Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:50:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5904.pdf: 2269216 bytes, checksum: 57eb6804c177749bbc6d216c338869a1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-29 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Empirical works have shown that risks in a supply chain can affect the efficiency of the flows of products, services and information in it, causing misalignment between activities, inefficiencies in operations and low firm performance. In this sense, we note that the inter organizational information sharing has been pointed out in several studies (e.g., LEE et al, 2012; GIUNIPERO and ELTANTAWY , 2004; BLACKHURST et al, 2011) as an element capable of mitigating several risks involved in the productive activities of a supply chain. This thesis fits into this perspective, more specifically, seeks to analyze the relationship between sharing information with suppliers and customers and the mitigation of risks in supply chains (i.e. disruptions, poor delivery performance, failure orders, poor demand forescast, and others). Moreover, it is expected to understand if this fact (risk mitigation) contribute to improving business performance. Thus, we performed an empirical study consists of three stages, namely: i) literature review, ii) conducting a test of hypotheses with data processing by means of the technique of Structural Equation Modeling, and iii) interviews for in-depth understanding of the hypotheses were confirmed. Overall, the results indicate that, for the studied sector, a share of effective and efficient information between the company and its key suppliers focus promotes the mitigation of supply disruptions and inefficiencies in distribution operations or fulfilling delivery times along the chain, even without an appropriate sharing of information on demand (by the closest ties of the final consumer) or occurring inconsistencies with regard to its prediction. Moreover, with respect to performance improvement from the risk mitigation, the results are conclusive and allow to state that the expected effect was confirmed, i.e., so smaller are the risks involving the activities of supply, production and distribution of a focal with its suppliers and customers, best will their performance results (operational , market and financial). As contribution of the study, besides to filling the gaps identified in the literature highlights the production of knowledge to data from the Brazilian situation, since this research focuses on a recent topic (risks mitigation in supply chains) in an industry specific, of agri-companies. / Estudos mostram que se os riscos de uma cadeia de suprimentos não forem mitigados, estes podem afetar a eficiência dos fluxos de produtos, serviços e informações da mesma, provocando o desalinhamento entre as atividades, ineficiência nas operações e o baixo desempenho das empresas. Sob esta perspectiva, o compartilhamento inter organizacional de informações tem sido apontado em diversos estudos (por exemplo, GIUNIPERO e ELTANTAWY, 2004; BLACKHURST et al., 2011; LEE et al., 2012) como um elemento capaz de mitigar boa parte dos riscos que envolvem as atividades produtivas de uma cadeia de suprimentos. Há, entretanto, uma lacuna na literatura no que diz respeito aos efeitos do compartilhamento de informações sobre a mitigação de riscos envolvendo o fornecimento e a demanda. Sendo assim, a presente tese busca analisar a relação existente entre o compartilhamento de informações e a mitigação de riscos envolvendo o fornecimento (ou seja, interrupções, ineficiências nas operações de distribuição ou no cumprimento de prazos de entrega) e demanda (a saber, colocações repentinas de pedidos, decorrentes de alterações repentinas e frequentes na demanda ou ocasionadas por erros nas projeções de demanda dos principais clientes frente à sua demanda real). Além disso, buscou-se entender se a redução de riscos envolvendo o fornecimento e a demanda pode contribuir para a melhoria de desempenho empresarial. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo empírico composto de três etapas, a saber: i) revisão de literatura; ii) realização de um teste de hipóteses com tratamento dos dados por meio da técnica de Modelagem de Equações Estruturais, e; iii) entrevistas para entendimento em profundidade das hipóteses que foram confirmadas. De maneira geral, os resultados permitem concluir que, para o setor pesquisado, um compartilhamento de informações eficaz e eficiente entre a empresa foco e seus principais fornecedores promove a mitigação de interrupções no fornecimento, bem como a redução de ineficiências nas operações de distribuição ou no cumprimento de prazos de entrega ao longo da cadeia. Sob esta perspectiva nota-se que tal mitigação ocorre mesmo sem haver um compartilhamento adequado de informações sobre a demanda (por parte dos elos mais próximos do consumidor final) ou ocorrendo inconsistências no que diz respeito à sua previsão. Com relação à melhoria de desempenho a partir da mitigação de riscos, os resultados obtidos são contundentes e permitem afirmar, sem ressalvas, que o efeito esperado foi confirmado, ou seja, quanto menores forem os riscos envolvendo as atividades de suprimentos, produção e distribuição de uma empresa focal com seus fornecedores e clientes, melhores serão os seus resultados de desempenho (operacional, de mercado e financeiro). Como contribuição do estudo, além do preenchimento das lacunas identificadas na literatura destaca-se a produção de conhecimento com dados da situação brasileira, uma vez que esta pesquisa foca um tema recente e pouco pesquisado (gestão de riscos em cadeias de suprimentos) em um setor específico, o de empresas agroindustriais.

Konkurrensen på marknaden blir allt tuffare och i takt med detta blir kundperspektivet en allt viktigare framgångsfaktor. Syftet med denna rapport är därför att undersöka och fördjupa förståelsen för hur företag inom vitvarubranschen använder sig av användarinvolvering i produktutvecklingsprocessens olika faser. Dessutom ska det skapas en förståelse för vad detta ger för effekter för företaget samt hur de använder och sprider kunskap från involveringen av konsumenter. Forskningsfrågorna besvarades genom en djupgående litteraturstudie för sedan att bygga upp en teoretisk referensram och därigenom få en uppfattning av rådande teorier och metoder som används vid kundinvolvering. Detta jämfördes sedan med en semistrukturerad intervjustudie där kundinvolvering inom vitvarubranschen undersökts. Respondenterna som deltog i intervjustudien var anställda hos Electrolux, ett internationellt företag som arbetar med vitvaruprodukter. Studien visar att det finns olika åsikter kring kundinvolvering vad gäller i vilka faser konsumenten ska involveras i processen och i vilken grad involveringen ska ske. Resultatet visade att de metoder som används för att integrera användare i produktutvecklingen huvudsakligen används i informationssyfte för att skapa en förståelse och kunskap om konsumentens användande av produkten, som sedan kan användas av produktutvecklarna. Att involvera konsumenter i arbetet ansågs främst ha positiva effekter, men att det fanns vissa svårigheter som var viktiga att ta hänsyn till för att nå ett önskat och användbart resultat. Dessutom visar studien att tvärfunktionella samarbeten bidrar till enklare kommunikation och informationshantering eftersom flera olika funktioner är med under hela produktutvecklingsprocessen. / The competition in the market is getting far more resilient, hence, the customer perspective becomes an increasingly important success factor. The purpose of this report is, therefore, to investigate and immerse the understanding of how companies in the home appliance industry implement customer involvement in the different phases of the product development process. In addition, an understanding of how customer involvement will affect the company and how they use and spread the knowledge from these implementations will be created. The research questions were answered through an in-depth literature study to create a theoretical framework and therefore gain an understanding of prevailing theories and methods used in customer involvement. This was subsequently compared with a semi-structured interview study in which customer involvement in the home appliances industry was investigated. The respondents who participated in the interview study worked at Electrolux, an international company in the home appliance industry. The study shows that there are different opinions about customer involvement regarding the phases in which the consumer should be involved in the process and to what extent the integration should take place. The results of this research indicate that the methods used to integrate users in the product development process are mainly for informational purposes, to create an understanding and knowledge of the consumer's use of the product. This knowledge could later on can be used by the product developers. Involving consumers in the process was considered to have positive effects, however there were some difficulties that were important to take into account in order to achieve a desired and useful result. The study also shows that cross-functional teams could contribute to easier communication and information management since many different functions are involved throughout the product development process.

Our world is ever-changing hence the surroundings ought to develop accordingly. This applies particularly to the product development process and therefore, it is of high priority to adapt to the changes. This can be achieved by observing the market and especially the customers. It is believed that customers possess certain knowledge that can be crucial pieces of information when developing products. According to the literature, involving customer will result in the increased diversity of information and as a result, this may enhance the quality as well as the development process. Nevertheless, integrating customers may prove to be a tedious task as well as a costly one especially if the customers are of a complex nature. Due to this, it may be appropriate to apply various methods to map customer’s needs and requirements to further develop them in a systematic manner. The purpose of this study is to gain greater knowledge about customer involvement, mainly focusing on international as well as complex customers. The essence of the study is to obtain information about how an organisation navigates around customers along with what roles and responsibilities there are within the organisations. The study was conducted at Xolaris, a smallmedium size (SME) company within software development, hence the collected data stems from that organisation. Initially, a comparative literature study was executed to obtain a broader spectrum of knowledge. This was complemented by interviews with respondents who held relevant positions within the organisation. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured manner for the sole purpose of optimizing the information flow. From the data that was collected, several categories were derived that contributed to the study in a suitable manner. The results of the study proved that there are obstacles when involving customers. Yet, there are methods and tools to overcome these obstacles, conversely, they may not always prove to be efficient and one must adapt oneself according to the situation. Furthermore, this study confirmed that it is of great importance to maintain stable customer relationships, hence there cannot be a fixed method to process the customer's requirements. Moreover, the study also proves there ought to be a limit to the degree of customer involvement. / Världen står konstant inför för nya utmaningar samt förändringar och därav bör omgivningen utvecklas i enlighet med detta. Inte minst gäller det för produktutvecklingsprocessen som har eftersträvat att anpassa sig till diverse utvecklingar. Detta kan bland annat uppnås genom att observera marknaden och särskilt kunderna. Kunderna kan besitta kunskap som kan vara avgörande information när man utvecklar produkter. Enligt litteraturstudien kan involvering av kunder resulterat i ökad mångfald av information och på så vis kan det bidra till att produktkvalitet förbättras såväl som utvecklingsprocessen. Integrering av kunder kan emellertid visa sig vara en ledsam handling såväl som en kostsam sådan, särskilt om kunderna är av en komplex karaktär. Därför kan det vara lämpligt att använda olika metoder för att kartlägga kundernas behov samt krav för att vidareutveckla dem på ett systematiskt vis. Syftet med denna studie är att erhålla bredare kunskap om kundinvolvering med fokus på internationella såväl som komplexa kunder. Vidare kommer studien inrikta sig mot att studera hur en organisation navigerar runt kunder samt vilka roller och ansvarsområden som finns inom organisationerna. Studien genomfördes på Xolaris, ett mindre företag (SME) som specialiserar sig i mjukvaruutveckling, därav härstammar all erhållen data från denna organisation. För att besvara på samtliga frågeställningar genomfördes en litteraturstudie för få en djupare förståelse om kundinvolvering . Detta kompletterades med intervjuer från respondenter som besatt relevanta positioner inom organisationen. Intervjuerna genomfördes på ett semistrukturerat viss i syfte att optimera informationsflödet. Data som samlades in kodades samt delades in i lämpliga kategorier. Resultaten av studien visade att det finns hinder när kunderna involveras. Trots det, finns det metoder samt verktyg för att hantera dessa hinder, å andra sidan är de inte effektiva i alla situationer utan man böra anpassa efter förhållandet. Vidare bekräftade denna studie att det är av stor vikt att upprätthålla en god kundrelation. Däremot visade studien på att det bör finnas en sund gräns för graden av kundinvolvering då för mycket involvering inte alltid gynnar projektet.