organization that underlie the offer of integrated solutions. The chief contributions of this paper are twofold: (i) analyse the rationales that push firms to offer integrated solution and (ii) investigate which kind of capabilities must be developed and managed by the firms. The IT sector has been chosen for this study because was the first sector that started the transition towards integrated solution
Changes in Organizational Architecture: Aspiration Levels, Performance Gaps and Organizational Change
No full textThis paper illustrates how organizations change their architecture in response to environmental feedback, measured in relation to performance gaps. Based on a study of 762 organizations, we explore the modus operandi underpinning architectural change and argue that the interplay between social and historical aspiration levels: (i) constitutes a benchmark against which organizations measure current performance; and (ii) defines the scope of architectural change. While a small performance gap leads organizations to implement minor architectural changes (adaptation strategy), a large performance gap requires major change (reorientation strategy)
A Matter of Coherence: The Effects of Offshoring of Intangibles on Firm Performance
No full textOffshoring of intangibles is a global production strategy based on the decision to externalize intangible activities to foreign countries. In the present work we test the existence of a positive relationship between offshoring intangibles and firm performance. To reap the full benefit of offshoring, firms are required to integrate and coordinate activities and knowledge; integration and coordination become difficult when activities are knowledge intensive as in the case of intangibles. We argue that the positive relation between offshoring intangibles and performance is strengthened if firms retain part of the knowledge related to the offshore outsourced activity, which reduces the risk of knowledge fragmentation and eases coordination and control. Our analysis suggests that some coherence between what a firm outsources abroad and what it offers positively moderates the relationship between offshoring intangible activities and firm performance
Configuring Capabilities for Integrated Solutions: Evidence from the IT Sector
No full textThis paper investigates the way that firms' environmental context and organizational structure influence their strategic choices and lead to different capabilities configurations. Drawing on contingency theory and the resource-based view, we explore integrated solutions—an emerging business model in which firms bundle products and services—in the IT sector, which is a particularly appropriate context due to its novelty, high-technology characteristics and implications for capabilities development. This study contributes to research and practice by identifying how organizational and environmental/market factors co-evolve with firms' strategy and how firms' distinct strategic decisions lead to differences in capabilities configurations.Capabilities, integrated solutions, IT sector, contingency theory, resource-based view,
Is there a supreme being controlling the universe? Entrepreneurs’ personal beliefs and their impact on network learning
No full textEntrepreneurs’ personal beliefs determine how external information, conditions and stimuli are filtered, interpreted and incorporated into a decision, which has a profound impact on firm performance. Spirituality, one of the most prominent aspects of personal beliefs, derives from the effects of both personal and social religious practices and confidence about the existence of a supreme being. Based on primary data collected from members of an association of firms that share the same principles and values, this paper analyses the effect that the entrepreneur’s personal beliefs have on the possibility to learn from the network and, therefore, improve his or her firm’s performance. We find that the effect of shared beliefs on network-based learning is positively mediated by the cultural compatibility, creativity and sense of identity of the entrepreneurs in the network
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