Abstract This study explores customer perceived value in the context of emerging technology-intensive business service, in particular a mobile advertising service that is at the application phase of development. The purpose of the study is to conceptualise customer perceived value as a multidimensional concept by exploring 1) the complex interaction between benefits and sacrifices 2) temporality and 3) learning. This way the study contributes to the existing research within services marketing and business relationships. The empirical part of the study is conducted in the form of a qualitative single-case study. The empirical setting organised to acquire data is qualitative real-life experiment. It consists of three field experiments that were organised by the research project to simulate real-life situations and to gain understanding of developing technological services that are not yet in commercial use. Interviews, observations and personal experiences form the main sources of information and are complemented by secondary documental data. In this study the sources of value are first identified, which enhances understanding of what kind of value customers perceive from emerging technological service. In addition, value sub-elements have a complex interaction in service value co-creation, since certain sacrifices made by users may increase the benefits they perceive, whereas some benefits can increase the sacrifices and thus reduce the customer perceived net value. Second, the concepts of expected value, realised value and potential value are identified which enables deeper understanding of the temporality of customer perceived value. Third, learning has an important role in customer perceived value. When looking at learning at the process level, it is a sacrifice, but at the outcome level it turns into a benefit and thus also amplifies the customer perceived net value. Learning is needed from the customer to be able to use the new technological service and utilise it effectively, which in turn leads the customer to perceive higher value from the service. Moreover, the temporal dimensions of value are connected to each other through the customer’s learning that varies according to its type and object at different points of time. For the service providers of new technological services understanding value related to the service and its production is essential. The future success and viability of these kinds of services requires that service providers know what kind of value their customers perceive from the service and especially what kind of future expectations they have for it. This study provides implications for the service providers on how to co-create value with their business customers and thus make technology-intensive business service a profitable business in the future.

Abstract The objective of this dissertation is to identify how to make business ecosystem formation more efficient and how to evaluate ecosystem success capabilities. Business ecosystem formation consists of transition of a front-end phase ecosystem into an operational ecosystem. How the formation takes place and how it can be governed is approached through five formation elements: dynamics, strategy, governance, behaviour and evolution. The elements are defined based on literature review as the dissertation body of knowledge. Through inductive case studies and defined body of knowledge this dissertation presents as a synthesis a multidimensional model to support healthy business ecosystem formation. The model describes how ecosystem formation should be driven by key end customer requirements and how those contribute to ecosystem planning. Based on the key end customers it is possible to define initial joint value proposals and core service providers. This dissertation introduces roles of anchoring and moderator actors to business ecosystem discussion as actors leading the ecosystem formation and maintaining the ecosystem structure through strong relationships. The dissertation proposes conceptual models to assess ecosystem health and stakeholder’ salience. Ecosystem health can be assessed with sustainability, resilience, innovativeness and renewal capabilities. Importance of actors and their impact probability can be identified with salience assessment. Both assessment models enable ecosystem planners to monitor the formation progress and to focus governance activities. This dissertation is qualitative and inductive based on literature review and conducting empirical case studies in multiple business ecosystem type of environments in Finland and Taiwan. The dissertation consists of five academic publications and synthetization of them into this compilation book. The principal results of this dissertation include more detailed insights to support business ecosystem definition and scoping. Ecosystem formation expands the earlier contributions on business ecosystem evolution. Roles of anchoring and moderator actors complement the ecosystem roles enhancing planning. The assessment models provide for both practitioners and academics framework for evaluating ecosystem status. / Tiivistelmä Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on tunnistaa kuinka liiketoimintaekosysteemin muodostumista voidaan tehostaa ja kuinka ekosysteemin kestävyyttä voidaan arvioida. Liiketoimintaekosysteemin muodostuminen käsittelee alkuvaiheen ekosysteemin muutosta toiminnalliseksi ekosysteemiksi. Ekosysteemin muodostumista ja muodostumisen hallinnointia käsitellään viidessä elementissä: dynamiikan, strategian, käyttäytymisen sekä evoluution kautta. Kirjallisuusperustaiset elementit muodostavat väitöskirjan tutkimusperustan. Induktiivisten tapaustutkimusten sekä tutkimusperustan pohjalta väitöskirja syntetisoi mallin joka tukee kestävän liiketoimintaekosysteemin muodostumista. Malli kuvaa kuinka muodostumisen tulee perustua valikoitujen loppuasiakkaiden vaatimuksiin ja kuinka nämä vaatimukset vaikuttavat ekosysteemin suunnitteluun. Loppuasiakkaiden perusteella määritetään ekosysteemin alustavat yhteiset arvoehdotukset sekä avainpalveluntarjoajat. Väitöskirja lisää ankkuri- ja moderaattoritoimijoiden roolit liiketoimintaekosysteemiä käsittelevään keskusteluun toimijoina, jotka edistävät ekosysteemin muodostumista ja ylläpitävät ekosysteemiä vahvojen suhteiden kautta. Väitöskirja esittää konseptuaaliset mallit ekosysteemin kestävyyden ja sidosryhmien merkittävyyden arviointiin. Ekosysteemin kestävyyttä arvioidaan jatkuvuuden, joustavuuden, innovatiivisuuden sekä uudistumiskyvyn kautta. Toimijoiden vaikutusvaltaa ja vaikutustodennäköisyyttä arvioidaan merkittävyysarvioinnilla. Ekosysteemin suunnittelutahot voivat hyödyntää malleja muodostumisen seurantaan sekä hallinnollisten toimien keskittämiseen. Väitöskirjatutkimus on kvalitatiivien ja induktiivinen perustuen kirjallisuuskatsaukseen sekä soveltuviin tapaustutkimuksiin Suomessa ja Taiwanissa. Väitöskirja koostuu viidestä tutkimusartikkelista ja niiden synteesinä laaditusta kirjasta. Väitöskirjan päätulokset sisältävät yksityiskohtaisia löydöksiä tukemaan ekosysteemin määrittämistä ja rajaamista. Ekosysteemin muodostuminen laajentaa aiempia tutkimustuloksia ekosysteemin evoluutiosta. Ankkuri- ja moderaattoritoimijoiden roolit täydentävät ekosysteemi roolivalikoimaa ja tukevat suunnittelua. Arviointimallit tarjoavat lähtökohdat sekä akateemiseen, että käytännölliseen liiketoimintaekosysteemin tilan arviontiin.

Bakgrund: Under det senaste året har Skatteverkets södra region genomfört omfattande förändringar i sitt sätt att styra den inkommande ärendehanteringen. Tidigare styrde vart och ett av kontoren sin egen verksamhet för att numera styras gemensamt via det införda nätverket. Då den nyligen implementerade styrningen ännu inte har analyserats, fick vi i uppdrag av Skatteverket möjlighet att kritiskt analysera hur denna förändring upplevs av medarbetare i den södra regionen. Syfte: Syftet är att kritiskt analysera hur den genomförda förändringen av styrningen upplevs av medarbetare samt hur dessa typer av förändringar påverkar värdeskapandet. Detta ska slutligen generera i förbättringsförslag till Skatteverket och andra offentliga verksamheter. Metod: För att uppnå syftet med uppsatsen har vi genomfört en kvalitativ fallstudie vilken har inkluderat flertalet intervjuer med personer inom Skatteverkets södra region som arbetat där före och efter den genomförda förändringen av styrningen. Resultat/Slutsats: Vi anser att den genomförda förändringen av styrningen kommer att möjliggöra ett mer kostnadseffektivt arbete i det inkommande ärendeflödet. Efter att ha analyserat teori och empiri finner vi att Skatteverket till stor del har brustit i sin kommunikation med medarbetaren under förändringens gång. / Background: During the last year, the southern region of the Swedish Tax Agency's have made major changes in the way of controlling the incoming declarations to the agency. Earlier, each of the offices managed their own business and today the are managed jointly through the recently introduced network. Since the recently implemented management has not yet been analyzed, we, on behalf of the Swedish Tax Agency, were able to analyze how this change is experienced by employees in the southern region. Purpose: The purpose is to critically analyze how the change in management is experienced by employees and how these types of changes affect the value creation. This will eventually generate improvement proposals for the Swedish Tax Agency and other public activities. Method: In order to achieve the purpose of the essay, we conducted a case study which consists of interviews with persons within the Swedish Tax Agency's southern region who worked at the agency before and after the change in management. Result /Conclusion: We believe that the change in control will generate more efficient work in the incoming case flow, which will generate cost savings. After analyzing theoretical- and empirical parts we have also found that the Swedish Tax Agency has in general failed in their way of communicating with the employees during the course of change.

The basic aim for any software development organization is to maximize value creation for any given investment. To amplify and speed up value creation efforts, Agile Software Development has gained much popularity during the last decade as a response to a volatile and disruptive market. In an Agile environment, the team focuses on lightweight working practices, constant deliveries and customer collaboration rather than heavy documentation and inflexible processes. However, the Agile way of working has complicated how an organization can control and evaluate the process; allowing organizations to believe that all Agile processes is the ideal process. This master thesis was conducted as a case study at Sectra ImIT, an Agile Health IT company working with Imaging and IT solutions that is currently in an early phase of introducing metrics in the System Development process. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate and suggest how the organization could use metrics to control and evaluate value creation in the System Development process. It also aimed to provide strategic recommendations to such an organization how they could continue their work with implementing and using metrics. The descriptive and exploratory purpose of this study was realized through unstructured and semistructured interviews with people involved in the process as well as observations. One of the major findings in this thesis is related to a missing feedback loop from defects occurring at customer site to the internal System Development process. Therefore, this study developed and implemented a concept to generate this feedback. The concept builds on defect information that can be used both to generate feedback and statistics for evaluation. The second major finding in this study is related to the identification of barriers to why the organization is not using metrics in teams to control and evaluate the process. Based on these findings, the authors presented several recommendations that should be considered to create a culture where teams are using metrics to learn more about the process. The first recommendation is that the organization should set guidelines among teams of what should, and is desired to be evaluated with focus on information need. Secondly, metrics need to be higher prioritized through directives from management granting team’s resources to manage metrics, which at the same time provides incentives that the organization believe metrics could improve their work. Thirdly, based on the company context, teams should identify metrics based on an information need derived from their prioritizations, changes, decisions and what is currently left unanswered. Finally, metrics should primarily be used to provide means for discussion and provide feedback with focus on trends rather than absolute numbers. / Det huvudsakliga målet för ett godtyckligt företag inom mjukvaruutveckling är att maximera det värde som skapas i varje enskild investering. För att förstärka och snabba upp värdeskapande har Agil mjukvaruutveckling växt i popularitet som en respons mot volatila och osäkra marknader. I en Agil miljö fokuserar grupper på ”lättviktade” arbetsmetoder, kontinuerliga leveranser och kundsamarbeten över det tidigare arbetssättet som bestod av mycket dokumentation och inflexibla processer. Samtidigt har det Agila arbetssättet gjort det svårt för organisationer att kontrollera och utvärdera processen, vilket har resulterat i att organisationer antar att deras Agila process är ideal och välfungerande med avsaknad av belägg för det. Detta examensarbete genomfördes som en fallstudie på Sectra ImIT, ett Agilt företag inom medicinsk teknik med fokus på bildhanteringssystem och IT lösningar. Företaget är i en tidig fas av att undersöka och introducera mätetal i systemutvecklingsprocessen, där syftet med examensarbetet var att utvärdera och föreslå hur organisationen kunde använda mätetal för att kontrollera och utvärdera värdeskapande i processen. Därtill ämnade studien även att ge strategiska förslag på hur företaget i framtiden kan arbeta med att implementera och använda sig av mätetal. Det deskriptiva och explorativa syftet realiserades genom ostrukturerade och semi-strukturerade intervjuer samt observationer med människor som dagligen arbetade inom processen. En iakttagelse var kopplad till avsaknaden av återkoppling mellan de defekter som uppkommer ute hos kund tillbaka till systemutvecklingsprocessen. Detta resulterade i ett koncept som utvecklades och implementerades av författarna med syfte att skapa återkoppling och möjlighet till statistisk utvärdering av processen som helhet. Den andra iakttagelsen berörde ett antal anledningar till varför organisationen inte använder mätetal i teams för att kontrollera och utvärdera processen. Baserat på en analys av dessa presenterar författarna flertalet rekommendationer som företaget borde ta hänsyn till för att skapa en kultur som främjar användandet av mätetal för att skapa ytterligare förståelse för processen. Den första rekommendationen är att organisationen bör diskutera riktlinjer gemensamt för teams gällande vad som anses önskvärt att utvärdera, med fokus på informationsbehov. Därtill bör organisationen uppmana teams till att allokera mer resurser på mätetal, vilket samtidigt ger incitament att det är något företaget tror kan hjälpa teams att bli bättre. Utifrån företagets kontext bör teams själva tillåtas att identifiera mätetal baserat på deras informationsbehov som ett resultat av exempelvis prioriteringar, förändringar, beslut och vad som för tillfället är obesvarat. Slutligen ska mätetal användas i huvudsak som en grund för diskussion och feedback med fokus på trender snarare än att uppnå specifika mål.

La modification de l'environnement et l'évolution rapide du monde des affaires ont contraint les entreprises à réorganiser leurs services. Dans ce contexte la fonction Achats se transforme d'une fonction administrative à une fonction stratégique. Cette thèse a pour objectif d'analyser la création de valeur de la fonction Achats en se focalisant sur le rôle de l'acheteur. Elle s'appuie sur l'analyse de la transformation d'une fonction Achats dans le cadre d'un contrat de recherche au sein d'un groupe agroalimentaire international. La méthodologie d'analyse qualitative, s'appuyant sur l'utilisation du logiciel d'analyse Lexicale Nvivo10, a mobilisé des cadres théoriques pertinents aux regards des thèmes issus du cas. La recherche montre que l'acheteur peut à la fois créer de la valeur par les actions de productivité, et par des actions entrepreneuriales pouvant favoriser le développement des ventes. Les résultats conceptualisent l'acheteur et mettent en évidence la nécessité pour l'acheteur de détenir, en complément des compétences techniques, des Méta-compétence qui lui permettront de saisir les opportunités de l'écosystème pour les transformer en produits ou services commercialisables. Ces Meta-compétences différencient les collaborateurs moyens des collaborateurs efficaces, elles permettent de soutenir les compétences techniques et d'en acquérir de nouvelles. Elles s'attachent aux comportements et aptitudes individuelles et sont liées à la personnalité de l'individu. Finalement la thèse propose un modèle intégrateur des compétences de l'acheteur, qui rend compte de la prépondérance des Méta-compétences comme socle de la capacité de l'acheteur à créer de la valeur. / Modification of the environment and the rapidly changing business world have forced companies to reorganize their services. In this context the purchasing function becomes an administrative function to a strategic function, impacting the performance of the company and its ability to create value directly. This thesis aims to analyze the value creation of the purchasing function by focusing on the role of the buyer. Our research is based on the analysis of the transformation of a purchasing function within the framework of a research contract in an international food company. The analytical methodology is qualitative, based on the use of Nvivo10 Lexical analysis software. They were put in perspective with the eyes of relevant themes from the case theoretical frameworks. Research shows that the buyer can both create value through the actions of productivity, and entrepreneurial activities that foster the development of sales. The results conceptualize the buyer and highlight the need for the buyer to hold, in addition to technical skills, Meta-competencies that will seize the opportunities of the ecosystem to transform them into marketable products or services. These Meta-competencies differentiate means employees and effective contributors; they can support the technical skills and acquire new ones. They attach to the behaviors and personal skills and are related to the personality of the individual. Finally, the thesis proposes an integrative skills model of the buyer, which accounts for the preponderance of Meta-skills as the basis of the ability of the buyer to create value.

La littérature financière n’offre pas de vision explicite sur le rôle de l’administrateur indépendant et sa contribution à la création de valeur. C’est pourquoi nous avons cherché à mieux comprendre l’importance de ce membre externe en nous appuyant sur une nouvelle approche synthètique de la gouvernance. Dans l’objectif d’obtenir des réponses plus concluantes, nous avons élaboré un modèle explicatif qui mobilise deux courants : le courant juridico-financier et le courant cognitif. L’étude empirique a été menée sur les administrateurs indépendants des sociétés cotées françaises. La partie descriptive examine les caractéristiques des administrateurs indépendants entre 2008 et 2011. Les tests du modèle montrent que les contributions supposées importantes des administrateurs indépendants en termes cognitifs ne sont pas majoritairement favorables pour la création de valeur. Leur contribution disciplinaire s’avère plus importante, ce que démontre théoriquement le courant juridico-financier. Une typologie des administrateurs indépendants est dressée au cours de cette étude. Les tests confirment l’existence d’une vision classique d’un conseil d’administration français au niveau de la sélection et de la nomination des administrateurs indépendants, qui se rapprochent des caractéristiques des dirigeants français. / Financial literature is far away from offering convincing answers about the contribution of independent director in the value creation. This is why we sought to get a better understanding of this role using the approach of synthetic governance. In order to shed more light on the question, we develop explanatory model. The model uses two approaches: the disciplinary view and the knowledge-based view. An empirical study of the independent director of French listed companies was carried out. We first present the characteristics of profile the independents directors between 2008 and 2011. Empirical tests indicate that the cognitive contribution did not result a value creation. Moreover statistical modeling confirms the existence of disciplinary contributions of the independent director and shows mostly positive effects on value creation. The same argument also confirm by the disciplinary perspectives of governance. A typology profile of independent director shows the existence of classical vision of the board directors in French listed. The selection and the appointement of independent director reconciled of the profile’s executive.

Dissertation analyzes the influence of organizational culture in company value. The theoretical part mapped existing knowledge about the organizational culture and its impact on company performance, and expanded model of organizational culture of E. Schein by delay factor. The practical part of the dissertation consists of research conducted on 59 companies operating in the Czech Republic in industry, services and construction. For this purpose, the following questionnaires were used: a profile questionnaire assumptions efficiency DOCS, typological questionnaire concept of success OCAI, typological questionnaire state organizational culture - profiled company orientation questionnaire, a questionnaire characteristics of a learning organization. Based on the research investigation it was found that if the company has a strong organizational culture, the content of which is consistent with the content of organizational strategy, the organizational culture has on value creation positive impact, especially on return on equity, among which was the organization culture found a statistically significant correlation. The basis of prosperity of any organization is yet close link between strategy and performance of an organization and can therefore be concluded that organizational culture affects value creation through corporate strategy.

Complex diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are often diagnosed too late, which significantly impairs treatment options and, in turn, lowers patient’s survival rate drastically and increases the costs significantly. Moreover, the growth of medical data is faster than the ability of healthcare systems to utilize them. Almost 80% of medical data are unstructured, but they are clinically relevant. On the other hand, technological advancements have made it possible to create different  igital health solutions where healthcare and ICT meet. Also, some individuals have already started to measure their body function parameters, track their health status, research their symptoms and even intervene in treatment options which means a great deal of data is being produced and also indicates that patient-driven health care models are transforming how health care functions. These models include quantified self-tracking, consumer-personalized-medicine and health social networks. This research aims to present an open innovation digital health platform which creates value  y using the overlaps between healthcare, information technology and artificial intelligence. This platform could potentially be utilized for early detection of complex diseases by leveraging Big Data technology which could improve awareness by recognizing pooled symptoms of a specific disease. This would enable individuals to effortlessly and quantitatively track and become aware of changes in their health, and through a dialog with a doctor, achieve diagnosis at a significantly earlier stage. This thesis focuses on a case study of the platform for detecting breast cancer at a  ignificantly earlier stage. A qualitative research method is implemented through reviewing the literature, determining the knowledge gap, evaluating the need, performing market research, developing a conceptual prototype and presenting the open innovation platform. Finally, the value creation, applications and challenges of such platform are investigated, analysed and discussed based on the collected data from interviews and surveys. This study combines an explanatory and an analytical research approach, as it aims not only to describe the case, but also to explain the value creation for different stakeholders in the value chain. The findings indicate that there is an urgent need for early diagnosis of complex diseases such as breast cancer) and also handling direct and indirect consequences of late diagnosis. A significant outcome of this research is the conceptual prototype which was developed based on the general proposed concept through a customer development process. According to the conducted surveys, 95% of the cancer patients and 84% of the healthy individuals are willing to use the proposed platform. The results indicate that it can create significant values for patients, doctors, academic institutions, hospitals and even healthy individuals.

The purpose of the study was to investigate how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) involved in local procurement create supply chain value. The study investigated supply chain value creation (SCVC) by testing three initiators of SCVC: entrepreneurial competencies; supply chain collaboration; and supply chain trust as well as the moderation effects of trust on SCVC. Feedback from a cross-sectional survey of 294 respondents in the construction, furniture and fitting, food processing and agricultural sectors was utilized to test hypothesized relationships. The study employed factor analysis and structural equation modelling to conduct analysis. The unit of analysis was an SME and level of analysis was the SME owner-manager. The results show that building value-driven supply chains in Uganda’s local procurement context requires SME owner-managers to integrate competencies, share information with customers, communicate collaboratively with suppliers and build an optimal level of trust. Supply chain trust is highly regarded in facilitating the exchange of resources within local communities but the owner-managers’ perspective – which differs in terms of how they view customers and suppliers – alters how managers assess trusted customers and suppliers, and what different tactics they may employ in building trust in customer, as opposed to supplier, relationships. The research findings demonstrate how managers, who trust customers on the basis of transparency and reliability, by contrast trust suppliers on the basis of operational flexibility, fairness and market credibility. The study contributes to existing knowledge by separating out and defining the key competencies most important in the management of local SME supply chains: opportunity competence and commitment competence. These are what the study has named Entrepreneurial Supply Chain Value-creating Competences (ESCVC). In addition, the study illuminates how trust increases the value suppliers create for the focal firm. Finally, by demonstrating that cost and goal congruence are not key value drivers, the research provides compelling evidence for why managers should instead focus on developing competencies, facilitating the flow of information and building trust in order to optimally benefit from local supply chains. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / PhD / Unrestricted

The development of technology has contributed to a fast-growing market for e- commerce. Through e-commerce, the physical interaction has decreased, and new interaction tools have been implemented to gain competitive advantage. Packaging is one way to communicate with customers and often the first physical contact with brands when purchasing online. Packaging can create value and enhance the customer experience. The purpose of this research, from a business perspective, is to investigate how designed packaging from an online neo-luxury brand affects customers within Generation Y (1980-1994) when the product is received. The study aim to provide an understanding of how the customer experience can be affected through designed packaging. This study applied a qualitative research method with a deductive approach in order to answer the research questions and the purpose. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Swedish citizens within Generation Y that have purchased products from neo-luxury brands. The result of the study shows several aspects of how packaging can contribute to better customer experience. When customers’ expectations on packaging are surpassed, the customer experience is affected positively. Packaging containing tissue paper and gifts enhance the unboxing experience. Packaging is a way for companies to create value and affect customers’ attitudes towards brands. Satisfaction is affected by expectations and packaging can contribute to a better overall experience.