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The use of digital technologies such as Internet of Things and advanced data analytics are central in digitally transforming manufacturing companies towards Industry 4.0. Success cases are frequently reported, and there is clear evidence of technology interventions conducted by industry. However, measuring the impact and effect of such interventions on digital maturity and on the organizational adoption can be challenging. Therefore, the research aim of this paper is to explore how the combination of the different methods of Industrial Internet Playground (IIP) pilots, Shadow Infrastructure (SI) and digital maturity assessment can assist in conducting and documenting the technical, as well as organisational, impact of digital interventions. Through an elaborate literature review of existing digital maturity assessment tools and key dimensions in digital transformation, we have developed a digital maturity assessment tool (DMAT), which is presented and applied in the paper to identify digital development areas and to evaluate and document the effects of digital interventions. Thus, the paper contributes with new knowledge of how the IIP pilot and SI combined with digital maturity assessment can support effective, transparent and documented digital transformation throughout an organisation, as explored through theory and a practice case.

Digital Transformation is currently at the core of companies’ strategies for companies to leverage the business potentials of applying digital technologies, like mobile, social networks, IoT, big data and artificial intelligence and machine learning. This is especially true in retail, which is being pressed to adopt the same metrics and practices existent in ecommerce. IoT is a crucial technology for this, since it allows collecting real time information from the physical world. This paper presents a case study of Digital Transformation in a Brazilian wholesaler, which used IoT aiming to improve inventory control and ended up with an information platform that allowed wide improvements of operations, improvements in customer experience and innovation in the business model.

A growing number of researchers and practitioners stress the potentials of creating value through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and collaborations with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). However, little attention has been paid as to how value and value creation is defined in the context of CSR and NGO collaborations and integrated across key functional areas within the company. This research gap is explored empirically through a cross-industry case study of five companies’ application and approaches to CSR and NGO collaborations to facilitate value creation. The findings reveal different scenarios of how companies approach CSR and NGO collaborations in their value propositions and in value creation through collaborative activities across core business functions. The findings reveal that the type of value creation originate from the way the business-NGO collaborations are applied across the companies’ collaborative activities in communication, HRM and sustainable innovation/R&D.

This study extends the knowledge of the human resource management (HRM)–innovation relationship and examines how innovation-facilitating bundles of HRM practices are applied to facilitate radical pharmaceutical front-end innovation (FEI). The empirical investigation is an explorative case study of science-driven FEI and HRM practices across one in-depth case study and seven validation studies among international pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The findings provide a theoretical overview of key HRM practices in support of radical pharmaceutical FEI as well as an empirical mapping of how innovation-facilitating bundles of HRM practices are applied to actively develop radical, science-driven pharmaceutical FEI, including the identification of the key innovation challenges and opportunities involving innovation-facilitating HRM practices in pharmaceutical FEI. The article contributes to the existing innovation literature in terms of identifying how radical FEI may be facilitated through the application of innovation-facilitating bundles of HRM practices. The empirical contribution and managerial implications provide nine specific suggestions for how pharmaceutical management groups can better support radical pharmaceutical FEI through targeted HRM practices. The derived results of the study also underline inherent challenges of the pharmaceutical industry and regulations (FDA) that may not stimulate radical innovation, which cannot be resolved by HRM, but require the attention of policy makers. The value added lies in the specificity of the empirical, pharmaceutical context in which the issue of supporting radical, science-driven FEI is investigated.

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises a revolution in terms of new services, products and possibilities for innovation in business models. Those possibilities, however, are linked to a competitive and social context in which concerns with data privacy and sustainability must be balanced at the risk of getting negative results and damage to firms' image and reputation. This paper presents a review of the literature that aimed to bring together these concepts (IoT, BMI and privacy/sustainability) and identify how academic research is studying those issues and to identify the main topics and research questions in those studies. We will then present a Brazilian case of Iot Implementation in the context of smart cities and discuss this case considering the topics and questions found in the literature.

Managing waste in a sustainable way is a challenge in our symbiotic society. This study focuses on developing a sustainable solution for the waste management of disposable food packaging. For the proposed solution, the designed model is an amalgam of the Internet of Things technologies together with alternative methodologies for managing in a sustainable manner the disposable food containers. Meanwhile, the solution promotes the development of localized socio-economic ecosystems for a circular economy. A blueprint has been developed based on systematic analysis of the acquired qualitative and quantitative data in addition to a pilot run in the city of Uppsala, Sweden for verifying its viability. It is found that the proposed model although tested on small scale is feasible upon consideration of the local society's habitual gestures and peculiarities.

New digital business models are disrupting established businesses and creating new ways of doing and understanding business. Consequently, companies are forced to identify new business models to ensure future growth and development, and digital transformation and digital technologies may be the key. Literature reveals clear research gaps in our understanding of how digital transformation impacts business model innovation and in understanding the role of individual digital technologies (e.g. Internet-of-Things, IoT) in developing new business models. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to understand how digital transformation and the application of IoT provide leverage to digital business models (DBM). Drawing on business models and digital transformation as theoretical lenses, we explore how digital transformation and IoT are applied as leverages for DBMs. The study identifies six pathways of how companies use IoT applications and devises in developing DBM. This paper contributes theoretically to digital transformation and business model literature in understanding the influence of IoT and digital transformation on digital business models. Furthermore, the study provides key challenges and implications for managers to consider in successful use of IoT in digital business development.

The aim of this chapter is to explore and explain how knowledge management strategies are implemented effectively across divisions through the application of change agents in the shape of so-called “knowledge ambassadors.” Knowledge ambassadors can play an active role in supporting knowledge sharing and effective integration of knowledge management strategies. The chapter is based on a three-year longitudinal participative case study of the implementation of a knowledge management strategy across an organization and its seven geographically dispersed divisions. The results of the study reveal different steps and key activities in effective implementation of a knowledge management strategy and how knowledge ambassadors play a vital role in effective integration of knowledge management tools, continuous support of knowledge sharing practices, and in developing a knowledge culture within the organization.

The overall aim of this chapter is to identify the concept of digital business models (DBMs). The literature review explores extant literature in mapping the DBM concept and identifying established and new frameworks for DBMs, thereby providing a platform for understanding, discussing and developing them in established companies as well as in digital start-ups. The objective of this chapter is to provide answers to the following questions: (1) How do we define the DBM concept and the key drivers and challenges of DBMs? (2) Which business model frameworks and tools can be applied in exploring and leveraging DBMs? (3) What are the benefits and challenges of the frameworks in mapping DBMs?

This chapter aims to explore and explain the use of collaborative innovation and partnerships in leveraging the development of different types of sustainable business models (SBMs). Through open source innovation and collaborations with other types of partners/stakeholders companies get access to new knowledge, capabilities, resources and networks/partners, which is a prerequisite to SBM. Thus the emphasis of this chapter is to explore the concept of businesses and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) collaborating in designing new SBMs. Through a literature review and case examples, a typology of SBM archetypes through business-NGO collaborations is identified and presented. Each of the identified four SBM archetypes through business-NGO collaborations are explained through a mapping of the unique characteristics of the archetype, a case example and a discussion of the specific drivers and potential challenges to be considered by businesses and managers in engaging in these collaborations.

Sustainable Business Models: Innovation, Implementation, and Success aims to provide new knowledge of what sustainable business models are, how they create value, how they are implemented and managed, and how to ensure their success. The purpose of this chapter is therefore to summarize each of the book’s chapter contributions and to provide an overview of the key contributions and conclusions of each chapter. Also this chapter explores potential venues for further developments of the research and practice field of sustainable business models as well as paths for future research.

The business model concept is not new and there has been an increasing number of papers published, fast growing communities on Business model's (BM) and an abundance of conference sessions and panels on the subject of BM's. Business model and business model innovation has been the focus of substantial attention by both academics and practitioners. However, it appears that researchers and practitioners have yet not researched widely on how sensors can be applied and embedded in BM's and what businesses can gain from sensing business models (Lindgren and Taran in J Green Eng 2:1-10, 2011). Society and Businesses today invest tremendous amount of resources in sensors and digitalization to achieve better and deeper understanding of their BMs. Taking these enormous amounts of resources invested into account, when creating a "sensing BM" still turn out to be a very complex venture and has several invention iteration still to go before we reach a full scale "sensing business model". The paper shows different levels and attempt of sensing business models and shows these in reference of a definition and framework of a sensing business model. Five different businesses - working with different sensing BM's and sensor technology - are presented. The use cases show combination of biological and mechanical sensors together with physical and digital sensors. In combination the sensoring BM could lead businesses into a new area of business modeling.

Front end innovation (FEI) represents the first building blocks of product development, but is often regarded as a weak link in innovation literature. Various theorists emphasize that a firm’s innovation can benefit substantially by improving the front end of innovation process (Reinertsen, Res Technol Manag 42:23–31, 1999; Stevens and Burly, Res Technol Manag 46(2):16–25, 2003; Verworn et al., RD Cottam et al., Eur J Innov Manag 4:88–94, 2001; Morgan and Berthon, J Manag Stud 45(8):1329–1353, 2008). Innovation strategies are suggested in literature (e.g. Page, J Prod Innov Manag 10:273–287, 1993; Oke, J Change Manag 2(3):272–281, 2002; Adams et al., Int J Manag Rev 8(1):21–47, 2006; Igartua et al., Res Technol Manag May–June:41–52, 2010) as a facilitator of innovation and may therefore also be targeted at FEI support. The pharmaceutical industry has experienced a worldwide decline in the number of applications for new molecular entities to regulatory agencies since 1997. Therefore high pressures are put on pharmaceutical research and FEI to produce more valid candidates and faster for drug development. This paper explores how pharmaceutical FEI can be actively supported through the development and implementation of an innovation strategy. The empirical field and applied methodology is an action oriented longitudinal case study of a Danish pharmaceutical company. The findings and key learnings from the study are presented as propositions of how innovation strategies can be applied to actively facilitate FEI and with measurable results.

This article explores how radical front end innovation is supported in pharmaceutical companies. The empirical field is an explorative case study of front end innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, with an in-depth case study of the Danish pharmaceutical company, H. Lundbeck A/S, and explorative studies of seven European and American pharmaceutical companies. We aim to show how pharmaceutical innovation is unique in terms of front end innovation (FEI) and what this implies for effective management and organization of radical pharmaceutical FEI. The value added and the contribution of this article to the existing FEI literature is therefore in the specificity of the empirical setting in which the issue is investigated.

Purpose – Despite good project front-end planning, projects typically need continuous coordination among the participants concerning scope of work, pace, and timing during the execution phase to be accomplished without delays. Coordination can be formal or informal. Research shows that informal coordination of residual and unforeseen interdependencies enhances time saving and facilitates better understandings. Still though, many sub-contractors choose not to coordinate informally. The purpose of this paper is to identify drivers that enhance or inhibit informal coordination among sub-contractors during project execution. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative, explorative case study approach was applied, involving 15 SME sub-contractors within the offshore wind power energy sector. Findings – Six drivers which enhance informal coordination and three drivers which inhibit informal coordination among sub-contractors in projects were identified. Practical implications – The findings imply that management in project-oriented organizations can enhance informal coordination across project sub-contractors in the project execution phase by facilitating trust building; by emphasizing previous collaboration successes with the sub-contractors and the possibility of future common projects; by being explicit about expectations on informal coordination; and by developing sub-contractor contracts that are not very tight in economic terms, but instead give some leeway in relation to coordination. Originality/value – The paper contributes to a gap on coordination within projects and in the specificity of the context of offshore wind energy in which the concept of informal coordination across sub-contractors is explored.

The opportunities of persuasive technology in facilitating sustainable innovation and business model innovation have been witnessed continuously during the last decade. The unique ability of persuasive technology in interacting and mediating across users, customers, decisions makers and other stakeholders provides access to core knowledge about behavior and opportunities to influence and even change their behavior in a positive and more sustainable manner. Sustainable innovation and business model innovation is gaining more and more competitive leverage due to customer requirements, the growing strength of NGO’s and the increasing sustainable agenda of global businesses. However, getting knowledge of the stakeholders and their behavior as well as the potentials in actively supporting more sustainable behaviors provides totally new and unique opportunities for radical and customer-focused sustainable innovation and business model innovation, which is explored through a theoretical review and case examples in the present study. The findings reveal a number of key opportunities to pursue and a number of critical challenges to adjust to as presented in propositions.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how Front End Innovation (FEI) is supported and managed among companies of different nationality within the context of pharmaceutical R&D. The present study is carried out in order to contribute to the development of a clearer understanding of active facilitation of innovation management and FEI in theory and in practice across international borders. I aim to show how different aspects of Pharma and nationality affect the way innovation management and radical FEI are supported within organisations. This is examined through an in-depth case study of the Danish and US based pharmaceutical company, H. Lundbeck A/S, and a comparative study including five European and American pharmaceutical companies. The findings from the study reveal a number of similarities and differences in innovation management and FEI support of radical projects and among the different nationalities. This presents propositions of important aspects to consider in facilitation of radical FEI in general and in multinational pharmaceutical companies. In addition, proposals are made for a global study of innovation management and FEI support including Chinese and other Asian pharmaceutical companies, which represent a growing market. The value added and the contribution of this paper to the existing FEI literature is therefore in the specificity of the empirical setting in which the issue is investigated.

This theoretical review is investigating how selected HR practices can help overcome the challenges companies face in establishing a basis for continuous innovation and thereby economic performance. In particular, the front end of innovation is being emphasised as a key element in companies’ innovativeness. If HR is to support these activities, focus should be on broader issues such as team-based organising, founded on a questioning attitude and a management style with a high level of empowerment. In addition, traditional HR themes such as recruitment, training and development have to be reinterpreted in a context of heterogeneity and polyvalence. Finally performance management and talent management should play a greater role in emphasising exclusive values and rational goal-oriented behaviour among employees, compared to the more inclusive mainstream values that characterise much HRM literature. A number of propositions for further research are presented.

Most industries face continuing pressures from rising R&D costs, shortening product lifecycles and global competition. These challenges have increased the focus on shortening development times, which again puts pressure on the efficiency of front end innovation (FEI). In the attempt to overcome these various challenges companies are looking for new models to support FEI. This theoretical paper explores in what way idea management may be applied as a tool in facilitation of front end innovation and how this facilitation may be captured in a conceptual model. First, I show through a literature study, how idea management and front end innovation are related and how they may support each other. Secondly, I present a theoretical model of how idea management may be applied in support of the open source front end of new product innovations. Thirdly, I present different venues of further exploration of active facilitation of open source front end innovation through idea management.

The pharmaceutical industry faces continuing pressures from rising R&D costs and depreciating value of patents, as patent lives is eroded by testing procedures and pressures from public authorities to cut health care costs. These challenges have increased the focus on shortening development times, which again put pressure on the efficiency of front end innovation (FEI). In the attempt to overcome these various challenges pharmaceutical companies are looking for new models to support FEI. This paper explores in what way idea management can be applied as a tool in facilitation of front end innovation in practice. First I show through a literature study, how idea management and front end innovation are related and may support each other. Hereafter I apply an exploratory case study of front end innovation in eight medium to large pharmaceutical companies in examination of how idea management is applied in facilitation of front end innovation in practice. In order for a pharmaceutical company to support FEI, I present propositions of effective facilitation of pharmaceutical FEI and idea management.

The use of digital technologies such as Internet of Things is central in building new business models. With an increasing amount of real-time and historical data being available across ecosystems, new patterns and algorithms can be identified to create business models of tomorrow. However, existing business model frameworks do not incorporate digital technologies nor take into account how these technologies can be used to generate new business value. Thus, the research aim of this paper is therefore to use existing business model frameworks to build a new business model tool, suitable for designing and mapping Internet of Things business model innovations. Through a literature review and a case example the Business Model Tool for Internet of Things Business Model Innovations is presented and explored in theory and practice.