Only a small number of U.S. businesses have implemented the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to improve their performance. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that executive business leaders use to implement the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. The study population consisted of 6 business executives and 2 organizations in the U.S. state of Texas, all with experience in implementing the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. The theory of high performance work systems provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were gathered from interviews and record reviews that were conducted within the organizations. Inductive analysis was used to identify words, phrases, ideas, and actions that were consistent among participants and organizations as well as to identify patterns and themes. Triangulation of sources between the interview and record review data was used for consistency. Three main themes emerged from data analysis: organizational leaders embedded the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence into native work models; they also used robust strategy deployment systems with accountability for action plans to spread the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence; and, rather than specifically create goals to align with the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, they identified actions to reach organizational strategic goals that were created using the Criteria as a business model. Implications for positive social change arising from this study include the potential to increase the number of available jobs by improving overall organizational performance through the increased implementation and use of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence among U.S. organizations.

The research for this thesis "Options for Developing a New Mid Micron Value Proposition for Consumers", is a part of a larger "New Mid Micron Products" project initiated by Mid Micron New Zealand Inc with the key goal of turning the Mid Micron Sector into a more vibrant and profitable one. The motivation for the project can be found in the dramatic fall in demand for New Zealand Mid Micron wool over the past decade. Two dominant causes for the fall in demand for Mid Micron wool were identified: the substandard skin comfort of final products made from Mid Micron wool, and a problem with the structure of the Mid Micron Sector. These problems are addressed in the "New Mid Micron Products" project that combines new product development and new marketing initiatives. Product development involved the use of new spinning technology to improve skin comfort quality and develop new products that are softer and prickle free. The aim is to extract more value for woolgrowers by having the wool converted into a higher value product. The new marketing initiatives, which were identified in this thesis research, Focusing On New Market Segments via E-Commerce and Reconfiguring The Value Chain, and concentrate on the operational issues of capturing the value from the newly developed Mid Micron products. Taking into account the nature of the overall Mid Micron Project and type of developed products, this research identified the Operational Excellence and Product Leadership models as alternative routes to develop a new Mid Micron Value Proposition for consumers. Operational Excellence, and the associated Cost Leadership strategy, is a low capital investment option, while Product Leadership and the associated Differentiation strategy is a high capital investment option. The models' principles and their elements, products, price and delivery to market, are evaluated in the context of the Mid Micron Business.

Med globaliseringen har världen snabbt förändrats och designerns roll är inte längre lika självklar. Vi har tittat på hur man kan expandera begreppet design och utnyttja designerns kvalitéer inom nya områden. Magisterexamensarbetet "Design Thinking in Business Innovation" syftar till att undersöka hur man kan utnyttja designyrkets kreativa och innovativa processer inom affärsutveckling. I vårt exjobb har vi jobbat med ett av Storbritanniens ledande vitvaruföretag, GDHA, och har tillsammans med marknadsföringsstudenter från Stockholms Universitet tagit fram affärsstrategier för hur de kan agera på en framtida marknad. Kombinationen av kreativt tänkande och traditionell affärsutveckling genererade nya innovativa koncept med syfte att utifrån företagets förutsättningar stärka dess konkurrenskraft och skapa nya affärsmöjligheter. "Design Thinking in Business Innovation" resulterade i en ny arbetsmetod samt tre koncept som visualiserar resultatet av en kreativ affärsutvecklingsprocess. Dessa koncept sträckte sig från konventionell produktutveckling för differentiering till utveckling av nya försäljningskanaler samt en helt ny affärsidé som bygger vidare på GDHAs kärnverksamhet. Koncepten konkretiserades i form av en modell av ett kylskåpskoncept, samt tre stycken animerade kortfilmer.Som ett resultat av vårt exjobb har vi startat Remotel, ett design kontor som fokuserar på affärsutveckling genom användarorienterad research, kreativa processer och visuell kommunikation (mer info på www.remotel.se). / The world is undergoing change and the disintegration of the old economy is becoming evident. Production is moving to low cost countries and competition is growing fierce. In order to stay competitive, companies around the world recognises the need to become more innovative. In order to achieve this it is imperative to balance and compliment the linear business thinking that still rule the managerial body. Leading research in this area suggest that the key to innovation in business development lies within the creative thinking of the design field. This paper describes a joint master degree project that seeks to test these theories and develop methods and protocols to put them into practice. So the question is, what happens when one use industrial  design as a tool to innovate business in the Creative Economy? The research group consists of four industrial designers from Konstfack, University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm and four marketing students from School of Business, Stockholm University. During the project we applied action research and introspection in a case study where new business strategies where formulated for a live company as our empirical base. The process proved more difficult but also more rewarding than initially anticipated and resulted in several new potential strategies for the company while providing valuable insight and experience in interdisciplinary team work in this field. This paper presents suggestions to how design thinking and business thinking can be combined in the process of developing business strategies and accentuates some of the skills and qualities that inherently drive this process. The collaboration investigates the synergy between designers and business managers and illustrates the potential in combining these competences to find new ways to create, re-define and develop businesses in the creative economy.

Auf Grund der dominierenden Orientierung an Produkttypen in der Serienproduktion sowie der Spezialisierung von Zulieferfirmen und deren Abhängigkeit von Finalproduzenten können die strategischen Zuliefernetze als sehr begrenzt wandlungsfähig eingeschätzt werden. Defizite derartiger Kooperationsformen, die u. a. auf hierarchischen Strukturen in und zwischen den Unternehmen aufbauen, werden im Rahmen einer Praxisanalyse bestätigt. Ziel der Arbeit ist die Entwicklung einer Methode zur Planung und Gestaltung der Transformation derzeitiger Unternehmen zu Kompetenzzellenbasierten Netzen (TransKompNet- Methode), die unternehmens- und branchenneutral ausgearbeitet und am Objektbereich der Serienproduktion praktisch evaluiert wird. Vorliegende Arbeit skizziert damit ein Lösungskonzept für Systemlieferanten und Serienfertiger, das die dezentralisierte Dekomposition der monolithischen Produkt-, Prozess- und Systemstrukturen erlaubt und Möglichkeiten zur Strukturveränderung bei den Lieferanten diskutiert. In unternehmensübergreifenden Netzen wird für Zulieferer ein Auffangen deren kleinsten Leistungseinheiten durch Entkopplungs-/Ausweichproduktionen nachgewiesen.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (D. Ed.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-201). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

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The 21st century imposes totally new challenges on businesses, different from anything they have experienced before, due to a very high degree of complexity and uncertainty. These transformations, in eco-political as well as in social spheres, imply a new conceptualization of leadership. We provide an understanding of leadership based on art, since we regard art as a medium incorporating unaccountable aspects of human life. This unaccountable dimension moreover, is of crucial importance in organizations nowadays, in order to provide the working atmosphere people need in order to excel at work. Thus, leaders have to become aware of the quality of relationship they create based on social interaction with the people they lead. What might be crucial elements composing the art of leadership in this relationship is well researched by a number of qualitative dialogues with experts in the domain of leadership, grounded in specific deepening literature study and thoroughly depicted in this thesis.

UBC's research community recently received a significant boost in financial support for five research hubs that will join the Centre for Brain Health as newly appointed national Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR). Two UBC economics professors were recognized with separate Bank of Canada awards: the Research Fellowship 2008 and the Governor's Award. UBC's Brain Research Centre has recevied $25 million from the Province of BC to establish a new facility focused on translational brain research.

The purpose of the study was to provide insights into the information seeking behaviors and needs of graduate students of Management Sciences at the Centre for Operations Excellence, University of British Columbia. The study describes major aspects of the information seeking patterns taking into account the whole phenomena: from the nature of the original situation where and when the need was recognized, to the characteristics of the information seeker, to the providers which were consulted and degrees of success. Using the case-study method and the sense-making approach, data were gathered through logs, interviews, and a questionnaire. Verbal protocols helped to delve and probe into the qualitative aspects of the search behavior resulting in a model for the search process. Findings revealed that the students went through six stages during their research: [1] Task defining, [2] Focus forming, [3] Monitoring and reviewing, [4] Selecting and sieving, [5] Interpreting, and [6] Presenting. Typically, information seeking occurred in context of task achievement which was affected by various factors such as time, cost, prior knowledge, feedback, motivation and experience and perception of students. A user survey demonstrated that [1] informal channels were used more avidly in information seeking than formal channels, [2] information service providers were not consulted on a regular basis, [3] UBC libraries were very rarely used, [4] factors such as time, location, motivation, cost, perception, feedback played an integral role in information seeking and task completion, [5] satisfaction with services of service provider were based on the relevance, currency, timeliness and accuracy of information provided, and [6] usage of information was weighed against the benefit to analysts. Recommendations for action and further study and a service model were the outcomes of the findings.