scholarly journals Principles of Operational Agility: A Case Study of a Swiss Telecommunication Company

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-186
Author(s):  
Rafael Lorenz ◽  
Luzius Bäckert ◽  
Johannes Heck

Management research has begun to investigate operational agility, the capability of organizations to adapt rapidly and incrementally in response to changing conditions. The purpose of this study is to bridge the discrete research areas of agile development and agile manufacturing, which exist within literature on operational agility, and to derive the principles of operational agility itself. It therefore combines previous research with evidence from an explorative single case study. The study identifies eight principles of operational agility which may guide practitioners to form organizations that can adapt rapidly. By deriving these principles, this case study is one of the first academic contributions to elaborate on an operating model that aims for agility on both an enterprise and business unit level. Overall, our findings enhance the understanding of operational agility, while revealing new insights into the transformation process of a leading agile organization.

Author(s):  
Vito Maria Manfredi Latilla ◽  
Andrea Urbinati ◽  
Angelo Cavallo ◽  
Simone Franzò ◽  
Antonio Ghezzi

Digital technologies are bringing a wide spectrum of business opportunities as well as significant organizational challenges for incumbent companies operating in traditional industries such as the energy one. The diffusion of new technologies is changing the way energy solutions are consumed and experienced, while consumers increasingly take ownership of their consumption, acting as “prosumers”. In this evolving scenario, incumbents are urged to reshape their business models, explore new opportunities and change their organizational structures accordingly. Still, the required organizational re-design process that enables companies to undergo business model innovation (BMI) while exploiting digital technologies is partially neglected in literature. Hence, this study explores how established companies embrace organizational re-design process to innovate their business model. To this end, we leverage a single case study methodology focused on an incumbent energy company. Our findings show how the establishment of a business unit dedicated to digital technologies exploitation has enabled the company’s BMI. More specifically, we point at the critical role played by the know-how and the industrial capabilities to sustain not only the innovation activities of the new business unit, but also the overall company performance and the shift towards a renewed business model.


Author(s):  
Betsy Macht ◽  
Anne Davis

Sales of defective or substandard products carry a potential risk of unintended effects on the consumer. The purpose of this single-case study was to explore the strategies to influence a culture of quality and compliance. Findings identified the value of weaving quality and compliance into a unified matrix to establish a holistic approach to endowing the organizational culture with the behaviors and habits that drive quality and compliance across business unit boundaries. To treat any aspect of quality and compliance as a separate element of the culture may undermine the overall effectiveness of quality and compliance programs, leaving room for employees to doubt the value top leadership places on these requirements.


2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 358-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
FABIO LUIZ MARIOTTO ◽  
PEDRO PINTO ZANNI ◽  
GUSTAVO HERMÍNIO SALATI MARCONDES DE MORAES

The purpose of this article is to present a defense of the use of single case studies in management research. The defense is necessary because this type of research has been relegated to a secondary role, or even rejected, by many researchers, who consider it unscientific. Evidence of this low status is the fact that most reputable academic journals in management publish few articles based on single-case studies. In this paper, we examine in detail the objections to the use of such cases in management research. We show the efforts made by some researchers to answer these objections and we show quality criteria for research that are alternatives to the criteria used in the so-called "scientific method." Our analysis suggests that a better understanding - by researchers with different methodological preferences - of the arguments for each particular use of the single-case study as a research method would allow a better dialogue between researchers and benefit management research as a whole.


2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-159
Author(s):  
Keith V. Bletzer

Migratory farm labor like other forms of migrant work both in and outside agriculture impedes on the opportunity to make choices. The following essay explores particular phases in the life of one man (a single case study) and examines how he considers turning points in his life that led to a long period of substance use, both as an immigrant in the country and as a working man in his home country, followed by a cessation of use and the beginning stages of recovery. / Para el migrante, viajar en busca de trabajo es díficil, ya sea que trabaje en agricultura o en otras labores. Este ensayo examina ciertas etapas en la vida de un hombre (estudio de un solo caso) que examina los cambios que le han ocurrido durante un período en que él consumía grandes cantidades de alcohol en los estados y en su país, seguido por un período de sobriedad (no tomaba alcohol, no usaba drogas) en este país en que él comienza una etapa de rehabilitación.


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