Kristian Peters

Fuzzy sustainability incentives in new product development: An empirical exploration of sustainability challenges in manufacturing companies

Purpose – This paper investigates the challenges encountered by manufacturing companies in managing sustainability in new product development (NPD). It describes six case studies of manufacturers aiming for sustainability improvements but experiencing difficulties in implementing them. Design/methodology/approach – The paper starts with a literature study. Academic literature offers explanations as to why manufacturers want to implement sustainability in NPD, and suggests methods for such implementations. This paper employs the systems theory of control to build a research framework for analyzing the challenges. Empirical data are gathered through workshops and interviews with NPD managers in the case companies. Findings – In-depth analyses have provided three insights. First, the study shows that sustainability pressures and incentives in a firms contexts can be fuzzy or even absent. The fuzziness of sustainability incentives is often neglected in the literature on sustainability and NPD. Second, the ca...

Sustainable information systems: A knowledge perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a re‐orientation of the way the concept of sustainability is dealt with in relation to information systems, positioning human behaviour and the processing of knowledge at the centre of the concept.Design/methodology/approach – The concept of sustainability of knowledge (SoK), which refers to processes that govern knowledge, is employed to define sustainable information systems (SIS). Following this definition, knowledge aspects are employed to tackle the notion of sustainability. The sustainability approach presented in this paper is then translated into requirements needed for designing a SIS.Findings – Three knowledge aspects are found to be relevant for the design of SIS: adaptability, offloading and knowledge evaluation. The service oriented‐based architecture (SOA) seems to be appropriate to support the proposed approach.Research limitations/implications – The conceptual approach proposed need to be evaluated by case studies to be performed in differe...

Knowledge claim evaluation : a fundamental issue for knowledge management

Purpose – This paper aims to present a classification of approaches toward knowledge claim evaluation (KCE), which is the process of evaluating and testing knowledge claims in organizations, and to position KCE as a fundamental research issue for KM.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws from a range of KM theories in the academic literature and reviews the role of KCE. Concepts and principles from epistemology provide the basis for the analysis and classification of KCE approaches. The papers particular focus is on KCE in innovation. Furthermore, practical examples illustrate the working of KCE.Findings – KCE is a neglected process in KM theories. The conceptual underpinnings of KCE in KM theories are insufficient and empirical studies are lacking. The paper identifies three approaches towards KCE from the literature. The proposed classification shows that KCE can be dealt with in various ways, and that an understanding concerning the practical workings, the contextual factors and effects of KCE ...

The evaluation of knowledge claims in an innovation project : A case study

Understanding how an organization determines what knowledge is valid leads to new insights about how firms cope with innovation. Although the evaluation of knowledge is a relevant topic in the field of knowledge management, the existing literature does not provide substantial contributions. Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) theory of justification is the only established approach. This study adopts an empirical approach for improving the understanding of knowledge claim evaluation by presenting a conceptual framework based on Toulmin’s (1958) argumentation theory. We apply the framework in a small-scale study at the headquarters of a large building technology multinational. Based on the results, we reflect upon Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) justification theory. Our findings indicate that the justification theory explains actual knowledge claim evaluation only partially. The unexplained parts, for which we explore alternative meanings, enlighten why innovations fail or succeed from the viewpoint of knowledge claim evaluation.

Sense making of (Social) sustainability: A behavioral and knowledge approach

Although sustainability is often discussed solely in ecological terms, it cannot be disconnected from the way humans behave in their social environment. This article presents a theoretical approach toward sustainability that takes a human behavior and knowledge view on sustainability as a starting point. This approach requires that human behavior should change, individually and collectively, in order to achieve sustainability. Knowledge is identified as the driving force behind human behavior and its effect on the ecological and social environment. In connecting knowledge with sustainability, two concepts are introduced: knowledge of sustainability (KoS), which refers to the sustainability content of knowledge, and sustainability of knowledge (SoK), which denotes the dynamics of the continuing process of knowledge creation and application. To apply SoK and KoS, we argue that a cognitive interpretation of human behavior should be formulated within a knowledge management approach that incorporates the stages of knowledge creation, integration, and application and that ensures the critical evaluation of created knowledge. In order to show that our new approach is practical, we use existing research from the Dutch starch potato industry to reformulate possibilities for the enhancement of sustainability in terms of KoS and SoK. In addition, the research led to the development of a mechanism for evaluating knowledge. Group interaction, information technology, and decision support systems are used to realize knowledge integration. The combination of conceptual design and domain of application is common in the engineering sciences, where a design methodology is used to make the steps from conceptual design to functional design and technical implementation. A conceptual design may show ways to improve existing practices, which in turn might result in superior practices. Of course, it is necessary to empirically test the interventions in reality. For AGROBIOKON that has not been done, yet.

Supply Chain Integration for Sustainability Faces Sustaining ICT Problems

This paper is concerned with the role of supply chain management in sustainable operations. It argues that sustainability requires increased supply chain co-ordination using ICT for product life cycle management. Accordingly, the paper researches integration problems in supply chains due to ICT. It addresses the question, why operational decisions are often not based on integrated information in supply chains. It argues that several current information/ communication technologies are essentially heterogeneous. Therefore, it is not easy to integrate these. The paper distinguishes (1) transactional systems (2) real-time monitoring/control systems (3) decision support systems (4) human communication (text, audio, video). Integration problems should be studied by analysing the underlying characteristics of the technology.

Future of ERP: Challenges and Opportunities in the SaaS-era

This paper is concerned with ERP systems, which are defined as company-wide transaction processing systems based on packaged standard software. ERP systems provide the benefit of sharing data between functional areas in a firm. The paper argues that there is room for expansion of these benefits by sharing data with supply chain partners. The paper investigates the role of vendors and concludes that there are interesting new possibilities. These are related to the SaaS delivery model of enterprise software. This model calls for attention of the (enterprise) software supply chain in academic research.

Process Alignment for Sustainable Product Development: The Essential Role of Supplier and Customer Involvement Processes

Sustainable product development (SPD) has received increasing attention by scholars and practitioners recently. This paper explores two essential organizational processes to support SPD: supplier and customer involvement. The empirical study in six discrete manufacturing firms shows that various types of sustainability innovations (e.g., recycling or energy efficiency) imply discontinues change in the supply chain and/or customer context, and that these themes only can be implemented when the supplier and customer integration process is sufficiently supported. The results suggest that SPD requires alignment between the type of SPD innovation and the type of SPD organizational processes.