Hides and skins have been a resource that has created a wide range of activities such as clothing and footwear of all types, saddlery and riding equipment, travel goods and upholstery were amongst many industries using leather. This dissertation uses historical documentation to investigate the interactions of a small UK company working mostly in the USA that had a pivotal role in the transformation of the network surrounding the production, distribution and use of leather in the late 19th century. As an extended historical analysis it offers a particularly wide perspective on the complex and continuing network outcomes of that networking and the innovations to which it leads. This historical research location also provides an opportunity to examine innovation within the context of network evolution over many decades.

This research uses a novel construction material (lime-pozzolan concrete) and real-world project (a school) as a vehicle for investigating the implementation or applied-innovation process in construction. The implementation of new technologies at a product-level is recognised to be an antecedent of technological change in the construction industry. A ‘real world’ construction project aiming to implement a novel lime-pozzolan concrete in the field, has been used as a process-tracing case study. Rigorous analysis of this case study project, expressly focusing on project-level communication, has shown the implementation of innovative and sustainable materials to be a complex, socio-technical process. With the aim of identifying opportunities to improve project-level design processes in order to support the uptake of innovation and sustainable solutions, twelve high-level theories have been built on twenty-five emergent themes. Collectively these insights demonstrate that implementation processes, once initiated, are experiential, social, contextual, active, interactive, temporal, intentional and mutually constituted phenomena. On the strength of empirical findings this thesis argues for a radical shift in managerial attention from the outcome of the process to the process itself; specifically focused on the experience of the design team as process participants. Laboratory testing and initial field trials have demonstrated the technical feasibility of producing structural grade lime-pozzolan concretes with 28-day compressive strengths of up to 50MPa. The lime-pozzolan concretes were ternary combinations of hydraulic lime (NHL5), ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) and silica fume (SF). The use of NHL5 in conjunction with pozzolanic materials has been shown to be a viable ‘low-carbon’ alternative to CEMI or CEMIII/A in certain circumstances, although this work has demonstrated that the potential savings in the embodied CO2 and energy of lime-pozzolan concretes are highly dependent on the boundaries of the analysis. Moreover the potential for lime-pozzolan concrete with a lower still CO2 and energy intensity than any concretes tested to date has been identified.

Le développement des technologies de l'information permet aux entreprises et aux consommateurs de travailler ensemble pour développer des innovations. Les entreprises s'appuient sur ce mouvement de co-création en ligne à travers des plateformes de génération d'idées. Les mécanismes sous-jacents des interactions utilisateurs/entreprises deviennent un sujet majeur au niveau théorique et pratique. Ce travail doctoral vise à mieux comprendre les déterminants des innovations co-créées par desconsommateurs. Dans un premier article, nous étudions les acteurs qui contribuent aux innovations externes, et principalement les lead-users dans un contexte de crowdsourcing afin de proposer une typologie de ces consommateurs spécifiques. Deuxièmement, nous explorons en profondeur la notion de performance de l'outil et identifions que ces outils, tels que les plateformes d’idéation et les logiciels open source, doivent regrouper certaines conditions pour augmenter la capacité innovantedes entreprises. Enfin, nous nous concentrons sur l'ensemble du processus de création d’innovations et proposons un modèle théorique basé sur les théories de la résolution de problèmes et les need-solution pairs. Les résultats obtenus dans ce travail doctoral permettent de contribuer à la littérature traitant du crowdsourcing et de l’innovation utilisateurs mais également de répondre à des questions managériales sur la recherche virtuelle d’innovations. Le recours à ces trois niveaux d'analyse (acteurs, outils et méthodes) est essentiel aux entreprises pour intégrer une vision globale de l’environnement extérieur et le succès d’une stratégie d’innovation ouverte. Les trois articles de ce travail permettent d’aider les entreprises à augmenter leur niveau de co-création avec des lead-users. Cette recherche offre également une meilleure compréhension de la conception des outils technologiques pour maximiser l’échange et la création d’idées innovantes par les consommateurs. Le modèle théoriqueproposé permet d’optimiser la recherche de solutions innovantes par le biais d’un processus adapté de formulation du problème. / Advance in information technology allows companies and customers working together to developinnovations. Firms widely rely on this online co-creation movement through idea generation toolkitsand the underlying mechanisms of user-firms interactions become a challenging topic to investigatefor both theory and practice. Across three articles, we aim to better understand user innovationsdeterminants. In the first article proposition, we build on lead user literature to investigate the actorscontributing to external innovations. Second, we explore the notion of tool performance as mean tofacilitate innovation. We identify that online tools, such as ideation platform and Open SourceSoftware need to aggregate several conditions leading to promote innovative outputs. Finally, wefocus on the overall process allowing firms to entirely externalize the idea generation process andmethods to improve this process. We propose a theoretical model built on problem-solving and needsolution pairs theories. Overall, the findings extend both user innovation and crowdsourcing literatureand provide practical implications for virtual search for innovations. The investigations of three levelof analysis: actors, tools and methods is critical. The three articles of our thesis could help firms toincrease interactions with expert users. This research could also provide better understanding on howto design ideation toolkits to maximize innovative context. Finally, our theoretical model might helpfirms to optimize the search for innovative solutions via an adapted process for problem formulation.

Alors que les avantages de l'innovation ouverte ont été largement soulignés dans la littérature, le recours à des intermédiaires pour innover nécessite encore de la clarté dans les articles académiques et dans la pratique. Nous avons donc passé en revue les différentes formes d'intermédiaires. Les ‘broker’, agents intermédiaire, permettent la connexion entre deux partiesdistinctes, l’entreprise initiatrice du challenge et les innovateurs. Impliquer le ‘broker’ dans les processus d'innovation ouverte peut être une stratégie efficace à mettre en place afin d'améliorer la capacité d'absorption de l’entreprise en déjouant les collaborations inadéquates et chronophages (Brown, 1991). Au centre de cette collaboration, le ‘broker’ est l'intermédiaire etl'acteur central permettant la connexion entre ces deux acteurs. Cette thèse met en avant la façon dont l’entreprise orchestre son ouverture à des innovateurs externes. Nous expliquons comment est géré le processus du point de vue de l’entreprise initiatrice à travers une étude de cas de l’entreprise Electrolux, son département d'innovation ouvert très avancé. Nous avons également souligné l’importance du ‘broker’ au travers de notre deuxième étude sur la conception et le contenu des plateformes d'innovation. Notre objectif final était d'expliquer clairement comment ensemble ces deux premiers acteurs peuvent assurer une innovation réussie en se concentrant sur les facteurs qui garantissent la qualité des contributions des innovateurs. Nous avons adopté une approche qualitative, nous avons analysé les données partagées par Electrolux (seeker) et ces ‘broker’. Nous avons également analysé les expériences d'innovation ouverte des acteurs en réalisant des entretiens semi-structurés. La thèse a mis en lumière plusieurs questions non étudiées ou que partiellement et nous apportons des réponses sur la façon dont les entreprises peuvent gérer leur ouverture, comment les ‘broker’ devraient concevoir leurs plateformes pourrépondre aux attentes des utilisateurs (initiateur et innovateur). Ainsi que la façon dont les initiateurs de challenge et les ‘broker’ peuvent mener ensemble des challenges d'innovation ouvertes réussis impliquant des innovateurs du monde entier. Nos résultats ont mis en évidence plusieurs lignes directrices pour les acteurs de l'écosystème de l'innovation ouverte impliquant un ‘broker’. Cependant, des études quantitatives seraient nécessaires pour mesurer quantitativement le succès de cette approche étudiée. / While open innovation advantages has been widely emphasized in the literature. Intermediation under its different forms still requires clarity in academic articles and in practice. We therefore reviewed the different forms of intermediation and we attempt to advance the uncovered field of the brokering form. Brokers act as bridge between two sided parties involved, seeker and solver. Involving broker in open innovation processes can be an effective strategy to put in place in order to enhance absorptive capacity by lowering inadequate and time consuming collaborations (Brown 1991). In the literature, actors initiator of the open challenges are called – seeker, and participants to the open innovation contest are called - solvers. In the middle, brokers are the intermediary and central actor connecting them together. They manage and provide appropriate network from same or different domain of application than the seeker firm. We aim to shed light on how seeker orchestrate or may orchestrate his openness. We explain the management of the process in the seekers’ side through a case study on Electrolux, well-advanced open innovation department. We also highlighted the brokers integration by fully concentrating our study on their innovation platforms design and content. Our final objective was to clearly explain how both seeker and broker may together ensure successful innovation focusing on factors that may ensure quality of the solver’s contributions. Our approach was totally qualitative, we analyze data available from Electrolux (seeker) and brokers. We also interpret participant’s experiences of open innovation with brokers by conducting semi-structured interviews. Our thesis shed light on several uncovered or partially covered questions. We bring answers on how seekers may manage their openness, how brokers should design their platforms to meet users (seeker and solver) attempts. As well as how seeker and broker together may conduct successful open innovation contests involving solvers worldwide. Our findings highlighted several guidelines for the actors of the brokering innovation ecosystem, however, quantitative studies are required to measure quantitatively the success of this approach.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar a forma de atuação das empresas de tecnologia em serviços financeiros – as fintechs – no setor bancário e financeiro brasileiro. O fenômeno das fintechs ocorre em todo mundo e as inovações trazidas por elas vêm transformando o setor bancário e financeiro. A relevância da pesquisa está na atualidade do tema e a importância que o sistema bancário e financeiro possui no sistema econômico atual. Para a realização da pesquisa foi utilizado o método qualitativo exploratório, através de coleta de dados secundários e realização de entrevistas semiestruturas, com a definição de um modelo metodológico baseado nas capacidades quanto a atuação das fintechs no mercado. Foram considerados aspectos gerais sobre as fintechs e dos profissionais entrevistados, e suas capacidades relacionados ao desenvolvimento tecnológico, operação, gestão e transacional. Foram realizadas entrevistas com um roteiro semiestruturado com 11 fintechs de diferentes segmentos e 3 empresas do ecossistema dessas empresas (uma consultoria, uma associação e uma aceleradora). A revisão de literatura apresentou os conceitos de estruturas de mercado, inovação e modelo de negócios. Foram apresentados de forma descritiva informações sobre o setor bancário e financeiro, considerando aspectos de evolução do setor, tecnologias e panorama atual das fintechs A análise e apresentação dos resultados foram realizadas conforme os aspectos referidos no modelo metodológico, considerando os dados coletados durante as entrevistas com as fintechs selecionadas, as empresas do ecossistema e os dados secundários. A análise dos dados permitiu a definição de uma fintech padrão brasileira, modelo este decorrente da análise da forma de atuação das fintechs selecionadas. A atuação das fintechs consiste na utilização de uma elevada base tecnológica, um serviço/produto financeiro altamente escalável focado na experiência do cliente, estruturas operacionais enxutas e direcionadas à área de desenvolvimento, gestão ágil, marketing digital focado em clientes millenials e definição de metas indicadores de desempenho de difícil mensuração. Além disso, a pesquisa identificou tendências do setor perante a evolução e posicionamento das fintechs, das instituições bancárias e financeiras e possíveis novos players do setor. / This study aimed to analyze how the new financial and technologic companies – the fintechs – operate in the brazilian banking sector. The fintech revolution is affecting the banking sector all over the world, including the brazilian sector. Nowadays, the fintechs’ debate is an mandatory subject in banking sector discussions, bringing to us an important topic for research, considering its major relevance of potential changes in the banking sector. The methodological course of this research was designed as an exploratory qualitative study. Data were collected from secondary sources and through interviews with professionals/founders/partners from 11 different fintechs and 3 companies from the fintechs’ ecosystem (a consulting company, a fintechs’ association and a startups’ accelerator) considering aspects of its services, operational, management, marketing and performance The review of the literature contemplated the concepts of market structures, innovation and business models. Further information was presented of the banking sector considering its evolution, innovations, technologies and the emergence of the fintechs in Brazil. The analysis and presentation of the results were organized according the aspects defined in the method model (services, operational, management, marketing and performance) and synthetized in a suggested model of fintech. The results showed that fintechs in Brazil emerge from professionals with banking sector experience and its business models have a high level of technology applied, high growth potential in a short period, focus in customer experience, reduced staff (focused in P&D), fast decision making, focus in the millenials customers and complex definitions of indicators to evaluate performance and define goals. Also, this study identified market tendencies of banking sector.

Bakgrund/problem: Innovativa entreprenöriella företag skapar både tillväxt och arbetstillfällen i de samhällen de verkar i. Det är därför viktigt för vår välfärd att den typen av företag bildas och lyckas etablera sig. Att starta ett innovativt entreprenöriellt bolag är dock riskfyllt eftersom många nystartade företag går i konkurs. Forskare har på senare år visat att en bra affärsmodell är väldigt viktigt för nystartade företag och modeller har tagits fram för hur en affärsmodell ska utvecklas för att göra ett nystartat företag framgångsrikt. Innovativa entreprenöriella företag möter dock utmaningar som andra företag slipper och de affärsmodeller som tagits fram för vanliga entreprenöriella företag kan därför antas vara otillräckliga för de som ska starta ett innovativt entreprenöriellt företag. Forskningen om innovativa entreprenöriella företag är ännu väldigt begränsad och med den här uppsatsen vill jag öka förståelsen för de utmaningar och möjligheter de ställs för och med de utmaningarna och möjligheterna som utgångspunkt vill jag också föra ett resonemang runt hur affärsmodellen för ett sådant företag kan vara konstruerad.   Syfte: Syftet med den här undersökningen är att öka förståelsen för innovativa entreprenöriella företags utmaningar och möjligheter och med utmaningarna och möjligheterna som utgångspunkt söka förståelse för hur en affärsmodell för ett innovativt entreprenöriellt företag kan modelleras.   Metod: Undersökningen är av kvalitativ art med en hermeneutisk kunskapssyn. Det empiriska materialet är insamlat genom sex intervjuer med innovativa entreprenörer som har startat företag för att ta sina innovationer till marknaden.   Resultat: Resultatet av den här studien är en modell som beskriver hur en affärsmodell för innovativa entreprenöriella företag kan modelleras. Modellen är uppdelad i tre processer: en konceptuell där entreprenören/entreprenörerna formulerar en idé om vad företaget ska göra, en etableringsprocess där entreprenören/entreprenörerna formulerar en idé om entreprenörskap och vilken entreprenöriell möjlighet som ska utnyttjas och en finansiell process där entreprenören/entreprenörerna formulerar en idé om hur företaget ska bli lönsamt och skapa vinst.   Nyckelord: Innovation, entreprenörskap, innovativt entreprenörskap och affärsmodell.

This study postulates that the current incumbents in the SA mobile telecommunications industry are still relying on old working mobile technologies even though new types are emerging within the industry. The telecommunications industry is undergoing radical changes of its own; some examples include global liberalization of trade and investment in telecommunications, as well as national deregulation and privatization. Thus, SA telecommunications businesses are facing a double dilemma: while the telecommunications technology and industry are being rapidly redefined, the markets are being opened to local and global competition.

Os custos elevados de aquisição de conhecimento, a intensificação da concorrência e a necessidade de aproximação do consumidor vêm estimulando empresas a buscar formas alternativas de aumentar seu potencial de inovação pela integração de usuários. No entanto, a literatura e o senso comum convergem ao afirmar que nem todo usuário está habilitado a trazer conhecimentos que sustentem a vantagem competitiva das inovações. Nesse contexto, emerge a figura do lead user que, por definição, é capaz de sentir necessidades de produtos e serviços ainda não expressos por usuários regulares. Esses conhecimentos, quando adequadamente absorvidos, trazem benefícios expressivos às empresas que os incorporam ao DNP. Sabendo que as formas de incorporação de usuários apresentam variações, este estudo se destina a entender como empresas de diferentes setores absorvem conhecimentos de lead users por diferentes práticas de integração. Para tanto, foi escolhido o método de estudo de casos múltiplos incorporados, observados em três multinacionais de grande porte: Natura, Whirlpool e Microsoft (Bing). Ao todo foram avalidados cinco modos de integração distintos, escolhidos a partir de duas formações: individual (conhecimentos isolados de usuários distintos) e coletivo (conhecimentos articulados em discussões em grupo), analisados pelos métodos de indução analítica com síntese cruzada de dados. Os resultados mostraram que as categorias teóricas utilizadas para observação inicial do fenômenol: parâmetro de identificação e técnica de seleção (aquisição); mecanismo de interação (assimilação); mecanismos de socialização (transformação) e sistema de formalização (exploração) apoiaram parcialmente o entendimento das atividades do processo e, por esta razão, precisaram se complementadas pelas categorias emergentes: criação de contexto, motivação (aquisição); estímulos, parâmetro de observação, interpretação (assimilação); definição de papéis, coordenação de processos, combinação de conhecimento (transformação) e gestão do conhecimento (exploração), coletadas na fase empírica Essa complementação aumentou a robustez do modelo inicial e mostrou como a absorção de conhecimentos pode ser avaliada pelas dimensões absortivas. No entanto, as análises intra e intercasos que se seguiram, mostraram que esse entendimento era insuficiente para explicar a capacidade de absorção por diferentes práticas, uma vez que o fenômeno é influenciado por fatores contextuais associados tanto à prática de integração quanto ao modo como cada empresa se organiza para inovar (tipo de acesso ao colaborador). As reflexões teóricas realizadas a partir desses resultados permitiram contribuir com a teoria existente de duas formas: I) pelo entendimento estendido das atividades de absorção necessárias para incorporação de conhecimentos de lead users e III) pela proposição de um modelo conceitual amplo que abarcou diferentes práticas de integração considerando também os antecedentes de inovação, as atividades absortivas e os fatores adjuntos, inerentes a cada prática. Esta pesquisa objetiva contribuir para o conhecimento teórico sobre inovação e motivar reflexões que possam ser úteis para gerentes e executivos interessados em aprimorar suas práticas e processos de captação de conhecimentos de lead users. / The high costs of acquiring knowledge, the increased competition and the need for consumer approach has stimulated companies to seek alternative ways to increase their innovation potential by integrating users. However, literature and common sense converge to say that not every user is able to bring knowledge to support the competitive advantage of innovations. In this context, the picture emerges of the lead user that, by definition, is capable of sensing needs for products and services not yet expressed by regular users. This knowledge, when properly absorbed, bring significant benefits to companies that incorporate the DNP. Knowing that the forms of incorporation users have variations, this study aims to understand how companies from different sectors lead absorb knowledge users for different integration practices. Thus, it was chosen the method of multiple case study incorporated, observed in three large multinationals: Natura, Whirlpool and Microsoft (Bing). In all, we avalidados five distinct modes of integration, chosen from two configurations: individual (individual knowledge of different users) and collective (articulated knowledge in group discussions), analyzed by the methods of analytic induction cross-synthesis of data. The results showed that the theoretical categories used for the initial observation phenomenological: identification and parameter selection technique (acquisition); interaction mechanism (assimilation); socialization mechanisms (transformation) and formalizing system (exploration) partially supported the understanding of the process activities and, therefore, had to be complemented by emerging categories: context of creation, motivation (acquisition); stimulus parameter of observation, interpretation (assimilation); definition of roles, coordination processes, combination of knowledge (processing) and knowledge management (holding) collected empirical phase This supplement increased the robustness of the initial model and showed how the absorption of knowledge can be assessed by the absorptive dimensions. However, intra- and intercasos analysis that followed showed that such an approach was insufficient to explain the absorption capacity for different practices, since the phenomenon is influenced by contextual factors related both to the practice of integration as to how each enterprise is organized to innovate (type of access to the employee). The theoretical reflections made from these results allowed to contribute to the existing theory in two ways: I) by understanding extended the absorption activities necessary for incorporating lead users of knowledge and III) by proposing a broad conceptual model that encompassed different practices Integration also considering the innovation history, the absorptive activities and deputy factors inherent to each practice. This research aims to contribute to the theoretical understanding of innovation and motivate reflections that might be useful for managers and executives interested in improving their practices and lead users knowledge capture processes.

The present Study deals with the establishment of growth companies (Startups) under the assumption, which not only the innovative product leads to the success of the new Company but a Combination of innovative products and innovative organizational design. First the five decision areas of a predecessor company (Leadership (management), financing, controlling, marketing and human resources) were examined, and then five hypotheses identified, which were then analyzed by an empirical study of their validity. The results of the theoretical part are five proposals for the innovative design of the five areas of decision. Complementary occupied founding team for the leadership, bootstrapping for the financing, BSC for controlling, Alpha-communicators to the marketing and finally an employee share ownership for the human resources. Ten founders of the following technology fields: biotechnology, nanotechnology, navigation technology, satellite communications, Network-software-technology, medical technology, internet, technology and funding-Software-development were asked to participate on a questionnaire and then on an expert interview to the above design proposals. The study results have shown that there is a significant correlation between success on one side and the organization of a growth company on the other side. They have also shown that the proposed method and instruments for shaping the decision-making areas because of their particular suitability contributions to the success of the Establishment and ensure the survival of the company.

The purpose of the diploma thesis is to introduce Inovum, o.p.s. - agency that offers professional couching to entrepreneurs and start-ups with the innovative idea and through that indirectly supports competitiveness of the Czech economy. Within the thesis, the innovation ecosystem of the Czech Republic is analyzed. In addition, marketing analysis and marketing plan for Inovum, o.p.s. is devised. The main goal is to propose a marketing plan for the agency which is in line with the real situation on the market.