Most food & agribusiness stakeholders (entrepreneurs in particular) agree that it is not only difficult to innovate new products and technology, but also to realize its true market potential. A lack of market and/or supply partnerships, i.e. a robust and committed value chain, is often cited as the reason for the failure to achieve this potential. The key objective of this research is to understand the necessary elements needed for building a committed value chain and to suggest an approach to realize them. Our research shows that partnerships which combine the four key elements of aligned objectives and incentives and shared responsibilities and information are most likely to realize a committed value chain. The research further provide guidelines to developing these elements and achieving committed chains in practice. Finally, we demonstrate the relevance of the suggested approach using two real-life business cases; the first one is a business success story with a committed value chain, while the other is a story of a failure due to the lack of a committed chain
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Summary Project objectives This study fits into a larger research project on logistics collaboration and outsourcing decisions. The final objective of this larger project is to analyze the logistics collaboration decision in more detail to identify thresholds in these decisions. To reach the overall objectives, the first step is to get a clearer picture on the chemical and logistics service providers industry, sectors of our study, and on logistics collaboration in these sectors. The results of this first phase are presented in this report. Project Approach The study consists of two parts: literature review and five case studies within the chemical industry. The literature covers three topics: logistics collaboration, logistics outsourcing and purchasing of logistics services. The five case studies are used to refine the theoretical findings of the literature review. Conclusions Main observations during the case studies can be summarized as follows: Most analyzed collaborative relationships between shippers and logistics service providers in the chemical industry are still focused on operational execution of logistics activities with a short term horizon. Supply management design and control are often retained by the shippers. Despite the time and cost intensive character of a logistics service buying process, shippers tendering on a very regular basis. The decision to start a new tender project should more often be based on an integral approach that includes all tender related costs. A lower frequency of tendering could create more stability in supply chains. Beside, it will give both, shippers and LSPs, the possibility to improve the quality of the remaining projects. Price is still a dominating decision criterion in selecting a LSP. This is not an issue as long as the comparison of costs is based on an integral approach, and when shippers balance the cost criterion within their total set of criteria for sourcing logistics services. At the shippers' side there is an increased awareness of the need of more solid collaboration with logistics service providers. Nevertheless, in many cases this increased awareness does not actually result in the required actions to establish more intensive collaboration. Over the last years the logistics service providers industry was characterized by low profit margins, strong fragmentation and price competition. Nowadays, the market for LSPs is changing, because of an increasing demand for logistics services. To benefit from this situation a more pro-active role of the service providers is required in building stronger relationships with their customers. They should pay more attention on mid and long term possibilities in a collaborative relation, in stead of only be focused on running the daily operation.
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To perform at top level, all systems within an organization need to be aligned. When body and mind aren’t connected, you can’t function well. In the same way that it is important to align the mind and the body, a promising business vision (the mind) will not have the expected result when executed without the alignment of all existing parts of the organization (the body). You have to choose how this vision will fit in. People will experience complexity when new references do not fit in with their existing references – hence, the need for taxonomy to connect the dots and internalize external references. The Company Reference Grid (CRG) is this taxonomy for enterprises and was originally designed by Frans van der Reep [1]. This extended alignment tool combines business, ICT, HRM, and operations from a strategic, entrepreneurial, and operational capabilities point of view.
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This chapter discusses the following keywords for learning outcomes for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). 1. Clarity: Knowing what you want your students to achieve. 2. Shared: Designed together with your partner to match your course content. 3. Aligned: Linking different components (outcomes, assessment, and activities) of your COIL project together.
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In today’s foreign language (FL) education, teachers universally recognise the importance of fostering students’ ability to communicate in the target language. However, the current assessments often do not (sufficiently) evaluate this. In her dissertation, Charline Rouffet aims to gather insight into the potential of assessments to steer FL teaching practices. Communicative learning objectives FL teachers fully support the communicative learning objectives formulated at national level and embrace the principles of communicative language teaching. Yet, assessments instead primarily focus on formal language knowledge in isolation (e.g., grammar rules), disconnected from real-world communicative contexts. This misalignment between assessment practices and communicative objectives hampers effective FL teaching. CBA toolbox The aim of this design-based PhD research project is to gather insight into the potential of assessments to steer FL teaching practices. To this end, tools for developing communicative classroom-based assessment (CBA) programmes were designed and implemented in practice, in close collaboration with FL teachers. Rouffet's dissertation consists of multiple studies, in which the current challenges of FL education are addressed and the usage of the CBA toolbox is investigated. Findings reveal that assessing FL competencies in a more communicative way can transform teaching practices, placing communicative abilities at the heart of FL education.
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Business Rule Management (BRM) is a means to make decision-making within organizations explicit and manageable. BRM functions within the context of an Enterprise Architecture (EA). The aim of EA is to enable the organization to achieve its strategic goals. Ideally, BRM and EA should be well aligned. This paper explores through study of case study documentation the BRM design choices that relate to EA and hence might influence the organizations ability to achieve a digital business strategy. We translate this exploration into five propositions relating BRM design choices to EA characteristics.
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In summarizing the research on collaborative learning, the quest for the holy grail of effective collaborative learning has not yet ended. The use of the GLAID framework tool for the design of collaborative learning in higher education may contribute to better aligned designs and hereby contribute to more effective collaborative learning. The GLAID framework may help monitor, evaluate and redesign projects and group assignments. We know that the perception of the quality of the task, and the extent to which students feel engaged, influences the perception of students of how much they learn from a GLA. However, perceptions alone are only an indication of what is learned. A next step is to study exactly what those learning outcomes are. This leads to a more difficult question: how can we measure the learning outcomes? Although a variety of research underlines the large potential of collaboration for learning outcomes, the exact learning outcomes of team learning can only be partly foretold. During collaborative learning students could partly achieve the same or similar learning outcomes, but as each individual learning internalizes what is learned from the collaborative learning by his/her given prior experiences and knowledge, the learning outcomes of collaborative learning are probabilistic (Strijbos, 2011), and therefore attaining specific learning outcomes is likely but not guaranteed. If learning outcomes are different per individual and are probabilistic, how can we measure those learning outcomes? Wenger, Trayner, & De Laat (2011) regard the outcomes of learning communities as value creations that have an individual outcome and a group outcome. This value creation induced by collaborative learning consists, for example, of changed behaviour in the working environment as well as the production of useful products or artefacts. Tillema (2006) also describes that communities of inquiry can lead to the design of conceptual artefacts: products that are useful for a professional working environment.
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Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face unique challenges in developing AI-enabled products and services, with traditional innovation processes proving too resource-intensive and poorly adapted to AI's complexities. Following design science research methodology, this paper introduces Innovation Process for AI-enabled Products and Services (IPAPS), a framework specifically designed for SMBs developing AI-enabled solutions. Built on a semi-formal ontology that synthesizes literature on innovation processes, technology development frameworks, and AI-specific challenges, IPAPS guides organizations through five structured phases from use case identification to market launch. The framework integrates established innovation principles with AI-specific requirements while emphasizing iterative development through agile, lean startup, and design thinking approaches. Through polar theoretical sampling, we conducted ex-post analysis of two contrasting cases. Analysis revealed that the successful case naturally aligned with IPAPS principles, while the unsuccessful case showed significant deviations, providing preliminary evidence supporting IPAPS as a potentially valid innovation process for resource-constrained organizations.
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Insider ethnographic analysis is used to analyze change processes in an engineering department. Distributed leadership theory is used as conceptual framework.
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