Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology

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A Break in the Clouds: Towards a Cloud Definition

The article reviews the book “Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy,” by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian.

Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy

Eric Ries was born in September 1978. He graduated from Yale University and moved to silicon Valley in the beginning of the millennium. He pioneered the philosophy of Lean Startup, based on his experience with multiple startups, primary being IMVU which he co-founded along with Will Harvey in 2004. Eric Ries originated his Lean Startup philosophy after getting inspired from the Japanese Philosophy of Lean Manufacturing.

The Lean Startup:How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

▶ Addresses the accessibility, usability, and, ultimately, acceptability of Information Society Technologies by anyone, anywhere, at anytime, and through any media and device. ▶ Focuses on theoretical, methodological, and empirical research, of both technological and non-technological nature. ▶ Features papers that report on theories, methods, tools, empirical results, reviews, case studies, and best-practice examples.

Universal access in the information society

Purpose




The paper aims to provide the necessary basis for a novel interdisciplinary research field. Various types and implementations of crowdsourcing have emerged in the market; many of them are related to logistics. While we can identify plenty of crowd logistics applications using information technology capabilities and information sharing in practice, theories behind this phenomenon have received only limited attention. This paper accounts for filling this research gap by analyzing the crowd’s contributions in logistics of goods and information.




Design/methodology/approach




This paper is part of an ongoing research endeavor in the field of location-based crowdsourcing. It represents conceptual work that builds on a literature review enriched with an in-depth analysis of real-world examples in the field of crowd logistics. Using a scoring method, we provide an example how a company may evaluate the alternatives of crowd logistics. The main approach is an analysis of variants of how the social crowd may be integrated in logistics processes. The work is conceptual in its core. Thereby, we use real-world examples of crowdsourcing applications to underpin the evaluated variants of crowd logistics.




Findings




The paper presents relevant theoretical background on crowd logistics. The authors differentiate between variants of crowd logistics with their flow of materials, goods and information. Thereby they zoom in the type, significance and process flow of the crowd’s contributions. They discuss potential advantages and challenges of logistics with the performing crowd and deeply discuss opportunities and challenges from a business and from an individual’s perspective. Finally, they highlight a route map for future research directions in this novel interdisciplinary research field.




Research limitations/implications




As this work is conceptual in its core, generalizations may be drawn only with great care. Still, we are in a position to propose a route map for further research in this area in this paper. Also the integration of an analysis of a scale of real-world applications allows us to highlight our research’s practical relevance and implications.




Originality/value




The main contribution of this paper is an in-depth analysis and consolidation of innovative crowd logistics applications to provide an overview on recent implementations. The authors propose a categorization scheme and contribute with a route map for further research in the field of crowd logistics.

“Crowd logistics”: the contribution of social crowds in logistics activities

Cloud computing has evolved and is expected to grow further into an enormously booming market segment especially for start-ups and SMEs as they can benefit from the concept of “Anything as a Service” (XaaS) without the need to invest significant financial resources in IT capabilities. Through the usage-based models, seemingly infinite resources based on rapid elasticity, multi-user systems, and the ability to access the network anytime and anywhere, organizations can achieve increased cost-effectiveness and efficiency in their business operations. This paper discusses, with a particular emphasis on start-ups and SMEs in the B2B and B2C markets, how e-business value creation drivers such as novelty, efficiency, complementarities and lock-in can leverage and enhance business value in practice. Using the example of the textile and apparel industry, this paper pinpoints how cloud computing can foster an environment in which new opportunities can blossom and added values are created for both businesses and consumers through modern marketing and networking technologies using an inclusive social and technological environment.

Towards cloud-centric service environments

The introduction of crowdsourcing offers numerous business opportunities. In recent years, manifold forms of crowdsourcing have emerged on the market -- also in logistics. Thereby, the ubiquitous availability and sensor-supported assistance functions of mobile devices support crowdsourcing applications, which promotes contextual interactions between users at the right place at the right time. This paper presents the results of an in-depth-analysis on crowdsourcing in logistics in the course of ongoing research in the field of location-based crowdsourcing (LBCS). This paper analyzes LBCS for both, 'classic' logistics as well as 'information' logistics. Real-world examples of crowdsourcing applications are used to underpin the two evaluated types of logistics using crowdsourcing. Potential advantages and challenges of logistics with the crowd ('crowd-logistics') are discussed. Accordingly, this paper aims to provide the necessary basis for a novel interdisciplinary research field.

Crowdsourcing in logistics: concepts and applications using the social crowd

Smart Contracts and Internet of Things: A Qualitative Content Analysis using the Technology-Organization-Environment Framework to Identify Key-Determinants

The core of the open innovation paradigm is based on the principle of collecting ideas from external sources into the organization, and bringing those adapted, transformed and enriched ideas to the market However, under the constant pressure of being innovative, companies have to try harder to tap their customers’ knowledge and abilities Crowdsourcing communities provide an arena for a vast amount of consumers to actively participate in innovation processes However, as this kind of external participation in innovation processes is still in its infancy, organizations need guidance and analytic support to reveal the potential of the open innovation paradigm Therefore, this paper analyses new product development using social crowd integration concepts and—as a result—points to further promising directions and subtopics to perform future research in this area

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Andreas Mladenow

Papers

“Crowd logistics”: the contribution of social crowds in logistics activities

Towards cloud-centric service environments

Crowdsourcing in logistics: concepts and applications using the social crowd

Smart Contracts and Internet of Things: A Qualitative Content Analysis using the Technology-Organization-Environment Framework to Identify Key-Determinants

Erratum to: Social Crowd Integration in New Product Development: Crowdsourcing Communities Nourish the Open Innovation Paradigm