Showing papers on "Business value published in 2020"

Influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on firm performance: the business value of AI-based transformation projects

Abstract: The main purpose of our study is to analyze the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on firm performance, notably by building on the business value of AI-based transformation projects. This study was conducted using a four-step sequential approach: (1) analysis of AI and AI concepts/technologies; (2) in-depth exploration of case studies from a great number of industrial sectors; (3) data collection from the databases (websites) of AI-based solution providers; and (4) a review of AI literature to identify their impact on the performance of organizations while highlighting the business value of AI-enabled projects transformation within organizations.,This study has called on the theory of IT capabilities to seize the influence of AI business value on firm performance (at the organizational and process levels). The research process (responding to the research question, making discussions, interpretations and comparisons, and formulating recommendations) was based on a review of 500 case studies from IBM, AWS, Cloudera, Nvidia, Conversica, Universal Robots websites, etc. Studying the influence of AI on the performance of organizations, and more specifically, of the business value of such organizations’ AI-enabled transformation projects, required us to make an archival data analysis following the three steps, namely the conceptual phase, the refinement and development phase, and the assessment phase.,AI covers a wide range of technologies, including machine translation, chatbots and self-learning algorithms, all of which can allow individuals to better understand their environment and act accordingly. Organizations have been adopting AI technological innovations with a view to adapting to or disrupting their ecosystem while developing and optimizing their strategic and competitive advantages. AI fully expresses its potential through its ability to optimize existing processes and improve automation, information and transformation effects, but also to detect, predict and interact with humans. Thus, the results of our study have highlighted such AI benefits in organizations, and more specifically, its ability to improve on performance at both the organizational (financial, marketing and administrative) and process levels. By building on these AI attributes, organizations can, therefore, enhance the business value of their transformed projects. The same results also showed that organizations achieve performance through AI capabilities only when they use their features/technologies to reconfigure their processes.,AI obviously influences the way businesses are done today. Therefore, practitioners and researchers need to consider AI as a valuable support or even a pilot for a new business model. For the purpose of our study, we adopted a research framework geared toward a more inclusive and comprehensive approach so as to better account for the intangible benefits of AI within organizations. In terms of interest, this study nurtures a scientific interest, which aims at proposing a model for analyzing the influence of AI on the performance of organizations, and at the same time, filling the associated gap in the literature. As for the managerial interest, our study aims to provide managers with elements to be reconfigured or added in order to take advantage of the full benefits of AI, and therefore improve organizations’ performance, the profitability of their investments in AI transformation projects, and some competitive advantage. This study also allows managers to consider AI not as a single technology but as a set/combination of several different configurations of IT in the various company’s business areas because multiple key elements must be brought together to ensure the success of AI: data, talent mix, domain knowledge, key decisions, external partnerships and scalable infrastructure.,This article analyses case studies on the reuse of secondary data from AI deployment reports in organizations. The transformation of projects based on the use of AI focuses mainly on business process innovations and indirectly on those occurring at the organizational level. Thus, 500 case studies are being examined to provide significant and tangible evidence about the business value of AI-based projects and the impact of AI on firm performance. More specifically, this article, through these case studies, exposes the influence of AI at both the organizational and process performance levels, while considering it not as a single technology but as a set/combination of the several different configurations of IT in various industries.

The strategic impacts of Intelligent Automation for knowledge and service work: An interdisciplinary review

Abstract: A significant recent technological development concerns the automation of knowledge and service work as a result of advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its sub-fields. We use the term Intelligent Automation to describe this phenomenon. This development presents organisations with a new strategic opportunity to increase business value. However, academic research contributions that examine these developments are spread across a wide range of scholarly disciplines resulting in a lack of consensus regarding key findings and implications. We conduct the first interdisciplinary literature review that systematically characterises the intellectual state and development of Intelligent Automation technologies in the knowledge and service sectors. Based on this review, we provide three significant contributions. First, we conceptualise Intelligent Automation and its associated technologies. Second, we provide a business value-based model of Intelligent Automation for knowledge and service work and identify twelve research gaps that hinder a complete understanding of the business value realisation process. Third, we provide a research agenda to address these gaps

How do agribusinesses thrive through complexity? The pivotal role of e-commerce capability and business agility

Abstract: The recent COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown how agricultural foods and e-commerce initiatives are critical for many organizations, regions, and countries worldwide. Despite this vital importance, prior IS research on the business value of IT has not paid enough attention to the potential specificities of the agribusinesses. This study examines the impact of e-commerce capability on business agility in agribusinesses. Using a sample of Chinese agriculture firms, we find that: 1) The e-commerce capability of agribusinesses enables two types of business agility: market capitalizing agility and operational adjustment agility, and 2) while environmental complexity positively moderates the effects of e-commerce capability on the market capitalizing agility and operational adjustment agility, environmental dynamism does not. This study contributes to the IS research on the business value of IT by providing an eloquent theoretical explanation and empirical evidence on how e-commerce capability help agricultural firms to thrive through complexity by enabling market capitalizing agility (strategic focus) and operational adjustment agility (operational focus).

How corporate social responsibility activities influence employer reputation: The role of social media capability

Abstract: This study analyzes the relation between the firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, employer reputation, and social media in the academic conversation on business value of technology. Motivated by the controversy over the function of social media in the firm's generation of value from CSR activities, this study hypothesizes that firms that perform CSR activities may become better employers and that this positive relationship may be stronger when firms leverage social media technologies. We explain this effect of social media by arguing that these social technologies enable higher social visibility and exposure/credibility. We tested our research model with data from 100 organizations in Spain. The results provided two key insights: 1) CSR activities enable firms to build greater employer reputation; and 2) social media capability amplifies the effect of CSR activities on employer reputation. This study contributes to Information Systems and Business Ethics research by arguing theoretically and demonstrating empirically that leveraging a technology such as social media generates business value through maximization of the positive impact of CSR activities on employer reputation of the firm.

How corporate social responsibility activities influence employer reputation: The role of social media capability

Abstract: This study analyzes the relation between the firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, employer reputation, and social media in the academic conversation on business value of technology. Motivated by the controversy over the function of social media in the firm's generation of value from CSR activities, this study hypothesizes that firms that perform CSR activities may become better employers and that this positive relationship may be stronger when firms leverage social media technologies. We explain this effect of social media by arguing that these social technologies enable higher social visibility and exposure/credibility. We tested our research model with data from 100 organizations in Spain. The results provided two key insights: 1) CSR activities enable firms to build greater employer reputation; and 2) social media capability amplifies the effect of CSR activities on employer reputation. This study contributes to Information Systems and Business Ethics research by arguing theoretically and demonstrating empirically that leveraging a technology such as social media generates business value through maximization of the positive impact of CSR activities on employer reputation of the firm.

Formation of Global Competitive Enterprise Environment Based on Industry 4.0 Concept

Abstract: The rapid development of information technology, the acceleration of the international movement of goods, services, capital, the fragmentation of production, trade and consumption have led to the emergence of global production networks and business value chains, in which individual companies, regions or countries specialize in the execution of specific operations, and TNCs move to outsourcing much of your product creation or service delivery processes. The international competitiveness of companies and countries is beginning to be determined not only by the volume and technological structure of production or export, but by the creation of a higher share of value added in global chains. The evolution of global networking concepts is reflected in the theories of global manufacturing networks focused on the local and global dimensions of institutionalization, corporatization, and technologicalization and digitization.

Evaluation and selection of third party logistics provider under sustainability perspectives: an interval valued fuzzy-rough approach

Abstract: In today’s world, industries are facing massive pressure to integrate sustainability issues for efficient and successful supply chain management (SCM). Hence, worldwide it has become critically important to make economic operational balance satisfying environment protection norms and social welfare perspectives. Consequently, the industries are investigating their SCM structures in association with a third party logistics (3PL) service provider adopting the triple bottom line framework for improving the overall supply chain performance. Therefore, selection of the right 3PL provider for the sustainable alliance is supremely important for broader perspective of greater business value. Thus, the main objective of this research work is the selection of most appropriate 3PL provider for a food manufacturing company (FMC) after systematic evaluation of six different feasible logistic providers serving over a decade in India. Selection of optimal alternative 3PL provider is very complex and challenging because of the qualitative description of service provider performances and the inherent uncertainty due to subjectivity. The concept of interval-valued fuzzy-rough number (IVFRN) offers perfect treatment of such uncertainty. In this paper, we develop a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) model combining the factor relationship (FARE) and multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) models based on IVFRN. The proposed model is tested and validated on a case study where the optimal selection of 3PL providers is performed for an Indian FMC. Based on the results obtained in sensitivity analysis, it was shown that the proposed IVFRN based FARE-MABAC model produces stable/consistent solutions. Through the research presented in this paper, it is shown that the new hybrid MCDM method is a useful and reliable tool for rational decision-making.

Remanufacturing with upgrade PSS for new sustainable business models

Abstract: Starting from mid ‘90s, Eco-efficient Product Service Systems (PSSs) were indicated in literature as enablers toward a more sustainable and resource-efficient industry through re-use and remanufacturing. In this regard, academicians and practitioners outlined several advantages (environmental and economic) but also many barriers hindering their implementation, such as market acceptance and economic sustainability. Thus, the diffusion of re-use and remanufacturing PSS is currently limited and mainly restricted to markets accepting also out-dated products (e.g. B2B or emerging countries). To cope with this limitation, product upgrade in re-manufacturing was recently introduced. Upgrade cycles allow embedding technological innovation into products while remanufacturing, thus reaching advanced performances and satisfying evolving customers’ preferences over time. If coupled with the offering of advanced services, remanufacturing with upgrade would open the way to new disruptive PSSs able to revolution customers’ consumption behaviour, as well as the manufacturing business model of companies. The new remanufacturing with upgrade business models will make remanufacturing one of the main pillars of companies’ business value generation, allowing improved management of technology cycles and of products obsolescence. Thus, overall economic and environmental benefits will be maximised. However, the implementation of such business models represents a challenge for manufacturers. The evolution from a pure manufacturing towards a manufacturing/remanufacturing company, together with the transition from a product to a service-based offering, entails considerable changes in all the business model variables. Drawing on the theory of business model innovation process, incremental or radical innovation paths can be hypothesised for this transition. Despite the focus of recent research on Product Service Systems and on Circular Economy, remanufacturing-with-upgrade business models are rarely cited in literature and there is limited empirical evidence of companies having embraced them. To set the research framework in alignment with previous theory, this paper proposes a structured definition and configuration of innovative remanufacturing-with-upgrade business models. By looking at existing examples of companies having undertaken this type of business model innovation, different typologies of remanufacturing and upgrade business models are proposed. Companies were classified according to the identified PSS typologies and conclusions are derived, together with future research perspectives.

Big data analytics business value and firm performance: linking with environmental context

Abstract: Previous studies, grounded on the resource based view, have already explored the relationship between the business value that Big Data Analytics (BDA) can bring to firm performance. However, the role played by the environmental characteristics in which companies operate has not been investigated in the literature. We inform the theory, in that direction, via the integration of the contingency theory to the resource based view theory of the firm. This original and integrative model examines the moderating influence of environmental features on the relationship between BDA business value and firm performance. The combination of survey data and secondary financial data on a representative sample of medium and large companies makes possible the statistical validation of our research model. The results offer evidence that BDA business value leads to higher firm performance, namely financial performance, market performance and customer satisfaction. More original is the demonstration that this relationship is stronger in munificent environments, while the dynamism of the environment does not have any moderating effect on the performance of BDA solutions. It means that managers working for firms in markets with a growing demand are in the best position to profit from BDA.

Human resource management and its impact on strategic business-IT alignment: A literature review and avenues for future research

Abstract: From an information systems perspective, organizations striving to leverage a strategic alignment between Information Technology (IT) and business areas often underestimate the role of human resource management in creating business value. This literature review analyzes 71 scholarly articles to assess the role of human resource management in supporting the strategic alignment between business and IT. We identify the organizational role of individual human resources in strategic alignment, their contribution to more effective strategic alignment, and how human resource management supports such contribution. Based on these insights, we formulate propositions and identify avenues for future research.

Exploring interpretations of blockchain’s value in healthcare: A multi-stakeholder approach

Abstract: Drawing broadly from the technology frame (Davidson, 2002) and organizing vision perspectives (Swanson and Ramiller, 1997) which consider the business value of information technology as resulting from actors' efforts to make sense of new technology, the study applies Ojala's (2016) business model framework to examine how different sets of actors understand the value of blockchain within the healthcare sector,To include the perspective of different sets of actors, the research combines a systematic literature review to capture academic research, semi-structured interviews with blockchain experts, with an analysis of blockchain healthcare vendors,The study finds a high degree of congruence between the perspective of different actors, with key sources of blockchain value concentrated around value proposition, particularly enhancing privacy and security; value capture, specifically cost savings, and value network, mostly enhancing data accessibility and reducing intermediation Value delivery is the least emphasized value creation mechanism and concerns primarily improvements in supply chain transparency Minor variations between actors' interpretations of value exist, mostly around the contribution of blockchain to support the value proposition and include the provision of social value, the creation of trust, supporting automation and improving employment,Recognizing that the value of new technology is as much the result of actors' interpretations, as the objective outcome of its deployment, this study takes a multi-stakeholder perspective to examine blockchain's business value and highlights new aspects of value associated with blockchain deployments The findings include a value outcome framework that allows systematic comparisons between blockchain implementations across contexts

Big data analytics-enabled sensing capability and organizational outcomes: assessing the mediating effects of business analytics culture

Abstract: With the emergence of information and communication technologies, organizations worldwide have been putting in meaningful efforts towards developing and gaining business insights by combining technology capability, management capability and personnel capability to explore data potential, which is known as big data analytics (BDA) capability. In this context, variables such as sensing capability—which is related to the organization’s ability to explore the market and develop opportunities—and analytics culture—which refers to the organization’s practices and behavior patterns of its analytical principles—play a fundamental role in BDA initiatives. However, there is a considerable literature gap concerning the effects of BDA-enabled sensing capability and analytics culture on organizational outcomes (i.e., customer linking capability, financial performance, market performance, and strategic business value) and on how important the organization’s analytics culture is as a mediator in the relationship between BDA-enabled sensing capability and organizational outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to investigate these relationships. And to attain this goal, we developed a conceptual model supported by dynamics capabilities, BDA, and analytics culture. We then validated our model by applying partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings showed not only the positive effect of the BDA-enabled sensing capability and analytics culture on organizational outcomes but also the mediation effect of the analytics culture. Such results bring valuable theoretical implications and contributions to managers and practitioners.

Social Media use and value creation in the digital landscape: a dynamic-capabilities perspective

Abstract: Purpose: Although Social Media use has become all-pervasive, previous research has failed to explain how to use Social Media tools strategically to create business value in today's increasingly digital landscapes. Adopting a dynamic capabilities perspective, this paper empirically examines the specific process through which Social Media use translates into better performance and the capabilities involved in this process. Design/methodology/approach: A research model is proposed that includes both antecedents and consequences of Social Media use. Existing research was examined to derive the research hypotheses, which were tested using SEM methodology on a sample of 212 hotels. Findings: The results show that Social Media use does not exert significant direct impact on organizational performance. Rather, the findings confirm the mediating role played by Social CRM and Customer Engagement capabilities in the value creation process. Practical implications: The results demonstrate how Social Media tools should be implemented and managed to generate business value in hotels. Implications yield interesting insights for hotel managers. Originality/value: This study is a first attempt to analyze empirically the real impact of digital media technologies, particularly Social Media use, drawing on the dynamic capabilities perspective and focusing on service firms (hotels). Including the variable “Organizational Readiness” as a basic prerequisite to benefit from Social Media use enhances the study's novelty and contribution.