<p>The concept of positioning was first highlighted by Trout and Ries in an article published in 1971 and has since then been a well-studied subject. However, little study has been made regarding the way the positioning strategy changes depending on which country the company is about to enter. The purpose of this master dissertation is thus to investigate culture’s role as a driving force in international positioning. </p><p>The theoretical framework consists of the foundations of the positioning process and international marketing literature about cross-cultural theories. These theories are put together in an analytical model where a connection between the two theories is illustrated that will be used as a foundation in gathering and analysing the empirical data. </p><p>In a qualitative approach, the empirical data was gathered through semi-structured telephone interviews with the Marketing Directors or a corresponding title of five different Swedish international companies. These findings were also complemented with secondary data such as web pages and annual reports of the companies.</p><p>The findings of the study showed that cultural differences are considered to some extent and have resulted to an entirely new positioning strategy for one of the researched companies and to changes in the strategic tools made for consolidating the position in two additional companies. In the two remaining companies, culture has not been a driving force and the companies have thus not considered this in their positioning in international markets.</p>

The concept of positioning was first highlighted by Trout and Ries in an article published in 1971 and has since then been a well-studied subject. However, little study has been made regarding the way the positioning strategy changes depending on which country the company is about to enter. The purpose of this master dissertation is thus to investigate culture’s role as a driving force in international positioning. The theoretical framework consists of the foundations of the positioning process and international marketing literature about cross-cultural theories. These theories are put together in an analytical model where a connection between the two theories is illustrated that will be used as a foundation in gathering and analysing the empirical data. In a qualitative approach, the empirical data was gathered through semi-structured telephone interviews with the Marketing Directors or a corresponding title of five different Swedish international companies. These findings were also complemented with secondary data such as web pages and annual reports of the companies. The findings of the study showed that cultural differences are considered to some extent and have resulted to an entirely new positioning strategy for one of the researched companies and to changes in the strategic tools made for consolidating the position in two additional companies. In the two remaining companies, culture has not been a driving force and the companies have thus not considered this in their positioning in international markets.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) came into the power when banking institutions started to become more and more competitive. The focus on CRM increased banks' abilities to understand their customers' current needs more precisely and also helped them to understand their customers' behaviours, such as what they have done in the past, and what they plan to do in the future. Such practice further helped banks to design strategies based on each customer's preferences in order to meet their customers' demands (Xu, et al., 2002). The adoption of the CRM within the banking industry chiefly depends on the overall adoption of IT culture within the country. Today, developed countries like the UK are enjoying innovative technologies, tailored-made systems, and have a high level of IT maturity within their banking industry. On the other hand, developing countries such as Pakistan are still dealing with several technological issues and the biggest one is the lack of IT alignment within most of their organizations especially within their banking industry (Kundi and Nawaz, 2006). Therefore, it is essential for researchers to further investigate the major IT-related problems faced by the banking industry, especially problems with the current use of the CRM system within the banking industry of developing countries i.e. Pakistan compared to banks in developed countries i.e. UK.This research has investigated and covered the overall operational issues of the CRM system within the banking industry of both developed and developing countries i.e. UK and Pakistan by using a qualitative case study research approach with two case studies, in which the Pakistani banking sector is selected as the developing country for case study one; for a developed country, the UK banking sector is selected as case study two. From the several existing UK and Pakistani banks, the researcher has selected some leading banks from the two countries and conducted several semi-structured interviews with different bank employees. Furthermore, the obtained interviews' results from both case studies are analyzed, compared, and discussed using an in-depth cross-case analysis approach and uncovered the similarities, differences, and several CRM operational issues within the banking sectors of both Pakistan and the UK.

As cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar tornaram-se formas alternativas de produção, comercialização e consumo de alimentos, redefiniram as relações e as interações com os espaços sociais e com o ambiente institucional, criando novas ligações entre os produtores e os consumidores. Também permitiram ao consumidor fazer novos juízos de valor com base no seu próprio conhecimento e experiência, fazendo com que, além das diferenças intrínsecas e funcionais do alimento, como sabor, nutrição e saúde, as características externas como a saúde pública, meio ambiente, ética e justiça social se tornassem critérios de avaliação, competição e características de qualidade. Em breve pesquisa bibliométrica, observou-se que os estudos sobre as cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar abrangeram uma variedade de temas, como por exemplo, desenvolvimento rural, geografia econômica, sustentabilidade e segurança alimentar, além de temas mais atuais, como agricultura urbana e comportamento do consumidor. Ou seja, observou-se uma mudança no foco analítico visto que os estudos passam a considerar as práticas de consumo alimentar como pontos centrais de análise. No entanto, considerando o aumento das preocupações com a natureza da colaboração e do conflito entre os atores envolvidos, esta tese buscou na abordagem da cocriação de valor uma forma de estudar e analisar essas relações nos três tipos de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar. Abordando uma realidade na qual o consumidor deixou de ser um ator passivo e passou a ter papel de fundamental importância no mercado, a cocriação de valor tem ganhado um espaço cada vez maior na literatura empresarial, porém, como esta tese irá demonstrar, ainda não foi aplicada em cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar, revelando o caráter inédito deste estudo e uma oportunidade de pesquisa valiosa. Baseando-se nos estudos de Prahalad e Ramaswamy e Vargo e Lusch, assume-se que a cocriação de valor ocorre no mercado e no momento de uso de um produto ou serviço, pressupondo a existência de um novo contexto, no qual o valor está na experiência e não mais no produto em si, ou seja, ela ocorre quando o consumidor e a empresa estão intimamente envolvidos em, conjuntamente, criar o valor, que é único para o consumidor individual e para a sustentabilidade da empresa. Sendo assim, partindo dessas premissas e baseando-se nos elementos descritos pelos autores como fundamentais para se caracterizar uma relação cogeradora de valor − diálogo, acesso, risco e transparência (DART) − esta tese procura responder à seguinte pergunta de pesquisa: Existe cocriação de valor nos diferentes tipos de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar? Para tanto, realizou-se 04 estudos de caso em diferentes regiões do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, abrangendo a tipificação de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar descrita por Renting et al. (2003). Revisão integrativa de literatura, entrevistas on-line e pessoais, assim como observação direta foram as ferramentas escolhidas para o levantamento dos dados secundários. Os resultados revelaram que não há evidências de cocriação de valor em todas as cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar estudadas, ressaltando que as mesmas possuem especificidades importantes que precisam ser consideradas quando se analisam as relações entre os atores envolvidos. / Short food supply chains have become an alternative way of producing, selling, and consuming food, and redefined relations and interactions with social spaces and with the institutional environment, creating new connections between producers and consumers. They have also allowed the consumer to have new value judgements based on their own knowledge and experience, allowing, besides the intrinsic and functional differences of the food, such as flavor, nutrients and health, external characteristics, such as public health, environment, ethics, and social justice to become criteria for evaluation, competition and characteristics of quality. Through a brief bibliometric research, it was observed that studies about short food supply chains have covered a broad range of topics such as rural development, economic geography, sustainability, and food safety, and more current topics such as urban agriculture and consumer behavior. That is, there was a change in the analytical focus, and studies began considering food consumption practices as central points for analysis. However, considering the increase in the worries about the nature of the collaboration, and the conflict between the parts involved, this thesis tried, through the co-creation of value approach, a way to study and analyze these relations in the three kinds of short food supply chain. Approaching a reality in which the consumer went from a passive role to playing a fundamental part in the market, co-creation of value has been gaining more space in the business literature, but, as this thesis will show, still has not been applied to short food supply chains, then revealing the unprecedented character of this study, and a valuable research opportunity. Based on Prahalad and Ramaswamy and Vargo and Lusch, it is assumed that co-creation of value occurs in the market and in the moment the product or service is being used, presupposing the existence of a new context in which the value is in the experience, and not anymore in the product itself, which means it occurs when the consumer and the company are intimately involved in, together, creating a value that is unique for the individual consumer and for the sustainability of the company. So, starting from these premises and based on the elements described by the authors as fundamental to characterize a relation that co-generates value – the dialogue, access, risk and transparency (DART) – this thesis tries to answer the following research question: is there co-creation of value in the different kinds of short food supply chains? For that, four case studies were made in different regions of the Rio Grande do Sul state, covering the classification of short food supply chains described by Renting et al. (2003). Integrative review of the literature, online and personal interviews, as well as direct observation, were the tools chosen for secondary data collection. The results showed that there is no evidence of value creation in all the short supply chains studied, emphasizing that they have important specificities that should be considered when analyzing the relationships among the actors involved.

Title: Political Parties’ in Social Media - A case study of political parties’ crisis management in social media Introduction: The emergence of social media platforms has transformed how organizations communicate with stakeholders. The concept of social media is top of agenda for many business executives today. While some argue social media to provide unique opportunities for organizations, others argue the opposite. The rise of social media enables crises to escalate, implying that organizations need to have well-established crisis management strategies. In the Swedish election of 2014, social media is predicted to have enormous influence on the end result for the political parties. Prior to this thesis, no previous research has looked deeper into the context of crisis management in social media for political parties in Sweden. It is in the political context where this study contributes to the research area. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate political parties’ crisis management in social media, using strategies developed for commercial organizations, and thereby contribute to the research of non-commercial organizations. Methodology: A triangulation method was used of semi structured interviews and archival analysis on four crises of political parties. Eight parties in the Swedish parliament where deliberately selected. However, only four of the parties, Socialdemokraterna (S), Sverigedemokraterna (SD), Vänsterpartiet (V) and Centerpartiet (C), had the possibility to participate in the study. Conclusion: (S), (V) and (C) all used both Facebook and Twitter as a crisis communication channel especially due to its speed and spread. However, (SD) did not use social media as crisis communication channel. The crisis management in social media of each party could improve immensely, however limited resources of employees and finance was found to be the main reasons holding the progress back. Conclusively, dialogue strategies and to some extent response strategies used by commercial organizations are indeed frequently used by political parties as well.

Nearly 70% of process improvement projects are failing to provide the expected benefits (Grant 2002). The cost of process improvement projects can be quite substantial and the number of these projects occurring within organisations continues to increase. John Thorp (1998) describes an environment in which managers are struggling to demonstrate the connection between costs and expected business benefits. This eighteen month master's research project has identified a gap in both the academic literature and the business practices of most organisations. This thesis aims to make explicit the selection of processes to improve and to provide the link between process objectives and organisational goals (Davenport 1993; Hammer and Champy 1993). Published literature, coupled with the experience of the research team, has resulted in the development of a targeting methodology for defining and ranking critical processes, and then selecting which of those critical processes to improve first. Although the research team believes that the methodology is applicable to many industries, the research was undertaken in the application hosting centre (AHC) and application service provision (ASP) industry. A focus group and follow on Delphi study was used to ensure that the processes and functional area focused upon was of importance to the participants of the research. This research project was funded by the Australian Research Council's Linkage projects and undertaken with support by REALTECH. The participants included the top three information systems outsourcing companies in Australia and another in the top ten of this industry. The study commenced with identifying critical processes in the ASP environment. This involved both a focus group session and a Delphi study. The Delphi study was followed by four action learning cycles using case studies (action, observe, reflect and revise). These action learning cycles using case studies have revealed that the methodology (which includes the steps to implement the methodology) meets the needs of organisations to identify and select 'critical' processes for improvement. It provides business and researchers with a logical and explicit method to reduce the 'squeaky wheel' and 'latest fad' approaches to process improvement projects. These prior approaches improve processes not necessarily critical for achieving organisational goals consuming limited resources for little gain. The targeting method makes the alignment of process objectives with goals by explicitly linking processes to organisational goals possible. The limitations of this research project are that it does not intend to verify the achievement of business benefit, document the change to an organisation due to its use of the targeting methodology or determine the long term benefits to an organisation using the targeting methodology. These questions might be answered in a longer and larger study as this project is limited to an eighteen month time frame. As for generalisability, the study has focused on the AHC and ASP industries, and the participants, while operating within this industry, are quite different. For the different phases of this project the participants come from in-house providers, multinational outsourcing providers, commercialised government providers, specialist niche product providers, and enterprise system suppliers.

As cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar tornaram-se formas alternativas de produção, comercialização e consumo de alimentos, redefiniram as relações e as interações com os espaços sociais e com o ambiente institucional, criando novas ligações entre os produtores e os consumidores. Também permitiram ao consumidor fazer novos juízos de valor com base no seu próprio conhecimento e experiência, fazendo com que, além das diferenças intrínsecas e funcionais do alimento, como sabor, nutrição e saúde, as características externas como a saúde pública, meio ambiente, ética e justiça social se tornassem critérios de avaliação, competição e características de qualidade. Em breve pesquisa bibliométrica, observou-se que os estudos sobre as cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar abrangeram uma variedade de temas, como por exemplo, desenvolvimento rural, geografia econômica, sustentabilidade e segurança alimentar, além de temas mais atuais, como agricultura urbana e comportamento do consumidor. Ou seja, observou-se uma mudança no foco analítico visto que os estudos passam a considerar as práticas de consumo alimentar como pontos centrais de análise. No entanto, considerando o aumento das preocupações com a natureza da colaboração e do conflito entre os atores envolvidos, esta tese buscou na abordagem da cocriação de valor uma forma de estudar e analisar essas relações nos três tipos de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar. Abordando uma realidade na qual o consumidor deixou de ser um ator passivo e passou a ter papel de fundamental importância no mercado, a cocriação de valor tem ganhado um espaço cada vez maior na literatura empresarial, porém, como esta tese irá demonstrar, ainda não foi aplicada em cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar, revelando o caráter inédito deste estudo e uma oportunidade de pesquisa valiosa. Baseando-se nos estudos de Prahalad e Ramaswamy e Vargo e Lusch, assume-se que a cocriação de valor ocorre no mercado e no momento de uso de um produto ou serviço, pressupondo a existência de um novo contexto, no qual o valor está na experiência e não mais no produto em si, ou seja, ela ocorre quando o consumidor e a empresa estão intimamente envolvidos em, conjuntamente, criar o valor, que é único para o consumidor individual e para a sustentabilidade da empresa. Sendo assim, partindo dessas premissas e baseando-se nos elementos descritos pelos autores como fundamentais para se caracterizar uma relação cogeradora de valor − diálogo, acesso, risco e transparência (DART) − esta tese procura responder à seguinte pergunta de pesquisa: Existe cocriação de valor nos diferentes tipos de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar? Para tanto, realizou-se 04 estudos de caso em diferentes regiões do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, abrangendo a tipificação de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar descrita por Renting et al. (2003). Revisão integrativa de literatura, entrevistas on-line e pessoais, assim como observação direta foram as ferramentas escolhidas para o levantamento dos dados secundários. Os resultados revelaram que não há evidências de cocriação de valor em todas as cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar estudadas, ressaltando que as mesmas possuem especificidades importantes que precisam ser consideradas quando se analisam as relações entre os atores envolvidos. / Short food supply chains have become an alternative way of producing, selling, and consuming food, and redefined relations and interactions with social spaces and with the institutional environment, creating new connections between producers and consumers. They have also allowed the consumer to have new value judgements based on their own knowledge and experience, allowing, besides the intrinsic and functional differences of the food, such as flavor, nutrients and health, external characteristics, such as public health, environment, ethics, and social justice to become criteria for evaluation, competition and characteristics of quality. Through a brief bibliometric research, it was observed that studies about short food supply chains have covered a broad range of topics such as rural development, economic geography, sustainability, and food safety, and more current topics such as urban agriculture and consumer behavior. That is, there was a change in the analytical focus, and studies began considering food consumption practices as central points for analysis. However, considering the increase in the worries about the nature of the collaboration, and the conflict between the parts involved, this thesis tried, through the co-creation of value approach, a way to study and analyze these relations in the three kinds of short food supply chain. Approaching a reality in which the consumer went from a passive role to playing a fundamental part in the market, co-creation of value has been gaining more space in the business literature, but, as this thesis will show, still has not been applied to short food supply chains, then revealing the unprecedented character of this study, and a valuable research opportunity. Based on Prahalad and Ramaswamy and Vargo and Lusch, it is assumed that co-creation of value occurs in the market and in the moment the product or service is being used, presupposing the existence of a new context in which the value is in the experience, and not anymore in the product itself, which means it occurs when the consumer and the company are intimately involved in, together, creating a value that is unique for the individual consumer and for the sustainability of the company. So, starting from these premises and based on the elements described by the authors as fundamental to characterize a relation that co-generates value – the dialogue, access, risk and transparency (DART) – this thesis tries to answer the following research question: is there co-creation of value in the different kinds of short food supply chains? For that, four case studies were made in different regions of the Rio Grande do Sul state, covering the classification of short food supply chains described by Renting et al. (2003). Integrative review of the literature, online and personal interviews, as well as direct observation, were the tools chosen for secondary data collection. The results showed that there is no evidence of value creation in all the short supply chains studied, emphasizing that they have important specificities that should be considered when analyzing the relationships among the actors involved.

As cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar tornaram-se formas alternativas de produção, comercialização e consumo de alimentos, redefiniram as relações e as interações com os espaços sociais e com o ambiente institucional, criando novas ligações entre os produtores e os consumidores. Também permitiram ao consumidor fazer novos juízos de valor com base no seu próprio conhecimento e experiência, fazendo com que, além das diferenças intrínsecas e funcionais do alimento, como sabor, nutrição e saúde, as características externas como a saúde pública, meio ambiente, ética e justiça social se tornassem critérios de avaliação, competição e características de qualidade. Em breve pesquisa bibliométrica, observou-se que os estudos sobre as cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar abrangeram uma variedade de temas, como por exemplo, desenvolvimento rural, geografia econômica, sustentabilidade e segurança alimentar, além de temas mais atuais, como agricultura urbana e comportamento do consumidor. Ou seja, observou-se uma mudança no foco analítico visto que os estudos passam a considerar as práticas de consumo alimentar como pontos centrais de análise. No entanto, considerando o aumento das preocupações com a natureza da colaboração e do conflito entre os atores envolvidos, esta tese buscou na abordagem da cocriação de valor uma forma de estudar e analisar essas relações nos três tipos de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar. Abordando uma realidade na qual o consumidor deixou de ser um ator passivo e passou a ter papel de fundamental importância no mercado, a cocriação de valor tem ganhado um espaço cada vez maior na literatura empresarial, porém, como esta tese irá demonstrar, ainda não foi aplicada em cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar, revelando o caráter inédito deste estudo e uma oportunidade de pesquisa valiosa. Baseando-se nos estudos de Prahalad e Ramaswamy e Vargo e Lusch, assume-se que a cocriação de valor ocorre no mercado e no momento de uso de um produto ou serviço, pressupondo a existência de um novo contexto, no qual o valor está na experiência e não mais no produto em si, ou seja, ela ocorre quando o consumidor e a empresa estão intimamente envolvidos em, conjuntamente, criar o valor, que é único para o consumidor individual e para a sustentabilidade da empresa. Sendo assim, partindo dessas premissas e baseando-se nos elementos descritos pelos autores como fundamentais para se caracterizar uma relação cogeradora de valor − diálogo, acesso, risco e transparência (DART) − esta tese procura responder à seguinte pergunta de pesquisa: Existe cocriação de valor nos diferentes tipos de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar? Para tanto, realizou-se 04 estudos de caso em diferentes regiões do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, abrangendo a tipificação de cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar descrita por Renting et al. (2003). Revisão integrativa de literatura, entrevistas on-line e pessoais, assim como observação direta foram as ferramentas escolhidas para o levantamento dos dados secundários. Os resultados revelaram que não há evidências de cocriação de valor em todas as cadeias curtas de abastecimento alimentar estudadas, ressaltando que as mesmas possuem especificidades importantes que precisam ser consideradas quando se analisam as relações entre os atores envolvidos. / Short food supply chains have become an alternative way of producing, selling, and consuming food, and redefined relations and interactions with social spaces and with the institutional environment, creating new connections between producers and consumers. They have also allowed the consumer to have new value judgements based on their own knowledge and experience, allowing, besides the intrinsic and functional differences of the food, such as flavor, nutrients and health, external characteristics, such as public health, environment, ethics, and social justice to become criteria for evaluation, competition and characteristics of quality. Through a brief bibliometric research, it was observed that studies about short food supply chains have covered a broad range of topics such as rural development, economic geography, sustainability, and food safety, and more current topics such as urban agriculture and consumer behavior. That is, there was a change in the analytical focus, and studies began considering food consumption practices as central points for analysis. However, considering the increase in the worries about the nature of the collaboration, and the conflict between the parts involved, this thesis tried, through the co-creation of value approach, a way to study and analyze these relations in the three kinds of short food supply chain. Approaching a reality in which the consumer went from a passive role to playing a fundamental part in the market, co-creation of value has been gaining more space in the business literature, but, as this thesis will show, still has not been applied to short food supply chains, then revealing the unprecedented character of this study, and a valuable research opportunity. Based on Prahalad and Ramaswamy and Vargo and Lusch, it is assumed that co-creation of value occurs in the market and in the moment the product or service is being used, presupposing the existence of a new context in which the value is in the experience, and not anymore in the product itself, which means it occurs when the consumer and the company are intimately involved in, together, creating a value that is unique for the individual consumer and for the sustainability of the company. So, starting from these premises and based on the elements described by the authors as fundamental to characterize a relation that co-generates value – the dialogue, access, risk and transparency (DART) – this thesis tries to answer the following research question: is there co-creation of value in the different kinds of short food supply chains? For that, four case studies were made in different regions of the Rio Grande do Sul state, covering the classification of short food supply chains described by Renting et al. (2003). Integrative review of the literature, online and personal interviews, as well as direct observation, were the tools chosen for secondary data collection. The results showed that there is no evidence of value creation in all the short supply chains studied, emphasizing that they have important specificities that should be considered when analyzing the relationships among the actors involved.

Organizações têm de lidar com um ambiente dinâmico em que a inovação é essencial para o sucesso dos negócios. Além disso, a capacidade de inovar em produto de qualquer organização está diretamente relacionada a um fluxo contínuo de novas ideias capazes de atender às oportunidades de novos produtos e tecnologias. Apesar do seu papel importante no início do processo de inovação, ao contrário de tentar gerenciar o surgimento de novas ideias, a abordagem mais comumente preconizada pelas empresas é de incentivar a geração de um grande número de ideias. No entanto, o sucesso do desenvolvimento de novos produtos requer mais do que gerar ideias, outras características do processo devem ser consideradas. Para ajudar na compreensão dessas características, essa pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar como o processo de gestão de ideias de produtos é realizado nas empresas. Para atingir esse objetivo, primeiramente, é proposto um modelo conceitual síntese da gestão de ideias baseado nas características identificadas literatura. Em seguida, para compreender o comportamento dessas características na prática, é realizado um estudo de casos múltiplos em 15 empresas reconhecidas como inovadoras e de diversos setores da indústria. Por fim, baseado nos dados levantados nas empresas, as características do processo de gestão de ideias são analisadas e confrontadas com as informações obtidas na revisão da literatura. A partir do estudo é identificado que a condução do processo de gestão de ideias pode seguir diferentes lógicas conforme as características das empresas. Certos fatores, tais como: definições estratégicas, formas de condução do processo e fatores organizacionais devem ser levados em conta na definição da melhor forma de gerenciar o processo. Considerando, que os estudos identificados na literatura concentram-se em analisar características específicas do processo, tornando difícil obter uma visão completa do processo, esta pesquisa apresenta uma importante contribuição para a teoria acadêmica por meio da análise das principais características que compõem o processo. Este trabalho apresenta ainda uma contribuição para empresas, pois pode ser utilizado como referência de como o processo vem sendo desenvolvido e fornece uma visão prática de como pode ser estruturada a gestão de ideias. / Organizations have to deal with a dynamic environment in which innovation is essential for success of businesses. Additionally, the product innovation capability of any organization is directly related to a continuous flow of ideas capable of raising opportunities for new products and technologies. Despite the primary role of ideas, instead of managing the ideation process, the most common approach is the generation of a large number of ideas. However, launching new products requires more than just generating ideas, many other characteristics of the process need to be addressed. Thus, to explore these characteristics, this research has as main objective analyze how the product ideation process is carried out in companies. To achieve this goal, firstly, is proposed an ideation conceptual model, based on the synthesis of the characteristics identified in literature. Then, to understand the behavior of these characteristics in practice, is conducted a multiple case study in 15 companies recognized as innovative and from different sectors of industry. Finally, based on data collected, the characteristics of the ideation process are analyzed and compared with the information obtained from the literature review. Based on the results of the study is identified that the conduct of the ideation process may follow different logics according to the characteristics of companies. Certain factors, such as: strategies, ways of conducting the process and organizational factors should be taken into account in defining the best way to manage the process. Considering that the studies identified in the literature focus on analyzing specific characteristics of the process, making it difficult to get a complete overview of the process, this research presents an important contribution to academic theory by analyzing the main characteristics that impact the process. This work also presents a contribution to companies, as it can be used as a reference of how the process is being developed and provides a practical overview of how it can be structured.

Organizações têm de lidar com um ambiente dinâmico em que a inovação é essencial para o sucesso dos negócios. Além disso, a capacidade de inovar em produto de qualquer organização está diretamente relacionada a um fluxo contínuo de novas ideias capazes de atender às oportunidades de novos produtos e tecnologias. Apesar do seu papel importante no início do processo de inovação, ao contrário de tentar gerenciar o surgimento de novas ideias, a abordagem mais comumente preconizada pelas empresas é de incentivar a geração de um grande número de ideias. No entanto, o sucesso do desenvolvimento de novos produtos requer mais do que gerar ideias, outras características do processo devem ser consideradas. Para ajudar na compreensão dessas características, essa pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar como o processo de gestão de ideias de produtos é realizado nas empresas. Para atingir esse objetivo, primeiramente, é proposto um modelo conceitual síntese da gestão de ideias baseado nas características identificadas literatura. Em seguida, para compreender o comportamento dessas características na prática, é realizado um estudo de casos múltiplos em 15 empresas reconhecidas como inovadoras e de diversos setores da indústria. Por fim, baseado nos dados levantados nas empresas, as características do processo de gestão de ideias são analisadas e confrontadas com as informações obtidas na revisão da literatura. A partir do estudo é identificado que a condução do processo de gestão de ideias pode seguir diferentes lógicas conforme as características das empresas. Certos fatores, tais como: definições estratégicas, formas de condução do processo e fatores organizacionais devem ser levados em conta na definição da melhor forma de gerenciar o processo. Considerando, que os estudos identificados na literatura concentram-se em analisar características específicas do processo, tornando difícil obter uma visão completa do processo, esta pesquisa apresenta uma importante contribuição para a teoria acadêmica por meio da análise das principais características que compõem o processo. Este trabalho apresenta ainda uma contribuição para empresas, pois pode ser utilizado como referência de como o processo vem sendo desenvolvido e fornece uma visão prática de como pode ser estruturada a gestão de ideias. / Organizations have to deal with a dynamic environment in which innovation is essential for success of businesses. Additionally, the product innovation capability of any organization is directly related to a continuous flow of ideas capable of raising opportunities for new products and technologies. Despite the primary role of ideas, instead of managing the ideation process, the most common approach is the generation of a large number of ideas. However, launching new products requires more than just generating ideas, many other characteristics of the process need to be addressed. Thus, to explore these characteristics, this research has as main objective analyze how the product ideation process is carried out in companies. To achieve this goal, firstly, is proposed an ideation conceptual model, based on the synthesis of the characteristics identified in literature. Then, to understand the behavior of these characteristics in practice, is conducted a multiple case study in 15 companies recognized as innovative and from different sectors of industry. Finally, based on data collected, the characteristics of the ideation process are analyzed and compared with the information obtained from the literature review. Based on the results of the study is identified that the conduct of the ideation process may follow different logics according to the characteristics of companies. Certain factors, such as: strategies, ways of conducting the process and organizational factors should be taken into account in defining the best way to manage the process. Considering that the studies identified in the literature focus on analyzing specific characteristics of the process, making it difficult to get a complete overview of the process, this research presents an important contribution to academic theory by analyzing the main characteristics that impact the process. This work also presents a contribution to companies, as it can be used as a reference of how the process is being developed and provides a practical overview of how it can be structured.