Work life is completely changing as social networking and collaboration platforms allow a more human-centric way of organizing work. Yet work design tools, structures, processes, and systems are not evolving as rapidly, and in many cases are simply inadequate to support the new flexible and networked ways of working. Value Networks and the true nature of collaboration meets this challenge head on with a systematic, human-network approach to managing business operations and ecosystems. Value network modeling and analytics provide better support for collaborative, emergent work and complex activities. With examples from everyday work teams through complex large-scale networks, this book simply and coherently lays out the new basics of collaborative work design and value creating networks. It explains the underlying concepts and shows how to map, analyze, and leverage value networks in a way that supports high social values and ethical practices and achieve fast business results.

Across several industries, we are observing a paradigm shift from traditional, firm-centric and top-down value creation to more open and collaborative approaches, also referred to as bottom-up economics. The boundaries of firms dissolve and external actors (customers, user, suppliers etc.) enter the domain of value creation by means of advanced information and communication technologies. These new and evolving patterns require a renewed and interdisciplinary understanding of how co-creation enables organizations to reshape business and society. With contributions from industrial and academic experts, this book provides deep insights into the theory and practice of bottom-up economics, and addresses the major opportunities and challenges that have emerged in the era of co-creation. A must read for decision-makers looking to innovate their companies' business models—from ideation to marketing. Dr.-Ing. Michaela Colla, K-GXI Leader – Industry 4.0 at Volkswagen Simply put, co-creation is the future of work. With technology morphing the way we work and young people wanting to tackle problems that matter, co-creation is the sandbox where the world can come together to solve big challenges. Plus, co-creation rapidly delivers products with built-in market fit. Megan Brewster, Vice President of Advanced Manufacturing at Launch Forth Successful leaders will co-create the future. This book is an excellent starting point.Jürgen Bilo, Managing Director co-pace GmbH, The Startup Organisation of Continental AG

Increasing global competition is a driving force pushing toward a networked way of doing business, as companies are forced to search for efficiency through co-operation with other companies. The underlying question is how well the companies combine and co-ordinate their value activities with other companies in order to together create an entity that is able to produce value for the end customer. These kinds of entities - namely, value-creating networks - are the focus of the present study. We explore value-creating networks empirically in a specific, dynamic industry setting. Software business is chosen as the empirical context as it represents a dynamic and contemporary industry. The paper presents an empirical research of a focal net consisted of three types of actors: a focal company building complex software systems to its industrial customers; the focal company's suppliers; and the focal company's customers. The research is carried out as a single-case study. In gathering and analyzing the empirical data qualitative research methods are followed. The empirical findings are reversed to theoretical debate on networks, and as an outcome of the study an empirically-grounded model for value-creating network analysis is presented. Additionally, the paper contributes to literature by increasing our understanding of software business characteristics from network point of view.

The book aims to collect the most recent research and best practices in the cooperative and networking small business field identifying new theoretical models and describing the relationship between cooperation and networks in the small business strategy context. It examines different concepts and analytical techniques better understand the links between cooperative strategies and networks in small business. It also studies the existing economic conditions of network and strategic implications to small business from the point of view of their internal and external consistency. Cooperation and networks is a fashionable topic. It is receiving increasing attention in popular management publications, as well as specialized academic journals. Cooperation between firms and industries is a means of leveraging and aggregating knowledge also generating direct benefits in terms of innovation, productivity and competitiveness. Various options and decisions made within the framework of strategic alliances may be identified and differentiated. For example, it has been argued that R&D cooperation between competing firms also facilitates the search for incremental efficiency gains and is thus a competitive advantage. In parallel with a theoretical acceptance of the importance of a sustained competitive advantage to formulate strategy, there is a growing understanding that cooperative and networking behavior among small firms is at the root of many success stories in today's small business management. This condition requires an effort to develop a study of both aspects of cooperation and networks as compatible, complementary facets of a unique reality. In short, the cooperative and networking relationships of a small business can be the source of its competitive advantage. Enhancement of local resources and capabilities for the generation and dissemination of knowledge is still an issue for defining public policies in many countries.Featuring contributions covering such topics as green innovation, social commerce, university cooperation networks, and regional entrepreneurship, this book provides a comprehensive and richly illustrated study of cooperation and networks in small business that will be pertinent to students, academics, professionals, scholars, and policy makers./div

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, PRO-VE 2015, held in Albi, France, in October 2015. The 61 revised papers were carefully selected from 126 submissions. They provide a comprehensive overview of identified challenges and recent advances in various collaborative network (CN) domains and their applications, with a strong focus on the following areas: risks in collaborative networks; agility and resilience in collaborative networks; collaboration frameworks; logistics and transportation; innovation networks; governance in collaborative networks; collaborative communities; information and assets sharing; business processes; performance and optimization; and network formation.

Cooperation has become the leading strategy adopted by business and other organizations. It is taking on new forms that are adapted to changing market expectations and technological possibilities in the rapidly evolving business environment. This new edition of Cooperative Strategy provides a comprehensive view of the practical and theoretical literature concerning cooperative strategies, and the alliance and network organizational forms that are the enablers of these strategies. It takes the reader through the stages of developing a cooperative alliance, from choosing a cooperative form and selecting partners, to establishing an alliance and managing the process of cooperation. It examines cooperative strategies in different sectors as well as internationally, and discusses performance criteria and evolution of cooperation over time. With insights from internationally recognized experts on cooperative strategy, this book presents extensive research on the topic while also addressing practical issues of alliance management.