How to scope configuration projects and manage the knowledge they require

Shafiee, Sara; Kristjánsdóttir, Katrín; Hvam, Lars; Forza, Cipriano

doi:10.1108/jkm-01-2017-0017

Cited by 38 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…By showing that the OSC users need to interact with different referents while configuring their products or services, our study also supports the importance of studying the configuration process as a social process [18,31,73,75]. Knowledge about the configuration process as a group-decision process [76], and about the need for the digital interaction between OSC users with different referents could be new knowledge that needs to be considered and even modeled in configuration environments, thus further increasing the knowledge-management aspect of configurators [77]. Furthermore, this knowledge-related aspect could present new challenges for the implementation of OSCs, in addition to those already known [78] and peculiar to business-toconsumer contexts [79].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Users’ Social-interaction Needs While Shopping via Online Sales Configurators

Grosso¹,

Forza²

2019

Int J Ind Eng Manag

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The growing adoption of social web technologies such as social software (SSW) in online configuration environments has enabled the possibility of supporting configurator users in interacting digitally with real people while they are shopping for customized products. Previous research has identified that online sales configurators (OSCs) are currently connected to SSW with different modalities to provide configurator users with a variety of options to digitally interact with real people. Enriching the configuration environment with social-interaction tools has engendered the phenomenon of socialproduct customization. Recent studies considered the social product-customization by investigating the impact that community feedback and social comparisons has on configurator user. However, the OSCs users' need to interact with different referents during their configuration process, and whether the SSW-OSCs connections respond to this need are still unsearched. To address this gap, the present study explores (a) whether users experience the need to interact with different referents while shopping via OSCs and (b) which interaction modalities users are looking for. By considering 943 configuration experiences from 189 users of 378 OSCs for various consumer goods, the present study finds that the need for social interaction by OSC users is highly relevant. Moreover, OSC users perceive the need to interact with different referents during different stages of the configuration process, and, depending on the referent with whom they wish to interact, they are interested in different interaction modalities in terms of how and where those interactions take place. These findings imply that mass customizers may leverage their customers' need to interact with real people while shopping online via OSCs in order to better engage their actual and potential customers.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Users’ Social-interaction Needs While Shopping via Online Sales Configurators

Grosso¹,

Forza²

2019

Int J Ind Eng Manag

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“…The case study demonstrates the usefulness of the framework. Thus, the proposed DT framework and empirical study extend research on executing configuration projects Haug, 2008;Hvam et al, 2008;Shafiee et al, 2018). Second, we contribute to the design literature by extending the applications of DT and C-K theory to the area of product configuration, specifically expanding the configuration-project manager's toolbox of techniques and methods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Figure 3. Applying design thinking to knowledge management in configuration projects (after Lindberg et al, 2011;Shafiee et al, 2018) One step deeper, DT methods can be integrated into configuration projects. Table 2 illustrates this, showing DT phases relative to configuration projects, summarizing relevant design research, and suggesting tools and methods for each stage.…”

Section: Dt In Configuration Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of design thinking to product-configuration projects

Shafiee

Haug²,

Kristensen

et al. 2020

JMTM

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PurposeProduct configurators are expert systems that support product customization by defining how predefined entities and their properties may be combined. Developers of configuration systems act as designers, although they do not often recognize that they are performing as such. Moreover, exploring solution spaces is typically not integral to configuration projects, as this task is typically perceived as mapping existing knowledge to the configurator. This article argues that developing configurators may be understood by distinguishing between the problem and solution spaces using design thinking (DT).Design/methodology/approachA multiple-case-study approach with four configuration projects is adopted to study two projects involving DT and compare them to two similar projects not involving DT. Data collection depended on multiple data sources via workshops and semi-structured interviews.FindingsFirst, DT methods and concept–knowledge (C-K) theory are integrated into configuration projects. Second, the application of DT during configurator development is presented through workshops and interviews, which demonstrates the benefits of DT in overcoming existing challenges.Research limitations/implicationsThe case studies demonstrate the successful implementation of DT in developing configurators. However, a limited number of cases in only one company limits the generalizability of the results.Practical implicationsThe framework's individual steps create a structured approach to supporting industrial companies with a toolbox of DT techniques and methods for configuration projects.Originality/valueThe results show that the application of DT to configuration projects can improve user motivation, stakeholder satisfaction and knowledge acquisition.

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“…The information processing view, which has been successfully used in other mass customization issues [46], could be one theoretical lens used to explain some results, such as why the offering of simpler products (> 40% components) is associated with lower overall challenges. The consideration of configurator projects as knowledge management projects [47] could explain why certain challenges are expected and indicate how to overcome these challenges. Given the importance of organizational challenges, future research could take advantage of recent results in mass customization studies, which recognized that external environmental factors (e.g., demand dynamism) play a fundamental role in the strategic decisions (e.g., degree of product customization) a company intends to make, which in turn influence the organizational design choices (e.g., training and development of people for mass customization) [48][49][50].…”

Section: Research Limitation and Further Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%