In this thesis the subject innovation and the change of meaning is in focus. The purpose of the study is to present a new dimension of innovation as a change of meaning together with the cases we’ve studied. It is discussed throughout the article if theories of perception and association can affect the organization and its ability to create meaning-changing innovations. The industrial robotics is a market in need of, perhaps, if not other markets but of finding new ground that results in the change of meaning. What happens when you stand at the intersection of main areas in the field of innovation? Is it possible that meaningful change can be found here, amongst radical innovation and industrial robotic arms and it’s technology? Our methods were interviews and prior research complementing the cases we’ve presented. We want to show how meaning can change various dimensions. Together with a perceptual theory and an innovation theory we’ve found out that meaning and innovation can go hand in hand.

Alla organisationer, oavsett verksamhetsinriktning, är i behov av att planera sin verksamhet. En särskild form av planering som fokuserar på den närmsta framtiden är budgetering. Budgeteringens betydelse varierar från organisation till organisation och diskussioner kring budgeteringens syften och om företeelsen är under utveckling eller avveckling förekommer – men i de flesta verksamheter utgör budgetar och den process som leder fram till dem en viktig del av den ekonomiska styrningen. Författarna till den föreliggande studien undersökte ett företags befintliga budgetsystem och dess funktioner och analyserade det innovativa klimatet på arbetsplatsen. Författarna undersökte även korrelationen mellan budgetsystemet och innovation; vilka innovationsfrämjande respektive innovationshämmande effekter systemet har samt om och i så fall hur budgetsystemet kan användas som ett verktyg för att stärka det innovativa klimatet på företaget. Studien genomfördes utifrån en kvalitativ ansats och studiens empiriska data har baserats på intervjuer med företagets ekonomichef, produktionschef och två anställda på en av produktionsavdelningarna för att få så många olika perspektiv och infallsvinklar som möjligt. Resultaten indikerar att budgetsystemet i dagsläget har flera innovationshämmande effekter. En av dessa hämmande faktorer är att mångfald i budgetarbetet är starkt begränsad då arbetet är centrerat till ledningsnivå med en produktionsekonom involverad. Budgetsystemet och budgeteringen når inte ut till alla delar av verksamheten som skall förverkliga budgeten och fungerar inte motiverande för de anställda längre ner i hierarkin. Det råder kommunikationsbrister mellan de organisatoriska nivåerna, bland annat uppger ekonomichefen att han inte vet vad som sker på de lägre nivåerna och de anställda där vet inte vad som sker längre upp i organisationen. Författarna har som ett resultat av detta examensarbete tagit fram ett förslag om hur budgetarbetet kan reformeras och förbättra det låga innovationsklimatet med budgetsystemet som verktyg. Dessa idéer presenterar författarna i avsnittet om förbättringsförslag. / All organizations, regardless of business focus, need to plan their activities. A special form of planning that focuses on the immediate future is budgeting. The importance of budgeting varies from organization to organization. Discussions about its purposes and whether the phenomenon is under development or settlement occur - but in most organizations the budgets and the processes leading up to them are an important part of the economic governance. The authors of the present study analyzed a manufacturing company's existing financial system and its functions. An examination of the correlation between the budgeting system and innovation was also made; to identify the innovation-inhibiting and innovation promoting effects of the system. The authors also examined how the budgeting system can be used as a tool to strengthen the innovative climate of the company. The study was conducted based on a qualitative approach and in order to get as many different perspectives and angles as possible the study's empirical data was based on interviews with the company's finance manager, production manager and two employees at one of the production departments. The results indicated that the budgeting system in the current situation has many innovation-inhibiting effects. One of these inhibitory factors is that there is no diversity in the budgeting since the work is centered at the management level with only one economist involved. Budgeting is currently not sufficiently rooted in reality and does not motivate the employees further down the hierarchy. There are big communication gaps between the organizational levels. The authors have, as a result of this thesis, developed a proposal for how the budget system can be reformed and improve the low climate for innovation with the budget system as a tool. This proposal is presented under the title suggestions for improvement on page 39.

I organisationer idag börjar det bli mer och mer centralt att fokusera på medarbetarnas innovationsmöjligheter och kunskap. Organisationer bör numera fokusera mer på den tysta kunskapen och göra denna explicit för att utnyttja den fulla potentialen till innovation. I dagens organisationer krävs det även att medarbetarna vågar arbeta över gränserna och att ledningen tydliggör att allas input inom organisationen värderas likvärdigt. Denna kvalitativa studie bygger på intervjuer med fem personer, som alla har ledningspositioner inom Organisationen AB. Utgångspunkt i studien att undersöka, ur ledningsperspektiv, ledningens roll i att stimulera till innovation och lärandeprocesser för lagring och hämtning av kunskap inom organisationen. Det insamlade materialet har tolkats samt analyserats och återfinns under empiri och analys avsnittet. I slutet av studien ges förslag till förbättringar.

Projektet 12:15 grundar sig i projektbeställarens Henrik Rudbergs önskan att kunna fortsätta hjälpa människor. Henrik Rudberg vill nu ta steget in i elförsörjningsbranchen. För att tillmötesgå projektbeställarens önskan om produkten togs tre lösningsförslag fram. Dessa vägdes sedan emot varandra och ställdes emot en kravspecifikation. Författarens ansåg sedan, efter vägning mot kravspecifikationen i denna C-uppsats, att lösningsförslag 3 bäst stämde överens med författarens kravspecifikation samt projektbeställarens önskan om produkten. Vindkraftverk är en typ av grön elförsörjning som använder sig av aerodynamik och låter vindarna som blåser över vingarna hjälpa till att producera ren och förnyelsebar energi till kund. Författaren kommer här nedan väldigt kort i stycken ta upp det väsentliga i C-uppsatsen så att läsaren och projektbeställaren lättast kan få en bra överblick utan att behöva läsa igenom hela uppsatsen om denna så ej önskar. Eftersom antalet återförsäljare och importörer av småskaligvindkraftverk enligt energimyndigheten vuxit snabbt och efter att författaren besökt olika potentiella konkurrenter till projektbeställaren har författaren kommit fram till att marknaden för tillfället befinner sig i tidig tillväxtfas. Strategi för detta är att slå sig in snabbt annars riskerar Henrik att hans produkt ej kommer kunna bli en av de dominanta designerna på marknaden. Men eftersom denna ej ska fungera exakt som de redan tillgängliga så kanske Henriks 12:15 produkt har en fördel rent konkurrensmässigt. Alla dokument bör bifogas till kund och andra intressenter som kan vara intresserade av produkten, detta för att det för det första är krav att det finns ritningar, vindkurva osv för att installation på korrekt sätt ska kunna ske men författaren vill också belysa vikten med att kund är införstådd i att om elproduktion övergår 125 kW eller försäljning av el som övergår 30000 kr så måste anmälan av näringsidkande ske, detta enligt energiskattelagen. Vindkraftverket bör ej orsaka för högt buller eller ligga så att grannar bländas av reflektioner eller drabbas av skuggspel inne i exempelvis kök vilket kan vara väldigt jobbigt för den drabbade. Gränsen sätts till 30 skuggtimmar per år. För att diskutera hur man ska bli av med reflektioner s.k. solkatt som kan uppstå kan turbinbladen antingen målas med en matt färg eller- och valet av material av turbinblad kan också hjälpa till att mildra problemet. CE-märkning av vindkraftverk är viktigt så att kund vet att vindkraftverket uppfyller satta standarder. Det är även viktigt att ta i hänsyn att anslutning skall i så hög mån som möjligt ske till det lokala spänningsnätet som ligger på ca 400 V. Detta för att om olyckan skulle vara framme en dag så skall elnätets säkerhetsanordningar så som säkringar utlösas. Anslutning till elnätet måste pga. säkerhet och ansvarsskäl av vindkraftverket godkännas av elnätsföretaget, detta även om det sker inom den egna byggnadens elinstallation Förslag 3 utföll som som det förslag som framgick som bästa möjliga för 12:15. Detta koncept liknar hur ett fungerande vindkraftverk i dagens verklighet ser ut samt fungerar. Den har en aerodynamisk form där de självaste mekaniska delarna finns inuti vindkraftverket precis som ett stort klassiskt vindkraftverk. Det kommer krävas borrning av hål, kåpan kommer vara formad enligt takpannorna med regnskydd av plåt. Montering sker lätt genom att man helt enkelt lyfter på vindkraftverket på hållaren som finns färdigmonterad redan när vindkraftverket lyfts på. Bromsning sker med lamell broms och det kommer finnas säkerhetsanordning som skall slå till utifall det skulle blåsa för mycket, detta är av stilen av en cykeldynamo som när det snurrar för snabbt går in och tar över och styr då vindverket ur vind.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att på uppdrag av Volvo Construction Equipment hitta en metod för att hantera och kategorisera idéflödet i deras idéhanteringssystem Interact. Den metod som användes var kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Slutsatsen är att metoden gick att använda för att kategorisera idéflödet men att ett material som sträcker sig över många ämnen tenderar att sänka tillförlitligheten på resultatet. Vidare bedöms materialet som detta arbete har producerat kunna användas för att bättre ta tillvara på idéer, vilket uppskattas av Volvo Construction Equipment.

Open innovation has been widely debated in management literature. However, little attention has been given to how small and medium sized enterprises manage to open up their innovation process. Consequently, various questions remain unanswered. In particular, we want to shed light on the following issue: how small and medium-sized enterprises manage organizational changes in their journey from closed to open innovation. A literature review examines how small and medium-sized enterprises open up their innovation process based on nine perspectives. Then, the reference framework addresses the organizational changes embedded in evolving from closed to open innovation. In this sense, we use acknowledged concepts on organizational change research to carry out an in depth-case study on a small and medium-sized enterprise evolving in the sports equipment industry. The results demonstrate that, in its journey from closed to open innovation, the small and medium-sized enterprise has had to stimulate and to manage changes to four company’s dimensions i.e. corporate culture, networking, organizational structure, and knowledge management systems. The paper concludes by highlighting the diverse organizational changes undertaken by the company on these four dimensions. Based on this paper’s conclusion, managerial implications and discussion for future research are drawn.

For any given firm in any industry, market success is a desire that all strive for, and this is achieved by outsmarting competition through brilliant strategies. To develop these strategies many firms resort to innovation, and as such innovation is the key to developing better strategies for market success. It is with this acknowledgement that this thesis delves into the history of LM Ericsson in order to unearth the innovation strategies that lay behind the company‟s success during the last decade of the 19th century. To achieve this mission, we ask ourselves such questions as to what was unique with Lars Magnus Ericsson that he relayed to the company that ensured success. We even try to find out if there were any technology related aspects that facilitated this success and finally take a look at the company‟s business environment to find out if the environment played any roles which can be attributed to the company‟s success. Getting the above mentioned tasks accomplished required the application of appropriate methodological steps. Owing to the historical nature of the study and the data to be collected all indications were leaning towards a qualitative study based on secondary data with a case study as the most suitable design given that the aim of study was to explore LM Ericsson‟s innovation strategies. But this study‟s relevance is tied to the relationship with theory wherein relevance is proclaimed if the empirical data collected can somehow be related to the theories used in the study. With respect to the issue of relevance, an inductive approach was suitable as we sought to make some theoretical inferences out of the findings arrived at. The application of the chosen approach edged the thesis closer towards achieving the stated aim of study. An analysis was therefore done with the help of relevant theories among them open innovation, path dependence, competitive strategy as well as theory on networks. The conclusion arrived at was that Lars Magnus Ericsson possessed a raft of unique capabilities, among them innate engineering skills, handiness, and a host of other personal attributes such as thoroughness and cautiousness. All these traits together with the favourable domestic business environment incorporating limited number of competitors and the low level of technology at that time worked in favour of the company. In addition it is also important to note that the path dependent nature of the telephone technology as well as the lack of patents in telephone technology in the Nordic region, allowed the founder of the company to borrow foreign knowledge for use in developing products. But perhaps the most outstanding of all the success factors, personal qualities aside, was LM Ericsson‟s collaboration with Henrik Cedergren‟s SAT (Stockholms Allmänna Telefonaktiebolag). There is no doubt Lars Magnus Ericsson would have succeeded thanks to his innate skills which were instrumental in the production of quality products, but he would probably not have been as successful as he was. Collaboration with SAT highly promoted the success of the company. The special relationship endeared the company to the telephone market, and made the innovation equation complete for LM Ericsson. The company could thus concentrate on improving its technical skills base while SAT delivered the markets and success was inevitable. When this relationship tended towards its end by the turn of the century, LM Ericsson‟s fortunes began to diminish and it had no choice but to diversify beyond the domestic market it once dominated with SAT‟s help, to venture into foreign markets. This highlights the epicentre of LM Ericsson‟s success pillars, thereby bringing us to the most important lesson we learn with this case as one of the major reasons behind LM Ericsson‟s success. Before proceeding to the main body of this thesis, the reader‟s attention is being drawn to the fact that the company which is the subject of this study shares the same name with its founder. Therefore in a bid to differentiate between the founder and the company to ensure clarity the full names of Lars Magnus Ericsson is used in reference to the founder while LM Ericsson refers to the company

The purpose of this study is to identify the role a business model plays for Venture Capitalists (VCs) when analysing a new venture proposal for funding. The primary data for this research was collected through six qualitative interviews conducted during a two month period. Furthermore, the gathered data was evaluated in accordance with the information found in current literature which describes de term "business model" as well as specific criteria for it. The findings from this research demonstrate that the perception of the role of a business model is strongly similar among the VCs whom were interviewed. They all argued that a business model plays a secondary role in the evaluation process and see it as part of the business plan. At the same time, this research could could pinpoint the fact that no specific instrument including explicit evaluation criteria is currently being implemented by the VCs in question in order to evaluate a business model. Notwithstanding this study cannot be generalized since the pool of applicants included only six Investment Manages working in Venture Capital Funds in Sweden and Mexico. At the same, even though the geographical differences exist, the evaluation process resulted quite similar amongst them. Evidence from this study has demostrated that the current ambiguity of the meaning of the term "business model" is the most frequent perceived challenge to the evaluation of these. Therefore, our interest to shed more light into the topic was encouraged.

This study investigated the human perception of certain social values to improve national well-being. It focused on the relative importance of two values, innovation and sustainability. Finally, it examined the possibility of a perceived trade-off between these two values by identifying whether a value change occurred among people from developed and developing countries under both constrained (forced-choice) and unconstrained (free-choice) rating conditions. The perceived importance of social values was measured in a survey using an eleven point rating scale. The perceived trade-off and the value change were identified by analyzing rating responses of the survey from test to retest. The analysis found that participants experienced a significant value change from test to retest and participants had different value preference depending on their country type, either developed or developing. This study consisted of two parts. The exploratory pilot study was conducted based on the Management Sciences Student Survey. This survey gathered information about the importance of selected social values from sixteen graduate students in the Department of Management Sciences at the University of Waterloo. The confirmatory main study was conducted using a web-based survey, Global Representative Value Change Survey. It collected information about the importance of the social values from close to three hundred students at the university at both test (Time One) and retest (Time Two). In this way, it enabled the researcher to identify a value change over time that was primarily attributed to a salience manipulation of innovation and sustainability trade-off. With a focus on the trade-off, the results revealed that all participants from developed and developing countries experienced a significant value change under the unconstrained condition, while very few significant value changes took place under the constrained condition. This study implies that people tend to maintain their value consistency and are not inclined to trade-off innovation for sustainability. If these values can co-exist in harmony and without compromise, people are prepared to give due consideration to sustainability, but not at the compromise to innovation. Implications are highlighted for educators, policy makers, and managers of technological innovation and change.

Governments of the G7 have relied primarily on two strategies to develop their respective economies, the commercialization of research using licensing models and new venture creation. Yet, they have acknowledged no specific approach to achieving commercialization success. In fact, the results of the methods used for the commercialization of results are generally viewed as not satisfactory, thus creating room for new approaches to be proposed. One of the strategies used to assist the commercialization process has been recently instituted through social actors called innovation intermediaries. Their involvement in the commercialization process has the potential not only to facilitate the process but also to diffuse knowledge and foster innovation. To date, their practices are still under development, motivating academics in various disciplines to originate research studies aimed at gaining a better understanding of them. The literature has proposed definitions and attributed functions to innovation intermediaries, but it has not arrived at a definitive description of these actors or their activities. In practice, innovation intermediaries do not have a standard operational structure, established methods, or metrics to report their results; they have yet to, establish their own practices or use evidence to inform their activities. The objective of this study is to clarify their practices and challenge their current modus operandi with a view to improvement. To explain the activities of innovation intermediaries (their practice), to expose the role of evidence, and to represent the main concerns of innovation intermediaries, a framework based on distinctive attributes of the practice was produced using insights gained from a systematic literature review, an exploratory study, and literature stressing the importance of evidence. The framework was tested using a confirmatory study in the form of an online survey with the participation of 55 innovation intermediaries from around the world. The results show that innovation intermediaries have a predisposition to focus their practice on strategic concerns, finding a fit for the venture offering in the market while neglecting to oversee the mechanisms required for developing a viable venture offering. They tend to support their decisions anecdotally, referencing their previous experiences without the support of systematic methods to corroborate their conclusions. Their prioritized goals are first, to persuade investors and sponsors to collaborate with their clients; second, to help their clients occupy a leading position in their markets, and third, to support their clients to refine the venture offering and transform it into a commercial success. The emergent framework has characterized the practice of innovation intermediaries, identified particular gaps in their activities and their use of evidence, and suggested that the current focus in the practice of innovation intermediaries may not be contributing all that it could to the commercialization process. This framework may be of significant value to advance this field of knowledge and hopefully contribute to professionalize the practice of these social actors. Ultimately, this research could form the foundation for strengthening evidence-based best practices for innovation intermediaries.