The broad objective of this thesis is to extend our understanding of radical new product development (NPD) beyond degree of customer orientation (CO) by assessing the role and influence of both customers and other external influencers (OEIs). While a number of studies have investigated the relationship between CO and NPD outcomes, such studies typically focus on incremental NPD. The role of customers is also typically investigated using numerical scales to understand degree of CO, and fails to consider the important implementation issues of which, when and how customers are involved through the NPD process. In addition to customers, other external influencers (OEIs) such as investors, suppliers, distributors, competitors, universities and advisors are also increasingly involved in radical NPD, but the roles and actual influence of these different groups is unclear. To address these gaps in the literature this thesis adopts a network approach to investigate the role of customers and OEIs in the development of six radical new products. Six retrospective case studies are conducted, all involving the development of radical ICT products targeted at industrial markets. To provide further insight, three of these cases involve successful new products while the remaining three involve unsuccessful products. Analysis of case data involves qualitative and quantitative network analysis as well as thematic analysis of interview transcripts. Clear differences are found between the ways in which the successful and unsuccessful cases involve customers and OEIs. For example, firms developing successful products focus on existing customers with whom they have strong previous relationships, while developers of unsuccessful products do not. Furthermore, the successful cases all involve customers actively as co-developers of the product, while none of the unsuccessful cases take this approach. These findings are presented in detail and discussed in relation to the existing literature. A set of empirically-based propositions are outlined as a foundation for future research.

A Customização em Massa (CM) consiste em uma estratégia direcionada ao atendimento de necessidades específicas dos clientes mantendo os custos de produção próximos à produção em massa. Entre as alternativas para promover a implantação da CM, sugere-se a promoção de maior flexibilidade dos processos produtivos e um Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto (PDP) orientado à CM. Como forma promover a CM por meio do PDP, este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver um instrumento para identificar e selecionar métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM mais indicadas para as particularidades do projeto de desenvolvimento de produto de cada empresa. Entre os resultados do trabalho está o levantamento desses métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM dispersas na literatura, assim como o desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a seleção destes métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP. Sua principal contribuição consiste no desenvolvimento de um repositório de conhecimentos para a gestão do processo de transformação do PDP da empresa para os benefícios da estratégia de CM. / Mass Customization seeks to meet customers specific needs while maintaining the low production costs associated with mass production. Its implementation passes through a greater flexibility of the manufacturing system and a New Product Development (NPD) process oriented to Mass Customization. This study aims to identify and select methods, tools and techniques for the New Product Development necessary for Mass Customization implementation. Its main achievement is the consolidation of a useful library of these methods, tools and techniques and a system to aid the selection of the most appropriate solution to implement Mass Customization.

A Customização em Massa (CM) consiste em uma estratégia direcionada ao atendimento de necessidades específicas dos clientes mantendo os custos de produção próximos à produção em massa. Entre as alternativas para promover a implantação da CM, sugere-se a promoção de maior flexibilidade dos processos produtivos e um Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto (PDP) orientado à CM. Como forma promover a CM por meio do PDP, este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver um instrumento para identificar e selecionar métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM mais indicadas para as particularidades do projeto de desenvolvimento de produto de cada empresa. Entre os resultados do trabalho está o levantamento desses métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM dispersas na literatura, assim como o desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a seleção destes métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP. Sua principal contribuição consiste no desenvolvimento de um repositório de conhecimentos para a gestão do processo de transformação do PDP da empresa para os benefícios da estratégia de CM. / Mass Customization seeks to meet customers specific needs while maintaining the low production costs associated with mass production. Its implementation passes through a greater flexibility of the manufacturing system and a New Product Development (NPD) process oriented to Mass Customization. This study aims to identify and select methods, tools and techniques for the New Product Development necessary for Mass Customization implementation. Its main achievement is the consolidation of a useful library of these methods, tools and techniques and a system to aid the selection of the most appropriate solution to implement Mass Customization.

A Customização em Massa (CM) consiste em uma estratégia direcionada ao atendimento de necessidades específicas dos clientes mantendo os custos de produção próximos à produção em massa. Entre as alternativas para promover a implantação da CM, sugere-se a promoção de maior flexibilidade dos processos produtivos e um Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto (PDP) orientado à CM. Como forma promover a CM por meio do PDP, este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver um instrumento para identificar e selecionar métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM mais indicadas para as particularidades do projeto de desenvolvimento de produto de cada empresa. Entre os resultados do trabalho está o levantamento desses métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM dispersas na literatura, assim como o desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a seleção destes métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP. Sua principal contribuição consiste no desenvolvimento de um repositório de conhecimentos para a gestão do processo de transformação do PDP da empresa para os benefícios da estratégia de CM. / Mass Customization seeks to meet customers specific needs while maintaining the low production costs associated with mass production. Its implementation passes through a greater flexibility of the manufacturing system and a New Product Development (NPD) process oriented to Mass Customization. This study aims to identify and select methods, tools and techniques for the New Product Development necessary for Mass Customization implementation. Its main achievement is the consolidation of a useful library of these methods, tools and techniques and a system to aid the selection of the most appropriate solution to implement Mass Customization.

Research indicates buyer-supplier collaborations in new product development (NPD) can have a positive impact on innovation. From a knowledge based view, it is argued that suppliers add a complementary knowledge base that is combined with the buyer’s knowledge. But what does the supplier contribution actually consist of? And more importantly: How is this supplier knowledge integrated into the NPD process? This is not clear in the literature. Different supplier inputs may imply different knowledge integration mechanisms and practices. The purpose of this licentiate thesis is to investigate how supplier knowledge is integrated into the NPD process. The focus is to explore how knowledge intensive manufacturing firms integrate different supplier inputs in collaborative NPD projects by using different knowledge integration mechanisms. To fulfil the aim of thesis a qualitative approach has been applied and by studying NPD processes in three industrial sectors. An extensive literature review and a focus group meeting are followed by two qualitative case studies that are based mainly on interviews with keyrepresentatives in the buyer-supplier collaborations. The first study investigates different supplier contributions by categorizing different supplier inputs. The second study – which is the largest part of the overall study - investigates how supplier knowledge is integrated in NPD collaborations using different integration mechanisms. Here, six NPD collaborations, representing the automotive, the energy, and the telecom sectors, are studied and compared, in order to understand the integration processes and the different knowledge integration mechanisms. The third study investigates the role of trust in capturing supplier knowledge. Here, two NPD collaborations which can be considered to be polar-cases in terms of scope and depth are compared in order to explore and explain the role of trust in the integration processes. Altogether these studies lay a foundation for a model of knowledge integration between the buyer and the supplier in NPD collaborations. The model identifies two main strategies for integrating supplier knowledge – knowledge absorption and joint knowledge accumulation. Knowledge absorption concerns innovation processes where the contribution from suppliers is focused on product- and process improvements, i.e. incremental input. Here, the development is dictated by clear specifications. Supplier contacts take place during a limited period of time and are restricted to certain phases in NPD projects. Thus, the main knowledge integration mechanism used is sequencing. In these situations, the buyer actually tries to capture and absorb the knowledge of the supplier at a specific point in the process. A basic level of trust, based on the reputation the supplier has for competence is sufficient. Joint knowledge accumulation, on the other hand, is how firms manage more radical input from suppliers, such as new technology or new design. In these cases, knowledge integration strategies extend over a longer period of time, throughout several phases of the NPD project. There is a high degree of interaction between the people involved, to find new solutions. The main knowledge integration mechanism is group problem-solving. Knowledge is jointly accumulated by sharing, combining, and creating new knowledge in open processes. In these cases, a profound level of trust is required. When integrating supplier knowledge in innovation, management has to consider the possible and preferred outcome of the collaboration; it might be a commercial deal to provide for a temporary access to knowledge, or it might be a long-term alliance, where joint learning is an aim. In the first case, a traditional NPD process with clear specifications, using sequencing and technological interfaces, will be adequate. In the second case, focus should be on interpersonal problem solving between trustworthy individuals.

Digitalisation has changed the way many industries do business, and the consultancy industry has not escaped the challenges these changes can bring. To stay competitive, companies need to explore new products and services, as well as maintain their established businesses. However, this can be difficult to do, especially if companies are not experienced in developing new products or services. Research on innovation processes in professional service firms is sparse, and most existing research focuses on the first stages of innovation. Therefore, this study examines the innovation process at a large consultancy firm, placing the focus on the later stages of innovation, particularly, the development and commercialisation phases. Our aim was to identify the challenges in these phases, and to present recommendations on how to address them.  The study was conducted at a large Swedish consultancy firm that had recently implemented an innovation programme. We identified several challenges. The financial structure led to challenges, a reluctance to take financial risks and allocate the needed financial resources towards innovation. This case company lacked funding of the business side of innovation, which led to challenges such as insufficient groundwork in the FEI and insufficient business support. The contextual ambidextrous structure included challenges for the employees to balance the core tasks and exploitative tasks. Other challenges were related to innovators lacking NPD competence, support and a dedicated team. Based on best-practices from literature, recommendations were provided regarding financing the business-side of innovation, front-loading the projects more, clarifying and communicating the process to team members, as well as implementing a decision board to better handle changes in the projects. / Digitaliseringen har ändrat hur många företag arbetar, och även konsultbranschen påverkas av detta. För att förbli konkurrenskraftiga måste företag arbeta med kärnverksamheten samtidigt som de utforskar möjligheter att skapa nya tjänster och produkter. Dock kan det vara utmanande för företag att utveckla och kommersialisera nya innovationer, speciellt för de företag som inte ägnar sig åt det i det vardagliga arbetet. Det finns bristande forskning kring innovation på professionella tjänsteföretag och mycket forskning fokuserar på de tidigare skedena av innovationsprocessen. Den här studien utvärderar innovationsprocessen på ett stort konsultbolag med fokus på de senare faserna i processen, mer specifikt utveckling och kommersialiserings faserna. Målet med studien var att identifiera utmaningar i dessa faser och att presentera rekommendationer hur de kan hanteras.  Studien har utförts på en stor svensk konsultfirma som nyligen implementerat ett innovationsprogram. Flera utmaningar kunde identifieras. Konsultverksamheten är ovana att ta stora risker och investera stora belopp i innovationsprojekt. Detta fallföretag hade otillräcklig finansiering av affärsdelen av innovation, vilket ledde till utmaningar relaterade till otillräckligt förarbete och bristande affärsstöd. Den kontextuella tvåhäntheten medförde utmaningar för arbetarna att balansera de vardagliga uppgifterna och innovationsprojekt. Andra utmaningar kunde kopplas till att innovatörerna saknade kunskap inom produktutveckling, stöd och team. Rekommendationer baserade på bästa praxis gavs angående att finansiera affärssidan av innovation, koncentrera mer arbete i projektets start, förtydliga och kommunicera innovationsprocessen till teamet, samt införa en styrgrupp för att enklare hantera ändringar i projekt.

The transition to working life is a difficult process for young people with neuropsychiatric disabilities. The transition to adulthood involves a complex interplay between one's visions, social and economic “opportunity structures'' that society delivers. In this essay, the focus has been to cast light on young adults with neuropsychiatric diagnosis, how their experiences and perception has shaped them to choose to further educate themselves or establish themselves in the labor market. The method “life stories'' has been used as inspiration to bring out the interviewees' stories and to look back on their previous schooling. The study was also performed using a qualitative method. Theoretical starting points for this study were the concepts of inclusion, exclusion, and stigma. The transcribed interviews have been analyzed according to the method thematic analysis and the following main themes were identified: experiences of knowledge level about NPD among teachers, experiences of exclusion and inclusion in the school environment, strategies that have emerged to manage their everyday school life,experiences of support in previous schooling, the desire for more information about what support measures are available in further studies and the transition between further studies and establishment in the labor market. In summary the results showed a huge lack of knowledge among teachers regarding NPD andhow the support needs to be adapted for students with NPD. The results also showed that teachers stigmatized NPD students by negative statements related to NPD and NPD students’need of adapted support. This has resulted in that needs of NPD diagnoses have been identified during the later parts of the schooling period for most of the interviewed persons. This early exclusion and stigmatization resulted in a late inclusion during the schooling. The experiences of the interview persons also showed a lack of support and information when making their choice to continue their education or establishment on the labor market. There are also positive experiences that interviewees felt included in the education at some points during their schooling. However, the positive experiences were very few. Choosing to either study further or establish oneself in the labor market after high school is ultimately an individual choice based on people's previous experiences, but also personal interests.

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This thesis explores the supplier perspective of supplier involvement in product development. Supplier involvement in product development is crucial for many companies to increase resource flexibility, access competence, reduce costs and time to market, among others. The existing literature focuses primarily on the customer perspective of supplier involvement, e.g., challenges and critical factors customers should consider. A few studies have focused on the supplier perspective. This research gap is addressed in this thesis by studying the conditions influencing the suppliers’ involvement in customers’ product development. This thesis explores two research questions: “What are the challenges suppliers experience when being involved in customers’ product development?”, and “What mitigating mechanisms and critical factors influence suppliers’ involvement in customers’ product development?”. The identified challenges originated [FF1] both from the customer and the supplier, indicating that both types of challenges must be focused on. The study also identified interdependencies between the challenges, implying that one challenge may lead to the occurrence of other challenges. The study suggests mitigating mechanisms to deal with the identified challenges. The identified critical factors influenced both the efficiency and effectiveness of supplier involvement in product development, e.g., lead-time, development cost, product quality, and cost. The study indicates that adopting a dual perspective and considering the challenges and critical factors for both the customer and the supplier, can support the involved supplier. The results build on findings from a case study including four SMEs.

This research investigates the key characteristics of design leaders in the context of New Product Development (NPD) at the Fuzzy Front End (FFE) or early stage of this process. It particularly focuses on how design leaders communicate design to non-designers. It is often observed that designers struggle to communicate design to non-designers. Previous research has identified design leaders as competent design communicators. However, the definition and key characteristics of design leaders remain unclear. By reviewing the literature on leadership studies, design leadership and project leadership, it is evident that no single universal definition of leadership exists. The most common definition is that leaders apply their knowledge and skills to conduct activities and use their traits to influence other people’s actions. Leadership requires different characteristics for different tasks. To understand the characteristics of design leaders, triangulated research was employed at a real-life NPD project involving young designers and non-designers at early stages of NPD as part of the first study. All participants (N=32) were directly observed, interviewed in semi-structured interviews and administered with assistive questionnaires to compare design and non-design participants’ leadership and communication styles. The second study was in-depth, focusing on UK design leaders (N=11) through semi-structured interviews and based on deficiencies in leadership and communicating design, identified from the first study and the literature review. Comparative studies indicate that designers and design leaders vary their attitudes towards non-designers, motivation and communication style. This study highlights the key characteristics of design leaders: an epiphany by experiencing the entire NPD process, interest in the benefits of NPD stakeholders, a good understanding of design competency, reflectively flexible working attitude and strong, active listening. Thus, a conceptual model was formulated and evaluated, able to guide designers who wish to become design leaders and help to enhance design communication and relationships with non-designers.