Doctoral Project

IT-Based Value Co-Creation in Inter-Organizational Networks
(Themenfeld C.2)

– What is the value in this context and how can it be measured and effectively achieved? –

Besides the longstanding tradition of inter-organizational cooperation, recent developments have led to an increased number and importance of inter-organizational arrangements. IT plays a critical role in the functioning of inter-organizational networks by improving coordination and communication, as well as enabling completely new types of inter-organizational collaboration. However, many IT investments fail to deliver returns, and firms aiming to realize benefits from joint IT investments through value co-creation face critical challenges. Accordingly, the overall goal of this cumulative dissertation is to contribute to the understanding of how IT creates business value in inter-organizational networks. Moreover, value co-creation is analyzed in the specific context of the wood industry to capture the underlying contextual conditions and increase the practical relevance. Following a reference theorizing approach, this thesis extends current theorizing on IT business value research to the inter-organizational level. In addition, this thesis also provides both cross-industrial managerial implications for organizations cooperating in inter-organizational networks as well as contributions specifically directed to organizations in the wood industry.