Additive manufacturing – digitally changing the global business landscape

PublikationArtikel (med peer review)

3D printing, Christina Öberg, Power, supply chain

Sammanfattning

Purpose: Additive manufacturing, that is, layer-based manufacturing technologies, is thought to change supply chain operations from global to local, while also affecting design processes and product structures. As this transformation happens, a power struggle among various actors relating themselves to additive manufacturing has emerged. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and explain the development of additive manufacturing from a power dependence point of view.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on data collected from a number of seminars hosting a total of 620 industry experts representing 102 companies in the area, and reflecting every step of the supply chain.

Findings: The paper points out how measures to deal and create power imbalances occur also related to indirect parties, and how the disruptive character of the supply chain leads to exercised power.

Originality/value: The power struggle provides new insights into how an emerging technology is realised and the effect of protectionism on such attempts. Specifically related to additive manufacturing, the paper illustrates the business side from various actors’ point of view, which adds to technological perspectives on additive manufacturing, as well as studies viewing the supply chain from a bird’s-eye perspective.

Öberg, C. (2019). Additive manufacturing – Digitally changing the global business landscape. European Journalof Management and Business Economics, 28(2), 174-188. DOI: 10.1108/EJMBE-11-2018-0116

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Sharing economy models and sustainability: Towards a typology

Artikel (med peer review)Publikation

Öberg, C.

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Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

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Sammanfattning

The sharing economy was initially beckoned as a facilitator of exchanges that would not compromise future needs and held great promise for those at the lower end of the socioeconomic pyramid. However, as the sharing economy expanded, questions about its sustainability emerged. This expansion manifested in two main forms: an influx of new users and providers into existing operations and the emergence of new platforms, resulting in a proliferation of sharing economy models. By categorizing these models based on their resource utilization, this paper establishes a connection between scalability and compromised sustainability, shedding light on the interplay between the two. The paper identifies seven distinct configurations in the sharing economy: co-use, re-use, repeated use, sustainable output, pooling of resources, and products and services created specifically for individual users. These configurations serve as a tool to uncover the tensions between scalability and coordination, as well as between sustainability and provision. The paper contributes to prior research by bringing attention to how the sharing economy is entangled in these tensions and by developing a typology. Understanding how these tensions can be resolved presents a highly significant practical contribution, allowing stakeholders in the sharing economy to navigate the challenges of scalability and sustainability effectively.

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Artikel (med peer review)Publikation

Öberg, C.

Ladda ner

Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Journal of Management & Organization

Sammanfattning

This paper builds on the creation of new ways of organizing work, where the freelance economy specifically targets the increasing number of skilled self-employed individuals collaborating for shared output. Through describing and discussing creativity within the freelance economy, this paper seeks to understand creativity in collaborations among these self-employed individuals. Drawing from a case study conducted in the advertising sector, the paper concludes that creativity within the freelance economy occurs between equal and inherently creative freelancers rather than being the product of individual traits, despite their respective skills. Creativity between individuals arises when processes are appropriately formalized, while the creative output is constrained by individual decisions and styles. The paper contributes to existing research by shedding light on the distinctive characteristics of the freelance economy and its paradoxical organizational nature. By doing so, it offers insights that contrast with prior studies on artistic creativity.

Customers driving a firm’s responsible innovation response for grand challenges: A co‐active issue‐selling perspective.

Artikel (med peer review)Publikation

Degbey, W. Y., Pelto, E., Öberg, C., & Carmeli, A.

Publiceringsår

2023

Publicerat i

Journal of Product Innovation. Management.

Sammanfattning

Grand challenges vary across industries and call for firms to craft a responsible innovation response to effectively address them. However, key questions concerning why firms embrace responsible innovation and the process by which they respond to grand challenges have yet to be fully answered. We integrate an issue-selling theoretical lens and the customer role from an innovation perspective to theorize about the different influencing motives that customers exert on their corresponding supplying firm to craft a more responsible innovation response to grand challenges. Based on qualitative data collected in almost a 10-year period from multiple respondents across eight customer firms and two supplying firms, we identify three core motives—regulatory, business opportunity, and socio-environmental motives—that propel customers to influence supplying firms to craft different forms of responsible innovation responses. Our research also reveals three vital socio-human capital pathways—human capital, socio-behavioral, and relationship—which, in turn, foster a co-active engagement in addressing grand challenges innovatively and responsibly. In so doing, this research advances novel theorizing on co-active engagement in responsible innovation where the customer acts as the primary champion and the supplier as the implementer. We discuss the important implications for customers and other stakeholders.

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