Conceptualising Solutions in Business Networks: The Case of Heavy Vehicle Maintenance

Abstract: This thesis problematises and conceptualises the phenomenon of solutions in business networks based on processual approaches to solutions and the Industrial Network Approach to business markets. In particular, the thesis focuses on the interorganisational and interactive aspects involved in solutions embedded in business networks. Driven by demands for more sustainable transport, lower transport costs and changes of the roles and business models within the transport industry, actors strive to improve the efficiency of transport systems. Vehicle maintenance, as an enabler for uptime and robustness of transport, has therefore drawn attention. Managers strive to elucidate whether alternative approaches and designs can result in new vehicle maintenance solutions to boost the efficiency of firms, vehicle utilisation and transport. Supporting this quest, this thesis aims to extend current understandings concerning solutions in business networks based on a single case study encompassing a selection of firms involved in road transport in Sweden. The case study focuses on maintenance solutions for heavy vehicles. In order to situate those solutions within the setting of road transport, empirical data concerning firms and other, related, solutions in the broader context of heavy vehicle maintenance has been collected. The case analysis shows that solutions rely on combining and adapting resources. Beyond that, however, the results of the thesis stress that solutions also depend on the linking and adjustment of activities and the involvement of actors; it is through the interaction among actors that firms jointly organise the activities and resources required for solutions. Based on the conceptual model developed, the thesis highlights the temporal and spatial aspects of solutions embedded in business networks and points to interdependencies among the activities and resources involved. The thesis also underscores how the interdependencies among solutions in business networks can result in that a change to one solution could have ramifications for the perceived efficiency, effectiveness and value of other solutions. Finally, the thesis highlights the importance of actors to transcend a product-centric or customer-centric logic and suggests an interaction-centric approach to solutions that acknowledges the interconnected and interdependent characteristics of solutions in business networks.