on dominant customers, the more likely is the incremental character of their innovation activities Most clients tend to stick to already known solutions
Customers, in particular play an important role in guiding the innovation activi -ties of their suppliers (von Hippel, 1988.
within the business sector, customers and suppliers being most important, less service firms and horizontal relations. A limited number of durable and selective
Furthermore, customers are often unwilling or not ready to assess unfamiliar inno -vations or to formulate an explicit need for them (von
dominant customers †or small markets for specialized Table 2 External relations in the innovation processa
Customers 78.6 48.6 87.5 53.1 Suppliers 60.7 40.7 79.7 39.1 Other firms (horizontal relations) 27.1 10.0 37.5 15.6
firms†business relations †customers, suppliers, and horizontal relations †whereas in the case of service
is the narrow focus of many SMES on their customers making their innovation process dependent on them.
dominating customers, secrecy requirements firms or science of clients a Source: SMEPOL-survey Upper Austria
here predominantly the customers †SMES have few external relations in the innovation process. The lack of
software industry frequently carry out product innovations, often together with customers And finally, science-based producers (e g.,
design could be innovations in sectors with broadly standardised customers demand such as textile industry or furniture production;
between firms, customers and suppliers (e g.,, Camagni 1991, Florida 1995, Harrison 1994, Malmberg et al. 1996
3. 6. 1 Companies receiving orders from customers online...77 3. 6. 2 e-Ticketing:
customers. It identifies related opportunities and drivers as well as possible barriers for ICT adoption and digital integration and assesses
customers to order and receive their ticket online. In freight transport and logistics, e -commerce includes initiating,
customers online. There is practically no difference between companies from the various size-bands in this respect.
firms, 30-35%said that they allowed customers to order services online. This appears to be
+Accept orders from customers online Use a CRM system *figures for TLS total (EU-7) weighted by employment
notably by enabling electronic data exchanges between a company and its customers suppliers, service providers and business partners.
data exchanges between businesses and their suppliers and customers, fostered by progress in the definition
business partners and potential customers A definition of e-business As part of this maturing process, electronic business has progressed from a specific to a
transactions, i e. exchanges between a company and its suppliers or customers. These can be other companies('B2b'†business-to-business), consumers('B2c'†business-to
suppliers or customers which are conducted electronically. Participants can be other companies('B2b'†business-to-business), consumers
processes, not only between a company and its direct suppliers and customers, but also aiming at a full vertical integration of the entire supply chain (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier n
but if rail cannot offer its customers a cost-effective alternative service, it will never be able to make a real contribution to the expected increasing
deliver customers'goods more accurately and efficiently Firms need to be able to manage information effectively,
value for customers, the information and communication systems convert data into information, in order to facilitate managerial decision making.
customers, led warehousing companies to strive to become more than simply storage facilities. They are transforming themselves into"third-party logistics providers"or"3pls
of information via the Internet and to secure transactions online with customers. Modern information systems and technology offer opportunities for fast and safe sharing.
and quality of service to customers. The impact of these limits and difficulties are steadily
the information readily accessible to customers or supply chain partners. Transportation or logistics services companies, providing real-time information in a customized way,
become an integral part of their customers'supply chains, creating the opportunity to secure long-term business by embedding their processes in those of their customers and
adding value beyond traditional transportation and logistics offerings. 74 E-business technology enables logistics and supply chain managers to meet these demands by
into innovative and cost-effective solutions that attract customers. One such measure is the use of RFID.
with upstream suppliers and downstream customers-"e-integration"-is superior to traditional ways of doing business
solution that allows automating the exchange of documents between customers partners, and suppliers regardless of source, format, and destination.
coming from suppliers or customers. To measure the impact of those pressures the Sebw survey has asked firms in the TLS sector
from customers/suppliers that their ICT solutions should be applied. As shown in Exhibit 3. 5-1, 12%of firms have declared the existence of those pressures,
pressure is coming from customers (12 %In many cases, suppliers become a barrier to firms trying to put in place an ICT solution
from suppliers and customers, respectively, that they implement new ICT solutions According to Thompson (2004), when relationship investment are indispensable or
direct with customers. It is in direct contact with suppliers, the benefits spill over to the
Pressure from customers/suppliers to adopt e-business E-business pressure from costumers: companies †ebusiness pressure from
customers that they adapt their ICT solutions to their requirements 6 11 36 6 5
four major e-services to customers allowing them to directly order transport services on the Internet (Commande@RESAFRET), follow transport progression in real time
customers and suppliers. The IOIS concept can be considered an overall term for a group of technologies that support information sharing across organisational boundaries as e
customers and own business partners and vendors, and also with the customers other vendors and even with own competitors is the key to help smooth workflow. SCM
encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing procurement, conversion, and logistics management activities.
intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. Thus, one of the main areas of interest that has emerged in recent years concerns the effects of ICT on SCM.
activities, including the communication with customers, offering products for sale, and developing new marketing strategies. 107 E-business leads to a fundamental shift in the
customers, studies have shown that online shoppers check the status of their package an average of seven times from the moment the â€oebuy†button is clicked until the package
status of the transport over a Web interface to customers. Although some customers are very satisfied with the solution,
the case also contains lessons to be learned about the different obstacles that a small company had to overcome to implement such a solution
3. 6. 1 Companies receiving orders from customers online 30%of all firms active in the TLS industry said that they enabled customers to order
products online. There is practically no difference between companies from the various size-bands in this respect (see Exhibit 3. 6-1). However, a majority of close to a half of
those companies that enable customers to order online say that these orders account for only up to 5%of their total orders received.
of orders from customers online Transport & Logistics Sector Companies whose customers can order goods
or services online <5%5-10%11-25%26-50%>50 %Weighting%of empl %of
load so that customers can be kept precisely informed about their shipments. An aspect to be taken into account is roaming costs.
or free for their customers Trafikanten Trafikanten is the joint information provider for the three public transport authorities in the
relationships with customers, including the capture, storage and analysis of customer vendor, partner, and internal process information CRM is not just a technology, but rather
a comprehensive approach to an organisation's philosophy in dealing with its customers This includes policies and processes, front-of-house customer service, employee training
Collaborative-direct communication with customers that does not include a company†s sales or service representative (self service.
in order to segment customers or to design and execution of targeted marketing campaigns to optimise marketing effectiveness
customers/suppliers are prepared not (65%.%This explanation was given by 65%of micro and 63%of the small companies in this sector but also by a more significant share of
number and size of supplying firms as well as the number and preferences of customers and their size in case of businesses.
relationships with suppliers and customers, for example with regard to collaboration intensity. Thus, in the following discussion it is assumed that firm performance may have
Historically, distance to market and transportation cost limited the number of customers a firm could reach.
directly to customers instead of depending on a network of retailers. This leads to the following hypothesis
company in organising the multimodal transport for their customers and in managing its warehouse activities and on the other hand to
management for CEMAT and its customers 3. 4 Internal Process Integration 3. 4. 1 Use of software
orders from customers online Case study 9:''Truck Business'at N c. Cammack & Son United kingdom From its base in Colchester, UK, N c. Cammack & Son provides
allowing customers to online view and monitor stock levels, keep pace with demand and check the order shipment status
Primary customers: Public Administrations and final users Year of foundation: 1942 Turnover in last financial year (â:
multimodal transport for their customers and in managing its warehouse activities and on the other hand to provide the company with detailed data analysis on the whole
Primary customers: Companies Year of foundation: 1998 Turnover in last financial year (â: 8 398 000 â
declined, increased competition etc) and the loss of some key customers. To face this situation AIT had need a growing to analyse its Business activity in details in order to
customers taking into account the whole transport process. On the other hand AIT looked for a solution with a flexible and ergonomic interface to manage its warehouse activities
They are in direct contact with the customers and the transport companies that will be selected for the transport.
telemarketing) and quotations made for customers. This module also allows preparing all the elements of a future transport file (data directly usable if the customer accepts the
provide track and trace services to its customers in the future 5. 2. 3 Impact AIT is satisfied very with the implementation of the solution.
the quality of documentation and service provided to the customers The statistic module allows AIT to get all necessary information for the analysis of its
and trace information to its customers after the completion of automated integration of tracing information provided from the shipping companies affiliated to INTTRA
Primary customers: Administration, final users and companies Year of foundation: 1728 Turnover in last financial year (â:
document management for CEMAT and its customers. It also illustrates the difficulties end users faced during the adoption process
Primary customers: B2b (various sectors Most significant geographic market: Italy, Germany, France, Benelux countries Switzerland, Denmark
European customers. The European market (except Italy) represents 30%of CEMAT customers and 80%of the company†s revenues.
The most significant markets for CEMAT are Italy, Germany, France, Benelux, Switzerland and Denmark The competition in the combined market is very aggressive and a multitude of companies
quality of services and communication with customers, suppliers and partners Following an analysis of existing systems and current processes in place, the IT
Identify an IT solution to improve the service rendered to customers at the terminals CEMAT owns 21 terminals where an average of 500 trucks load
Drivers and customers had to wait until the end of the process before being able to leave the terminal.
on average, customers have to wait one to two hours before they are able to unload
CEMAT employees and the majority of CEMAT customers are glad about the new process. The recent implementation of the solution and the progressive adoption of the
new process (customers can use the old process until the end of October) does not yet
Decrease of the waiting time for customers (or their drivers) at the terminals thanks to the reduced check in/checkout process (the objective is to reduce the process
Elimination of the carrier cost to send the documents to the customers representing the average annual cost of 20 000 Euros
It is more difficult to change the working processes of the customers who have very
For some customers the usage of the new process is very easy since they have an IT culture
customers were involved in the project from the starting point, CEMAT today faces a cultural barrier to the adoption of the solution by some of their customers
Even if all customers generally have IT tools, they do not necessarily have the experience to use them.
Sending a fax to communicate an e-mail address to CEMAT illustrates quite well the IT approach of a company.
the solution has an important impact on some customers: the efficiency of the solution directly depends on the correct application of the process
The main issue faced by CEMAT today is that some of their customers have a very low
customers Therefore, CEMAT will put in place a dedicated team to prepare and support the customer in a better way for similar future projects.
This team will train the customers and support them in the usage of the new solution.
representative panel of customers in the pilot phase. CEMAT has involved only its biggest customer in the pilot phase.
was not representative for all CEMAT customers. It is therefore important to cover the diversity of customers when testing such a solution with customers
The main lesson learned from this case is need probably the to carefully measure the impact on the customer before implementing such a solution
support to its customers The benefits targeted by CEMAT are significant. They will enable the company to realise
Primary customers: Romanian rail passengers Most significant geographic market: Romania Main e-business applications studied: Information systems (e-ticketing and e-reservation
of their customers. CFR manages the fourth-largest railway network in Europe, in terms of volume of passengers and freight.
the customers by providing them with a consolidated system, to improve the sales process and to get relevant business and market data about the passenger railway
Web allowing customers to make an online reservation, to design home printed tickets as well as to equip train staff with mobile devices connected to the systems to sell and
The feedback from CFR employees and CFR customers about the solution is very positive. The lack of data available before its implementation as well as its recent
customers: before the system was implemented people spent an average of 10 minutes to get a ticket,
goods, container and lorry transport on trains to business customers. In the context of increased competition due to the liberalisation of the rail freight market in 2003 in
customers to track orders, follow transport progression in real time, transmit their transport documents and consult their invoices
Primary customers: Fret SNCF serves only business clients, main sectors are combined chemistry, agriculture transport, large retail, automotive industry, iron and
e-Communication with customers Case contact person (s: Fabienne Girard and Franã§ois Rannoux Responsible for Service Offering and E Services at
specific needs of specific customer segments (customers will have to pay for these services 3. Increase productivity and turnover through automating internal business processes
Providing accurate information to customers is fundamental in the transport sector. Fret SNCF therefore considered an investment in e-services to be of strategic importance
allowing customers to track orders, follow up their transports in real time, transfer their transport documents and consult their invoices.
customers anytime and in a convenient way through a Web interface the possibility to get
providing four major e-services to customers allowing them to track orders, follow transport progression in real time,
SNCF Fret customers can now log on to a Web platform that allows them to access the
â€oeinfo@RESAFRET€, allows to follow up orders in real-time and alerts customers and SNCF Fret if there are transport difficulties
customers For the ordering process, the customer consults the transport catalogue on the portal and
One weakness of the e-services solution is that the information provided to customers is
enlarge the portal to European customers by providing a multilingual portal with an international service offering
they will not promote it amongst their customers. Therefore, it is particularly important to completely involve the sales force in the project from the
enables it to support its customers in their strategic, geographic, and technological developments, providing them with solutions tailored to optimising their physical and
Primary customers: Companies in the Automotive, FMCG, Healthcare High tech, Industry, Luxury, Retail sectors Most significant geographic market:
continuing to expand into Eastern europe to partner their customers in these markets. In addition, they have a strong presence in Southeast asia
integrating and exchanging information with customers and transporters. Today, the order is directly put into the customer system
logistics, customers and partners The warehouse management system of Geodis supports all the main processes of the
a confirmation is sent to the customers. The delivery is checked then and confirmed to the customer
and customers stay happy. This results in avoiding the very costly problem of losing existing customers to the competition.
The cost of acquiring a new customer is up to five times greater than maintaining an existing
enable the logistics provider to offer its customers'maximum flexibility. To this end, it is
Primary customers: Haulers, logistic companies, carriers Year of foundation: 1967 Turnover in last financial year (â:
system for combined transport that enables customers to make reservations, track and trace goods, and verify traffic conditions. â€oee-booking†is a system
load so that customers can be kept precisely informed about their shipments Hupac is managing the transport of containers all over Europe by renting trains and
punctuality of transport to its customers, Hupac needs to be informed on how their trains run and where they are.
contractually pays penalties to its customers if the transport does not arrive on time at its
order to be able to inform its customers about any delay. Another need was to know what
better customer services thanks to the visibility that customers have today on their transport To summarise, Hupac was able to get the following benefits from the implementation of
customers The quality of the system is high: 98%of messages exchanged are received by the
customers Another aspect to be taken into account and which seems to be quite â€oebasic†is the
at the firm allowing customers to online view and monitor stock levels, keep pace with
Primary customers: All Business sectors (50%food sector Year of foundation: 1919 Turnover in last financial year (â:
warehousing and handling to its approximately 500 customers. Through careful investment and controlled growth, the company now has an annual turnover in excess of
collecting the different jobs sent by fax from the customers, putting them together into a
The third requirement was to give customers online access to the system allowing them to see their job status, history and invoices
schedules for separate customers, loads with jobs for different truck types, invoices (per job or for a list of jobs) and credit notes (with history.
Son†s customers to view their own stock records, print reports, plus monitor incoming and
an acceptance receipt to the customers. Once the job is accepted, the information is automatically transferred into the job diary
at N c. Cammack & Son can place customers â€oeon stop†in the †Truck Business†solution
which disables users from carrying out work for customers who have a bad credit record 5. 9. 3 Impact
Customers are satisfied very with the services rendered. N c. Cammack & Son is gathering new customers through word of mouth promotion done by their current clients
Customers are impressed particularly by the quality and detail of information they can access online regarding their stock levels
or regarding the status of their jobs owing to the track and trace solution. The track and trace solution assigns a specific number to each
solution in 2002 to allow their customers to follow up their transport activities on a Web
Primary customers: All sectors Year of foundation: 1993 (Saima bought Avandero Turnover in last financial year (â:
*e-Communication with customers 5. 10.1 Background and objectives Saima Avandero is one of the top five international freight-forwarding specialists on the
The company offers its customers an integrated logistic service including the delivery of tailor-made services that interconnect logistic and transport services
driving force to implement this service was to match the growing needs of its customers for traceability of their transports:
some of Saima Avandero†s most important customers wanted more visibility on their transports. This is why Saima Avandero decided to
transport over a Web interface to customers 5. 10.2 E-business activities The track and trace project, started in 2002,
The main requirement for the solution was to give customers access to a database where
Customers should be able to access this information in different ways, according to the specifications they define.
and some of the customers are very satisfied with it while others complain about the low quality of information available for
Even if some customers are satisfied very with this solution, overall Saima Avandero is not completely satisfied:
quality to the customers. For some transport, the quality of data is very good while for
Saima Avandero receives complaints from their customers. Some strategic customers for whom the company puts many efforts in place to maintain the data quality at a high level
are satisfied however with the solution E-business in the transport & logistics industry 174 5. 10.4 Lessons learned
Solutions that are aimed at providing data to customers encounter huge issues if the quality of information cannot be guaranteed in cases where a company depends on a
Primary customers: Public transport authorities, Norway operators Year of foundation: 1986 Turnover in last financial year (â:
and provide information to customers. At the same time a call centre was opened for travellers. ICT at the time was used to give
were long waiting times for customers until a call was treated. The objective of developing the traffic planner was to reduce the duration of each call
increasing number of telephone customers In 1992 Trafikanten put the first travel planner in place did they develop it?.
Primary customers: Passengers Year of foundation: 1981 Turnover in last financial year (â: n. a Most significant market area:
became customers in the system, a user society was formed,@FRIDA, which now manages the development of the system.
that most of the companies feel that their customers/suppliers are prepared not (65%of the firms, 76%of the larger firms.
various standards required by their customers. This increases the overall cost of integration and weakens the incentives to use ICT
Automated data exchange (Project 1)/ E-business with customers and suppliers Project 2 C: e-Standards and interoperability issues (Project 1
how to interact intelligently with customers and deliver optimal home energy management •Greece: how to control smart energy devices in a fully decentralized and bottom-up
and use electric cars, customers need to be free from â€oerange anxietyâ€, i e. the fear to get stranded because
and encourage customers to take up electric road vehicles ecomove Cooperative mobility systems and services for energy efficiency
fluid congregations of businesses coming together on the Internet to create value for customers Whether freight transport demand increases
If more customers around the globe, distance may increase (more air transport) with smaller loads
greater distance from key suppliers (customers)( web-based companies •Causal relations between ICT use
ideas and the most frequent way of achieving this included contacts with customers Chanaron (1998) identified demand placed on business by customers/clients, close
working relationships with a key customer and close analysis of competitor products are the major drivers of innovation in SMES covered in three different countries: UK, France
of which suppliers or customers are the most frequent. According to Ussman et al. 2001), SMES in Portugal do not just
to customers (enabling the firm to serve certain customers. These studies strongly indicate that neither internal competence of the firm nor customer requirements alone will
improvement of existing products/processes as demanded/required by their customers is appropriately done, it may prove to be more useful to increase sales than development of
largely confined to winning of awards from large enterprise customers and financial institutions Innovative SMES registered higher growth relative to non-innovative SMES in terms of
reference customers. By taking these roles, these organisations can stimulate innovation through innovative demand side measures, such as public
customers and stimulate innovation through innovative demand side measures, such as public procurement There are some general lessons learned from
customers and markets Experiences from Asia and US show that in order to stimulate demand of innovation in
number of customers; it also means proximity for suppliers and competitors to our market Our competitors are cutting taxes, reducing compliance costs,
customers include Lockheed martin, Airbus Boeing, BAE Systems, GE Aviation and Thales Ferra has signed recently a number of long-term
from charging other companies more than they charge their own customers (Government of Canada, 2014. In February, Korea announced its Three-Year Plan for Economic Innovation, which
to facilitate connections with customers and investors; and •offer funding, on a highly competitive basis, to support activities such as proof of concept
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