This doctoral thesis reports on a research project in R&D organisational design carried out at Promote - the Centre for Management of Innovation and Technology in Process Industry. The thesis itself consists of six appended papers and an extended summary covering the background of the project, the theoretical frameworks and methodologies used in studying R&D organisations in process industry, as well as a discussion of the research findings. This project aims at furthering the understanding of how intrafirm industrial R&D is organised in process industry through studying the context of innovation process industry and the organisation of innovation strategy formulation processes and intrafirm organisational structures for product and process innovation. The research project employed several different methodological approaches - including case studies in Swedish process industry firms, an industry wide survey, and a workshop survey consisting of a select group of R&D managers and industry experts. In studying the issue of context, a ranking of critical management of technology issues was composed through a survey of industry experts. The ranking proposes that the top issue is involvement of manufacturing in new product development and issues concerning integration of manufacturing in product development. Discrepancies concerning critical issues in regard to other manufacturing industries are also noted. In response to the issue of strategy formulation processes two opposing methodologies for innovation strategy formulation were studied. Findings from case studies suggest that the level of diversification, the characteristics of industry boundaries, customers, and competitors, and the role and organisation of R&D are key contingencies for choosing between innovation strategy processes either focusing on positions in the market or on internal resources. In response to the third question two different studies were carried out. One case study focuses on the centralisation versus decentralisation of product and process innovation. It suggests that a distinction between product and process innovation should be made and that the organisation of these depend on how the firm views these activities. The second study, an industry survey, looks closer at the organisational affiliation of process innovation. It determines that the degree of newness is a key determinant and that radical innovation will be organised in R&D while incremental innovation will be organised in production. Pros and cons concerning organisational choices are also discussed in light of these findings. Overall, the research project and the thesis stress the importance of context and how strategic choices should be reflected in the design of R&D organisations. Implications for management and academia are discussed and some avenues for further research are proposed.

The major difficulties when dealing with complex products are long lead times that require long planning horizons and also that there are dependent demands and multiplicative effects on the ingoing items in the products. Small disturbances on high level can in the end give considerable problems on low level. This paper shows an example of the difficulties with handling complex products with long lead times and suggests a four step decision model to get smoother production planning, mainly by simplifying the product structure. The decision model includes the following steps:1. The first step is to re-design the product in order to simplify it. 2. Next step is to identify the critical path and the cumulative lead-time by sketching a dynamic bill of material. 3. After the dynamic bill of material is sketched, the possibilities to shorten some lead times on the critical path should be analysed. Outsourcing of parts of the production or creating a "plant within a plant" configuration can reduce lead times. Reduced batch-sizes on specific items along the critical path can also be a way to do this. 4. When all possible lead times are reduced it is time to decide which planning method to use.

The literature of the management of supply chains has during the last two decades rapidly evolved. The reason for this is the global competition and the introduction of information technology. To reduce cost and increase profitability has always been interesting for organisations that compete on a market. Some researchers claim that it is the supply chain itself that competes on a market not only the organisations with their specific strategies and goals. All members, both upstream and downstream the supply chain are actors that affects (e.g. quality, delivery, cost) the output of the chain. Hill (2000) describes in a model how organisations could win advantage in competition. He claims that the supply chain strategy is part of the overall manufacturing strategy of an organisation, and therefore the performance of the manufacturing affects the performance of the supply chain. The need for measuring the right metric of performance within an organisation is vital due to the facts that it may affect the decision process. For example if the measure not gives the right or suitable facts about the process being measured it could lead to inappropriate decision followed by catastrophically actions. Supply chain performance measures are often in research and by practitioners referred to be quality, delivery, cost/price and flexibility. These measures are often expressed by purchasing managers when choosing suppliers. The metrics describing those measures could be: time to deliver a product, number of products delivered without mistakes, cost of a product etc. This licentiate thesis is focused to analyse the supply chain performance of manufacturing organisations i.e. the measures and its metrics used to describe the performance of the supply chain. The main research question put forward in this paper is: What types of supply chain performance measures should be prioritised to measure in different types of supply chains? The objective of this licentiate thesis is to present a framework that concludes which performance measure and its metrics should be prioritised to measure dependent on which type of product and type of supply chain the organisation operates in i.e. efficient, quick, agile, market responsive, lean or hyrbrid. The objective is also to use the life cycle approach (Dean, 1950;Hill, 1993) of a market, in particular, in the introduction, growth, maturity and decline phases and combine it with the different supply chain measures i.e. quality, delivery, cost/price and flexibility. The method used to develop the framework in this thesis is built on the principle of adding small pieces of theory to existing well known theories. The starting point is the famous model of the product life cycle (PLC) with its four phases. This model is then used as a base for adding both old and new theory i.e. which type of products and supply chain are connected to each phase in the product life cycle and which type of performance measures and its metrics are suitable for manufacturing organisations to measure and finally where in the supply chain they should measure each performance measures. The framework presented consist of three different descriptions of theories when combined together gives valuable directions of what performance measure a manufacturing organisation should prioritise to measure. This description of theory has different levels of support from theory. The three descriptions of theories are presented below: 1)Type of supply chain i.e. efficient, quick, market responsive, lean and hybrid 2)Type of supply chain performance measure i.e. quality, delivery, cost and flexibility3)Scope of measurement in the supply chain i.e. type 1, 2, 3 or 4. (functional, internal integrated supply chain, one sided integrated supply chain and total chain).

Over the last decades, due to active mobilization and agency, Indigenous peoples have received increased attention as sustainability-oriented entrepreneurs. Indigenous peoples are recognized as having land-based livelihood practices and unique cultural practices, and possess expertise and knowledge, commonly referred to as traditional knowledge, relevant to the management of lands and waters, nature conservation and environmental sustainability. We apply Framing theory, for revealing insights about collective frames and alignment of frames in the context of colonial legacies affecting indigenous entrepreneurship. Our inductive study, based on semi-structured interviews, social media, diaries, enabled us to identify diagnostic, prognostic and motivational framing, outlining paradoxes and future potentials of Sami entrepreneurship. We outline a pressure cooker model to visualize the various obstacles reported by Sami entrepreneurs and how these impact on organizational practice.

This work is divided into two parts - a practical/technical view of communication, followed by a change to a broader view with a theoretical language perspective. The overarching purpose is:To increase the understanding of how meaning is transferred between people through the use of symbols.The first part focuses on describing how communication with the help of symbols in computerised information systems is possible. The author is attempting to combine two different models of communication to develop an analysis and development tool, combining both Shannon &Weavers (1949), the Mathematical Theory of Communication and Langefors (1995), the Infological Equation. To understand how communication in computerised systems occurs, it is also necessary to understand how people deal with signs and symbols. The problems in understanding how symbols are interpreted and used were demonstrated to be very complex and difficult.Therefore, the second part focuses even closer on the basic human aspects of communication. To understand how symbols are interpreted, an understanding of our language and how it is used is needed. Investigating how language and reality are connected and showing ontological and epistemological statements are also needed.The result is that interpretation as an act cannot be isolated and analysed as simply a process between one human and a symbol, which was a necessary underlying statement in combining the Shannon & Weavers model with that from Langefors. Interpreting symbols and creating new symbols requires more connections between people than those directly observable. Intersubjectivity claims that people share some form of collective ideas. Communication cannot simply be divided into a component that only contains an interpreting human and an interpreted object. This classification is meaningless because the interpretation process is intersubjective and cannot be illustrated without further subjects. A human can therefore not be seen as an isolated island to where a symbol is sent in the form of a separate object to be meaningfully interpreted. The final conclusion is that the best way of developing computerised information systems for the future is to build systems that assist personal meeting and communication, instead of focusing on advanced technical solutions.

I denna artikel beskrivs hur ERP-system fungerar och en översättningsprocess identifieras. Tre forskningsfrågor har formulerats: § hur kan en översättningsprocess se ut? § vilka feltolkningar kan förekomma i denna översättningsprocess?§ vilka problem kan dessa feltolkningar leda till för ett företag?Med hjälp av tidigare författares idéer så formuleras och definieras begrepp som data, information och kommunikation på ett sätt som är fruktbart för att beskriva ERP-systemets funktion. Ett antal problem som uppkommer vid översättningsprocessen diskuteras och förslag ges på hur funktionen hos ERP-system kan förbättras genom att hänsyn tas till de processer som rör översättningen mellan data och information.

The mineral raw material that provides nearly all the world's supply of antimony is stibnite, Sb2S3. The flotation properties of this mineral are fairly well established. The beneficiation properties of other antimony minerals have been very little studied. Antimony oxides, pure antimony and jamesonite, Pb4FeSb6S14, are also recovered as values in addition to stibnite. Antimony oxides respond very poorly to flotation with xanthate collectors. The flotation properties of jamesonite are more akin to galena than to stibnite, and this mineral floats best at around natural pH without activation. The high antimony content of some very complex sulphide ores is a problem in beneficiation, giving concentrates heavily contaminated with antimony minerals which, if they cannot be separated, increase cost of smelting. These impurities include the lead-antimony sulfides jamesonite and boulangerite, the lead-antimony-copper sulfide bournonite, and the ferrous antimony sulfides gudmundite and berthierite. The flotation properties of the lead-antimony minerals grow more like those of galena the higher they grade in lead. Bournonite, a fairly common mineral in complex sulphide ores, floats well in process environments where chalcopyrite normally floats; in many cases this makes it impossible to separate from chalcopyrite. Initial studies have indicated that the ferrous antimony minerals have properties resembling those of pyrite and pyrrhotite

Two major streams in strategy research are the strategic positioning approach and the resource-based approach to strategy formulation. However, resources and products can be considered as two sides of the same coin, implying one view is not necessarily superior to the other. In this paper, the well-known Booz Allen and Hamilton methodology for innovation strategy formulation, originally based on a strategic positioning approach to strategy, is revisited with a resource-based approach to strategy. Eight propositions are investigated through case studies conducted in two multinational corporations. It shows that both the established methodology and the revisited methodology are used in multinational corporations today. Case analyses indicate that there are three contingencies that shape the structure of innovation strategy formulation processes level of diversification; characteristics of industry boundaries, customers and competitors and role and organisation of R&D. In the light of these results new directions for practice and managerial implications are explored.

In strategy research, resources and products can be considered two sides of the same coin. Thus, competitors can be identified not just by similarities among their products, but by similarities among their resources and capabilities as well. This conceptual paper introduces a unified version of the Booz Allen Hamilton methodology for innovation strategy formulation. It combines the product perspective with the resource perspective, building upon the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats framework and the resource-product matrix. It offers a straightforward, easy-to-apply methodology for innovation strategy formulation that integrates internal strengths and weaknesses with environmental opportunities and threats.

Resources within companies are important, and also in some case crucial, for the performance of the companies. Resources can be classified in both tangible assets as well as in intangible assets. The companies' most strategically important resources are probably the intangible resources including competencies (Grant, 1991). When considering individual and organisation competencies in an organisation, methods for measuring and valuing competencies need to pay attention to the link between individual and organisational learning as well as to the risk involved with loosing keycompetencies. The methods investigated in the field of human resource costing and accounting and knowledge management describe and illustrate that the value of human resources decreases and that the companies will loos experiences when employees retire. However, the methods are not describing how the influence of losses of keycompetencies is affecting the companies' performance in the future. The methods used for estimating the losses of key-competencies must be complemented by other methods where also the learning process within companies must be taken into account.

The wish to improve quality of railway transport is facilitated by systematic feedback. Systematically describing delays and their causes is essential in improving punctuality. In this paper, requirements on a delay attribution system are discussed and analysed, in view of the current restructuring of the Swedish system. A freight train operating company, a p assenger train company and a maintenance contractor are interviewed in order to learn what features are considered important by them. Principles of delay attribution systems are discussed and suggestions for improvements are given.

A firm is a type of organizational arrangement often involved in interorganizational networks. Typically, interorganizational networks are the outcome of individuals in firms working together in cooperative groups. Through these individuals firms establish both formal and social relationships. The individuals develop lasting relationships because they share time, interests, goals, industrial, geographical or some other type of relatedness. Shared goals and interests of the relationship become an observable unit built upon various constructs. Interorganizational networks typically involve one or several different types of relationship constructs. This thesis elaborates on different relationship constructs and proposes different roles for each construct. All relationships are studied at a firm level since managers are considered key informants for the firm. The overall research question is: How do relationships in interorganizational networks develop? The main objective is to examine the development of these relationships in interorganizational networks. The approach is to synthesize 10 essays on relationships between five constructs - reciprocity, trust, cooperation, interorganizational commitment and loyalty. The results indicate that relationships are based upon a long term orientation. Secondly, relationships develop from certain processes before interaction is initiated. These processes involve the influence of cooperative motives to enter interorganizational networks and preferences upon which potential partners are selected. Furthermore, the initial processes involving motives and preferences expand to include the development of relationships based on friendships, interpersonal commitments, reciprocity and trust. The ultimate outcome of this process is stability and maturity, which means relationships are sustained by dependencies, their initial objectives and the desire to protect.Dependencies are reflected in interorganizational commitment, which means the firms' future intentions and promises strengthen the relationships. The objectives interorganizational networks are founded upon motivate network firms to develop relationships based on cooperative strategies so that shared goals and decisions can be effectively pursued. Finally, the firms typically protect their relationships by developing loyalties. All models represent unique examples of potential relationships and some models are particularly important because they were purified so that convergent, nomological and discriminant validity criteria could be met. The results are consistent with but extend previous research and are considered important for future business studies in general, but particularly within the tourism and construction industries. A practical implication of the research is thus that in evaluating new opportunities, firms should carefully examine the characteristics of potential partners as well as how the partnership might influence the content of their relationships. Another practical implication is that trust and reciprocity should be viewed differently in building successful network partnerships.

Hur kan företag som ingår i framgångsrika samverkansnätverk bygga interorganisatoriska förbund i perifera regioner under krävande omständigheter? Den här uppsatsen utvecklar en modell och testar empiriskt en enkät till 254 företag i två olika samverkansnätverk i Norra Minnesota (N. Mn.). Uppsatsen har två huvudsakliga bidrag. Först, genom att definiera sex återkommande problem för den här typen av "krävande" perifera regioner stimulerar uppsatsen till mer forskning på det här området. I det andra bidraget demonstreras en unik strukturell ekvationsmodell, vilken är indelad i fyra olika sekvenser. Sekvenserna baseras på sex olika konstrukt (begrepp konstruerade av flera element av engelskans construct), som är värderade genom att använda data från en enkät med krossektioner. Den första sekvensen innehåller två begrepp och mäter hårda samt mjuka motiv till samverkan. Den andra sekvensen innehåller grunder på vilka potentiella partners väljs. Den är baserad på hur viktigt förtroende är vid val av partner. I tredje sekvensen används två begrepp - förtroende i nuvarande relationer och reciprocitet. Den fjärde sekvensen utvärderar den slutgiltiga beroendevariabeln - interorganisatoriska förbund. Genom att föreslå sex propositioner ger uppsatsen nya utgångar för teoriutveckling inom den inbäddade litteraturen. Samtliga propositioner är genererade från teori, tidigare resultat eller en logisk argumentation färdig att testas. Efter det slutgiltiga testet visades att två av propositionerna kunde bekräftas och att två misspecificerade relationer kunde identifieras, vilket möjligen kan bidra till att lösa några av de utmaningar som ligger bakom personliga relationer i samverkansnätverk av företag. Förutom detta kan uppsatsen även bidra till utveckling av måtten. Samtliga mått baserades på tidigare teori men när interaktioner mellan begreppen studerades kan denna uppsats visa på mått som stöds av innehålls-, konvergent, diskriminant och nomologisk validitet. De teoretiska och praktiska implikationerna går till strategisk management av små och medelstora turismföretag verksamma under krävande omständigheter i perifera regioner. En sådan proper implikation, som även stimulera till mer forskning, är att etablering av varaktiga samverkansnätverk kräver några noggranna överväganden, där företag bör överväga motiv, val av partner och dess konsekvenser. När samverkansnätverk är implementerade omsorgsfullt, med hänsyn till personliga relationer, kommer företag att ha mer kunskap om vad de kan förvänta sig av relationen, vilket minskar risken eller i alla fall kunskapen om den, som i sin tur även har effekten att samverkan med större sannolikhet även blir varaktig.

The success of cooperative relationships is influenced by interorganizational commitment, which is a long-run goal of networks. Our research examined cooperative relationships in the tourism industry to better understand what makes them successful. The study is an extension of previous empirical research on commitment. The overall research questions were: "What factors lead to interorganizational commitment in remote tourism destinations?" and "What are the relationships between the factors?" A literature search was conducted to identify factors related to organizational commitment. Search findings suggested a model proposing that interpersonal commitment mediates the effect of trust and reciprocity on interorganizational commitment. Data for the model was collected from a sample of tourism firms in successful cooperative networks. The theoretical model was purified based on convergent, nomological and discriminant validity as well as construct reliability. Our findings demonstrated that the relationship between trust and interorganizational commitment is in fact mediated by interpersonal commitment. We confirmed that reciprocity is directly related to interorganizational commitment, and is not mediated by interpersonal commitment. Thus, tourism firms should develop cooperative strategies in their networks by focusing on enhancing interpersonal commitment through trust, thereby ultimately helping to strengthen interorganizational commitment.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine a proposed six-construct theoretical model of factors influencing successful cooperative relationships and strategy development. Design/methodology/approach - A theoretical model of strategy development and cooperative relationships was tested. Qualitative research among key experts identified 15 successful regional tourism networks. Two successful cooperative networks were selected based on annual revenues. A sample of 254 small and medium-sized members were surveyed from the two networks in Northern Minnesota, USA. Findings - Strong support was obtained for the proposed model. Hypothesized relationships were tested and the findings were consistent with previous research. Long-term orientation has a positive effect on friendship, loyalty, trust and commitment. Friendship is related to loyalty and commitment, and loyalty is related to trust. Ultimately, trust and commitment engender successful cooperation. The model can be used as a guide to strategy development at different levels in an organization. Research limitations/implications - Large firms select between higher and lower order functional strategies. Small and medium-sized firms sometimes address commitment and cooperative strategies through shared goals and decisions in order pursue higher order strategies. This paper research supports a greater emphasis on establishing relationships using loyalty, trust and commitment to develop successful higher order strategies. However, relationships based on friendship also can be an important consideration in strategy development. Practical implications - Strategic implications for developing relationships that can be used as a planning component of hierarchical strategies. Originality/value - The paper maintains that loyalty is more important than friendship in developing successful strategies based on cooperation.

This thesis deals with two aspects of knowledge needed for new product development in firms; the access to external knowledge through outsourcing of NPD and the integration of knowledge developed when outsourcing activities in the NPD process. As modern products competing on increasingly international markets call for both complex and specialized knowledge, it is becoming more important to take an outward perspective of knowledge, searching for external knowledge sources, in order to be competitive. But it is also important for the firm to take an inward perspective on integration of the knowledge achieved from external sources in order to secure the knowledge gained.Outsourcing of New Product Development (NPD) refers to the outsourcing of activities for developing new products (goods and/or service), where all or the innovative part of the NPD process is purchased externally according to a contract from organizational units separate from the outsourcing firm. This means that the service to develop a whole or a part of a new product is outsourced. This definition implies that (A) the outsourced activity shall be an innovative (strongly contributing to the newness) part of the NPD process, (B) the outsourced activity was previously conducted internally, and (C) the activity shall be purchased and regulated in a contractual agreement between the organizations.Knowledge integration refers to the process of acquiring, sharing, and making use of knowledge by combining it with previous knowledge in order to create new value. Because knowledge possessed in collaborating firms is often complementary, it is important to combine it with previous knowledge in the firm. Therefore knowledge integration is chosen throughout the thesis as the term for the overall process.Based on transaction costs theory, resource based and knowledge based perspectives two major issues are investigated. First, the identification of which factors are the most important for firms when making the decision to outsource activities in the NPD process. Second, the establishment of the importance for knowledge integration of external knowledge in the firm, and to find what role level of involvement plays for efficiently achieving knowledge integration.The thesis is a compilation thesis (with six appended papers) based on findings from three quantitative studies and a longitudinal case study (presented in two of the appended papers). Using cases from and samples of medium-sized manufacturing firms with in-house NPD, it was found that while cost has been traditionally considered the most important factor for outsourcing in general, search for external knowledge is found to have a greater importance when intangible processes as NPD is object for outsourcing. It is also found that integration of thematic knowledge (product specific) is the most important type of knowledge to efficiently integrate to achieve high innovation performance and that a higher degree of involvement support knowledge integration when outsourcing activities in the NPD process.

This paper reveals the results from using a case study of four Swedish medium sized firms to understand the rationales behind outsourcing of innovation. Further the problem of integrating knowledge developed externally, back to the outsourcing firm, is studied. Results indicate that for a SME with limited resources it is better to give priority to closeness before world class knowledge as frequent contacts are crucial when outsourcing knowledge intense activities

The book consists of papers presented at a conference of the European Periphery Group of the European Association of Development Institutes, held in Sweden in 1981. In most countries of Europe the world recession has hit peripheral regions hardest and has also often resulted in cutbacks in regional aid, thus increasing centre-periphery tensions and demanding a new approach to regional policies. The book includes three general papers and chapters on experience in Finland, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Portugal and Spain. These last four are followed by brief comments by discussants. Individual chapters are abstracted separately.-

This chapter researches the reconfiguration of business models and ecosystems in relation to decoupling and resilience in the context of data-driven technologies via conducting a systematic literature review (SLR). New data-driven technologies have been largely introduced to different sectors. Digitalisation may lead to disruptive changes in any industry, including creating or entering new business models, lowering or changing entry barriers into markets and enabling the breakup of sectorial silos. Although the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated significantly the digitalisation of the healthcare sector, innovation adoption in the sector proceeds slower than in most other industries. This chapter reviews systematically the existing literature on this area and develops a research agenda aiming at answering the pre-set research question: To address the research question, an SLR methodology has been applied to provide insights, critical reflections, managerial implications and research road maps for future research. The chapter identifies the potential benefits of the use of data-driven technology in healthcare at organisational, institutional, ethical and macro-level dimensions. It discusses the adoption of digitalisation and healthcare management practices to enhance data-driven outcomes. Based on the conducted literature review and the bibliometric analysis of articles included in the chapter, an integrative conceptual framework for digital healthcare is suggested.