In the middle of June, our Business Renewal research group took part of the Bled eConference in Bled, Slovenia. The conference titled Resilience Through Digital Innovation: Enabling the Twin Transition brought together wide range of researchers from various disciplines and countries.
Our papers were presented in two tracks. In the Business Models track, our Project Researcher Fuad Khan presented a paper Exploring Sustainable Value Propositions in Logistics Services – How Digitalization and Data Support Greener Services? Paper is a joint effort with our Disruption Lab research group and co-authored by Taina Eriksson, Marikka Heikkilä and Titiana Ertiö.
The study explored the sustainable value propositions in green logistics services across four case companies. Specifically, the research explored the contribution of digitalization and data in offering functional, financial and emotional aspects of sustainable value propositions in logistics services.
Key findings:
- Digital solutions offer cost reduction opportunities across the value chain as a financial value proposition.
- Digital services also enhance route optimization and regulatory compliance which are identified as functional value propositions, and allow for transparency, trust, and credibility as emotional value propositions.
- Digitally oriented firms can propose multiple value propositions whereas the scope of new and cross dimensional value proposition for digitally young firms is limited.
- Functional value propositions pave the way for emotional ones. For instance, by achieving sustainability certifications, service providers can establish transparency, ensure value chain compliance, and ultimately build trust among customers.
The next paper presented under the track of Business Models, is titled European Companies’ Readiness and Challenges in Data Economy, authored by our Research Director Marikka Heikkilä, and Professor Jukka Heikkilä and University Lecturer Farhan Ahmad from Information Systems Science at the Turku School of Economics.
The paper investigated the readiness and challenges that European companies face in embracing a data-driven economy. To understand so, the authors conducted a comprehensive survey of 1,200 European companies from various industries and sizes.
Key findings:
- Results show that 20% of the companies have already leveraged data to gain competitive advantage, a majority see potential benefits, while 19% perceive no advantage.
- The biggest challenges for companies identified are legal complexity, lack of data, competence in data-driven business models and technological competence.
- Micro-sized businesses face the most challenge in comparison to other sized businesses.
- Challenges are more visible in sectors like arts, entertainment, leisure and international NGOs.
Based on the findings, the authors conclude 1) the need for substantial business model transformations to capitalize on data-driven opportunities and 2) data economy has the potential to drive innovation and growth given the company has necessary skills.
Our third paper Smart Cities on the Waterfront: Citizens’ perspectives on Smart City in the context of a Port City was presented by our Research Manager Kristel Edelman in a track Smart and Sustainable Cities and Digital Ethics. The paper is co-authored by our Research Manager Riikka Franzén and researchers from Åbo Akademi University Irina Wahlström, Anastasia Tsvetkova and Yiran Chen.
By taking the people oriented approach on theories of smart cities this paper aims to understand how smart city is perceived by its citizens based on the actual use of the port city area in Turku, Linnanniemi and expectations towards the development of this area.
Key findings:
- The analysis of the survey enabled to identify following key themes on a citizens’ view on smart city in a context of a port city: traffic, environmental sustainability, urban planning, technology and digitalization, culture, art & history and the focus on people.
- The findings emphasise the citizens’ wish for prioritising environmental sustainability and wellbeing in the development of the smart city and show that improvements in traffic around the port area and urban planning are seen as most topical.
You are welcome to read more from our papers from the Bled eConference proceedings, that can be accessed from here: https://press.um.si/index.php/ump/catalog/book/880