Designing and Managing Value Co-Creation in KIBS Engagements

Abstract

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) such as IT development, IT outsourcing, and research and development (R&D) services have become a key component of most industrialized economies; they have been identified as an important source of employment growth in many countries and help improve the performance of firms belonging to most other sectors. KIBS have been discussed in innovation-related literature for over 15 years, with the assumption that models of innovation developed for manufacturing firms were not appropriate for them. This body of literature has also helped to identify the key characteristics and types of KIBS. However, although some empirical studies have investigated KIBS at the level of management -for example, how to manage customers' co-production processes -there has not been much research on how to successfully establish and manage engagements among KIBS providers, clients, and other collaborators. Moreover, informal conversations with KIBS professionals show that these activities are often approached in an ad hoc manner. Yet, given the importance of KIBS, taking a more systematic approach to their design and management could improve the contribution of knowledge-intensive business service activities to our economy. This article proposes a framework for the design and management of KIBS engagements. The framework has been developed from a multiple-case study of academic R&D service engagements, as one type of KIBS engagement. It consists of a set of information to be gathered and questions to be asked by professionals responsible for establishing, monitoring, and managing KIBS engagements. The information and questions are articulated around two key processes of collaborative value creation (or value co-creation) in KIBS engagements: i) the alignment of actors' interests, value propositions, and resources, and ii) the actors' ability to integrate the engagement's deliverables and outcomes as a basis for their perception of the engagement's value. Using this framework could help to establish more successful collaborations among KIBS providers, clients, and partners; it should also help to monitor the performance of a given KIBS engagement in terms of its collaborative processes, deliverables, and outcomes from the varied perspectives of participating parties. Although the framework accounts for these different and sometimes conflicting perspectives, it is intended to be used by KIBS provider firms whose success depends at least in part from their ability to manage collaborative relationships.

Engagement, Empowerment and Patient Generated Health Data

“…These papers largely focus on consumer engagement behaviours (Verleye, et al, 2013), firm processes to encourage engagement (Marcos-Cuevas, Natti, Palo, & Baumann, 2016), value alignment (Lessard, 2014) and the resulting economic, social and emotional value for the provider (Piligrimiene, Dovaliene, & Virvilaite, 2015).…”