<p>Flextronics Industrialization Group (FIG) is an international company specialised in Industrialisation services for the mobile phone industry. Industrialisation services include everything that is done to prepare a product for high-volume manufacturing. This mainly involves developing production processes, production equipment, test processes and test equipment. The high-volume manufacturing is located in low-cost countries.</p><p>This study has been performed at FIG in Linköping, where the work is carried out as projects. In 2004, a new project model called the Product Development Process (PDP) was introduced at Flextronics worldwide. As the name implies, the PDP was originally created to support product development projects, which is why it has been hard to completely utilize the PDP at FIG. The PDP has so far been considered more trouble than support. This has lead to that project managers at FIG are working differently.</p><p>The purpose of this master thesis was to develop an application of the PDP suitable for the Industrialisation projects performed at FIG. During our work internal PDP documentation was studied and interviews with project managers and sub-project managers were performed. Review meetings were held frequently during the entire study and our solutions were revised several times.</p><p>Our work has above all resulted in new processes applicable for Industrialisation projects. To make these Industrialisation processes easy to follow we have produced a guideline. This guideline provides a framework for Industrialisation projects at FIG and explains the interconnection between the PDP and our new Industrialisation PDP application. It also includes detailed descriptions of the Industrialisation processes, checklists, decision structure, project organisation and project roles and responsibilities. Due to confidentiality reasons, our solutions could not be included in their entirety in this report.</p><p>We believe that the Industrialisation PDP application will improve the work at FIG. It will be easier to follow a working method that is adapted to the specific business. Using the same working methods will support the project work, improve the way of working and make it more efficient.</p>

<p>In the prevailing uncertain and ever-changing business environment knowledge has become the single certain source for sustainable competitive advantage. Learning from past mistakes and avoiding reinventing the wheel are crucial tasks and no organization can today afford not to look for ways to make the best use of its knowledge. With Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT) being an actor in a complex and high-technology industry managing and leveraging the organization’s knowledge becomes essential. It came to the authors’ attention that the project manager department (GL) within the gas division of SIT experienced a need for improved processes for managing and utilizing the organization’s knowledge-base.</p><p>On the first of January 2010 Siemens carried out a major reorganization, which affected SIT and the GL department by merging two previously separate departments of project managers into one unit. With efforts underway to harmonize the two department’s former working methods the situation implies timeliness for conducting a study on how to improve the company’s knowledge management initiative. This master thesis hence evolved to focus on examining and point out the improvement opportunities that exist with regards to knowledge sharing between projects, and between projects and the organization, and how tools and processes should be designed to collect, preserve, disseminate and reuse experiences, knowledge and lessons learned within a project-based organization in the best possible way.</p><p>The research approach of the study was of a qualitative character including interviews with the 16 project managers of GL and other key employees both at SIT and at Siemens Oil & Gas division’s new CS and IP business units. Combined with meeting participation and observations of the project managers in their daily operations an increased understanding of the current situation at SIT and GL emerged; an understanding needed to identify the reasons and factors affecting the low degree of retention and utilization of the organization’s knowledge-base; an understanding leading up to the development of a model highlighting the important aspects for successful knowledge management initiatives, and how these aspects correlate.</p><p>In order to improve the knowledge utilization a continuous lessons learned gathering throughout the project life-cycle needs to be implemented. This is primarily achieved through collecting lessons learned at the regular project meetings together with special lessons learned workshops. The collection and reutilization of knowledge hence needs to be integrated with the project management process. Improving the different forums available for knowledge sharing is also needed to enable an increased level of transformation of human capital into structural capital; augmenting the organization’s knowledge-base. Providing forums for knowledge sharing together with a visualized management support through actions, feedback and the introduction of a culture aimed at organizational learning further enhance the retention and utilization of the organization’s knowledge-base.</p><p>Although the approach of this study is based on a case study of the SIT organization the conclusions are regarded to be of value for other project-based organizations and thus rending the conclusions to be generalized and used within other lines of business. The generic conclusion of this study is that in order to implement a successful knowledge management initiative all factors of the model need to be considered and attended too.</p> / <p>I dagens osäkra och ständigt föränderliga affärsklimatet har kunskap blivit den enda säkra källan till långsiktig konkurrenskraft. Att lära sig av misstag och undvika att återuppfinna hjulet är idag av yttersta vikt; dagens organisationer har helt enkelt inte råd med att inte använda sin kunskap på bästa sätt. I och med att Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT) verkar i en komplex och högteknologisk industri är det absolut nödvändigt att tillvarata och använda den kunskap som finns internt. Det har emellertid kommit till författarnas insikt att projektledningsavdelningen (GL) inom gas divisionen på SIT upplever ett behov av förbättrade processer för kunskapshantering och återanvändning av den kunskapsbas som finns inom organisationen.</p><p>Den första januari 2010 genomförde Siemens AG en stor omorganisation vilket innebar att två tidigare separata projektledningsavdelningar inom SIT och GL slogs ihop till en enhet. Det nuvarande arbetet med att harmonisera de två avdelningarnas tidigare arbetssätt medför en fördelaktig tidpunkt för att se över och undersöka hur organisationen bör förbättra sin kunskapshantering framöver. Med detta som bakgrund har det följande examensarbetet fokuserat på att undersöka och belysa de förbättringsmöjligheter som finns gällande spriding av kunskap internt mellan projekt och mellan projekt och den övriga organisationen. Vidare studerar rapporten hur verktyg och processer bör utformas för att samla in, bevara, sprida och återanvända erfarenheter, kunskaper och lärdomar inom en projektbaserad organisation på bästa möjliga sätt.</p><p>Studiens tillvägagångssätt är av kvalitativ karaktär och inkluderar intervjuer med de 16 projektledarna inom GL samt med andra nyckelpersoner inom både SIT och de nya affärsenheterna CS och IP inom Siemens Oil & Gas division. Medverkan i projektledarmöten och observationer av projektledarna i deras dagliga verksamhet har vidare bidragit till en fördjupad förståelse av den nuvarande situationen inom SIT och GL; en förståelse som visat sig nödvändig för att kartlägga de faktorer och bakomliggande orsaker som gett upphov till organisationens låga kunskapsbevarande och användning av intern kunskap; en förståelse som gett upphov till den modell som belyser de viktiga aspekterna för att uppnå framgångsrik kunskapshantering, och dessas beroende och påverkan på varandra.</p><p>För att förbättra den interna kunskapsanvändningen krävs att lärdomar och erfarenheter samlas in kontinuerligt under hela projektets livscykel. Insamlandet bör primärt ske genom dagens regelbundna projektmöten tillsammans med specifika workshops avsedda för att tillvarata erfarenheter och lärdomar. Insamlandet och användningen av lärdomar bör på detta sett integreras i projektledningsprocessen. Det finns även ett behov av att förbättra och utveckla organisationens forum för kunskapsdelning; vilka behövs för att möjliggöra att humankapital kan omvandlas till strukturkapital, vilket leder till att organisationens kunskapsbas utökas. Förbättrade forum tillsammans med ett visualiserat stöd från ledningen genom handling, feedback och införandet av en organisationskultur som förespråkar ett organisatoriskt lärande, ser gemensamt till att förbättra bevarandet och användandet av organisationens kunskapsbas.</p><p>Även om tillvägagångssättet för denna studie baseras på en fallstudie av SIT:s organisation anses slutsatserna kunna vara av värde för andra projektbaserade organisationer; slutsatserna anses därmed generaliserbara och tillämpbara inom andra branscher. Den allmänna slutsatsen av denna studie är att ett framgångsrikt kunskapshanteringssystem bör beakta och involvera alla faktorer i den presenterade modellen.</p>

<p>Detta examensarbete är utfört på Försvarets Materielverk, FMV, som utför all sin produktion i projekt. Deras organisationsform är uppbyggd som en matris där verksamhetsledning och resursledning finns vertikalt i linjeenheter medan projekten utförs horisontellt inom olika verksamhetsgrupper/verksamhetsområden. Varje medarbetare tillhör en linjeenhet baserad på sin kompetens med en linjechef men arbetar parallellt mellan ett flertal projekt ute i produktionen.</p><p>Syftet med examensarbete är att göra en fallstudie för att hitta lösningar, hur effektivisering kan ske både för projekten och för linjeenheterna. Denna fallstudie har avgränsats till områdena hur en matrisorganisation är uppbyggd och hur den fungerar, samarbetet mellan linjeenhet och projekt, allokering av personella resurser mellan projekt samt personalhantering i projekt. Datainsamlingen har utförts med en kvalitativ metod genom intervjuer med resursledningen och produktionen.</p><p>Resultat av fallstudien visar på att FMV har en stark matrisstruktur. Den ligger nära en projektbaserad organisation, där de flesta medarbetare arbetar i projekt och de flesta besluten angående projekten tas i produktionen. Den individuella medarbetaren har sin chef i linjeenheten men är fysiskt placerad vid sina projekt, oftast nära sina projektledare.</p><p>FMV har ingen egen tillverkning vilket gör att deras huvudresurs är medarbetarna och deras kompetens. Det finns en viss osäkerhet i arbetet hos projektmedarbetarna vilket beror på dels avsaknad av fasta rutiner och dels på få närliggande mål. Detta gör att de flesta slutsatser och rekommendationer behandlar hur arbete och mål ska bli tydligare för att skapa en effektivare medarbetare. Arbetssituationen är idag väldigt ambivalent för den enskilda medarbetaren med mycket projekt med olika chefer. Detta kan ändras genom att förändra ledarrollerna och öka stödet både till projekten och till linjeenheterna.</p><p>I rapporten återfinns även en jämförelse med AstraZenecas matrisorganisation och arbetssätt för att få ökad förståelse för olika matrisstrukturer samt att ge nya idéer och synvinklar till FMV. AstraZeneca har en matrisstruktur med starkare linjeenheter och svagare produktion till skillnad mot FMV. Jämförelsen visar att AstraZeneca ger mer stöd både till sina linjerchefer genom en utvecklad personalavdelning och till projektledningen genom en supportenhet.</p>

<p>The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse how capital goods manufacturers can enhance their industrial service offering.</p><p>The theoretical basis of this research is found in services marketing, recognising co-creation of value, that the service process is an open production system and that the customer determines value as the manufacturer can only offer value propositions.</p><p>The empirical basis is a multiple case study of service management at BT Industries, Electrolux Laundry Systems, ITT Flygt, and Saab. The four companies operate within different industries, have different service offerings and they are facing different internal and external conditions, which affect their service organisation and offering.</p><p>It is becoming increasingly important for capital goods manufacturers to offer services and there are further growth and profit opportunities on the market for industrial services. It is suggested that there is major improvement potential and financial gains possible to achieve if more resources are allocated to services. Moreover, utilisation of new technological means leads to increased dematerialisation and enable manufacturers to enhance existing service offerings as well as enable new ones.</p><p>Depending on whether the services have a traditional product-orientated focus or a customer-centric process-orientated focus, and depending on the scope of the offering, there are different critical factors to consider. Process-orientated services require knowledge about not only how to service the installed base but also how to improve the customer’s industrial production process.</p><p>Generally, bundled services require a modular structure with standardised, formalised processes and integration between local and central organisation. Extensive bundled offerings require that both customer and provider have relational intent and a long-term relationship is regarded as a condition for successful customer involvement in service development. Long-term relationships also enable the company to act proactive and develop offerings with a customer-centric approach, instead of having a product-centric approach and internally-focused innovation.</p><p>To conclude, operational service processes and interfaces, internal and with the customer, are critical to manage both from a cost-efficiency and revenue-effectiveness perspective. Furthermore, it is argued that customer relationships and development of the service offering must be managed strategically.</p> / Report code: LiU-TEK-LIC 2006:42

<p>A collaborative approach to industry-environment issues is acknowledged as a key aspect of sustainable development. Sincerely, resource sharing among firms offers the potential to increase stability of operations, especially in supply-constrained areas, by ensuring that access to important inputs such as water, energy and raw materials are guaranteed. Industrial Symbiosis (IS), a sub-field of Industrial Ecology, is primarily concerned with the cyclical flow of resources through networks of industrial units as a means of cooperatively approaching environmentally sustainable industrial activity. In line with this principle, a critical assessment of the change in environmental performance brought about by industrial symbiosis (IS) was conducted in nineteen selected eco-industrial park case studies identified in all regions of the world with the exception of the African continent. Case study selection criteria were based on models of eco-industrial parks proposed by Chertow (2000). A description of the type of material exchanges that go on in each case study was carried out which revealed evidence of implemented synergies in respective case studies. A comparative assessment of cross-case patterns which is a semi-quantitative matrix used to quantify the degree of environmental performance showed that there was a clear evidence of improved environmental performance among respective case studies investigated where water, energy and material flows served as indicators. Results obtained from the study showed a common pattern of industrial presence in respective case studies reflecting the occurrence of heavy process industries such as oil refineries, cement industries, petrochemical industries, and steel industries. The principle of “anchor tenant” proposed by some experts in the field of industrial ecology was strongly supported by the obtained results. Symbiotic cooperation among participating firms in respective case studies were mainly on areas like cogeneration, re-use of materials, recycling and wastewater treatment and re-use.</p>

<p>Att företag i Sverige påverkas av den enorma tillväxt som sker i Kina och att utvecklingen i Kina dessutom påverkas av hur svenska företag agerar borde, efter all uppmärksamhet i media, vara uppenbart. Då bilden som presenteras i media ofta är onyanserad har Teknikföretagen gett oss i uppdrag att göra en kartläggning av teknikföretags relationer med Kina. Syftet är att undersöka i vilken omfattning och varför företagen har dessa relationer samt hur företagen påverkas av dem. Undersökningens omfattning har begränsats genom att en geografisk avgränsning till Östergötland gjorts. Det visar sig i studien att de undersökta företagen har betydande kontakter med Kina, det är vanligare och viktigare med import än export och det är relativt många som har någon grad av högre engagemang där.</p><p>– Varför har då dessa företag kontakter med Kina? I studien framkommer att det finns två övergripande anledningar till att företagen etablerar kontakt med Kina. Det första är prispress och det andra är kundnärhet. Företag som är i Kina på grund av prispressen i deras branscher har ofta outsourcat delar av sin produktion till Kina eller väljer att köpa av kinesiska leverantörer istället för av svenska. I studien visar det sig att detta är något som även små företag utan någon större internationell erfarenhet klarar. De företag som svarar på behovet av kundnärhet gör det istället i stor utsträckning genom att etablera egna produktionsanläggningar i Kina eftersom många av deras kunder redan finns där. För detta krävs betydligt större resurser än för att outsourca och många av företagen upplever en begränsning i form av bristande ledningskapacitet. Vi ser även att företagens motiv förändras över tiden.</p><p>– Hur påverkas då den svenska verksamheten av företagens relationer med Kina? Många av företagen som outsourcat produktion går mot att sysselsätta sig mer med konstruktion, inköp, service och underhåll än produktion, vilket förvisso gör att företagen utför mer kvalificerade uppgifter och försäkrar sig om att på kort sikt inte slås ut av prispressen. Däremot riskerar de att på sikt bli av med nödvändig kompetens och servicekapacitet på grund av att investeringarna blir lägre och nyckelpersonal går i pension.</p><p>De företag som istället satsar i Kina för att sälja där påverkas positivt även i Sverige. Det krävs ofta att verksamheten i Sverige expanderar för att kunna hantera verksamheten i Kina. Att ha närvaro på flera marknader innebär också att vara mindre känslig för konjunktursvängningar.</p><p>För att komma fram till undersökningens resultat har en inledande litteraturstudie kompletterats med intervjuer av personer med relevant kunskap om ämnet. Därefter genomfördes en enkätundersökning vars svar analyserades statistiskt. Dessa resultat kompletterades med fallstudier av flera av de undersökta företagen. Undersökningen avslutades med besök hos några av de undersökta företagens anläggningar i Kina för att verifiera undersökningens resultat.</p> / <p>Because of the media coverage it is probably clear to all that companies in Sweden are affected by the astonishing growth currently at hand in China as well as the development in China is affected by actions taken by Swedish companies. To get a more complete understanding of this development the Swedish engineering association has asked us to investigate the relations between Swedish engineering companies and China. The purpose is to examine to what extent and why these relations exist and how they affect the companies. The study has been limited to study only companies in Östergötland. In the study it is shown that the investigated companies do have business relations with China, importing is more important than exporting and quite a few companies have more advanced business engagements in China.</p><p>– Why do these companies have contacts with China? This study shows two basic reasons behind these contacts. The first is a pressure on prices and the second is proximity to customers. The companies that are in China to lower their prices have to a large extent outsourced production to Chinese companies or have switched from western to Chinese suppliers. This is an action that is feasible even for small companies without previous international experience. On the other hand, companies that are in China to achieve proximity to their clients tend to set up production plants in China as many of their customers have already done so. To do this requires far more resources than outsourcing and many companies experience limitations in their management capacity. We also see that the companies’ motives often change over time.</p><p>– How do these contacts affect the Swedish companies? Many of the companies who have outsourced parts of their production tend to be more focused on services, which does enable them to perform more advanced processes and saves them from becoming extinct due to increased price competition. In the long run however, they risk losing necessary competence and capacity as they lower their investments and their key personnel retire.</p><p>Companies that are in China in order to sell in China are affected positively in Sweden as well. It is often necessary to expand business in Sweden in order to manage what is done in China and the presence in many markets make the companies’ orders less volatile.</p><p>To achieve the results of this investigation we started by studying existing literature and conducting a series of interviews with people with relevant knowledge regarding the subject. Based on this information we conducted a survey that was statistically analyzed. These results where afterwards completed with case studies of several of the investigated companies. The investigation was finalized with a visit at some of the Swedish companies’ production plants in China in order for us to verify our conclusions.</p>

<p>Marknaden för armbandsur är stor, och den del av denna marknad som utgörs av exklusiva ur med högt pris tycks ha helt andra egenskaper än den för armbandsur i övrigt. Hur övertygas en konsument om att ett mekaniskt ur som avviker flera sekunder per dygn är att föredra framför ett elektroniskt som avviker några sekunder på ett år?</p><p>Syftet med denna rapport är att ge en övergripande bild av marknaden för exklusiva ur och urverk, samt att analysera ett antal av de aktörer som finns på marknaden utifrån val av urverk och positionering.</p><p>Rapporten beskriver elva exklusiva urmärken, med avseende på hur man i sin marknadskommunikation positionerar sig på marknaden. Märkena placeras in i en modell med två huvudsakliga dimensioner: pris och påverkan. Rapporten belyser även de mekaniska urverken. Vilka tillverkar dem? Hur används de, och vilken effekt får valet av urverk på märkenas prisläge och påverkan?</p><p>Bland de märken som ingår i undersökningen visar rapporten att främst en tillverkare av urverk anlitas i mycket stor utsträckning: det Schweiziska företaget ETA. Med ett undantag - Rolex - köper samtliga av de i undersökningen ingående märkena urverk från ETA.</p> / <p>The wristwatch market is large, and the part of this market that consists of high-priced luxury watches seems to have different properties from the general watch market. How can consumers be convinced that a mechanical watch which can differ by more than a second each day is preferable to an electronic watch which differ only by a couple of seconds each year?</p><p>The purpose of this report is to give a comprehensive view of the luxury watch and calibre industry, and to analyse some of the actors on this market on the basis of their choice of calibres and positioning.</p><p>The report aims to describe eleven luxury watch brands, with regard to their positioning on the market. The brands are divided and placed into a model by two main dimensions: price and promotion.</p><p>This report also discusses the mechanical calibres. Who produces them? How are they used, and does the choice of calibre affect the price and promotion of the brands?</p><p>Among the brands included in this report, it is shown that one manufacturer in particular is turned to more often: the Swiss company ETA. With only one exception - Rolex - all brands included in this report uses ETA calibres to some extent.</p>

<p>Many Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) today face problems with growth and profitability due to lack of management training within the managerial staff. This study aims to create a holistic model for how to construct a Management Training Plan for such companies and test this model on a case company.</p><p>The study found four main phases in the creation of a training plan, and thus, the model consists of four parts. The first part deals with the motivation of the trainees to go through with the training. The second part deals with deciding the content of the training plan. The third part looks at how the training plan should be designed. The fourth part looks at how to evaluate the training after it has been conducted.</p><p>The main findings are that the most interesting areas of training for the managers at Cypress Security are customer communication and financial management. The training should be a mixture between group discussions and self-study material.</p><p>We believe the results in this study should prove useful when constructing training programs for other companies since the model can be applied to almost any type of company. By providing specialized management training of this kind, SMEs reduce the need for hiring and recruiting managers with academic background and allows them to recruit from within.</p>

<p>When performing an organizational change, it is important to be aware of the culture within the company. The organization at Saab Aerosystems has a huge technical focus, which can of course be beneficial when awakening interest for a change. Another characteristic of Saab Aerosystems is that its employees are interested in being involved in change processes and have the ability to influence such changes. It is therefore important that the leader of a proposed change has a good relationship with the employees and excellent communication skills in order to both inform and listen to them. It is also important to create a commitment to change if a change project is to be successful. Within Saab Aerosystems this commitment can be created by engaging informal leaders within the project team. These employees often have a big influence on the organization as well as good knowledge of the technology and their departments’ operations. It is also important to give the organization’s members time to think through and accept a change. Without this time, resistance towards a change project can otherwise be created due to lack of understanding for the change. To create commitment to a change, the employees must also feel that they can manage the change and the situation that comes after the change. It is therefore important that the organization’s employees receive the necessary tools and education in order to give them confidence and motivation to carry out, and be a part of, the change project.</p><p>A difficult aspect during a change project can be to anchor the change within the organization. At Saab Aerosystems, changes can be anchored by involving representatives from upper management in change projects. These persons must in their turn request work that has been achieved according to the results of the change and even more importantly ensure that the change is used even upon completion of the change project. Making these demands can motivate the line managers and other employees to work according to the change and prevent reverting to old work methods and models. Finally, it is important to measure the change project progress. Examples of measure variables that can be used are business cases, questionnaires and lessons learned. These general variables ought to be complemented by specific variables for the actual change.</p>

<p>Educational institutions are becoming increasingly important for regional and national economies. Recent developments in Europe have drawn attention to the need for elite institutions. After a long domestic debate, Germany appointed three of its universities to Eliteunis in the fall of 2006. Similar discussions and initiatives have taken place in Finland and Denmark. In 2007, the Swedish university chancellor, Anders Flodström, initiated a public debate about improving the Swedish system of higher education by concentrating it to fewer institutions of higher quality. As a contribution to these discussions, it is of general interest to understand why and how educational institutions become successful. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate what strategy and external factors that has made one particular institution – Massachusetts Institute of Technology – successful. The findings of the study show that MIT’s success depends on the possession of several important strategic resources: faculty and student quality, endowment, reputation and campus location. Thanks to these resources, in combination with some external factors, primarily the influx of large amounts of federal research funding and the (entrepreneurial) success of MIT alumni, the Institute has been able to attract: federal and private research funding, donations and more high quality faculty and students. Faculty are motivated to excel through a well-devised promotion and incentive system. There is a strong virtuous cycle dynamic between the resources. For example, an institution with strong reputation will attract good students and faculty. This will lead to increasing faculty and student quality which will improve the reputation further. To enter the virtuous cycle, significant financial resources are required. MIT, received much of these resources through the immense research efforts that were funded by the U.S. government during World War II, the Space Race and the Cold War. This enabled MIT to attract excellent faculty and build its reputation.</p>