<p>Even though companies are facing a continuously changing environment, far from all businesses manage to succeed with their organizational changes. (Olson, 2008) If wanting to meet market demands and avoid unnecessary costs it is important to ask the question if we can, in some way, predict, understand or influence the process of change. (Ahrenfelt, 2001) The purpose of this thesis is to determine if life-cycle theories can be used exclusively when planning and managing a process of change. To answer the purpose, the thesis is based upon a qualitative case study at Consafe Logistics group. Theobjective with the empirical studies, executed through nine interviews with various managers, was to determine whether or not life-cycle models and organizational culture can be of assistance when managing change. The studies showed that the opinions differ between the respondents and that the topics internal communication and documentation were frequently brought up during the interviews.</p><p>Theoretically, this thesis addresses different life-cycle change theories and an alternative model for implementing change through organizational culture. Furthermore the theoretic section considers the areas Project organization, Leadership in processes of change, Knowledge, competence & education, Internal communication and Documentation. The thesis showed that applying life-cycle theories to a change can be of limited use since there are big difficulties in placing the different activities throughout the change in achronological order. The theories can be used however to highlight the relationship between activities which can be useful for making time savings. Irrespective of the order activities are managed in a process of change, measurable goals, feedback and support throughout the process are central for the change’s outcome. This thesis has resulted in a general life-cycle model for managing organizational change based upon existing theoriesand empirical studies. Finally, culture and inertia are described as two factors that either facilitate or inhibit the success of the change depending on how they are managed.</p>

Even though companies are facing a continuously changing environment, far from all businesses manage to succeed with their organizational changes. (Olson, 2008) If wanting to meet market demands and avoid unnecessary costs it is important to ask the question if we can, in some way, predict, understand or influence the process of change. (Ahrenfelt, 2001) The purpose of this thesis is to determine if life-cycle theories can be used exclusively when planning and managing a process of change. To answer the purpose, the thesis is based upon a qualitative case study at Consafe Logistics group. Theobjective with the empirical studies, executed through nine interviews with various managers, was to determine whether or not life-cycle models and organizational culture can be of assistance when managing change. The studies showed that the opinions differ between the respondents and that the topics internal communication and documentation were frequently brought up during the interviews. Theoretically, this thesis addresses different life-cycle change theories and an alternative model for implementing change through organizational culture. Furthermore the theoretic section considers the areas Project organization, Leadership in processes of change, Knowledge, competence &amp; education, Internal communication and Documentation. The thesis showed that applying life-cycle theories to a change can be of limited use since there are big difficulties in placing the different activities throughout the change in achronological order. The theories can be used however to highlight the relationship between activities which can be useful for making time savings. Irrespective of the order activities are managed in a process of change, measurable goals, feedback and support throughout the process are central for the change’s outcome. This thesis has resulted in a general life-cycle model for managing organizational change based upon existing theoriesand empirical studies. Finally, culture and inertia are described as two factors that either facilitate or inhibit the success of the change depending on how they are managed.

The thesis is focused on administration and supervision of Service oriented architecture (SOA). The main idea of SOA is system decomposition to functional units, which contain bounded and well understandable functionality. This functionality, in form of service, is provided to other units through clearly described interface. Well-identified relationships between service provider and service consumer are created. SOA governance aims to manage these relationships, to monitor quality of services and to control adherence of stated rules and policies. These rules and policies are established by central team responsible for integration and architecture development. Starting point of successful architecture development is acquaintance of service portfolio and their inter-relationships. Each service should go through whole formal life-cycle, which particular phases have special policies applied. Main interest is devoted to run-time phase - run-time monitoring and run-time governance. Theory is complemented by practical examples of report generation and service monitoring with SLA adherence observation. The thesis also contains structural model of SOA governance taking into account infrastructural elements of SOA and information flows between them.

Today, there is a great need for companies to be dynamic and cope with the fast-changing environment to stay competitive, stressing the need for well-defined processes for innovation and product portfolio management. For larger companies, it has been proven to be difficult to change traditional ways of working and adjust to new changes. Stora Enso is a large company, consisting of six different divisions with individual products, markets and processes for innovation and managing product life cycles. The lack of a common process causes problems in communicating, comparing results, and sharing resources between the divisions. In order to work in a more unified way, the company decided to introduce a cross-divisional process called Product Life Cycle Process (PLCP). The purpose of this study is therefore to analyze how a large company works with and manages the implementation of a new process and identify what challenges the company might face when dealing with this type of change. A literature study was performed in order to collect information regarding change management, innovation and product portfolio management processes as well as the implementation of these. Since the PLCP should be used in all divisions, information was collected by qualitative interviews from all six divisions to understand their plans, challenges and success factors. The results showed that all divisions were positive about the implementation of the new PLCP on a divisional level and saw benefits with the PLCP having similarities to their old ways of working, making the adaptation somewhat easier. The greatest challenges mentioned were lack of defined ownership and roles, employee resistance, lack of resources, flexibility, and support from management. All the divisions were also positive towards the company having one joint process and could see potential benefits like an overall common understanding and improved transparency between divisional products and projects. However, the greatest challenge mentioned was the fundamental differences between the divisions due to different products, projects, and strategies. To be able to meet changes in trends, needs, and requirements from customers, the study proved that Stora Enso is going in the right direction with the implementation of a joint process. Introducing the PLCP enables the company to speed up innovation and to commercialize products faster. Following are future recommendations provided for the company to further manage the implementation and work with the PLCP. Stora Enso needs to communicate a clear vision for how the company should handle the implementation and implement one IT-tool that includes managing products, support infrastructure, and performance measuring. They should also provide all managers and employees training and collect feedback from all divisions throughout the implementation. Stora Enso should also create and define clear product definitions and ownership roles for each division and take into consideration the different prerequisites of the division when planning the implementation of the PLCP. The company must therefore provide different time plans and financial support to the divisions based on their preconditions. / Det är viktigt för företag att vara dynamiska och konkurrenskraftiga för att klara av de snabba förändringar som sker på dagens marknader. Detta gör att det blir allt viktigare för ett företag att ha väldefinierade processer för både innovation och produktportföljhantering. Dock har det visat sig att större företag har svårt att ändra sina traditionella processer för att möta nya förändringar. Stora Enso är ett stort företag som består av sex divisioner med olika produkter, marknader och processer för innovation och produktlivscykler. Divisionerna har upplevt problem med att jobba på olika sätt eftersom de saknar en gemensam kommunikation, har svårt att jämföra resultat och dela resurser mellan divisionerna. Därför har nu företaget valt att introducera en gemensam produktprocess, kallad Product Life Cycle Process (PLCP), som alla divisioner ska jobba efter. Syftet av denna studie därför att analysera hur ett stort företag genomför och hanterar en implementation av en ny process och identifiera vilka utmaningar som företag kan uppleva under en sådan typ av förändring. En litteraturstudie utfördes för att hitta relevant litteratur om förändringshantering, innovation- och produktportföljhanteringprocesser samt hur dessa implementeras i ett företag. Eftersom PLCP skulle användas på alla sex divisioner så utfördes kvalitativa intervjuer med medarbetare på alla divisioner för att förstå divisionernas planer, utmaningar och de möjligheter de såg. Resultatet från intervjuerna visade att alla divisioner var positivt inställda till implementeringen av PLCP på en divisionsnivå och såg fördelar med att PLCP var lik många av divisionernas tidigare arbetssätt, vilket kunde göra det enklare att anpassa sig till den nya processen. Den största utmaningen som nämndes var bristen på definierade ägarroller, motstånd från anställda, brist på resurser, processens inflexibilitet och brist på stöd från ledningen. Alla divisioner var också positivt inställda till att alla inom företaget arbetar med en gemensam process och kunde se potentiella fördelar såsom en övergripande, gemensam förståelse samt förbättrad transparens mellan divisionernas produkter och projekt. Den största utmaningen var dock de grundläggande skillnaderna mellan divisionerna till följd av deras olika produkter, projekt och strategier. För att kunna möta föränderliga trender, krav och behov från kunder visar denna studie att Stora Enso går i rätt riktning genom att implementera en gemensam process. Implementering av processen möjliggör snabbare arbete med innovation och kommersialisering av produkter. Följande rekommendationer för att hantera implementeringen och fortsatt arbetet med PLCP presenterades till företaget. Stora Enso måste kommunicera en tydlig vision för hur företaget ska hantera implementeringen, samt implementera ett IT-verktyg som inkluderar hantering av produkter, en supportinfrastruktur och resultatmätning. De bör också ge alla chefer och anställda utbildning samt samla in feedback från alla divisioner genom hela implementeringen. Stora Enso bör också skapa och definiera tydliga produktdefinitioner samt ägarroller för varje division och ta hänsyn till divisionernas olika förutsättningar vid planering av implementeringen. Företaget bör därför tillhandahålla olika tidsplaner och ekonomiskt stöd till de olika divisionerna utifrån deras förutsättningar.