I samtal om företagande och organisering har lärande, innovativitet och förändring blivit allt viktigare begrepp. Samtidigt har gårdagens ledord i form av hierarkisk kontroll förutsägbarhet, planering och stabilitet allt mer kommit i skymundan. Inom organisationsteorin finns modeller och inriktningar som fokuserar samordning, struktur och stabilitet. Andra inriktningar fokuserar flexibilitet, lärande och förändring. Några modeller omfattar både stabilitet och förändring, dock som två motsatta principer för organisering. Att organisera både för förändring och stabilitet är enligt dessa modeller fruklöst för att inte säga paradoxalt. Det gäller att på något sätt hålla en balans mellan de två extrema organisationsformerna. I denna avhandling ifrågasätts denna organisationsteoretiska uppdelning. En utgångspunkt är att vi i praktiken inte skulle kunna existera varken som individer, i grupp eller organisatoriska sammanhang utan både stabilitet och föränderlighet. I boken ställs frågan om inte deltagande i stora samarbetsprojekt kan vara ett sätt att överskrida motsättningen mellan organisering för förändring respektive ordning och stabilitet. Är deltagande i samarbetsprojekt möjligen en överlägsen förändringsstrategi? Kanske kan samordning och stabila relationer i varierande grad kombineras med variation, innovation och lärande? Eller måste omfattande förändringar innebära organisatoriskt kaos? Boken omfattar ingående beskrivningar och analyser av de händelseförlopp som resulterade i tillkomsten av de uppmärksammade bygg- och fastighetsprojekten Globen, Vasaterminalen och Sturegallerian, vilka genomfördes i Stockholm under 1980- och början av 1990-talet. Analyser leder bland annat fram till att en modell utvecklas vilken förklarar varför vissa grupper bättre än andra både kan bibehålla stabila relationer och samtidigt förändra sin verksamhet. Den organisationsteoretiska motsättningen mellan stabilitet och förändring, mellan ordning och kaos, har därmed överskridits. Modellen utgår från en samhällsteoretisk inriktning vilken erbjuder en sofistikerad begreppsapparat omfattande olika dimensioner av mänsklig kunskap och mellanmänskliga relationer. I boken introduceras en "socialfenomenologisk" referensram i ett organisationsteoretiskt sammanhang. Den i boken utvecklade modellen har stora implikationer för idag aktuella diskussioner kring projektledare, nätverksorganisationer, samarbete, organisatoriskt lärande och kunskapsföretag. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

Universitet-företagssamarbeten är en av de mest gynnsamma kontexterna för innovationsfrämjande, till stor del på grund av heterogeniteten mellan dem. Skillnaderna leder till att de besitter kompletterande resurser som kan delas genom samarbeten, men även leda till konflikter och förhindra samarbete. Syftet med uppsatsen är att bidra till befintlig kunskap om samarbeten mellan forskningsgrupper på svenska universitet och externt grundade startupföretag. I uppsatsen besvaras forskningsfrågorna hur och varför forskningsgrupper på svenska universitet och externt grundade startupföretag samarbetar, genom en fallstudie av ett universitet-företagssamarbete. Samarbetet valdes då det var ett extremfall, avslutat och involverade ett svenskt universitet. Slutsatser dras att forskningsgrupper vill ingå i samarbete för att kommersialisera och konkretisera sina resultat samt för att inspireras till framtida projekt. Startupföretag vill få tillgång till kompetens, forskning och forskningsfinansiering. Samarbetet kan beskrivas med en fyrfasig modell innehållande en embryonal-, initierings-, produktions-, och utvärderingsfas.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse what risks an NGO faces when entering collaboration agreements with a corporation. This is done through a case study of Energifallet, a collaboration project between The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and global furniture company Ikea. The project seeks to improve learning for sustainable development in Swedish schools and is funded by the corporation, which raises legitimacy questions about the independence of the NGO. By conducting contextual text analysis combined with semi-structured interviews, the study concludes that the NGO manages to keep its independence. This is due to an agonistic interorganizational relationship with the corporation, built-in independence mechanisms in the project implementation and the corporation’s political view of CSR. The results also indicate that collaborations between companies and NGOs are a new type of societal phenomenon that has the potential to bring the agenda for sustainable development forward.

Many companies are fighting a continuous battle to remain competitive, and find ways to improve innovativeness. Consequently they tend to imitate successful modes of organizing, translating ideas to fit their particular contexts. This study focuses on the translation process of Open Source Software Development into a practical set of behavior patterns and work structures within Hewlett-Packard and its partners. Through this process of translation, a hybrid mode of Open Source Software Development work organization emerged, The Progressive Open Source. This instance of translation conveys a process of adopting and subsequently reconstructing a non-traditional form of work organization within the boundaries of the traditional organization. Some of the central characteristics of Open Source Software Development were adopted, reshaped, or compromised. The study argues that the Internet continues to change the way work is conducted, and it is protecting and promoting a new era of collaborative, participatory and global approach towards innovation. Openness is the hallmark of these new processes. Moreover, openness has emerged as a viable strategy for organizations. Catharina Melian is a researcher at the Stockholm School of Economics and the Centre for Media and Economic Psychology. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2007

The innovation race, with ever-shortening product lifecycles and esca­lating innovation costs, has made alliances for innovation a central competitive strategy at many firms. Alliances provide access to a broader pool of knowledge that would be difficult to develop inside the firm, as well as a way of sharing risks. However, many innovation-based alliances fail. The literature argues that one important reason for this is the tension created by the contradictory recommendations of alliance management, whereby fixed contracts are stressed, and the recommendations for the innovation management of flexible and adaptable structures in order to support the innovation process. This thesis addresses the tension between the contractual logic of alliances and the dynamics of innovation by studying how different alliance structures, e.g. structures for coordination and communication, and innovation structures, e.g. modularity, can interact when shaping the innovation process. Based on in-depth studies of the innovation process in nine innovation-based alliances, the main contribution made by this thesis is a process model for managing innovation-based alliances. A central conclusion is that the structure of the alliance and the design of the innovation have to be adapted to each another in order to enable progress during the innovation process. The process model for innovation-based alliances consists of three phases; exploration, alignment, and commercialization. Important challenges during each phase are identified and different ways of managing these challenges are suggested. Although there is no shortcut to a successful innovation-based alliance, many difficulties can be avoided if management forms and subsequently adapts various alliance structures, in addition to the internal and external design of the innovation, so that the alliance and innovation become aligned. This alignment requires management to approach the alliance and innovation processes as one coalesced process whose character depends on the variety of the innovation. / Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005

Both practice and theory present good reason to believe that collaborative interorganizational relationships have become particularly important for innovation and new product development in industries characterized by rapid technological change and dynamic competition. Even though collaboration across organizational boundaries represents an important change in the way companies innovate and develop new products (services and processes), it appears as if the process and practical steps of such arrangements are scantly explored.   The thesis Dating for Innovation addresses this gap by empirically studying a focal company’s attempts to bring new opportunities into the world through collaborative interorganizational relationships under conditions marked by fluid change. A diverse set of research methods ranging from an insider action research approach to more conventional case study methods were applied to shed light on contingencies that may play a role in influencing the process and practical steps.   The result suggests an explorative logic and process, where the partners make use of interorganizational relationships as a means to explore the knowledge necessary for creating, recognizing, and, eventually, developing future opportunities. Not only interest and continued motivation, but also calculated costs and perceived risks, were thus outcomes of the collaboration rather than prescribed beforehand. Furthermore, the empirical findings suggest that corporate entrepreneurs at lower levels in the organization have a more significant influence than previously assumed. From a general point of view, these results imply that parts of the process can be facilitated, but not all initiatives or activities can be directed. Managers are thus challenged to reflect on how to productively deal with interorganizational innovation activities without adapting a classical linear and/or hierarchical monitoring of interorganizational innovation initiatives. / Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2004 [10], iii, [1], 107 s.: sammanfattning, s. 108-265, [6] s.: 5 uppsatser