The shift towards Smart Manufacturing Systems has led to the digital transformation era, leveraging various technologies to drive enhanced productivity and production efficiency. In addition, the digitalization of the manufacturing industry makes extensive use of industrial information systems to support technical and business operations throughout a product’s lifecycle. However, evidence highlights the financial and environmental costs incurred by creating and maintaining digital models, which threaten an organization’s sustainability. Therefore, in this thesis, it is believed that alternative revenue sources emerging from monetizing repurposed knowledge embedded into digital models will serve as enablers to sustainability while promoting industrial innovation through collaborative ecosystems of partners where the focus is on the mutual exchange of value. This thesis emphasizes the process planning task entirely, and it aims to investigate two main areas, the former involving a bibliographic analysis of business models associated with the servitization of the manufacturing industry within value co-creation environments, along with their corresponding technical enablers and requirements, while the latter focusing on identifying the stages in which company knowledge and expertise is embedded into digital models. A series of case studies in collaboration with a major Swedish manufacturing company revealed process planning experts’ workflows, challenges, and opportunities to improve the company’s current services. The analysis and comparison of the two use cases indicated two discrete types of process planning workflows that are assumed to apply in different production systems. Furthermore, an attempt has been made to correlate process planning to business modeling by suggesting several conceptual digital products and services that can enhance the company’s existing offerings’ functionality. The corresponding value propositions of the proposed digital offerings have been formulated. The proposed conceptual digital offerings have been validated together with the involved organization. At this stage, further improvements and validation are needed to justify the feasibility of the proposed business model framework and digital offerings. However, further developments and compliance of industrial information system providers with information standards can potentially enable business innovation through collaboration in the manufacturing industry. / Skiftet mot Smarta tillverkningssystem är en del av den digitala omvandling, där olika teknologier utnyttjas för att öka produktivitet och effektivitet inom produktion. Digitaliseringen av tillverkningsindustrin leder dessutom till en omfattande användning av industriella informationssystem för att stödja tekniska och affärsmässiga operationer genom en produkts hela livscykel. Dock innebär skapande och underhåll av digitala modeller ekonomiska och miljömässiga kostnader, vilket kan hota en organisations hållbarhet. Därför studeras i denna avhandling de möjliga alternativa inkomstkällor som uppstår från att generera intäkter av den kunskap som finns inbäddad i digitala modeller. Tanken är att detta kommer att fungera som en möjliggörare för hållbarhet samtidigt som de främjar industriell innovation genom industriella ekosystem av partners där fokus ligger på ömsesidigt värdeutbyte. Den här avhandlingen betonar helt och hållet uppgiften med processplanering och syftar till att undersöka två huvudområden; det första innefattar en bibliografisk analys av affärsmodeller associerade med tjänstefieringen av tillverkningsindustrin inom miljöer för sam-skapande av värde, tillsammans med motsvarande tekniska möjliggörare och krav, medan det andra fokuserar på att identifiera de skeden där företagskunskap och expertis är inbäddade i digitala modeller. En serie fallstudier i samarbete med ett stort svenskt tillverkningsföretag visade processplaneringsexperts arbetsflöden, utmaningar och möjligheter att förbättra företagets nuvarande tjänster. Analysen och jämförelsen av de två användningsfallen indikerade två distinkta typer av arbetsflöden för processplanering som antas tillämpas i olika produktionssystem. Dessutom har ett försök gjorts att korrelera processplanering med affärsmodellering genom att föreslå flera konceptuella digitala produkter och tjänster som kan förbättra funktionaliteten i företagets befintliga erbjudanden. Värdepropositionerna för de föreslagna digitala erbjudandena har formulerats. Dessa konceptuella digitala erbjudanden har validerats tillsammans med den studerade organisationen. Nu behövs ytterligare förbättring och validering för att motivera genomförbarheten av det föreslagna affärsmodellsramverket och de digitala erbjudandena. Vidare kan informationsstandarder som underlättar informationsutbyte, och efterlevnad av dessa hos leverantörer av industriella informationssystem, potentiellt möjliggöra affärsinnovation genom ökat samarbete inom tillverkningsindustrin.

The purpose of this study is to identify the challenges and opportunities for digitalization within the food industry, and give suggestions on how to co-create value through digitalization.  This qualitative study is based on data collected from scientific articles, reports and books about digitalization and value co-creation in the food industry. The primary data collection was carried out by twelve semi-structured interviews and a complementary food industry study with eleven respondents. The collected data was handled in thematic analysis and inspired by coding.  The study’s main conclusion was the discovering of a new value co- creation mechanism defined as relationship and learning.

The purpose of the study is to examine how the crowdfunding context facilitates value co-creation from a service-dominant logic perspective. Previous studies on crowdfunding have focused on crowdfunding as a way to raise capital, but there is a need to examine how value is created from a service-dominant logic perspective to understand the crowdfunding context. This has been examined through an embedded case study on the Swedish crowdfunding market, consisting of three crowdfunded companies and two branch experts. The study finds that the crowdfunding context facilitates value co-creation by engaging the involved actors in value co-creating activities, where both actors benefit. Community creation was found to be vital for the crowdfunding context while being important in the value co-creation process. The study contributes to the crowdfunding literature by adding an understanding of how the crowdfunding context facilitates value co-creation, by applying a service-dominant logic perspective, showing how the crowdfunding context includes more than financial aspects. The study also contributes to the service-dominant logic discussion by enabling future research in a new empirical setting. Finally, from a managerial point of view, the study contributes to how crowdfunding has additional benefits beyond raising capital, such as how the actors can co-create value.

Denna studie är upprättat utefter en kvalitativ branschsektorstudie för att erhålla en djupare förståelse för flygplatsens servicelandskap och kartlägga sinnesmarknadsföringens möjligheter inom sektorn. Syftet är att klarlägga och diskutera värdehöjande faktorer som kan vara betydelsefulla för intressenter på en flygplats. Vidare ämnar studien klargöra vad resenärer uppfattar som specifikt viktigt på en flygplats för att slutligen tydliggöra betydelsen av olika sinnesintryck. I vår studie framkom servicelandskapet, sinnesmarknadsföring och värdeskapande som tre komponenter vars samspel har en inverkan på resenärens helhetsupplevelse i en flygplatsmiljö. Fem tendenser lyfts fram; basfaktorer, sinnesbevis, den regionala prägeln, hinder samt självstyrande passagerarflöden som väsentliga faktorer att beakta på en flygplats. Vi finner klara bevis för att flygplatsen med relativt små medel kan göra stora intryck med avseende att skapa en utökad sinnesupplevelse för resenären och en mer tilltalande servicemiljö. / This study is established on a qualitative industry sector research in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the airport's servicescape, and identify sensory marketing opportunities in the sector. The purpose of this study is to identify and discuss the value-enhancing factors that may be of importance for stakeholders in an airport. Further the study intends to clarify what travellers perceive as particularly important in the airport to finally clear the importance of sensory stimulations. In our study it was revealed that servicescape, sensory marketing and value co-creation as three components whose interaction has an impact on the traveler's overall experience in an airport environment. Five trends are highlighted; basic factors, sensory evidence, the regional character, barriers and self-governing passenger flows as key factors to consider in an airport. We find clear evidence that the airport with limited resources can make big impression with regard to creating an enhanced sensory experience for the traveler and a more attractive service environment.

Marketing literature has propagated “customer-participation” and “co-production” in the seller-buyer framework since the 1970s (Lovelock and Young 1979), yet marketing knowledge gaps exist in this area. Recent management research emphasise the need to re-evaluate how value is created for consumers and to consider the close nature of the interactions between buyers and sellers (Payne et al 2008). Vargo and Lusch’s (2004) proposed service-dominant logic reiterates this need, arguing that the “customer is always the co-creator of value”, as they are part of the system that delivers value. Understanding value co-creation is then important to management research, as it uncovers new opportunities to create “value” for customers. This also enables firms to formulate better pricing strategies. This thesis examines value co-creation attributes and how they may impact on the customer’s willingness to pay. Three studies utilising qualitative and quantitative methods have been conducted to address the research question. The first two studies employed qualitative methods to derive insights into value co-creation attributes from a comparative case study perspective under two different service contexts; the defence and healthcare industries. The third study, conducted under the higher education context, employed quantitative methods to gauge the impact of value co-creation attributes on the customers’ willingness to pay. The qualitative studies found six generic value co-creation attributes, while the quantitative study empirically verified the importance of value co-creation attributes and the fact that they may impact on the customer’s willingness to pay for a service. This thesis validates that value co-creation is important in service provision. As customers become increasingly informed and empowered, a deeper understanding of how customers co-create value with the firm is then central to marketing activities, specifically in how firms design and price their services. Therefore, this thesis contributes to marketing knowledge by proposing value co-creation attributes that have both theoretical and managerial implications.

Electronic Commerce (EC) companies are faced with a highly competitive environment today. Strengthening user engagement in digital ecosystems is a promising approach to increasing value co-creation. However, enterprise-oriented user engagement strategies examined in previous studies are relatively inadequate to meet today’s expectations. This paper looks to answer the question, “how to effectively strengthen user engagement to acquire a sustainable value co-creation system in EC.” A plausible user engagement strategy was revealed by analyzing a single case study in the music sector based on details of a digital ecosystem. Semi-structured interviews performed with company Xiami along with their users, show that the recognition of user-oriented needs and the expansion of user-driven demands are two key aspects for EC companies to maintain a sustainable growth of value co-creation.

Technical SMEs develop products in isolation from customers in order to have shorter time to market. However, this approach may result in a mismatch between customer needs and the product value. This research paper investigates value co-creating activities which technical SMEs can undertake with their customers to improve the value of the product and their relationship with the customers. The research paper is a case study of a Swedish technical SME, Interspectral, and their software product for the education market. The study uses a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews with teachers in Sweden and Australia. A four-step process is used to first understand what value the product brings customers (students and teachers), the current resource integration activities and co-production activities done by customers and finally what value co-creating activities are perceived as important for customers to grow the relationship with the company. The results show that the dialogue between the customer and the firm is most important for customers during value co-creation and facilitates information access and control. Furthermore, specific co-production activities and resource integrating activities are outlined. The implication of the study is that nonmarket actors’ value co-creation should be assessed by considering the constraints placed by the service ecosystem.

No description available.

Purpose: This thesis paper aims to understand how companies in the industrial automation sector can create value for the emerging technology ecosystem.  Design/methodology/approach: A single case study approach was taken to write this thesis, the case study was based on HMS Industrial Networks AB. Primary data were collected through in-depth interviews, various personnel from HMS were interviewed which facilitated to create the case study. Secondary data were also collected mainly from industry reports and other publicly available reports. To perform the analysis relevant literature were discussed in the literature review section.   Results: The study revealed that to create value in industrial automation sector companies need to evaluate their existing role in the ecosystem and adjust the role based on their industry competence and partnership capability with other platform participants. Through collaboration with the right partners, companies can create value for different stakeholders in the ecosystem. For HMS, we have suggested the role of ecosystem orchestrator, the conclusion was made based on their existing ecosystem role, extensive industry competencies, and high partnership capability.    Originality/value: Previously academic research has not been done on this topic as per the knowledge of the authors. This thesis paper can be useful for academics to do further research on different industries facing issues related to value creation and professionals can apply the suggested practical implications in their industry.

A Cocriação de Valor é uma terminologia que surgiu no início do século XXI e tem despertado o interesse de acadêmicos e profissionais de marketing. No processo de cocriação, surgem novas competências e práticas de negócios, fazendo da cocriação fonte de vantagem competitiva e de rentabilidade para empresa, tornando-a, segundo alguns estudiosos, um novo modelo de negócio. Na prática de cocriação, as empresas convidam os stakeholders para explorarem as oportunidades e resolverem problemas coletivamente. Para muitas empresas, o aprendizado a partir dessas interações com os clientes/stakeholders, com o envolvimento do usuário no processo, promove agregação de valor aos produtos/serviços. Nesse sentido, a partilha e as interações com o cliente fazem irromper experiências, que vão desde ideias sobre melhora ou personalização de produtos, até o compartilhamento de seus sentimentos no uso desses produtos. As interações da cocriação fortalecem a capacidade da empresa na prática de utilização de recursos globais de rede, criando um esforço contínuo para o desenvolvimento do relacionamento com os clientes. A literatura de marketing contempla poucos trabalhos relacionados ao tema, sendo sua maioria publicada nos Estados Unidos. Nesse contexto, este trabalho de pesquisa tem por objetivo estudar o processo de cocriação por empresas brasileiras nas suas atividades de negócio, enfatizando os benefícios gerados. A pesquisa que compreende esta dissertação de mestrado foi realizada em duas partes. A primeira parte consistiu de uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o assunto e sobre temas correlatos. A segunda parte contemplou a realização de uma pesquisa de campo com abordagem qualitativa e com recurso do método de estudo de caso. Os resultados da pesquisa de campo destacam três pontos cruciais relacionados ao perfil das empresas entrevistadas: primeiro, as empresas adotam estratégias de relacionamento com seus clientes e são orientadas para o mercado; segundo, são empresas com abordagem holística e gestão voltada para os stakeholders; terceiro, são empresas que vizualisam na cocriação uma excelente estratégia empresarial. Os resultados da pesquisa revelam ainda o uso da cocriação para estabelecer relacionamento interativo com o cliente e como uma forma de aumentar o poder de inovação nas empresas. / The term \'Value Co-Creation\' was conceptualised in the beginning of the 21st century and has aroused the interest of scholars and marketing professionals. In the process of co-creation, there are new business competences and practices, which make co-creation a source of competitive advantage and profitability for companies, making them, according to some researchers, a new business model. When companies adopt co-creation practices, they invite stakeholders to explore opportunities and solve problems conjointly. For many companies, learning from these interactions with clients/stakeholders, by engaging the user in the process, promotes added value to products/services. In this respect, sharing the process and interacting with the client result in the creation of experiences, from insights on improving or customising products to having the client sharing their feelings regarding the use of these products. The co-creation interactions strengthen the company\'s capability of using global network resources, creating an ongoing effort towards the building of relationship with clients. Marketing literature reveals only few research related to this topic, which are mostly published in the United States. With this in mind, this research aimed at studying the co-creation process adopted by Brazilian companies in their business activities, highlighting the resulting benefits. The research part of this Master\'s programme had two phases. The first covered a literature review on the subject matter and related topics. The second phase comprised a qualitative field research and the use of case study as a methodology. The results of the field research highlight three key aspects related to the profile of the interviewed companies: firstly, the companies adopt strategies of relationship with their clients and are market-oriented; secondly, they are companies following a holistic approach and a stakeholder-oriented management; and finally, they are companies that see in co-creation an excellent business strategy. The results also reveal the adoption of co-creation to establish an interactive relationship with the client and as a way to increase the power of innovation in the companies