To deal with the threat of climate change, many technologies should be investigated, and power generation through an IRCC with CO2 capture is one alternative. However, capturing CO2 has a negative effect on the efficiency of the process as it requires a lot of energy. In this work, we try to reduce the energy consumption of an IRCC process with CO2 capture by developing a tool for finding the optimal process design with extensive heat integration.The design of an IRCC process involves many parameters which interfere in complex relationships. In this report, an MINLP model is established for optimizing important parameters simultaneously. The model relies on metamodeling based on process simulations in Aspen HYSYS to approximate difficult correlations, combined with a more direct approach for modeling computationally easier parts of the process.A general model for heat recovery targeting is developed for the heat integration optimization, and implemented as a part of the full IRCC optimization model.The global solver BARON is used for solving the problem, together with a relaxation procedure based on pinch analysis insights, and optimal solutions are usually found within several hours.The optimized IRCC process reaches a net electric efficiency of 49.97 %, assuming maximum heat integration, with only 1 % of the cooling and heating demands to be covered by utilities. The accuracy of the model is relatively good when compared to process simulations, but a less idealistic version of the IRCC should be designed based on the results to confirm the capability of the model.

The amount of power consumed by data centres world wide is increasing, and due to growing electricity bills, service providers aim more attention on energy-efficient management of their data centres. In order to achieve this goal, a service provider need to make smart decisions regarding the deployment of his services. At the same time, in order to satisfy his end-users, a service provider needs to focus on delivery of services complying with the quality of service (QoS) requirements. Consequently, he needs to make decisions related to replication level of his services, as well.In this thesis, I propose two interrelated mixed integer linear programming (MILP) models aiming at supporting service providers in their decision making. The first MILP concerns energy-efficient deployment of a service provider's services in his own virtualized data center, where the objective is to minimized the cost of energy usage, while satisfying the response time and availability requirements of the end-users. The second MILP introduces the flexibility of Cloud computing by letting the service provider have the opportunity to deploy services in a public cloud, and hence the objective is to minimize the total cost of deployment, while still, ensuring satisfactory QoS levels. The proposed MILP models are tested on test instances of varying size with the intention to discuss scalability issues and commenting on modelling choices. The results show that the second model is the hardest to solve, in terms of closing the optimality gap, but nevertheless, it is depicted that good solutions are found early in the branch and bound search. Furthermore, different modelling choices illustrate the trade-off between energy-efficient management of data center resources and service performance.

The development of the Aluminum and Paper industry is assessed by A.T. Kearney’s Merger Endgame framework. The implications for Norsk Hydro and Norske Skog are also addressed along with value creation opportunities for the corresponding stockholders. The Merger Endgame framework reveals that up/midstream in the Aluminum industry is entering the Balance and Alliance Stage while downstream is deconsolidating. The implications for Norsk Hydro are that the ability to cooperate and build joint ventures will be increasingly important in up/midstream while the rivalry is likely to increase downstream. Norsk Hydro has invested heavily in up/midstream and is well positioned for such a development in this business area. However, the company’s expansion in up/midstream and the increasing rivalry downstream imply that the management does not have the capacity to build top performers within these two business areas which rely on different skills. The greatest value creation opportunity is therefore to further demerge downstream operations in order to secure operational mobility and responsiveness to shifting market conditions. The Merger Endgame framework reveals that the Paper industry is entering the Focus Stage. The implication for Norske Skog is that the industry will continue to consolidate but at a slower speed. Financial distress and unsustainable prices in Europe are limiting Norske Skog’s ability to invest in value creation opportunities or assess acquisition targets on its own. Further consolidation in Europe might limit the current overcapacity problem but the Merger Endgame framework reveals that the consolidation speed is decreasing. From the perspective of the stockholders the greatest value creation opportunity is therefore to sell to liquidate. However, Norske Skog is not considered an attractive acquisition target and potential acquirers are limited. If neither a partner is found nor a consolidation within the newsprint and magazine segment occurs, there is a severe risk of bankruptcy in the future for Norske Skog. The Merger Endgame framework’s main strength is its potential to make Porter’s five forces analysis more dynamic. The main weakness is the uncertainty regarding the correctness and precision of the framework. Further empirical research is needed to evaluate the framework as there are several weaknesses in its empirical foundation.

Energy markets are complex networks of producers, exporters, traders and consumerscharacterized by different market structures in each sector. The infrastructuralnetwork connecting the markets plays an important role in determining thevolume of the trade flows and the location of the final consumption.The market players’ behavior in an energy market can be described using a gametheoretic approach where each player’s decision depends on the other market playersdecisions. Over the last decades these ideas have evolved and there have beenproduced some material where markets for a single commodity are modeled, usingideas from game theory to describe the players’ influence on each other’s decisions.However, little work has been done analyzing multi-commodity markets with thesame set of tools. Based on existing literature that is written on single-commoditymodeling, we have applied equilibrium programming with complementarity structureto describe the markets for electricity and natural gas in Northern Europethrough a strategic market model. The complexity level is potentially high, so wedecided to limit ourselves to a deterministic and myopic model without investmentpossibilities.The problem is formulated through a strategic MCP model where each marketparticipant solves an optimization problem connected through the market clearingconditions. Besides showing that the model is an MCP we implemented the modelin GAMS and solved it for the gas and electricity market in Northern Europe.Our results indicates that a Cournot model gives an adequate description of theelectricity and gas market in Northern Europe, and that considerable changes inproduction, consumption, traded volumes and prices in one market can lead toprice, quantity and welfare effects in markets far away from the initial cause. Wecan also register close links between the markets for electricity and natural gas,suggesting that agents’ behavior in one commodity market might affect the othercommodity market and vice versa.

Salmon farmers face an uncertain production environment and considerable price volatility, making planning a vital success criteria. This thesis describes the sources of uncertainty that are most important when planning sales, and demonstrates how this uncertainty can be taken into consideration by the use of stochastic programming.The basis for this thesis is the tactical planning problem of deciding when to harvest salmon and how to allocate sales between available contracts and sales in the spot market. Uncertainty relevant to the planning problem is described, and a multistage stochastic model that maximizes profit is proposed. The goal of the model is to provide salmon producers with a tool that can aid them in making profitable decisions regarding harvesting and future sales, by taking into account the uncertainty associated with biomass and price development.The model is implemented in three versions; a deterministic model, a two-stage stochastic model, and a multistage stochastic model. The implemented models are somewhat simplified, the most important simplification being that price is assumed deterministic in the stochastic models. This is done in order to make the stochastic models computationally tractable for a personal computer. All three models are written in Mosel, implemented in Xpress-IVE, and solved by the Xpress Optimizer.The implemented models are applied to Marine Harvest Region Mid, illustrating how the models can be used to solve a realistic salmon sales planning problem. In addition, a quantitative assessment of the gains from implementing a stochastic solution is demonstrated. The results obtained show that using the two-stage stochastic model provides almost no additional value over the deterministic model. For the multistage stochastic model, this value is substantially higher, though still marginal, largely due to the simplifications made in the implementation. Based on the simplifications made in the implemented models, possible extensions to the thesis are suggested.

Even though venture capital trade sale exits are the most common and successful exit vehicle, historically most academic attention has been given to IPO exits. This thesis takes the first steps towards opening the black box that is trade sale exits. The thesis is paper-based, and the main academic contributions belong to the four papers appended. This document opens with an introduction to the field of study as well as overall reflections in order to offer the reader a contextual background. Paper one is based on a literature review, while paper two through four are based on an inductive multiple-case study covering 19 venture capital trade sale exits from Norway and the U.S. Paper one conducts an extensive literature review of venture capital exits in general, leading up to the development of a model denoted “The Road to Venture Capital Exit”. This model identifies the variables that influence the exit process in the different phases, and describes how these variables influence the exit process.Paper two explores the relation between pre-planned exit strategies and value-adding, and suggests the existence of two different venture capitalist mindsets; the Tailor and the Architect. The Tailor uses exit possibilities as an addition to traditional deal evaluation criteria, has a pre-planned exit strategy, and adds value with exit in mind. The Architect does not use exit possibilities as an evaluation criteria, and adds value in a more general manner.Paper three examines the relationship between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur during the trade sale exit process, finding that this relationship is characterized more by consensus and cooperation than by conflict and defection. Further, it is found that four factors influence the relationship during the exit process, and are determining for the conflict level. These factors are: pre-investment alignment, strategic hurdles and personal motives faced by the entrepreneur, the reputation and connectedness of the venture capitalist, and the probability for entrepreneurial recycling.Paper four explores the role of financial advisors in trade sale exits, by looking closer at why advisors are utilized, as well as by examining the factors determining the choice of a specific advisor. It is found that advisors are considered especially useful in bargaining situations, through playing the role of bad cops, and also by letting venture capitalists and entrepreneurs focus on their primary tasks. With regards to selection criteria, venture capitalists emphasize industry experience, prior relations and the size of the advisory firm. Finally, the findings are integrated in a framework explaining the role of financial advisors in venture capital trade sale exits.

PramPack er en norsk oppstarstbedrift som ble startet av en kvinnelig gründer og to unge studenter i 2007, og som ble solgt til et større selskap i oktober 2010. Denne oppgaven er et case-studie av PramPack og de tre gründerne bak bedriften. Forfatteren av oppgaven var selv én av de tre gründerne. Noen av de viktigste årsakene bak PramPacks suksess presenteres og ses i lys av relevante teoretiske perspektiver: effectuation og bootstrapping. Suksessfaktorene som presenteres er basert på åpne intervjuer med personer som har vært nært tilknyttet bedriften, enten eksternt (eks. produsenter, kunder) eller internt (eks. oppstartsteamet, styret). Oppgaven har som hensikt å gi et detaljert inntrykk av hva det innebærer å starte en bedrift under de samme eller liknende omstendigheter som det PramPack-gründerne var i. De var studenter og hadde begrenset med erfaring, minimalt med penger og ingen kunnskap om den bransjen de skulle inn i. Det er forfatterens ønske og mål at oppgaven skal kunne hjelpe potensielle førstegangsentreprenører til å få et riktigere bilde av hva det å starte en bedrift innebærer.

When working with this I want to treat the following:Evaluate literature of the planning, construction and commisioning phase in projects.Do an empirical investegation of a Megaproject at CERN and the and a large project at Statoil.Evaluate and compare these two projects in relation to each other and in relation to available literature.

The Internet is an emerging distribution channel for television content that will deeply impact industry incumbents in the long term. This master thesis explores what challenges are brought forth in this industry by the possibility of Internet distribution of TV and how these issues should be addressed from the business model perspective of incumbent distributors in the Norwegian television market.There have been tremendous developments in Internet related infrastructure over the last decade. Combined with other industry developments this have led to the introduction of several new OTT-services that offer the consumer increased convenience and lower price points at the expense of lower quality. Overseas the development has come even further than in Norway and new entrants are challenging incumbents and stealing market share.However, the emergence of the Internet as a distribution channel for TV-content has brought forth numerous complications for existing incumbents. An explosive growth in Internet data traffic tied to online video consumption is straining the existing infrastructure. Distributors want content providers to cover parts of the costs for expanding infrastructure capacity, while content providers argue that consumers are already paying for Internet traffic. Another challenge is increased competition for end-consumer ownership with the introduction of OTT-services. The consumer behavior is also changing towards wanting to increase the share of content consumed on-demand, and to have the content available on multiple devices. The industry challenges combined are forcing incumbents to take action. Traditional distributors of TV have not been able to build a holistic business model that supports the new environment, in fear of extensively cannibalizing their existing model.This paper maintains that industry incumbents need to shift away from their reactive behavior with regards to technological development, and to start focusing on what value they can deliver to consumers. Our suggested new value proposition is to offer a highly personalized TV-service that is available on all types of screens, can be accessed at the consumers convenience, does not discriminate on content, and which is focused on providing a superior user experience.The value proposition entails shifting focus from proprietary networks to network agnostic distribution platforms. Broadcasted and on-demand TV should be supported equally and integrated seamlessly across the platform, without the silos that exists between the two today. For distributors to align their business model to this value proposition, they must carry out the following activities: 1) Develop a platform for TV-services that supports video-on-demand. 2) Make sure the platform can be used with all distribution channels. 3) Adapt the platform to support a ubiquitous experience across multiple screens and devices. 4) Create a vast library of content by aggregating different sources and negotiating rights. 5) Create a seamless integration and user experience across the platform. 6) Maintain a focus on traditional linear broadcasting to support live events and the social TV-experience.For all of this to take place management must first and foremost come to terms with the fact that the industry around them is changing. This entails starting to experiment with new business models alongside their existing model, regardless of the risk of cannibalization. Not getting involved in the emerging market can be even more dangerous than failing at the first attempt. Catching up once one is lagging behind will be extremely difficult.

Norwegian manufacturers are experiencing increasing competition from manufactures based in developing countries with substantially lower production costs. This increased competition forces manufacturers to differentiate and add more value to their offerings, in order to stay competitive. Servitization represents a strategy for Norwegian manufacturers to do so by expanding their business model to include services and ultimately provide solutions. Despite the evolvement of different servitization strategies among Norwegian manufacturers, the concept has yet to be properly studied in this context. On the basis of a multiple case study, this paper aims to identify why servitization is attractive for Norwegian manufacturers and how the strategy should be implemented. A comprehensive literature study including 26 empirical articles and 20 conceptual articles was initially conducted to provide a theoretical foundation for study. Following this, five suitable Norwegian manufacturing companies were selected as case companies. Data was collected largely by interviewing managers from the five manufacturing companies, and subsequently analysed in relation to the theoretical foundation. The study finds that servitization is attractive for Norwegian manufacturers because the strategy ensures a good alignment between the offerings and the comparative advantages of the companies, and because customers value it. Manufacturers that decide to servitize should put great emphasis on the transition required to become a servitized manufacturer. The new resources that must be developed in order to succeed with a servitization strategy, coupled with cultural and structural rigidnesses, make the required transition more problematic than companies expect. Companies pursuing a new strategy to increase competitiveness cannot, like Resource-advantage theory of competition states, purely rely on its current comparative advantages to find it. In order to do so, they must also critically consider their ability to change and adapt to the new strategies proposed. Servitization is an attractive strategy for Norwegian manufacturers considering their comparative advantages, but when bearing in mind the dynamic capabilities required to implement it, the strategy becomes less apparent.