Anne-Maria Aho

Strategic management for product development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on understanding how value creation can be improved by developing dynamic capabilities in product development, in the case of a software engineering process.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology involves a single‐case, longitudinal empirical study by progression of cycles of action research and data collection during a seven‐year period (1 January 2004‐31 November 2010), comprising 55 corporate projects.Findings – This study will provide significant new information about value creation in multi‐disciplined product development. The study integrates value considerations into the principles and practices of software engineering, implements the aspect of dynamic capabilities in a software engineering process in order to create and sustain competitive advantage. As a result of the study, a model of value creation for software engineering process is created and guidelines are established.Research limitations/implications – The contextual features were...

Knowledge in Value Creation Process for Increasing Competitive Advantage

The aim of this paper is to compare companies by using value creation model and to determine knowledge in these processes. The framework for the value creation process shows problems of case companies in different phases of this process. Knowledge is compared in each of the individual phases of the process and its role in different types of companies. There is identified role of knowledge for increasing competitive advantage. The methodology involves case study from which data are derived and analyzed. The analysis shows that the framework for the value creation process can be used as an analytical tool for value overview in different phases and there is a need for different approaches to improve business and create new value for customers. Based on the analyzed problems, proposed recommendations for improvement are made. These recommendations are based on providing value innovation for customers (end users of software product). Value innovation of software product is considered as crucial for improvement of the companies in machinery industry. Company A has created new value through remote service. This remote service provides several advantages. Customers can prevent problems in machines by implementing software product which is still analyzing and evaluating data from machines. Company B and C were not able to create major value innovation for several years.

Experts on super innovators : understanding staff adoption of learning management systems

ABSTRACT Learning management systems (LMSs) are widely used in higher education and offer a gateway to innovative, technology-enhanced teaching and learning. However, many university staff still choose not to adopt them or do not explore the more creative functionality. Previous research has developed models of technology adoption which map observed behaviour but provide limited insight into the development of pedagogy and the conceptual issues affecting adoption. This paper reports findings from a research study which gathered rich, qualitative data from LMS administrators to investigate the development of LMS usage and explore, from their perspective, the attitudes of the many teaching staff they support. These experts are well placed to observe actual LMS use across hundreds of courses and to report the beliefs and concerns expressed by the many teaching staff they support. In-depth interviews were conducted in two institutions and the transcripts were coded using thematic analysis. Our results partly support previous research indicating lack of development in LMS use and pedagogy by most teaching staff, and confirm that barriers such as fear of the technology and apprehension concerning negative effects of adoption are still widespread. However, unlike previous findings, the minority of teachers developing innovative pedagogy (the ‘super innovators’) did not conform to an age stereotype but were distinguished by personal characteristics. We identify a commonly occurring (although not represented in current models) state of inertia in LMS adoption and explore underlying causes linking not just to technology, but to disruption of pedagogy and, ultimately, to conceptions of teaching. It is important to understand these issues in order to meet the concerns of teaching staff and tackle conceptual barriers which conventional LMS training fails to address.

Communities of Practice as an Improvement Tool for Knowledge Sharing in a Multi-Cultural Learning Community

Knowledge sharing among students is important, especially when students are working in groups. In practice, however, this is not easy to achieve, especially in a multicultural environment. Knowledge sharing should be promoted to students who are learning about knowledge management. This paper describes our experience of teaching a knowledge management course for undergraduate students earning their Bachelor’s degrees at Seinajoki University of Applied Sciences in Finland. The students participating in the course came from multicultural backgrounds. From our observations, we found there were many barriers to knowledge sharing among the students. It is our belief that Communities of Practice would help students to overcome these barriers and thus be better equipped to share knowledge. This paper is the introduction to an in-progress research proposal about how to apply Communities of Practice for knowledge sharing among students in a multicultural learning community.

Customer Knowledge in Value Creation for Software Engineering Process

The aim of this paper is to explain how we can achieve and integrate customer knowledge into the software engineering process in multi-disciplined product development, through developing dynamic capabilities. According to service dominant logic, knowledge assets are key drivers in creating competitive advantage for organizations. This research will provide significant new information about the role of customer knowledge in value creation for the software engineering process in the machinery industry. As the result of the research, a model for acquisition and use of customer knowledge in value creation of the software engineering process is created and guidelines produced.

Three case-studies on common software process problems in software company acquisitions

In this article three cases of small or medium sized software companies acquiring companies of the same or smaller size are analyzed from the software process point of view. The analysis shows that the problems in those acquisitions are fairly common and the types of those problems are fairly similar in different cases. Although those acquisitions have the potential to satisfy their goals of complementing or improving the product portfolio or the customer base of the companies, the actual success of the acquisitions may not be as good as expected. The main reasons for the relative unsuccessfulness of the analyzed cases seem to be the lack of proper planning for the merger and communication problems which hinder effective and high-quality work in the new post-acquisition organization.

Investigating the Experience of Moodle Adoption Through Expert Voices

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) such as Moodle are now widely used in universities and other organisations. One crucial factor in the successful employment of such platforms is the ability and commitment of teaching staff to adopt the system. Despite the importance of this role, there has been little work to examine the experience of using VLEs in practice. This paper presents initial, qualitative research aimed at understanding how Moodle is being used and the different experiences and perspectives of the staff involved. To generate themes and areas of interest for future investigation this paper uses interview data from two “expert witnesses” who have a deep understanding of how the platform is used. Emergent themes include: divergence between confident and basic users; the spread of usage within an academic community; lack of progression to innovative teaching methods.

Product Data Analytics Service Model for Manufacturing Company

Manufacturers are using data obtained from sensors embedded in products to create innovative after-sales service offerings. Service offers companies significant opportunities to create and capture economic value. Firms are increasingly focusing on how they can deliver services that help their customers deliver value. Service providers are shifting from being ‘doers’ to becoming ‘problem solvers’, capable of orchestrating the delivery of complex services. ABC, a product manufacturing company is moving from a product manufacturer to a product-service system (PSS). However, the shift from a product to a PPS system is not trivial. This case study shows how the use of the product data analytics service (PDAS) model can help companies who are contemplating using Big Data to provide competitive services. Understanding what is happening in the shift to services is vital to the future success of all product companies.

Knowledge Sharing in International Innovation Course

Collaboration is a key driver of successful innovation. Knowledge sharing is not only vital for firms, but important for students in their learning too. For students to learn effectively, they must construct knowledge and collaborate with their peers. Knowledge sharing is essential to learning especially when it comes to the learning of innovation among students. However, this is not a trivial task. Business management students are reluctant to share knowledge among their peers. This paper describes the experience of a Finnish-Vietnamese international innovation course for business managers. The authors found that there are barriers to knowledge sharing among the students. This paper attempts to give theoretical underpinnings to the barriers and propose guidelines to help overcome the barriers.

Developing Data Analytics to Improve Services in a Mechanical Engineering Company

Business today must apply analytics to create new and incremental value. In today’s economy, it is imperative that businesses develop and enhance their understanding of how digital data is collected and analyzed in order to generate new or incremental profitable revenue or to reduce cost. The purpose of this paper is to report on one in-depth case of a mechanical engineering company introducing a process how data analytics (DA) could be used in the creation of new services. Manufacturing firms are under increasing pressure to create industrial services that offer unique contributions to long term profitability. This paper increases understanding of how the mechanical engineering company can create new services by using big data, through servitization.