Research on project management and new product development (NPD) identifies both strategy and tactics as important for success. Whilst there is a lot of attention on strategy, few studies address the role of tactics in NPD projects. In the pursuit for increasing organisational abilities to manage uncertainty, agile is increasingly getting traction in large firms. Both tactical activities and agile methodology deal with adapting to emergent challenges and handling uncertainty in projects. This motivated this study of how an agile transformation initiative influences tactical activities within NPD projects. The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of Volvo Car Group’s autonomous car project. The case firm’s transformation from waterfall to agile method provided the possibility to understand how tactical activities differ between the two methods. By using observations from the case, we argue that agile development method facilitates the use of tactics in NPD projects.

Innovation in ecosystems becomes increasingly attractive for incumbents as the technical complexity increases and complementarities play an increasingly important role for global competition. Digital platforms are becoming one of the primary means to that end, where incumbents can gain scale effects and reap the benefits of the creative crowd while maintaining ownership of the core product. But a lion’s share of these platforms hinges on the accessibility of data, and the view of the value of this data differs among actors in the system. This paper accounts for a case study of two type actors in an innovation ecosystem: the core actor (OEM) and the peripheral actor (third party service provider). From interviews with representatives of these actors, we find that their perspectives on the data and its usefulness outside its intended context differ. We label the perspectives purposive and multi-contextual; we formulate their descriptions and outline managerial implications. We argue that these differing perspectives are at the crux of establishing innovation capabilities in ecosystems based on digital platforms. 

Purpose: Solutions development among several actors gives rise to a tension between  stability, that is, the need to standardise and synchronise development activities, and  agility, meaning the need to respond and adapt to a changing environment, which is  represented, for example, in agile management practices. This study focuses on agile  solutions development in an interorganisational context to investigate and characterise  this agility-stability tension. 

Design/Methodology/Approach: This study bases its insights on findings derived from  two focus groups and interviews with managers and specialists within the area of study. 

Findings: The findings show strong challenges deriving from the agility-stability tension.  These can be organised in a typology of artefacts, roles, and processes. 

Originality/Value: The results of this study contribute to the servitization literature on  co-creation, solutions development, and agile management practices, by providing a  novel understanding of the challenges arising in interorganisational solutions  development through the identification and characterisation of the agility-stability  tension.

Innovation in ecosystems becomes increasingly attractive for incumbents as the technical complexity increases and complementarities play an increasingly important role for global competition. Digital platforms are becoming one of the primary means to that end, where incumbents can gain scale effects and reap the benefits of the creative crowd while maintaining ownership of the core product. But a lion’s share of these platforms hinges on the accessibility of data, and the view of the value and ownership of this data differs among actors in the system. This paper accounts for a case study of two type actors in an innovation ecosystem; the keystone firm and the third-party service provider. From interviews with representatives of these actors, we formulate a tentative description of their perspective on the sharing of data in the ecosystem. We find that these perspectives differ in terms of data contextuality and customer value. We argue that these differing perspectives are at the crux of establishing innovation capabilities in ecosystems based on digital platforms.

Innovation in ecosystems becomes increasingly attractive for incumbents as the technical complexity increases and complementarities play an increasingly important role for global competition. Digital platforms are becoming one of the primary means to that end, where incumbents can gain scale effects and reap the benefits of the creative crowd while maintaining ownership of the core product. But a lion’s share of these platforms hinges on the accessibility of data, and the view of the value and ownership of this data differs among actors in the system. This paper accounts for a case study of two type actors in an innovation ecosystem; the keystone firm and the third-party service provider. From interviews with representatives of these actors, we formulate a tentative description of their perspective on the sharing of data in the ecosystem. We find that these perspectives differ in terms of data contextuality and customer value. We argue that these differing perspectives are at the crux of establishing innovation capabilities in ecosystems based on digital platforms.