On collaboration strategies for digital transformation and sustainability in manufacturing : A value constellation perspective

Abstract: Ongoing digital transformation provides new potential to create value, but the industrial industry has difficulty adapting to recent changes. Commitment to sustainability is also necessary to manage rising societal demands and laws, maintain competitive advantages, and create a more resilient business. Digital transformation can positively affect businesses' commitments to environmental sustainability. However, companies face several challenges regarding digitalization and commitment to sustainability. Inter-organizational collaboration ties are argued in the literature to provide a platform for sharing competencies, improving organizations’ agility, sharing risks, and surviving unpredictable events. Therefore, collaboration might help companies overcome digital transformation and sustainability challenges by sharing knowledge and resources. While prior literature has acknowledged the necessity for collaboration to tackle sustainability challenges, it is still unclear how manufacturing organizations might collaborate throughout the current digital transformation. Additionally, there is a lack of knowledge regarding how digital technology may guide manufacturing industries toward an innovative and sustainable industry. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to advance understanding collaboration strategies for creating production solutions supporting digital transformation and sustainability. One way to explore collaboration strategies in the context of digital transformation and sustainability could be through value constellations when several actors co-create value at the constellation level and not only at the individual level. This purpose has been addressed through two studies. The first study was carried out to define the value constellation actors and the possible co-created values for digital transformation and sustainability. Through the stated value constellation, the second study investigated collaborative techniques to co-create production solutions for digital transformation and sustainability. The second research offers a realistic strategy for sustainability in a value constellation by conceptualizing a collaborative process. The conceptual collaboration model may help businesses and researchers identify and develop crucial collaboration processes for digital transformation and sustainability in a value constellation.