Purpose

This paper focuses on the “how” of business analytics (BA) value creation, which remains an open research problem and a practical challenge. The main purpose of this paper is to propose a novel BA value creation mechanism that is BA-enabled improvement of Knowledge-intensive Business Processes (KIBPs), with experiential knowledge of decision makers as the key to a more sustainable BA-enabled competitive differentiation.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses a qualitative research case study, conducted in a large retail distribution company. The research insights were observed through a combined lens of work systems theory and the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm, using an interpretive approach.

Findings

The proposed theoretical model identifies three stages of KIBP improvement through BA and explains how they lead to a sustainable BA-enabled competitive differentiation. Stage 1 focusses on BA support for individual knowledge-intensive tasks, Stage 2 focusses on individual decision makers and their ability to gain KIBP-related analytical insights and turn them into action; and Stage 3 on sharing of the acquired experiential knowledge amongst decision makers using BA.

Originality/value

In addition to proposing a novel mechanism for BA value creation, this research demonstrates the importance of leveraging experiential knowledge of decision makers as a pathway to a more sustainable competitive differentiation through BA. This, in turn, creates new opportunities for knowledge management researchers to engage in BA-related research. It also opens a new approach for BA researchers to investigate BA value creation mechanisms through the lens of KBV, rather than more common resource-based or capability-based views.

中文翻译：

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商业分析价值创造的新机制：改进知识密集型业务流程

目的

本文侧重于商业分析 (BA) 价值创造的“方式”，这仍然是一个开放的研究问题和实际挑战。本文的主要目的是提出一种新的 BA 价值创造机制，即 BA 支持的知识密集型业务流程 (KIBP) 的改进，决策者的经验知识是更可持续的 BA 支持的竞争差异化的关键。

设计/方法/方法

本研究使用在一家大型零售分销公司进行的定性研究案例研究。研究见解是通过工作系统理论和公司基于知识的观点 (KBV) 的组合镜头，使用解释性方法观察到的。

发现

所提出的理论模型通过 BA 确定了 KIBP 改进的三个阶段，并解释了它们如何导致可持续的 BA 支持的竞争差异化。第一阶段侧重于对个人知识密集型任务的 BA 支持，第二阶段侧重于个人决策者及其获得 KIBP 相关分析见解并将其转化为行动的能力；第三阶段是在决策者之间使用 BA 共享获得的经验知识。

原创性/价值

除了提出 BA 价值创造的新机制外，这项研究还证明了利用决策者的经验知识作为通过 BA 实现更可持续竞争差异化的途径的重要性。这反过来又为知识管理研究人员从事与 BA 相关的研究创造了新的机会。它还为 BA 研究人员开辟了一种新方法，可以通过 KBV 的视角来研究 BA 价值创造机制，而不是更常见的基于资源或基于能力的观点。