Maicon G. Oliveira

Business Model Elements for Product-Service System

Companies are seeking for new ways to do business. The Product-Service System concept can be a potential option since it meets requirements regarding sustainability and also introduces a type of business in which the focus is placed on delivering function instead of providing value thought tangible products. However, the deployment of PSS involves a reassessment of companies’ business models. Therefore, this paper identifies and classifies the characteristics of the PSS business model that need to be addressed for its implementation, which was carried out using literature review and considering three types of PSS and nine elements of a business model.

Decision Making at the Front End of Innovation: The Hidden Influence of Knowledge and Decision Criteria

Decision making at the front end of innovation is critical for the success of companies. This paper presents a method, called decision making based on knowledge (DeBK), which was created to analyze the decision‐making process at the front end. The method evaluates the knowledge of project information and the importance of decision criteria, compiling a measure that indicates whether decisions are founded on available knowledge and what criteria are in fact being considered to delineate them. The potential contribution of DeBK is corroborated through two projects that faced decision‐making issues at the front end of innovation.

A starting point for addressing product innovativeness in the Fuzzy Front–End

Product innovativeness is a primary contingent factor to be addressed for the development of flexible management for the front–end. However, due to complexity of this early phase of the innovation process, the definition of which attributes to customise is critical to support a contingent approach. Therefore, this study investigates front–end attributes that need to be customised to permit effective management for different degrees of innovation. To accomplish this aim, a literature review and five case studies were performed. The findings highlighted the front–end strategic and operational levels as factors influencing the front–end attributes related to product innovativeness. In conclusion, this study suggests that two front–end attributes should be customised: development activities and decision–making approach.

Uncovering the structures and maturity of the new service development research field through a bibliometric study (1984-2014)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding of the new service development (NSD) research field. It addresses its scientific production, social and intellectual structures, and maturity. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a bibliometric-based literature review. Quantitative and qualitative analyses are performed on a sample of 277 NSD articles (published from 1984 to 2014). These articles are organized into four periods to improve the analyses from an evolutionary perspective: Early Writings (1984-1995), Advancing of Literature (1996-2001), Progressive Literature (2002-2008), and Recent Works (2009-2014). Findings The scientific production in the NSD field has grown significantly over these four periods, and the entry of new authors has extended the social structure. However, collaboration networks seem disconnected from one another. Nonetheless, the intellectual structure has shown great progress, making NSD an independent area of research and discovery from the new product development domain, with its own foundations and expansions into new topics. Although the NSD research field has not yet reached maturity, it is consistently moving toward it. Originality/value This study delivers a multiperspective view of research on NSD using a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. It provides new insights into the discussion of the field’s maturity and can be used as a roadmap for academics and practitioners who would like to understand the state of existing knowledge and are looking for research opportunities.

Bibliometric analysis of the front-end of innovation

The research into the front end of innovation has increased substantially in the last decades. In spite of this, it seems that many studies lack alignment in terms of knowledge building, which results in disconnected lines of research. This fact indicates the need of addressing the state-of-the-art concerning the front-end of innovation research field, guiding new attempts towards the most important knowledge gaps. Currently, few attempts have been made to provide an overview of this field. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis conducted to describe the evolution of the knowledge structure of the front-end of innovation. It considers a sample of papers published from 1988 to 2014 and indexed in the Web of Science scientific. This sample is used to develop metrics regarding journal publications and investigate collaboration networks, clarifying opportunities for partnerships and supporting the formulation of research policies. As a result, this study provides useful information for new entrants assimilate the state-of-the-art of the front-end of innovation as well as for experts consolidate their view of the knowledge structure.

Lessons learned from a successful industrial product service system business model: emphasis on financial aspects

The purpose of this study is to identify the elements of the product-service system (PSS) business model of a Brazilian company that has been running it for almost 50 years. It describes the PSS business model and gives special attention to the financial aspects of PSS implementation and to contingent factors of this emerging country.,The research is based on a single case study. Data have been collected through interviews and document analysis. Results and implications are obtained using Canvas framework to structure information and comparison between theory and practice.,Results described in this paper show that the PSS design and implementation can be strongly influenced by financial and contingent factors. This case indicates that the implementation of PSS business models can follow diverse paths and configurations to fit with companies’ organizational features, local regulations and economic factors, including mixed transactional models and less demanding financial assessments.,This paper provides a roadmap of lessons learned from a multinational manufacturer that has been following the PSS business model for almost 50 years. This paper offers key insights concerning financial aspects and contingency factors that might influence servitization adoption.

A framework for improving the roadmapping performance

Roadmapping has evolved over the last years and it is currently an established managerial approach. It has demonstrated potential to support the development of strategies and plans concerning product and technology innovations for businesses and industrial sectors. Plenty of knowledge with regard to the best practices for implementing the roadmapping approach has been reported, however they are mainly focused on the roadmapping implementation. In fact, there is little information available focusing at enhancing the roadmapping performance to an upper level in organizations that have already mastered its implementation. To this end, this paper proposes a framework to improve the roadmapping performance based on its most core result, the roadmap. The framework uses three indicators of roadmapping performance: information gathering, layers integration and forecasting. These indicators work as references for examining roadmaps created in the organization, clarifying eventual limitations in the implemented process. Aiming at enriching the roadmapping performance, the framework recommends different methods and tools to tackle the aforementioned indicators. Examples of published roadmaps are used to analyse the potential of the proposed framework as a roadmapping improvement tool.

Business Models for Product-Service Systems (PSS): An Exploratory Study in a Machine Tool Manufacturer

Product-Service System (PSS) is an innovative business strategy that shifts the traditional way of doing business based on designing and selling only physical products to a new approach focused on delivering a combination of products and services. To perform this shift, changes in the way of doing business and delivering value to the users are necessary, resulting in changes in the company’s business model. In this sense, this study aims to identify and classify the main PSS characteristics according to the elements of a business model. This is the basic information to carry out a case study to propose a business model based on the PSS strategy for a machine tool manufacturer. The main contribution of this work is to support companies on the first steps of defining a PSS strategy by demonstrating the design of a PSS business model.

Integration of technology roadmapping and project portfolio management to improve the front-end of NPD process

Although front-end activities are critical to the success of NPD, they are in fact almost ineffective in practice because the existing methods were developed for stand-alone applications. A bibliographical review showed that technology roadmapping (TRM) and project portfolio management (PPM) are stand out methods for the front-end of NPD. This finding motivated the research question of our work: Can the integration of TRM and PPM contribute to improve the frontend of NPD? Hence, this paper evaluates the potential of this integration based on a case study at a high-tech company. The TRM applied here is based on the T-Plan developed at the University of Cambridge, and a sequence of steps and tools are proposed for PPM based on a synthesis of the findings of numerous authors. In this specific case, the front-end of NPD benefited from the integration. The set of product proposals were aligned with business and technological strategies, providing synchronization between market trends, NPD and new technology. Project portfolio management provides feedback for technology roadmapping. Therefore, the integration of NPD front-end methods appears to constitute a productive field of research and should be considered by hightech companies.