The aim of this thesis is to expand current knowledge on the development of corporate entrepreneurship and to contribute new theoretical and empirical insights into strategic entrepreneurship. To those ends, the thesis attempts to answer two research questions. First, how has the field of corporate entrepreneurship research evolved in terms of main themes, applied methods and theory, and what do these developments reveal about the future trajectories of the field? Second, what is the relationship between internal organizational factors and strategic entrepreneurship in the form of sustained regeneration, organizational rejuvenation, and strategic renewal? To answer the first question, a systematic and comprehensive review of 344 articles addressing the development of research on corporate entrepreneurship during 1969–2017 was conducted. To answer the second question, a survey was administered at a major financial services company to examine the relationship among four internal organizational factors and three forms of strategic entrepreneurship. The overall conclusion of the literature review is that corporate entrepreneurship is a growing and, in several respects, maturing field of research. Signs of its maturity are undermined, however, by the lack of commonly applied theories and theoretical frameworks. Those findings take support from the overall conclusion of the second study, which highlights the need to develop and further test empirically existing frameworks, constructs, and theoretical connections within literature on strategic entrepreneurship. Taken together, the findings of the thesis suggest that corporate entrepreneurship faces the difficult challenge of developing a set of more distinct, unifying theories and conceptual frameworks. Concerning strategic entrepreneurship, it is concluded that research on this topic should consider specific organizational structures and conditions of the company and, at the same time, it should also develop greater sensitivity to the effects of industry and institutional settings. The findings also highlight that internal organizational factors could have differentiated effects on the main forms of strategic entrepreneurship. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för framläggningen av avhandlingen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 1 (inskickat), delarbete 2 (inskickat).</p><p>At the time of the defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 1 (submitted), paper 2 (submitted).</p>

Yes / Purpose: this paper presents notable themes regarding the relationship between sustainability development and the food loss issue. In doing so, it provides coherent knowledge concerning this global problem and highlights the key research areas in this context. Design/methodology/approach: this paper is a viewpoint piece; normative literature and supposition are used to orientate the views of the authors. Findings: this paper has identified the main causes of food loss at each stage of the food supply chain. It has then classified the causes into three groups based on organisational environment: internal causes, micro-environmental causes and macro-environmental causes. In addition, the authors suggest a need to adopt a holistic view of the performance measurement system in the food industry through incorporating sustainability pillars with traditional performance perspectives in the context of food loss. Practical implications: food loss generating from various causes along the supply chain means that more food should flow across the supply chains to reach consumers’ homes. This paper provides reassuring insights that will help the decision-makers in food companies to revise the performance measurement system in the context of food loss reduction. Social implications: reducing food loss will contribute to increasing food availability and decreasing food prices, which leads to strengthening economic and physical access for those people who are not able to get food. Consequently, it considers a mandatory step to enhance food security. Originality/value: to raise the significance of food loss reduction along the supply chain and to stress an urgent need to adopt a holistic view of the sustainability performance measurement system with a particular focus on the food loss issue.

Organisations are under enormous pressure to become more innovative in all areas of their operations if they are going to continue to compete successfully (Leavy, 2003). The first stage of successful innovation is ensuring that creativity, the generation of novel ideas, is achieved (McFadzean, et al., 2004). With regards to an organisation's creative environment, theory has suggested that the basic orientation of a company's support for creativity comes directly from the behaviours of the highest levels of management (Amabile, 1996). Despite this proposed relationship, little empirical research has been conducted that examines the role that senior management of an organisation play in influencing a work environment that stimulates creativity. A research model has been developed that illustrates the possible relationships between the functions of senior managers and the creative work environment of an organisation. Essentially this model is be utilised as a framework to examine how do the management functions create the stimulants and impediments of an organisation's environment that affect creativity? The method used to investigate this research question is a qualitative investigation of two manufacturing plants that operate in a larger New Zealand food processing company. This entailed gathering information through semi-structured interviews with employees from the senior management to lower level employees. In addition, direct observations at the plants and archival data in the form of company reports, articles and prior studies were used to gather further information. From this research, three key findings were established. (1) Amabile, et al's., (1996) theory that a number of variables stimulate creativity, while others impede it, was supported. (2) Trust was found to be the key intervening variable, the foundation, upon which a creative context can be built. (3) The Senior Manager, in the case of this research the Operations Manager and Production Centre Manager, played a crucial role in providing the contextual variables that facilitate creativity. As this research suggests, organisational creativity is complicated by the fact that it is affected by the social dynamics operating between key parties within an organisation. Consequently, it is characterised by informal relationships, freedom and resource allocation that ultimately requires that a level of trust exists between key parties. It is senior management's responsibility to ensure that such a work environment is created. These managers are only able to build trust within their organisations by acting with benevolence, integrity and demonstrating that they are committed to employee creativity.

The labour market is currently experiencing a growing skills gap due to the digitalisation of society. The consequences of the skills gap are a scarcity of competent workers and upcoming challenges due to changed market demands. One solution to this is reskilling programs or bootcamps that in a short time frame reskill attendees to enable them to change their occupation. As reskilled individuals finalise the reskilling programs and change occupations questions rise of what parameters in the organisational environment that help them in their integration and competence development. This study has the purpose to investigate this issue by examining the research question: What is the role of the organisational environment when integrating a reskilled person into their new occupation to continue lifelong learning?. The results are given by a thematic analysis of qualitative data gathered through semi-structured interviews of respondents that have attended a reskilling bootcamp called the Software Development Academy. Moreover, a theoretical framework containing Communities of Practice is applied in the analysis to categorise the organisational environments. The findings highlight that the organisational environment has a significant role on the reskilled employee’s success in their new occupation. Organisational environments that have tendencies of communities of practice and a positive attitude towards interactions among co-workers have a positive effect on the reskilled employee. Finally, the study provides a list of managerial recommendations that can help the reskilled employee to succeed in their new workplace. / Arbetsmarknaden upplever för närvarande en kompetensklyfta som skapats på grund av digitaliseringen i samhället. Konsekvenserna som uppstår av denna kompetensklyfta är ökad brist på kompetenta arbetare samt kommande utmaningar på grund av förändrade marknadskrav. En lösning på detta är omutbildning med hjälp av program eller bootcamps som på kort tid omskolar deltagare för att göra det möjligt för dem att ändra sitt yrke. När nyutbildade individer slutför omskolningsprogrammen och ändrar sitt yrke uppstår frågor om vilka parametrar i organisationsmiljön som hjälper dem i deras integration och kompetensutveckling. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka detta ämne genom att svara på forskningsfrågan: Vilken roll har den organisatoriska miljön när man integrerar en omskolad person i sitt nya yrke för att möjliggöra livslångt lärande? Resultaten ges från en tematisk analys av kvalitativa data som samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter som har deltagit i ett omskolningsbootcamp som heter the Software Development Academy. Dessutom tillämpas ett teoretisk ramverk som innehåller Communities of Practice i analysen för att kategorisera de organisatoriska miljöerna. Resultaten framhäver att den organisatoriska miljön spelar en stor roll för den omskolade medarbetarens framgång i sitt nya yrke. Organisationsmiljöer som har tendenser av Communities of Practice och en positiv inställning till interaktioner mellan medarbetare har en positiv effekt på den omskolade medarbetaren. Slutligen presenterar studien en lista över ledningsrekommendationer som kan hjälpa den omarbetade medarbetaren att lyckas.