Sabrina Bresciani

NEW BUSINESS MODELS THROUGH COLLABORATIVE IDEA GENERATION

Generating novel and sustainable business model ideas is a crucial yet challenging innovation task. A growing body of literature shows that artefacts, such as visual templates, objects and sketches, can enhance team collaboration and creativity in innovation activities. Drawing on literature from diverse fields we propose a model that aims to explain how artefacts can affect the team processes in developing new business model ideas, positing that they have an impact on creativity and collaboration. We report the results of an illustrative experimental study comparing the team processes of managers working on a business model innovation task. Teams were supported by different types of artefacts (a business model template; physical objects with sketching; or PowerPoint). The results indicate that using the template significantly increases perceived collaboration and decreases perceived creativity, hence showing that artefacts can have the power to shape team work for innovation tasks.

Brand new ventures? Insights on start‐ups' branding practices

Purpose – This paper aims to shed light on the specificity of branding approaches for young companies for the reason that branding is a crucial activity for the survival and success of a newly established firm as it facilitates finding and maintain customers.Design/methodology/approach – Adopting a case study methodology, mainly through in‐depth interviews with CEOs and communication managers, 15 of the largest and most successful start‐up companies of Switzerland were analyzed.Findings – The paper establishes an overview on the current practices and rational of the brand building activities choices, and on the emblematic pitfalls regarding branding of new ventures. It suggests that young companies should not be forced to compare their branding strategies to multinational firms and proposes a framework and key guidelines for start‐up branding.Research limitations/implications – Given that this study focuses specifically on Switzerland, the findings might not be fully applicable to different economic situa...

The Benefits of Synchronous Collaborative Information Visualization: Evidence from an Experimental Evaluation

A great corpus of studies reports empirical evidence of how information visualization supports comprehension and analysis of data. The benefits of visualization for synchronous group knowledge work, however, have not been addressed extensively. Anecdotal evidence and use cases illustrate the benefits of synchronous collaborative information visualization, but very few empirical studies have rigorously examined the impact of visualization on group knowledge work. We have consequently designed and conducted an experiment in which we have analyzed the impact of visualization on knowledge sharing in situated work groups. Our experimental study consists of evaluating the performance of 131 subjects (all experienced managers) in groups of 5 (for a total of 26 groups), working together on a real-life knowledge sharing task. We compare (1) the control condition (no visualization provided), with two visualization supports: (2) optimal and (3) suboptimal visualization (based on a previous survey). The facilitator of each group was asked to populate the provided interactive visual template with insights from the group, and to organize the contributions according to the group consensus. We have evaluated the results through both objective and subjective measures. Our statistical analysis clearly shows that interactive visualization has a statistically significant, objective and positive impact on the outcomes of knowledge sharing, but that the subjects seem not to be aware of this. In particular, groups supported by visualization achieved higher productivity, higher quality of outcome and greater knowledge gains. No statistically significant results could be found between an optimal and a suboptimal visualization though (as classified by the pre-experiment survey). Subjects also did not seem to be aware of the benefits that the visualizations provided as no difference between the visualization and the control conditions was found for the self-reported measures of satisfaction and participation. An implication of our study for information visualization applications is to extend them by using real-time group annotation functionalities that aid in the group sense making process of the represented data.

A Collaborative Dimensions Framework: Understanding the Mediating Role of Conceptual Visualizations in Collaborative Knowledge Work

Facilitating collaborative knowledge work is a crucial issue in management: knowledge is a key corporate asset, but it is typically spread across various people in different organizational functions. In this paper we explore how conceptual visualizations (such as diagrams, visual metaphors, charts, sketches) can be constructed and used as cognitive artefacts that support collaborative knowledge work. In order to facilitate tasks such as the creation and sharing of knowledge in teams, we propose a collaborative dimensions framework as a tool for understanding how visual artefacts can facilitate collaboration in circumstances that involve distributed knowledge. The framework is based on the widespread Cognitive Dimensions of Notation framework and is enriched with criteria from the boundary object paradigm discussed in organization science. The dimensions of the framework are described and then applied to three different visualizations that are used in collaborative knowledge work. A discussion of future research needs concludes the paper.

The Use of Visualization in the Communication of Business Strategies An Experimental Evaluation

An experiment was conducted to gather empirical evidence regarding whether the use of visualization is better than text in the communication of a business strategy. A total of 76 managers saw a presentation of the strategy of the financial services branch of an international car manufacturer. The visual representation of the strategy was chosen as the independent variable, and the effects on the audience were measured. Three types of visual support were chosen as conditions: bulleted list, visual metaphor, and temporal diagram. Each subject saw one representation format only. Subjects who were exposed to a graphic representation of the strategy paid significantly more attention to, agreed more with, and better recalled the strategy than did subjects who saw a (textually identical) bulleted list version. However, no significant difference was found regarding the understanding of the strategy. Subjects who were exposed to a graphic representation of the strategy perceived the presentation and the presenter significantly more positively than did those who received the presentation through a bulleted list.

What is Knowledge Visualization? Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline

This paper collates eight expert opinions about Knowledge Visualization, what it is and what it should be. An average of 581 words long, topics span from representation, storytelling and criticizing the lack of theory, to communication, analytics for the masses and reasoning, to trendy Visual Thinking and creativity beyond PowerPoint. These individual views provide a picture of the present and the future of a discipline that could not be more timely, aiming for a common understanding of the visualization of knowledge.

View Points: Visualization in management: From communication to collaboration. A response to Zhang

The benefits of visualization are starting to be exploited in the field of management. Beyond cognitive and communicative advantages, this view point article highlights how visualization can enhance collaborative activities in organizations. Recent trends in management indicate that the activity of visualizing can be as important as the pictures that are generated. Qualitative visualizations such as conceptual diagrams, metaphors or sketches are used as collaboration catalysts to facilitate a variety of tasks, from idea generation to decision making and planning. The article derives future research avenues in this promising and interdisciplinary field of inquiry, including the impact of immersive worlds, electronic sketches or multi-user interfaces for collaborative managerial tasks.

Seven Types of Visual Ambiguity: On the Merits and Risks of Multiple Interpretations of Collaborative Visualizations

The use of visuals as collaboration catalysts has recently gained attention in research on group work, knowledge management, sense making, and collaboration in general. A special feature of such visualizations (i.e., sketches, diagrams, visual metaphors, etc.) is their ambiguity or their quality to be open to multiple interpretations. While such ambiguities may cause misunderstandings and lead to loosing valuable time, they also offer the potential to reveal new insights, facilitate ad-hoc discoveries, reframe issues, increase identification, or stimulate group sense making. In this article we propose that visual ambiguity in group contexts is a relational variable that depends on three elements: the properties of the image, the people interpreting the image, and the interaction. We use these categories to propose a more fine-grained categorization consisting of seven types visual ambiguity: icon, symbol, index, interpreter background, familiarity, reference and scope ambiguity. We discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of visual ambiguity for collaboration, as well as ways of exploiting or reducing it. Our contribution sensitizes researchers and practitioners to the crucial and often overlooked role of ambiguity in visual group communication, particularly in collaborative contexts. We highlight the diverse forms of visual ambiguity and how to use this communicative challenge as a resource rather than simply a risk. A discussion of future research needs concludes the article.

The Pitfalls of Visual Representations

A large body of research has addressed the benefits of visualization, whereas the analysis of the pitfalls has not received systematic attention. We aim to provide an overview of the common pitfalls and potential disadvantages of visual representations based on a multidisciplinary literature review. Subsequently, we develop a theoretically grounded classification of common cognitive, emotional, and social risks of visualization and populate it with a comprehensive list of visualization pitfalls. The aim of this research is not to diminish the potential of visualization, but rather to improve visual literacy by structuring our understanding of the possible limitations of graphic representations.

Slip-Sliding-Away: A Review of the Literature on the Constraining Qualities of PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a dominant communication tool in business and education. It allows for creating professional-looking presentations easily, but without understanding its constraining qualities it can be used inappropriately. Therefore we conducted a systematic literature review structuring the literature on PowerPoint in three chronological phases (Early Criticism, Heated Debate, and Scientific Take-Off) and identifying 18 constraining qualities classified into three categories: cognitive, emotional, and social. This article provides implications for educators’ and practitioners’ use (and nonuse) of PowerPoint through synthesis and description of such constraining qualities. Directions for future research are developed by identifying theoretical gaps in literature on PowerPoint.