Extended Enterprises

Through specialization, the principle of the extended workbench is steadily increasing. For this to happen seamlessly, companies and organizations must open up their corporate boundaries and become an active part in the superimposed value system. This requires increased communication and interaction as well as cooperation and reputation, in both spheres: physical and digital.

In our research, we therefore view these companies and organizations as components of larger value and supply chains. They are thus a system within a system - an Extended Enterprise. Essential components in our research on Extended Enterprise are Innovation Research & Management, Resilience Engineering & crisis-driven Innovation, Systems thinking and the application of (scientific) methods.

• Innovation Research & Management: A key role in our approach to Innovation Research & Management is played by the comprehensive coordination and cooperation of actors within value and supply chains. Central to our approach is Schumpeter's dynamic entrepreneur. This entrepreneur is constantly in motion and creatively deconstructs established equilibria. Schumpeter's dynamic entrepreneur has skills that "rationalist" managers do not have: He/she is restless and constantly looking for opportunities, he/she is dynamic and energetic and able to create (artificial) needs and demand in the market. An equilibrium - a static situation of management - never exists for such a person. 
• Resilience Engineering & Crisis-driven Innovation: our approach to developing robust and resilient systems is based on the Resource-Based View (Penrose, 2009) and the Capability-Based View (Teece, 2011). Taken together, these synergistic approaches help systems adapt, change, innovate, and adapt to the system environment and service ecology. Central to our development of robust and resilient systems is the Strategic Management Framework to Engineer Organizational Robustness and Resilience. 

• Systems thinking: our systems thinking is influenced by the academic discipline of Service Science. In this approach, we define systems as social entities that transform resources into valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable resources to develop higher capabilities (Capabilities). System interaction and shared value creation - the cooperation and collaboration of independent system actors - within and across heterogeneous systems and ecosystems are central to the adoption of innovation. 
• Methods & tools: The application of (scientific) methods and tools for the management, engineering and design of innovations is at the core of our systems innovation engineering approach.