No description available.

This thesis investigates the determinants of innovation in the New Zealand manufacturing sector by addressing the issue in three main parts. First, an extensive literature review is undertaken to identify definitions of innovation. A number of hypotheses are then proposed based on the international literature. Secondly, supported by the New Zealand Manufactures and Exporters Association (NZMEA), a unique dataset was collected via an Internet-based instrument, the Innovation Survey of the Manufacturing Sector. A series of regression models were then used to test the proposed hypotheses. The final part of the research involved a number of in-depth company interviews that approached the topic from a different perspective and complemented the qualitative analyses by further investigating issues that were unresolved from the survey. The research results suggest that “micro” (i.e. very small) firms may not be very innovative, and identified that practical skills and co-operation are crucial factors influencing innovation in the New Zealand manufacturing sector.

Detta arbete har behandlat frågan; om Lean produktion orsakat arbetsstress och om arbetsstressen hämmat innovationsutvecklingen.

Der Fokus dieser Arbeit ist auf die Frage gerichtet, ob Unternehmen durch politisch verfügte Umweltregulierungen und (innerhalb dieser) konkret durch den länderübergreifenden CO2-Emissionshandel sich veranlasst sehen könnten, in Umweltinnovationen zu investieren. Auf der Grundlage der Porter-Hypothese und der Theorie der evolutorischen Ökonomik, welche wiederum die Idee der "bounded rationality" verwendet, wird im Rahmen der experimentellen Ökonomie eine Art Laborexperiment durchgeführt, um das Verhalten und die Strategiepräferenzen der Marktakteure auf Basis realer Zahlen und Entwicklungen in der ersten und zweiten Handelsperiode abschätzen zu können. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung zeigen, dass die Innovationsentscheidungen der Akteure von den Rahmenbedingungen des CO2-Emissionshandels (der Höhe der Zertifikatezuteilung, der Information über die Höhe der Zertifikatezuteilung und der eingeschätzten Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit der zu tätigenden F&E-Investitionen) abhängig sind. (Autorenref.)

No description available.

Sverige har de senaste decennierna utvecklats till ett utpräglat tjänstesamhälle där majoriteten av alla nystartade företag tillhör tjänstesektorn. Detta får konsekvenser i form av hårdare konkurrens och högre krav på såväl befintliga som nya aktörer. Ett sätt att stå emot konkurrensen, differentiera sig och erhålla marknadsandelar är att skapa innovationer. Trots att utvecklingen mot tjänstesamhällen är global och tycks vara här för att stanna råder det brist på empiriska studier för hur tjänsteföretag kan arbeta med att stimulera innovationer. Forskning på området har tagit olika riktning och till viss del bidragit med motsägelsefulla resultat. Innovationsforskningen har traditionellt sett varit fokuserad mot produktion och tillverkning, och är till stor del inte överförbar på tjänsteföretag. Avsikten med denna studie är att ge en ökad förståelse för hur tjänsteföretag kan stimulera innovationer. Empiriska studier på området har visat att utgångspunkten för slagkraftiga innovationer bör vara kunders behov. Av den anledningen syftar denna studie till att se medarbetare som träffar kunden, som en brygga mellan kundens behov och företagets möjligheter. Studien tar fasta på vad som händer när medarbetare får idéer eller insikter till följd av interaktion med kund, och hur dessa idéer eller insikter kan resultera i innovationer.Tidigare forskning har inte kunnat ta fram en generell modell för hur innovationsprocesser i tjänsteföretag ser ut, då den tycks vara kontextberoende och således unik. Genom att undersöka vad som influerar hur medarbetare kan bidra i innovationsprocessen ämnar studien bidra till befintlig forskning, men också att ge praktiska rekommendationer och insikter till tjänsteföretag som vill eftersträva konkurrenskraft genom kundmötesbaserade innovationer. För att möta studiens syfte genomfördes en kvalitativ studie av sex fallföretag inom en bransch i tjänstesektorn som är på tillväxt, hotellbranschen. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter som träffar kunder i sitt dagliga arbete möjliggjorde en analys av hur organisatoriska förhållanden kan komma att påverka medarbetares möjligheter att bidra till konkurrenskraftiga innovationer. Studiens resultat belyser identifierade hinder och drivkrafter till att medarbetare blir delaktiga i innovationsprocessen. En grundläggande slutsats i studien är att rådande företagskultur tenderar att ha betydelse för huruvida innovationer stimuleras eller inte. Vidare återfinns identifierade hinder och drivkrafter i själva kundmötet, i hur kunskap sprids samt i vilken handlingsfrihet medarbetare har i sitt dagliga arbete. Tidigare studier har kunnat visa att det råder skillnader mellan olika branscher, men denna studie visar även att det råder skillnader mellan företag inom samma bransch.

Kandidatuppsats i innovationsteknik, Mälardalens Högskola i Eskilstuna Datum: 2014-05-28 Författare: Karokh Salehi, Sacir Kadic och Isak Koc Handledare: Loe Önnered Titel: Teamwork - Framgångsfaktorer för att skapa och utveckla ett innovativt team Problemformulering: Innovation har i dagsläget blivit modernt och används av många organisationer. Till följd av detta har studiens frågeställning utformats enligt följande: Vilka faktorer är avgörande för att skapa och utveckla ett innovativt team? Syfte: Studiens syfte är att finna framgångsfaktorer hos teamarbete både hos de som beskrivs som traditionella och innovativa. För att uppnå detta genomförs en jämförelse över deras arbetsprocesser och utvecklingsfaktorer. Metod: Studiens information har hämtats från vetenskapliga artiklar och kurslitteraturer. Undersökningen bestod även av ett flertal intervjuer med deltagare från två olika team. Intervjuerna var semistrukturerade och utfördes genom personliga möten. Slutsats: Grundläggande faktorer för utveckling av team redovisas där även de faktorer som begränsar ett framgångsrikt arbete inkluderas. Nyckelord: Team, innovation, utveckling / Bachelor's essay in Innovation management , Mälardalens Högskola in Eskilstuna Date: 2014-05-28 Authors: Karokh Salehi, Sacir Kadic och Isak Koc Tutor: Loe Önnered Title: Teamwork - Success factors for creating and developing an innovative team Problem formulation: Nowadays innovation has become modern and is used by many organizations. As a result of this, the study's issue formulation has been set to: What factors are critical to creating and developing an innovative team? Purpose: The study's purpose is to find success factors in teamwork that are both traditional and innovative. In order to achieve this a comparison will be made about their work processes and development factors. Method: The study's information has been derived from scientific articles and course literature. The survey also consisted of numerous interviews with participants from two different teams. The interviews were semi-structured and were conducted through personal meetings. Conclusion: Basic elements for the development of teams are presented where also the factors that are limiting the successful work is included. Keywords: Teams, innovation, development

The innovation laboratories support and foster the systematic development of innovations by bringing the people, environment and the methodological expertise together. Such type of structures play a major role in leveraging the existing methods and tools in the field of service innovation on one hand, and adapting the new methodological approaches to the field on the other hand. Thus, we argue that they can act as intermediaries in adapting the concept of round trip engineering to the field of service innovation. In this context, to develop the deeper understanding of the phenomenon, the innovation laboratories were thoroughly investigated through in-depth expert interviews. The interviews were intended to develop deep understanding of the structural and functional aspects of innovation laboratories in order to identify the current practices and potential of innovation labs in applying the systematic approaches to different phases of innovation life cycle. They were also aimed to identify the methodological and technological support that the innovation labs might need.

Today, new technologies are introduced to the market every day, and constantly changing our way of living. Especially in the healthcare sector, the change process is approaching a point where doctors can benefit from the use of, for example, connected portable reading devices instead of paper-based medical record systems. The information and communication technology is promoting the evolution of a new pathway of care delivery, a paradigm shift that alters the fundamental relationship between a doctor and its patient. The concept is defined as telehealth and formulates the provision of care at a distance and provides the possibility to treat patients in their home environment instead of at the hospital. This master’s thesis has been performed on the request of Cenvigo AB, a company active in the implementation of new IT-solutions into the healthcare and eldercare. Cenvigo AB are the owners of the Parkinson’s Digital Assessment (PANDA) application. The application has been developed through research at Dalarna University and Uppsala University Hospital.  This project will initiate the launch of PANDA and also create a model for implementation of innovative IT-solutions into the healthcare systems. The model is founded in a theoretical framework and shaped with interviews related to the implementation of technology with a focus on telehealth applications. Interviews has been performed with healthcare professionals, technology developers and users to acquire a complete picture and opinions regarding the introduction of innovation in healthcare today. From the acquired information, a model is formulated as a stepwise and chronological linear process were identified key activities are included to promote a successful implementation process. The model is connected to the practice through the implementation of PANDA. In the process of implementing PANDA into the Swedish healthcare system, a collaboration with the innovation centre at Uppsala University Hospital as a healthcare organization stakeholder, has been initiated. The model consists of five phases; Assessment, Dissemination, Adoption, Implementation and Continuation. The phases are seen as transitional steps in the innovation process, critical barriers to overcome towards a successfully implementation in a mainstream routine setting. Each phase includes a number of activities and to achieve progression in each phase, these activities must be performed in order to advance to the next phase. In the case of PANDA, the process of progression has passed assessment and are currently involved in activities related to the dissemination phase. The purpose of the model is to be used both for existing and future applications in the segment of medicine technology sector. The structure of the model is designed to promote a co-design or a common value principle of development and practice regarding an innovation. By connecting actors from both technology and healthcare in close relationships the actual needs of healthcare professionals could more effectively be identified and developed into a solution, a result from the amplification of a two-way engagement. The outmost aim is to serve as a catalysing factor, complementing the implementation models of healthcare in Sweden today. Through this study, a need for facilitating the implementation process of new technology into the healthcare systems has been identified. This model offers the necessary input that many technology companies lack. The recommendation to Cenvigo AB is to continue to develop the model during the last step in the process of launching PANDA, and parallel use this model as a business model mainly for technology start-ups and larger foreign companies that has not yet established pathways into the Swedish healthcare system. / <p>TVE 14 036</p>

Title: The customer’s contribution to the innovation-process – a study of using customers to discover latent needs.   Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration   Author: Robert Klein   Supervisor: Agneta Sundström   Date: 2014-06   Aim: The purpose of this study is to gain enhanced understanding of what knowledge costumers contribute with in an innovation-process lead by a producer of goods, and how that knowledge is used to fulfill latent needs. The area of research has formerly described which results customer-involvement lead to, but have been scarce in describing how results are produced.   Method: From a qualitative onset, a case-study collecting data through observations and interviews capturing customer knowledge contributions, and producer use of fetched knowledge has been conducted. Data has been analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Results have been processed in several steps in which material has been categorized and enriched continuously.   Result &amp; Conclusions: Customer-knowledge is broken down into market-knowledge, everyday-knowledge, and specialist-knowledge, which all are significant to a producer of goods. The results contribute with new knowledge concerning customer knowledge in an innovation-process, and in addition an explanatory model of how producers of goods use customer knowledge to discover latent needs.   Suggestions for future research: The study has been conducted in an industry where customers can be expected to have a large degree of specialist-knowledge. Due to this circumstance it would be interesting to investigate how costumers contribute to the innovation-process in a different industry.   Contribution of the thesis: The knowledge being provided in the thesis is of value to any producer of goods who aim to use its customers in new product development, and also to scholars intending to study customer-orientation and innovation.