Value proposition

About: Value proposition is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3582 publications have been published within this topic receiving 88855 citations.

Visualizing Service Operations

Abstract: Service operations management (SOM) has a rich history of important but not widely recognized contributions to research and practice. There also seems to be some uncertainty about how SOM fits in the broader fields of operations management and service management. This article addresses those concerns by introducing a visual framework called Process-Chain-Network (PCN) Analysis. The framework is built upon PCN Diagrams that depict processes and interactions involving networks of entities. PCN Analysis includes identifying the value proposition of a given process network, assessing performance characteristics and value propositions of a process configuration, and identifying opportunities for process improvement and innovation. The PCN framework clarifies fundamental concepts of SOM, demonstrates how SOM fits in broader contexts of business management, illuminates managerial insights of SOM and related disciplines, and provides a basis for future SOM research.

Artifact-centered operational modeling: lessons from customer engagements

Abstract: For almost a decade, the artifact-centered operational-modeling approach for modeling business operations, also referred to as the "business artifact method," has been practiced and refined. This approach has been used in a variety of engagements, and each engagement has brought forth innovations that have enriched and strengthened the approach. In this paper, we describe three of these engagements in order to illustrate the method and highlight some of the lessons learned. The main objective of this paper is to establish the value of operational modeling in business transformation and to incorporate the lessons we have learned into a more comprehensive account of the method. We also describe the model-driven business transformation toolkit, which adds a unique value proposition to the method-the rapid and effective transformation of operational models into implementations that are manageable and can be monitored.

Boundary spanning at the science–policy interface: the practitioners’ perspectives

Abstract: Cultivating a more dynamic relationship between science and policy is essential for responding to complex social challenges such as sustainability. One approach to doing so is to “span the boundaries” between science and decision making and create a more comprehensive and inclusive knowledge exchange process. The exact definition and role of boundary spanning, however, can be nebulous. Indeed, boundary spanning often gets conflated and confused with other approaches to connecting science and policy, such as science communication, applied science, and advocacy, which can hinder progress in the field of boundary spanning. To help overcome this, in this perspective, we present the outcomes from a recent workshop of boundary-spanning practitioners gathered to (1) articulate a definition of what it means to work at this interface (“boundary spanning”) and the types of activities it encompasses; (2) present a value proposition of these efforts to build better relationships between science and policy; and (3) identify opportunities to more effectively mainstream boundary-spanning activities. Drawing on our collective experiences, we suggest that boundary spanning has the potential to increase the efficiency by which useful research is produced, foster the capacity to absorb new evidence and perspectives into sustainability decision-making, enhance research relevance for societal challenges, and open new policy windows. We provide examples from our work that illustrate this potential. By offering these propositions for the value of boundary spanning, we hope to encourage a more robust discussion of how to achieve evidence-informed decision-making for sustainability.

From Cost to Frugal and Reverse Innovation: Mapping the Field and Implications for Global Competitiveness: Understanding the Different Types of Resource-Constrained Innovation Can Help Companies Analyze Their Approaches to Resource-Constrained Innovation

Abstract: The economic rise of emerging markets, especially in China and India, has created a new market segment, variously referred to as the middle market (Govindarajan 2012), the low-income market (Hart and Christensen 2002; Sanchez and Ricart 2010), and sometimes the good-enough market (Gadiesh, Leung, and Vestring 2007). The fierce competition among firms fighting for the middle-class consumers emerging in these areas has made this market segment the "next global battleground" (Gadiesh, Leung, and Vestring 2007, 82). However, despite increasing incomes, emerging middleclass consumers still have little excess income compared to Western consumers and often suffer from additional constraints, such as poor public and private infrastructure or poor service availability. As a result, firms have started to develop market-specific solutions that are characterized by high value and low costs. These solutions, which have attracted much attention from both managers and researchers, have been captured under the terms cost innovation (Williamson 2010), good-enough innovation (Gadiesh, Leung, and Vestring 2007; Hang, Chen, and Subramian 2010), frugal innovation (Zeschky, Widenmayer, and Gassmann 2011; Economist 2010), resource-constraint innovation (Ray and Ray 2010), trickle-up innovation (Reena 2009), and reverse innovation (Immelt, Govindarajan, and Trimble 2009; Trimble 2012; Govindarajan 2012). The innovation types described by these terms are structurally different from each other with respect to their original motivation, value proposition, and value creation mechanisms. For example, while some solutions may emerge from the redesign of an existing product to make it drastically cheaper, others may be entirely new and may create new markets, as well. However, researchers and practitioners alike often use these terms interchangeably, obscuring the important strategic implications of the differences among them. Based on a survey of the literature and a series of case studies, we argue that there are three distinct types of resource-constrained innovation for emerging markets: cost, good-enough, and frugal innovation. These three types differ from each other with respect to their technology and market novelty and therefore significantly affect how firms approach, develop, and position solutions. Therefore, a sound conceptualization of the different innovation types is essential for management practice and research to move forward in a systematic and fruitful manner. Methodology We started this study by analyzing extant literature on innovation for resource-constrained consumers in emerging markets. Our initial aim was to understand the commonalities and differences between the most frequently used terms--cost, good-enough, frugal, and reverse innovation. We then began to construct a database of cases of resource-constrained innovations. The database now includes 85 cases collected between 2009 and 2013; while some cases were based on data gathered through personal interviews, some relied on extensive secondary data analysis. While all of the cases in our database were characterized by drastically lower prices or operating costs compared to Western products, we employed the Ansoff matrix (Ansoff 1965) as an analytical framework to classify the cases. In the Ansoff matrix, innovations are distinguished according to their technical and market novelty; the matrix thus classifies innovations by whether they are market extensions based on existing technologies, original product development activities for existing markets, or newly developed products for entirely new markets. For this article, we have selected 13 cases that are most illustrative to substantiate our conceptualization. Four of these cases rely on interviews with managers (including two cases representing good-enough innovations and two representing frugal innovations). For the other nine cases (seven cost innovations, one good-enough, and one frugal innovation), we used data gathered from well-respected resources. …