Syftet med denna licentiatavhandling är att undersöka samspelet mellan organisation, omvärldssignaler och innovationsförmåga, samt illustrera detta samspel i en sammanfattande modell. Modellbygget följer omvärldssignalens väg genom organisationen, från vilka signaler som uppmärksammas, över hur organisationen skapar mening kring signalerna, till hur tolkning, strategi och beslut kring omvärldssignalen hanteras. Det finns också koppling till innovation och innovationsförmåga. Lite vid sidan i modellen finns "Det oväntade", som med hänvisning till Dewey, är en påminnelse om det riskabla att försöka fånga omvärlden i en modell. Organisationens uppbyggnad beskrivs i modellen med termerna historia, struktur och kultur. Hur den hanterar omvärldssignalerna utrycks i de tre dimensionerna uppmärksamma, skapa mening och lära. Innovationens modellkomponenter är kategori, ursprung, inriktning och karaktär. Modellen kopplar hantering av omvärldssignaler till innovationsförmåga via teorierna Blue Ocean Strategy och First Mover Advantage. Organisationens innovationsförmåga inriktar sig antingen på det kända i form av röda oceaner eller det okända, de blå oceanerna. Innovationsförmågan kan också leda till att organisationen antingen blir en First eller Second Mover. Modellen illustreras med fyra exempel - Google, Apple, Microsoft och Virgin, som alla är kända för sin innovationsförmåga. Resultatet är att modellen har fångat några samspel mellan de undersökta organisationerna, innovationsförmåga och omvärldssignaler. En annan slutsats är att innovationsförmåga bör ses i sitt omvärldssammanhang / There are different opinions about how to link business environment and organization. Some say the outside world is not something the organization should care about, while others on the contrary, argue that the outside world is an important influencing factor for every organization.  The purpose of this licentiate thesis is to investigate the interaction between the organization, external signals from the outside world and innovation, and to illustrate these relationships in a comprehensive model.  The model follows the external signal’s path through the organization, from identifying which signals that at all are observed in the organization, over how the organization creates meaning around these signals, to how it handles interpretation, strategy and decisions concerning the external signals. The model also includes a link to innovation and innovation capacity. Little to the side in the model, there is ”The Unexpected," which, referring to John Dewey, is a reminder about the risk in trying to capture the outside world in a model.  The organization's construction- how it is organized - is described in the model with the terms history, structure and culture. How it handles external signals are expressed in three dimensions: how the organization recognizes external signal, how it creates meaning around this signal, and what conclusions the organization draws in terms of learning. The four components of innovation in the model are category, origin, orientation and character.  The model also includes an attempt to formulate how the management of external signals can be expressed in the capacity for innovation. Used here are the two theories Blue Ocean Strategy and First Mover Advantage as a measure of innovativeness. The capacity for innovation either targets the well-known in the form of red oceans or the unknown in terms of blue oceans. The innovative capacity can also lead the organization either to be a First Mover or a Second Mover. The model is illustrated by four examples - Google, Apple, Microsoft and Virgin. All of them are successful companies and well known for their innovative capacity. The result is that it has been possible to apply the model to the studied companies and then catch some connections between the organization and its capacity for innovation, with particular focus on external signals. Another conclusion is that innovation hardly can be regarded in isolation, detached from the outside world, but must be seen in its outside world context.

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Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur tjänsteföretag inom energibranschen gör sitt omvärldsanalysarbete för att ha vetskap om sin omgivning och skapa strategier av det som kommer från analyserna. I undersökningen ingår fyra företag som säljer tjänster. Det visade sig att alla företagen ser det extremt viktigt att ha kontroll på sin omgivning och att de anser att deras omgivning ändras allt snabbare och de behöver möta de nya kundkraven. Omvärldsbe-vakningen har mer och mer blivit en kultur eller en del av vardagen istället för något som görs lite då och då. Alla använder inte de klassiska verktygen, men de har egna processer och rutiner för att göra det strukturerat.

The purpose of this article is to investigate how and from which sources librarians collect information on their profession with respect to factors that are important for their work. In order to achieve this goal, a questionnaire-based survey will be conducted at three medium-sized central-public-libraries in southern Sweden. Using this survey, I wish to answer the following four questions: To what extent do librarians acquaint themselves with changes and developments within regional and cultural policy arenas important to their work? To what extent do librarians acquaint themselves with information using conferences and library debates that are focussed on changes and developments relevant to their work? Do librarians consider that they have enough time within the limits of their work hours to follow developments within the librarian profession, for example with respect to developments within information technology, and how would they appraise the future demand for information technology-based services at the library? From which source(s) do librarians collect information relevant to their work? The theoretical basis of this paper can be compared to a radar as it scans subjects-of-interest to the organization in the field of business intelligence. This investigation uses a quantitative method, with data collected via a survey consisting of 13 questions. Survey questions were drawn up in line with the purpose of this paper. The survey revealed that colleagues do play a significant part in the collection of information. Many librarians also believe that their role will continue to change as the rest of the world changes. Many also think that IT will play a more important role in the future. The respondents were 45 librarians employed on a permanent full-time basis at three similar local public-libraries. There was a 100% response rate to the survey. The results are set out in 13 different diagrams. Furthermore is the results discussed and analyzed.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the environmental scanning by the employees and politicians at the central administration at the County Council of Kalmar län. The background of the study is the closing of the administration library in January 2003, which gave more tasks to the hospital libraries of the County Council.The main questions of this study concerns the information needs of the employees and politicians, what electronic sources they prefer to use to satisfy those needs and if they are experiencing a need for more support and help, from a librarian or by the development of a common catalogue of hyperlinks. All 104 persons in the population were asked to answer a questionnaire on the Intranet. The task was performed by 60 persons. Six persons in leading positions were interviewed. The examples of information needs were collected and organized according to the PEST-model.The result of this questionnaire shows that about half of the population would, at least partly, like more help in information seeking, but only five percent totally agrees. No one of the interviewees firmly agrees with the idea of a librarian to help with information seeking. Their view is that the quantitative part of the environmental scanning is working fine and the problem is to avoid information overload. There was a slightly bigger interest in the idea of a common catalogue of hyperlinks. Finally the electronic resources used by the respondents were compared to the common link catalogue of the hospital libraries. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis is to explore how a bookstore chain and a public library meet the needs of their customers through environmental scanning. The empirical material is derived from six semi-structured interviews with six informants, three from each organization, together with an analysis of internal documents. The method used is a case study and the theoretical framework is based on models used in the process of environmental scanning, as described by Choo, Hamrefors and Hedin & Sandström among others, and which facilitate a comparison of the environmental scanning of the two organizations. The results of the study indicate that the library, as a public organization with a mission in society, perceives the environment as society as a whole and all its members as their users, whereas the bookstore concentrates on the sectors of the environment that affect their sales. The consequences of these different views are that the library is more active in the environment and uses surveys as a basic source of information, while the bookstore is more passive, and relies on statistics for information. Neither of the organizations seems to have a model for organized scanning which can be compared to the model in the theoretical framework, even though both organizations are aware of the importance of environmental scanning and its tools and purposes. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The subject field studied in this essay is environmental scanning. The aim of this study is to analyse how three public organizations within the subject field sustainable development work with their environmental scanning. Most organizations have to relate to their surroundings such as clients and competitors. Environmental scanning is another very important field that organizations have to relate to in their work. This essay has three questions in focus which are the following;How is the work with environmental scanning in the three organizations arranged?How does the work with environmental scanning differ in the three organizations?How important is environmental scanning for the subject field sustainable development?The study was carried out through four conducted interviews with key persons within the three organizations. The result of the interviews were compiled and analysed with two different models, one of them was altered and only parts of the model were used, within the subject field environmental scanning. This thesis shows that national as well as local organisations invest a large effort in their environmental scanning within the subject field sustainable development. They work actively to achieve different goals for ecologically, socially and economically sustainable cities. Cooperation within the subject field sustainable development does not really seem to exist and finding research which is general within the field is very difficult.

The purpose of this Master`s thesis is to examine if the pur-chase of media in public libraries reflects the library's role in society. Two questions have been posed: • What view of public library's role in society is reflected in the purchase of media? • What principles guide the selection of media in public li-braries in Sweden? In order to investigate these questions, we used a question-naire that we sent out to a sample of 120 public libraries in Sweden. The analysis is based on a theory of three ap-proaches to the role of the library developed by Douglas Raber. The three approaches are the conservative approach, the populist approach and the social approach. The results of the survey show that all three approaches are represented in varying degrees and priorities are usually expressed in and guided by library plans. User demands are the central basis for the libraries purchases. Children and young people are the largest groups of users in libraries and are generally the priority of library plans. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this paper is to investigate in which aspects the public library is affected by its local community. This is re-searched by means of an exemplified case study of a Swedish public library in which we analyze governing documents and the library website with respect to environmental scanning and mar-keting of library services.The research questions are: How are the local community’s demands on the public li-brary being described in the governing document? How is the public library’s response to the demands of the local community being described in the operational plan? How are the demands of the local community, as shown in the governing document and the operational plan, re-flected in the marketing of library services on the library website?Our conclusions are that:The demands of the local community are described in a general fashion in the governing document, but there is a lack of concrete political guidelines.The public library's response to the demands of the local commu-nity is described to some length in the operational plan, but not with respect to economical factors.The demands of the local community are reflected to some length in the marketing of library services on the library website. Many of the overall themes that we identify in the governing document and the operational plan can be found in the marketing directed towards important target groups. / Program: Bibliotekarie