<p>A significant problem in the construction industry is the losses sustained as a result of the theft of tools and equipment from construction sites. The case study company, referred to as PSS, have successfully developed and commercialized a technological solution to prevent such theft within Sweden. The next step in the commercialization of PSS is to seek growth and leverage their investment and innovation.</p><p>Our purpose is to undertake a UK market analysis, in order to investigate if PSS's business model has opportunities in the UK, and recommend how PSS might approach internationalization, using a resource based perspective.</p><p>PSS’s existing business model has been developed to fit the Swedish market conditions, and has been demonstrated to perform. We find market conditions in the UK are similar, albeit in greater proportions. The nature of the problem, the industry structures, and the competitive environment is similar to the domestic conditions, and the competitive position of PSS is replicable, with a high level of strategic fit.</p><p>We recommend PSS pursue its desire to internationalize to the UK based on similarity of the fit with the local market (which has been demonstrated to result in acceptable performance). We would recommend entry through a sales subsidiary to facilitate the establishment of customer relationships. In addition a possible license agreement with a partner may help to facilitate speedy access to UK distribution industry networks.</p>

洗衣產業是傳統服務業，近年隨著社會與科技的進步，讓商業模式一成不變的洗衣產業出現了些變革，本研究透過訪問兩家創新商業模式之業者與二手資料輔助，以實際案例探討及分析洗衣產業之創新與傳統商業模式之差異、帶給顧客的價值與關鍵成功要素，希望對未來欲投資洗衣產業之業者有參考價值。 研究結論發現每種商業模式都有解決顧客不一樣的痛點與帶來不同的價值，前店後廠的現場洗滌中型洗衣店重視顧客感受與服務，便利超商洗衣打破顧客送洗時間的限制，App洗衣主打快速到府服務與24小時送回。洗衣產業之關鍵成功要素不在壁壘要高或提高顧客轉換成本，而是市場定位要準、有效的規模擴張、差異化與技術創新，又以前三項為主因。

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the National Math and Science Initiative’s Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program (APTIP) on the number of students taking AP science courses and their performance. The study evaluated 39 schools over a six-year period in six states that participate in the APTIP. The National Math and Science Initiative provided data for cohort I. A general linear model for repeated measures was used to evaluate the data. Data was evaluated three years prior to the intervention and three years during the intervention, which will actually continue for two more years (2012 and 2013) since cohort I schools were awarded five years of support. Students in APTIP schools enrolled in more AP science exams (AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, and AP Physics-B) over the course of the intervention. The quantity of students earning qualifying scores increased during the intervention years. APTIP is a multi-tiered program that includes seven days of teacher training, three six-hour student prep sessions, school equipment, reduced exam fees, and monetary incentives for students and teachers. This program positively impacted the quantity of enrollment and qualifying scores during the three years evaluated in this study. Increases in the number of female and African American students’ test takers their and qualifying scores were seen in all three years of the APTIP intervention. This study supports the premise that the first step to increasing the Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) pipeline is giving access to advanced courses to more students in high schools

Problem: Recently, the demand for more sustainable farming and production has increased due to climate changes and the decreasing biodiversity. Furthermore, in Sweden, more and more milk producers are facing bankruptcy because of the present situation in the dairy industry which also demands social responsibility towards them. Therefore, dairy companies need to embed sustainability into their business model. Previous literatures indicate that sustainable business models which integrate sustainability into organization could maintain and increase profitability and at the same time ensure social and environmental capital in the future. However, there is still a lack of information and empirical data on the scope of how sustainability is embedded into a business. Purpose: to increase understanding of sustainability in dairy company and what sustainability aspect might be important to embed into their business model. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is developed for the purpose of this research. It discusses the definition of Business model and Sustainable business model. Also, two sustainable business model canvases that could be used as analyzing tools to investigate an organization and its operational activities which are presented and compared. This part focuses on presenting framework and explanation of Flourishing business canvas which will be implemented in the analysis. Methodology: The study approaches on a qualitative study of an extreme case where parts of empirical data has been collected from interviews with the case company, the rest of empirical data has been gathered from the case company’s CSR reports and their annual reports. The case company is working with sustainability in their business. Conclusion: As findings of purpose and research question, Arla have embedded sustainability into their business model, however they still need to develop further in their work with sustainability to benefit more from their business model. The case company has embedded all three main contexts of sustainability: economic, social and environmental contexts. However, the focus is more on the financial context. Limitation: The findings need more investigation of other dairy companies to be generalized. Furthermore, this thesis only investigated the current business model.

Internet adoption and e-business has been of particular interest amongst researchers and practitioners, however, most of the studies focus on large organisations and only recently there has been a shift of interest to e-commerce/business adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with little or no reference to dot-com initiatives. It is well documented that SMEs have significant and different challenges in comparison to large organisations in the brick and mortar domain. Therefore, investments in the e-business domain (such as dot-com start-ups) present even more challenges to SMEs. Consequently, this research offers an in-depth study of the start-up process of a dot-com company by examining the stages, phases, and components that are key for this process. The empirical contexts of this research are three projects with three different SMEs that have actively participated in the creation of a new dot-com venture. These were analysed using an action research approach with interpretative and qualitative analysis. The main component of the action research approach covers a longitudinal study (2 years) divided in four cycles, followed by two case studies used for the evaluation of the findings of this research. These results of all research cycles, which in turn, can be considered the contributions to theory and practice of this research, can be seen in two ways: the development of a start-up framework for SMEs, and a Business Information Database (BID) that supports the implementation of the framework. The framework is designed to visualise, from a strategic perspective, the stages that an organisation have to go through in order to initiate a new dot-com venture. Is proved that organisations have, directly or indirectly, followed specific steps related to the phases described in the framework. Hence new entrepreneurs can use the phases of the framework to facilitate and ease their start-up process looking at the main features of each phase. The BID was constructed under two premises: a) to structure the main documents and corresponding building blocks used in industry and in the proposed framework, such as the Strategic Plan, Business Model, Business Plan, and Business Case, and b) to identify the relationships among the building blocks of all the aforementioned documents. The BID and related documents can be used to identify how a particular piece of information (e.g. building block) affects other aspects of the dot-com initiative. The BID can be also be used as an independent artefact to assist organisations through the structure of the business documents in the start-up process, even if the organisation is not following a specific framework. Hence the BID itself can assist entrepreneurs to start-up firm without the need to have an overarching framework. Last but not least, practical recommendations are offered to practitioners and stakeholders interested in developing new ventures within the dot-com domain.

This master’s thesis explores the role of the facilitator in business model innovation [BMI]. In the last 15 years BMI has gained increasing importance for companies to establish a competitive advantage. Yet, BMI is considered to be marked by high complexity and phases of uncertainty in the process of creating it. Equipped with the skills and characteristics, a facilitator may support groups in their endeavor to create BMIs. As a result of a qualitative study including expert interviews and observations of facilitated workshops, five aggregated dimensions describing the role of the business model facilitator are identified. The results suggest that a facilitator may contribute to BMI by leading and navigating the process, supporting the group to generate knowledge and taking ideas to actions, sharing his or her own knowledge with the team, and by providing mental support and stability. Thereby, the facilitator may contribute to BMI on three levels: the team level, the process level, and the new business model.

In recent years the world has witnessed an increased attention to matters concerning sustainable development; consumers today put higher pressure on organizations to change their old unsustainable practices for newer, more sustainable ones. Within scholarly business literature, the concept of business models has gained more traction over the past two decades, however there is still some disparity in the views of what a business model really is. So far three perspectives on business models have emerged: business models as attributes of real firms, business models as cognitive schemas, and business models as formal conceptualizations. In this thesis, we adopt the perspective of business models as attributes of real firms, more explicitly, we view them as systems of activities that allow firms to create value for everyone involved. As the stream of business model research as expanded, so has the literature on how they change, also referred to as business model innovation. Here the three dominant perspectives are the rational positioning view, the evolutionary view, and the cognitive view; we argue in line with the rational positioning view that business models may change as a response to a change in the environment in which it is embedded. Knowing that our planet is changing, the question then arises: what can be done? We believe that changing the business model of a firm toward sustainability may be part of the answer. Hence, in order to generate more knowledge about how this can be done, we set out to answer the research question:  what are the motivators of – and how do they influence – business model innovation for sustainability?  We do this by investigating three firms that have changed their activity systems to incorporate sustainability. Our findings indicate that there are some motivators and influencers to the process of business model innovation for sustainability: we identify the motivators zealous leadership, sense of obligation, future hygiene factor, employer branding, goal-setting, synergy, and competitive advantage; and the influencers financial barriers, technological barriers, and cultural barriers. Further, we give practical suggestions to managers on how they can enhance the motivators and lower the barriers; we discuss the societal implications of our findings, and propose avenues for further research.

Após anos desfrutando de vantagens competitivas frente a seus competidores por meio de seu canal de venda direta, a Natura começa a sofrer com a concorrência cada vez mais acirrada. O objetivo desse trabalho é, através do estudo de caso da Natura, avaliar como surge a necessidade de mudança do modelo de negócios e como ela pode ser implantada. Através de entrevistas com colaboradores da empresa e da revisão da literatura tornou-se possível mapear as fragilidades e oportunidades do processo de transformação da Natura em um modelo multicanal (com pretensão de tornar-se omnichannel), bem como torna-se claro as vantagens de utilização das novas ferramentas de modelagem em inovação de negócios. / After years of enjoying competitive advantages in front of its competitors through its direct sales channel, Natura begins to suffer from the increasingly fierce competition. The objective of this work is, through the Natura case study, to assess how the need of changing business model arises and how it can be implemented. Through interviews with company employees and literature review it has become possible to map the weaknesses and opportunities of Natura\'s transformation process into a multi-channel model (with the intention of becoming omnichannel), as well as the advantages of new modeling tools in business innovation.

Innovative technologies and products, high-performance materials and multi functional fibres are nowadays emerging and are known as technical textiles. This phenomenon, which is quite new in our vocabulary, but the technique and heritage of using textile as functional applications is rather old. The purpose of this thesis is to track the technical textile industries and product segment in Swedish history since the beginning of the industrial revolution and hereby contribute to a broader insight in the Swedish technical textile history. Five different technical textiles segments have been described with a company example after each. A case study methodology is chosen to deepen the analysis of two companies that acted in this particular segment of technical textiles. The companies Jonsereds Fabriker AB and Göteborgs Remfabriks AB were selected. By applying the business model canvas is this thesis trying to illustrate why the companies experienced difficulties to keep up the technical textile production during the 1970s and finally had to close down. By applying a modern business model to historical companies is this thesis furthermore proposing to additional research in the emerging technical textile field. / Program: Applied Textile Management

O mundo globalizado e o estado-da-arte dos desenvolvimentos nos remetem a um ambiente tecnologicamente complexo. Nos dias de hoje a convergência tecnológica é indiscutivelmente realidade. O usuário tem a necessidade de movimentar-se fisicamente dentro do meio em que vive e interagir com o aplicativo ou serviço que lhe é prestado. As novas gerações de sistemas de comunicação, que não mais utilizam fios em suas conexões, prevêem a integração de vários sistemas heterogêneos já existentes, unidos em uma infraestrutura capaz de, transparentemente, entregar a usuários móveis uma ampla gama de serviços com a finalidade de permitir sua comunicabilidade e acesso à informação. Com base nessas premissas, este trabalho apresenta um método para descrever um modelo de negócio para um usuário em movimento dentro de um ambiente convergente heterogêneo. O trânsito do usuário dentro das várias tecnologias de acesso para que esteja conectado a um determinado serviço é mostrado através de um framework de mobilidade e interatividade e, fundamentado nesse framework, é construído um modelo de negócio para a consecução da entrega desse serviço ao usuário. Este trabalho conceitua um modelo para um framework de mobilidade e interatividade aplicáveis a sistemas abertos; e um modelo de negócio voltado aos serviços num cenário com soluções tecnológicas interoperáveis. / The global world today and the state of the art of the technology send us to a very complex environment. Nowadays, the technological convergence a reality, where the users have the necessity of moving and where they need to interact with services and applications while moving on a wireless base. The new generations of wireless networks can integrate some existing heterogeneous systems providing a new infrastructure capable of delivering several services to moving users with transparency, allowing the communicability and the access to the users’ information. This work presents a method for the description of a generic business model for a moving user inside of a convergent heterogeneous environment. The user’s movement in this environment is modelled on a mobility and interactivity framework, where there has been built a business model to deliver services to the moving user. This thesis also presents the basic concepts of a business model for mobility and interactivity applicable to open systems.