Internal integration in the downstream value chain

This thesis shows that sales units and service units are active internal actors in the downstream value chain. The internal collaboration during customer-facing phases, i.e., sales and delivery phases, which were usually treated as the extended life cycle of the project, require particular attention from project-based firms. The requirements for system integration among functional units and at the supplier interface have been explored in previous researches with a focus on the design and execution phases of the solution lifecycle (Brady et al., 2005; Davies, 2003; Davies et al., 2007). Intra-organisational or cross-functional collaboration at project-based firms have been studied in prior research on new product development projects (Adler, 1995; Sicotte and Langley, 2000; Enberg et al., 2010; Adenfelt, 2010). Previous studies on system delivery projects also have stressed the need for internal integration and suggested different integration practices to facilitate it (e.g. Turkulainen et al., 2013). However, the research on internal integration in the delivery of life-cycle solutions is scant. The provision of life-cycle solution goes beyond the core project and includes various system components and services (Kujala et al. 2013). The service units in this study have an important role in selling and delivering solutions. Thus, project-based firms should be able to facilitate the integration of service units with sales units and project organisation, respectively, in solution sales and delivery. This thesis supports the notion that internal integration occurs through variety of integrative practices both at the project and business levels (Table 22).

The previous study highlighted the need for defining customer value in use at front end of projects (Smyth et al., 2018; Fuentes et al., 2019). The findings from previous literature on internal integration practices in solution sales highlighted the need for integration at the sales-service interface, especially to manage customer information flow between two units (Ståhle et al., 2019). Specifically, in Ståhle et al. (2019), personal involvement of salespeople and service people was determined as the main integration practice to communicate project and service opportunities between units. To respond to the challenges and needs that became evident in sales work, this research suggests using a number of types of integration practices.

Table 22. Internal integration practices at sales-service and project-operation-service interfaces

Sales-service interface Project operation-service interface

Project-level integration practices:

Control-oriented practices Project plan

Flexible resource allocation systems Cooperation-oriented

practices Cross-functional sales work Integrative roles, e.g., project manager, service project manager Interpersonal communication Development-oriented

practices

Business-level integration practices:

Control-oriented practices Setting targets for cross-functional customer visits

Cooperation-oriented practices

Change in organisational structure Shared offices

Integrative roles, e.g., key account manager

Transferring knowledge on service content and values

Using a common information-sharing platform

Advanced ICT systems

Integrative roles, e.g., service manager, planner

Using a common information- sharing platform

Interpersonal communication

Development-oriented

practices Transferring service sales know-how

The project-level practices enable use of service people in sales work. Through cross- functional sales work, the service unit is integrated into customer visits, customer negotiation, proposal development, and so on. While most of the previous studies on internal integration were concerned with cross-functionally integrating a project (e.g., Turkulainen et al., 2013), the empirical studies in Article IV show that project- based firms concentrate on the business level and using different control-, cooperation-, and development-oriented practices to enable integration of sales and service units. The business-level practices enhance interpersonal and organisational relationships and facilitate cooperation-oriented practices during a project. While previous studies on solution delivery have less reported the use of IT systems between units, Article IV described the need to use a common information-sharing platform to manage customer information and encourage personnel to integrate efforts through exchanging information on sales visits. The findings from Article I also suggested using advanced ICT systems as a knowledge-integration mechanism. Service units could utilise data from advanced ICT systems not only to improve maintenance (Jonsson et al., 2008, 2009; Westergren, 2011; Westergren and Holmström, 2012) but also to communicate sales opportunities to sales units, e.g. potential projects to modernise, upgrade, deliver a new system, etc.

Moreover, through investigating solution delivery from an organisational perspective, Article II demonstrated that solution delivery requires integration between project organisation and service units along with, to some extent, sales units to overcome the challenges emergent through integration of offerings. In comparison with the sales-service interface, the integration between project operations and service units focused more at the project level and has a more control-oriented approach. The main reason could be related to the nature of the relationship surrounding delivering planned activities to fulfil the requirements of a contract-based customer relationship. While previous studies focused more on project-level cooperation to enhance information-sharing, this study emphasises the need for cooperation between units at the business level and beyond a single project. For example, while previous studies put forth using integrative roles, such as a project manager, to share technical knowledge between functional units during system delivery (Turkulainen et al., 2013), the findings of Article II stipulated using an integrative role also at the business level to share knowledge and information between units to increase resource availability and enable resource allocation between units.