Sebastian Bräuer

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Mission statement

• To get informed about the state of research at the University of Waikato concerning the usage of value bundles and electric mobility in general
• To explore possibilities for a joint PhD program between the University of Waikato and the University of Münster
• To connect with senior service researchers at the pre-ICIS workshop of SIG SVC in Auckland and discuss opportunities for offering value bundles when selling used electric vehicle batteries
• To attend the ICIS and gain further knowledge towards the design of and coordination in inter-organizational networks for offering service bundles (especially in terms of the information exchange and management of legal aspects)

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Research results

The trip was divided in two phases: The participation at ICIS and pre-ICIS workshop of SIG SVC in Auckland and a visit at the University of Waikato.

ICIS and pre-ICIS workshop - State of the art in service research
At the pre-ICIS workshop of SIG SVC (AIS Special Interest Group for Services) I not only had the chance to present and discuss the current state of our service project in the electric mobility domain (EOL-IS), but also to come in contact with international senior scholars of the service domain like Virpi Tuunainen, Sue Conger, Steven Alter or Ken Peffers and to gain insights into their current state of research. Two highlights of the workshop were Steven Alter's presentation, who critically examined widespread definitions of services against the backdrop of real-life examples (e.g. foundational premises of service-dominant logic by Vargo and Lusch), and Ken Peffers' presentation about alternatives to applying a design science approach in service research, both leading to vivid discussions. When it comes to general research streams, service science research topics associated with the domain of electric mobility are not yet that widespread when it comes to international service science research. Nevertheless, all scholars were quite interested and emphasized the relevance of this research domain for the next couple of years not only from an academical perspective, but also for practice. Consequently, the topic of developing and redefining services for enabling the spread of electric mobility promises to be a good starting point for international academic collaborations.

At the ICIS, I had the chance to present our current state of research and discuss the relevance of integrating legal aspects in the early design and planning of inter-organizational service networks (poster and article). When it comes to enriching the presented approach with aspects of IT-related privacy, a research exchange with the HEC Montréal and Hanieh Moshki might be promising.

Visit at the University of Waikato - First impressions and changes for an exchange of researchers
Unfortunately, my stay at the University of Waikato was rather short and involved mainly two threads: a group discussion about possibilities of a joint PhD program between the University of Waikato and a discussion about common research interessests as well as opportunities for a stronger networking between ERCIS network partners around the world.

In terms of electric mobility the service group located at the Waikato University is not yet involved in specific research. However, e.g. the Faculty of Science and Engineering of the Waikato University and especially Dr. Mike Duke are present in this complex of topics and an exchange during the next stay might be worthwhile.