Table 4 Resource orchestration in... | Emerald Publishing

Table 4

Resource orchestration in organizational BDA adoption

Process (phases) and definition		Quotes from cases
Structuring	Establish the resource portfolio through: (1) acquiring, (2) accumulating, and (3) divesting resources (Sirmon et al., 2011)
Sense business need	Building a company-wide understanding of the business need of BDA to support SCP processes	“We approach data analytics within the supply chain starting with the business needs at the 1st place – it is the requirement; you would not start directly with a tool and say, “here is the tool and see how it can be useful”, but it is rather more effective to start with the business problem, for instance, that I have a poor service level in the last year. […] Implementing BDA has to be coherent with the overall strategy, and it is not correct to consider it as a nice-to-have tool that might support the current process.” (BEVE) “The project was born by gathering the needs of the business, trying to understand which process to be involved, how it should be improved if there exists the fundamental data to enable a function of this type.” (CHEM) “The challenge in most of the projects is to identify the benefits (to business). We need to identify how big data analytics can help us optimize processes to make them more efficient. It is a challenge since proposing solutions or changes requires a deep understanding of the current processes.” (PIPE)
Accumulate BDA intellectual resources	Acquire and accumulate intellectual resources for BDA development through talent scouting from the market, training, and upskilling existing resources; establish internal and external collaborations and partnerships	“It is important to maintain internal knowledge. As the ICT team we typically tend to rely on external partners to develop solutions, but in this specific context, we are convinced from the very beginning on investing effort to bring skills in-house.” (AUTO) “The ‘business translator’ has domain competence and is supported by teams of business scientists and solution architects. These are resources that are part of the company, so these kinds of competences and skills are internal.” (ELEC) “Most of the time, we have internal skills, which have been developed and accumulated through upskilling at the initial phase of the program. These are people who have already worked with business intelligence and have followed a training path toward emerging technologies. […] In addition, we have also hired senior profiles on the market.” (ELEC) “On a personal level, the desire to learn and get involved [are important]. After almost eight years in Argentina, I was open to moving, taking many online courses, to personally inform myself about the new group and the work that awaited me.” (PHAR) “I do not see huge barriers in finding the know-how for this type of project. Despite we often find ourselves lacking internal knowledge, through the hiring and introduction of young figures with a mindset ready to solve problems, companies like mine can then conduct BDA projects with support by external technology partners.” (HLTH) “Internally, we have very lean teams and, therefore, we are assisted by external technology consultants during the process.” (FIBE)
Bundling	Integrate resources to form capabilities through: (1) stabilizing (incremental improvements to existing capabilities); (2) enriching (extending current capabilities); and (3) pioneering (creating new capabilities) (Sirmon et al., 2011)
Catalyze BDA learning for SCP-related problems	Set up internal BDA-related competence for the SCP process through: i) scouting/taking reference from comparable use cases (i.e. incremental improvement of BDA capabilities), and ii) learning through experiment and pilot projects (i.e. enriching existing BDA capabilities)	“[…] we started clarifying which competencies are already existing […] on the other hand, we organized ourselves to acquire skills and competencies that contribute to a better understanding of how data is processed and deployed differently from traditional IT systems. The knowledge can be transmitted to various business functions in helping them face challenges that may have not even arrived. […] We have a wide range of activity from the industrial perspective, where a lot of predictive maintenance and detection is done. Therefore, we had the opportunity to put our hand on various disciplines of data science and try different solutions.” (CHEM) “(The project benefits from) a fairly open vision of the Supply Chain director, who has always considered Amazon as a benchmark. We were in Seattle talking to Amazon data scientists, despite having a very different business from ours.” (AUTO) “We have and would continue to work with high-profile technology consulting partners for optimizations and reviewing. And this offers the chance of refactoring from time to time.” (ELEC) “(IT) system integrators are important when there is no methodology and when there is no internal know-how, but if you acquire that methodology and know-how in-house, in the end, you need the arms and not the brain.” (FIBE)
Engage in BDA system development	Develop a BDA-driven SCP system and continuously improve BDA development and management know-how (i.e. extend current BDA capabilities and pioneer new capabilities)	“Together with the vendor of the platform, we co-developed the first use case. Then from the success of that project, we continued to gain sensitivity within the company of what these solutions could further offer in the supply chain domain.” (AUTO) “We have set up systematic workflows that automatically activate the owners of the process based on the problem detected. For instance, if two products are missing, who should step in? Should the system activate an investigation of inventory in the warehouse or not? If whenever the problem happens I opt for the same solution, then that is the way the system should proceed.” (PHAR) “We have insourced the development process because we believe that the algorithmic is where you integrate your intelligence into the infrastructure. Therefore, it is right to keep that (BDA development) competence in-house as it is a differentiating value to compete in the market.” (FIBE)
Leveraging	Exploit capabilities and market opportunities through: (1) mobilizing (plan or vision for capabilities needed to form requisite capability configurations); (2) coordinating (integrating capability configurations); and (3) deploying (using resource advantage, market opportunity, or entrepreneurial strategy to exploit capability configurations formed by the coordinating subprocess) resources (Sirmon et al., 2011)
Communicate advantage and Promote continuous refinement	Build a shared vision of BDA-driven SCP system implementation to facilitate diffusion and transition (i.e. mobilize BDA implementation); leveraging and exploiting long-term data and system management capabilities to sustain the BDA-driven SCP systems (i.e. coordinate capabilities for continuous improvement)	“BDA creates changes that make the process faster and more accurate so that we can see the benefit of freeing up resources that we had devoted in the past to perform other tasks.[…] As the models need to be retrained every six months, we want to be able to do this by ourselves so the Data Science team offered their help to train our employees. Instead of waiting for the Data Science team doing that for us, we are now competent to train the model which makes the process faster and easier for both without distracting in general resources” (PIPE) “We need to pay attention as employee's acceptance can affect BDA implementation both in conscious and unconscious manners. It is unconscious when people perceive BDA brings additional daily activities, which may trigger resistance; and it is conscious when behavior is intentional against BDA, for instance, due to the disagreement in the tracking of activities.” (BEVE) “There are obstacles when some people are very capable (in performing BDA-related capabilities) but do not know how to communicate, and I see this every day” (ELEC) “The models apparently work well the moment when you establish a BDA platform. But if there is no dedicated resource who constantly reviews the specifications and adapts the models to the changing reality, that model begins to lose its effectiveness and becomes useless over time.” (AUTO)
Institutionalize processes and systems and Internalize BDA competence	Institutionalize BDA-driven SCP systems (i.e. deploy advantage of resources and capabilities); promote internalization of the resource configuration to sustain BDA-driven SCP systems in the long-term	“Looking at the organization from a high-level, our business plan to deploy BDA is very structured. This brings advantages because when setting the strategy, we know the focus is worldwide and coherence is granted across the entire corporate. […] Usually, the project may embrace single or multiple categories, and some managers follow the particular categories and who follow the dedicated project team.” (BEVE) “It is important to have people within the company who work directly on business intelligence because the model you develop does not work well forever, it must be continually adjusted.” (AUTO) “Another thing that is very important about these companies is to think about governance, that is, to think about how I govern this amount of data and how I give access to the various corporate structures to this amount of data. It is therefore a question of ownership of the data, that is, giving the possibility to those who own the data to document it, manage it, and guarantee security and privacy. The owner of the data must distribute knowledge about data in the company, an awareness that the data is there and must be managed.” (PIPE)

Process (phases) and definition		Quotes from cases
Structuring	Establish the resource portfolio through: (1) acquiring, (2) accumulating, and (3) divesting resources (Sirmon et al., 2011)
Sense business need	Building a company-wide understanding of the business need of BDA to support SCP processes	“We approach data analytics within the supply chain starting with the business needs at the 1st place – it is the requirement; you would not start directly with a tool and say, “here is the tool and see how it can be useful”, but it is rather more effective to start with the business problem, for instance, that I have a poor service level in the last year. […] Implementing BDA has to be coherent with the overall strategy, and it is not correct to consider it as a nice-to-have tool that might support the current process.” (BEVE)“The project was born by gathering the needs of the business, trying to understand which process to be involved, how it should be improved if there exists the fundamental data to enable a function of this type.” (CHEM)“The challenge in most of the projects is to identify the benefits (to business). We need to identify how big data analytics can help us optimize processes to make them more efficient. It is a challenge since proposing solutions or changes requires a deep understanding of the current processes.” (PIPE)
Accumulate BDA intellectual resources	Acquire and accumulate intellectual resources for BDA development through talent scouting from the market, training, and upskilling existing resources; establish internal and external collaborations and partnerships	“It is important to maintain internal knowledge. As the ICT team we typically tend to rely on external partners to develop solutions, but in this specific context, we are convinced from the very beginning on investing effort to bring skills in-house.” (AUTO)“The ‘business translator’ has domain competence and is supported by teams of business scientists and solution architects. These are resources that are part of the company, so these kinds of competences and skills are internal.” (ELEC)“Most of the time, we have internal skills, which have been developed and accumulated through upskilling at the initial phase of the program. These are people who have already worked with business intelligence and have followed a training path toward emerging technologies. […] In addition, we have also hired senior profiles on the market.” (ELEC)“On a personal level, the desire to learn and get involved [are important]. After almost eight years in Argentina, I was open to moving, taking many online courses, to personally inform myself about the new group and the work that awaited me.” (PHAR)“I do not see huge barriers in finding the know-how for this type of project. Despite we often find ourselves lacking internal knowledge, through the hiring and introduction of young figures with a mindset ready to solve problems, companies like mine can then conduct BDA projects with support by external technology partners.” (HLTH)“Internally, we have very lean teams and, therefore, we are assisted by external technology consultants during the process.” (FIBE)
Bundling	Integrate resources to form capabilities through: (1) stabilizing (incremental improvements to existing capabilities); (2) enriching (extending current capabilities); and (3) pioneering (creating new capabilities) (Sirmon et al., 2011)
Catalyze BDA learning for SCP-related problems	Set up internal BDA-related competence for the SCP process through: i) scouting/taking reference from comparable use cases (i.e. incremental improvement of BDA capabilities), and ii) learning through experiment and pilot projects (i.e. enriching existing BDA capabilities)	“[…] we started clarifying which competencies are already existing […] on the other hand, we organized ourselves to acquire skills and competencies that contribute to a better understanding of how data is processed and deployed differently from traditional IT systems. The knowledge can be transmitted to various business functions in helping them face challenges that may have not even arrived. […] We have a wide range of activity from the industrial perspective, where a lot of predictive maintenance and detection is done. Therefore, we had the opportunity to put our hand on various disciplines of data science and try different solutions.” (CHEM)“(The project benefits from) a fairly open vision of the Supply Chain director, who has always considered Amazon as a benchmark. We were in Seattle talking to Amazon data scientists, despite having a very different business from ours.” (AUTO)“We have and would continue to work with high-profile technology consulting partners for optimizations and reviewing. And this offers the chance of refactoring from time to time.” (ELEC)“(IT) system integrators are important when there is no methodology and when there is no internal know-how, but if you acquire that methodology and know-how in-house, in the end, you need the arms and not the brain.” (FIBE)
Engage in BDA system development	Develop a BDA-driven SCP system and continuously improve BDA development and management know-how (i.e. extend current BDA capabilities and pioneer new capabilities)	“Together with the vendor of the platform, we co-developed the first use case. Then from the success of that project, we continued to gain sensitivity within the company of what these solutions could further offer in the supply chain domain.” (AUTO)“We have set up systematic workflows that automatically activate the owners of the process based on the problem detected. For instance, if two products are missing, who should step in? Should the system activate an investigation of inventory in the warehouse or not? If whenever the problem happens I opt for the same solution, then that is the way the system should proceed.” (PHAR)“We have insourced the development process because we believe that the algorithmic is where you integrate your intelligence into the infrastructure. Therefore, it is right to keep that (BDA development) competence in-house as it is a differentiating value to compete in the market.” (FIBE)
Leveraging	Exploit capabilities and market opportunities through: (1) mobilizing (plan or vision for capabilities needed to form requisite capability configurations); (2) coordinating (integrating capability configurations); and (3) deploying (using resource advantage, market opportunity, or entrepreneurial strategy to exploit capability configurations formed by the coordinating subprocess) resources (Sirmon et al., 2011)
Communicate advantage and Promote continuous refinement	Build a shared vision of BDA-driven SCP system implementation to facilitate diffusion and transition (i.e. mobilize BDA implementation); leveraging and exploiting long-term data and system management capabilities to sustain the BDA-driven SCP systems (i.e. coordinate capabilities for continuous improvement)	“BDA creates changes that make the process faster and more accurate so that we can see the benefit of freeing up resources that we had devoted in the past to perform other tasks.[…] As the models need to be retrained every six months, we want to be able to do this by ourselves so the Data Science team offered their help to train our employees. Instead of waiting for the Data Science team doing that for us, we are now competent to train the model which makes the process faster and easier for both without distracting in general resources” (PIPE)“We need to pay attention as employee's acceptance can affect BDA implementation both in conscious and unconscious manners. It is unconscious when people perceive BDA brings additional daily activities, which may trigger resistance; and it is conscious when behavior is intentional against BDA, for instance, due to the disagreement in the tracking of activities.” (BEVE)“There are obstacles when some people are very capable (in performing BDA-related capabilities) but do not know how to communicate, and I see this every day” (ELEC)“The models apparently work well the moment when you establish a BDA platform. But if there is no dedicated resource who constantly reviews the specifications and adapts the models to the changing reality, that model begins to lose its effectiveness and becomes useless over time.” (AUTO)
Institutionalize processes and systems and Internalize BDA competence	Institutionalize BDA-driven SCP systems (i.e. deploy advantage of resources and capabilities); promote internalization of the resource configuration to sustain BDA-driven SCP systems in the long-term	“Looking at the organization from a high-level, our business plan to deploy BDA is very structured. This brings advantages because when setting the strategy, we know the focus is worldwide and coherence is granted across the entire corporate. […] Usually, the project may embrace single or multiple categories, and some managers follow the particular categories and who follow the dedicated project team.” (BEVE)“It is important to have people within the company who work directly on business intelligence because the model you develop does not work well forever, it must be continually adjusted.” (AUTO)“Another thing that is very important about these companies is to think about governance, that is, to think about how I govern this amount of data and how I give access to the various corporate structures to this amount of data. It is therefore a question of ownership of the data, that is, giving the possibility to those who own the data to document it, manage it, and guarantee security and privacy. The owner of the data must distribute knowledge about data in the company, an awareness that the data is there and must be managed.” (PIPE)

Source(s): Table by authors