O propósito desta tese é investigar a adoção de práticas de gestão da inovação de produtos e os desafios enfrentados por organizações que desenvolvem produtos para aumentar sua performance inovativa. Para tanto, são estudadas as potenciais relações entre os elementos organizacionais internos e a influência de fatores contextuais (porte, setor e origem do capital) na caracterização dos sistemas de gestão da inovação e dos obstáculos à inovação enfrentados por cada empresa. A escolha deste tema se justifica pelo fato dos processos de gestão que potencializam a performance inovativa ainda não estarem totalmente desvendados e pela carência de trabalhos empíricos que analisem a realidade das práticas propostas no mundo organizacional, em especial no Brasil. Como base conceitual para esta investigação, é proposto modelo sistêmico para a gestão da inovação que integra contribuições de diversas áreas em três dimensões principais: processos, contexto organizacional e recursos. Este construto fundamenta a realização de pesquisa exploratória qualitativa efetuada por meio de um estudo de casos múltiplos. Nele, os sistemas de gestão da inovação de quatro empresas com atividade relevante de desenvolvimento de produtos no Brasil são estudados. Inicialmente, cada empresa é analisada de forma individual com enfoque na caracterização de seu sistema de inovação e dos principais desafios ao aumento de performance inovativa. Em seguida, uma análise comparativa dos casos é efetuada a fim de se aprofundar a intepretação das variáveis coletadas à luz da literatura e do modelo proposto. Além da proposição de relacionamentos entre os elementos da gestão da inovação presentes no modelo integrado e entre eles e os fatores contextuais, o presente trabalho traz contribuições ligadas aos mecanismos que influenciam a adoção de práticas de gestão da inovação no Brasil e à caracterização dos desafios intraorganizacionais enfrentados pelas organizações para gerir seu processo inovador. / The purpose of this research is to analyze the adoption of innovation management practices and the challenges faced by companies which develop products to increase their innovative performance. It is studied the relation between organizational elements and the influence of contextual factors (company size, market segment and capital) on the characterization of the innovation management systems and on the obstacles to innovation faced by each company. The theme selection is justified because the management processes that contribute to the innovative performance remains not all known and due to the lack of empirical researches analyzing the reality of proposed practices in organizations, especially in Brazil. As conceptual basis for this investigation, it is proposed a systemic model for innovation management, which integrates contributions for several research fields in three dimensions: processes, organizational context and resources. This construct supports an exploratory qualitative research implemented using multiple study case method. In this study, it is investigated the innovation systems of four companies with relevant product development activities in Brazil. Initially, each company is analyzed individually with focus on the characterization of its innovation system and mains innovation challenges. After that, a comparative analysis is proposed to bring deeper understanding of the collected variables with reference to the exiting literature and the integrated model. More than the proposition of relationships between the innovation management elements present in the model, this research brings contributions related to the mechanisms which influence the innovation management practices adoption by companies in Brazil and the configuration of intra-organizational barriers faced by these companies to manage and improve their innovation process.

Innovation is today at the centre of competition in most industries. As a stylized fact, an important channel through which engage in non-price competition is research and development (R&D), whose primary outcome is pure innovation. Firms carry out both product and process innovation, but the bearings of these two factors on R&D efforts have been investigated separately. Most of the rather large theoretical literature on R&D has focused upon process innovation, while product innovation has drawn particular attention in empirical studies. Recently, two different streams of research have emerged: one has contributed to the analysis of complementarities within R&D portfolios in monopoly or oligopoly models; the other has described the dynamics of adoption of product and process innovation and is commonly known as “technology life cycle” of the product. The aim of the present book is to bridge the two aforementioned streams of research by combining the theory of supermodular games and the theory of differential games. Starting from simple static monopoly models where we show that process and product innovation are complementary, we arrive at more complex dynamic oligopoly games where the presence of complementarity becomes an inherent feature of dynamic optimization. In particular, we investigate the technology life cycle and the issue of strategic interaction in differential games. Moreover, we study financial contracting in presence of complementary investment activities and different aspects that characterize advertising efforts. / L'innovation est aujourd'hui au centre de la concurrence dans la plupart des industries. Il est à noter qu'un canal important par lequel les entreprises s'engagent en concurrence non-prix est la recherche et développement (R&D), dont le résultat premier est la innovation pure. Les entreprises investissent dans l'innovation de processus et dans l'innovation de produit, mais l'étude de ces deux facteurs concernant la R&D a été fait séparément. La majeure partie de l'ample littérature sur la R&D s'est focalisée sur l'innovation de processus, tandis que l'innovation de produit a reçu une attention particulière dans les études empiriques. Récemment, deux différents domaines de recherche ont émergé: l'un a contribué à l'analyse des complémentarités dans les portefeuilles de R&D en modèles de monopole ou d'oligopole; l'autre a décrit la dynamique de l'adoption du produit et de l'innovation de processus et il est généralement connu comme “cycle de vie technologique” du produit. Le but du livre actuel est d'établir un lien entre les deux domaines de recherche mentionnés ci-dessus en combinant la théorie des jeux supermodulaires et la théorie des jeux différentiels. À partir d'un modèle simple de monopole statique où nous prouvons que l'innovation de processus et l'innovation de produit sont complémentaires, nous arrivons à des jeux d'oligopole dynamiques plus complexes où la présence de la complémentarité devient une caractéristique inhérente d'optimisation dynamique. En particulier, nous étudions le cycle de vie technologique du produit et la question de l'interaction stratégique dans les jeux différentiels. Nous étudions aussi la contratation financière en présence d'activités complémentaires et les différents aspects qui caractérisent l'investissement en publicité.

Authors: Sjöberg, Amelie 880410 Wallgren, Christopher 890131   Background: Due to the current competitive climate, it is of major importance for firms to distinguish and differentiate their products compared to the competitors. To achieve that, the firms need to offer a product that the customers want. Firms can integrate with external sources and receive valuable information regarding references and needs. Customer relationship management (CRM) have become a tool firm commonly use in order to receive this information. CRM is a much discussed topic among researchers, and the researchers argue that it is of major importance to identify CRM activities that generates profitability and successful performance to the firm   Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) on product innovation in Scandinavian firms.   Method: The survey generated 61 responses from service and manufacturing firms operating on the Scandinavian market (Sweden, Norway and Denmark). The surveys were accessible through Keysruvey.com in April 2013 and generated a response rate of 14% Conclusion: The major conclusion of this research is that all Hypotheses were supported, which indicates that customer involvement, information sharing and long-term partnership has a positive impact on product innovation.

Over the last few decades, the rising concern of environmental protection and consumers¡¦ increasing environmental consciousness have brought fundamental impacts to enterprises in the world. Environmental protection has become one of corporate social responsibilities, and in the meantime, one of the opportunities for profitability. Among all resources in organizations, human resource plays the most important role in keeping corporate competitive advantage. In order to create and maintain corporate competitive advantage, traditional human capital also has to be transformed into green human capital that possesses the ability to develop green innovation. The purpose of this research is to investigate how green human capital will be influential on the level green innovation, and how it actually leads to corporate competitive advantage. The study uses in-depth interviews and questionnaires to collect data for the analysis. The results reveal that green human capital strategic value has a positive impact on green product innovation and green product innovation has a mediating effect in the relationship between green human capital strategic value and responsiveness. On the other hands, green human capital uniqueness has a positive impact on green process innovation and green process innovation plays a mediating effect in the relationship between green human capital uniqueness and cost advantage.

This thesis presents the groundwork development of an Internet-based idea assessment tool to guide innovators through the design process and educate them on the ‘best practices’ of transforming creative ideas into marketable products. The system triages registered users based on their knowledge, assesses the most suitable level of technical terminology and completes a pre-assessment of ideas. The outputs of the developed system are an idea outline, a product requirements list, a basic opportunity summary and an opportunity score for the idea being assessed. An extensive literature review on popular product development methodologies was conducted to identify which methodology would be robust enough to be used as part of an online process to assess ideas. A review of 3,600 Internet websites on product innovation and product development indicated a lack of guidance offered on the many product design processes available and mixed messages regarding which to use. The Internet search identified a lack of structure for innovators as well as a lack of coordinated educational resources to guide innovators. Combining the results of the literature review and the information gathered during the Internet search, an online system was developed using several programming languages to complete the pre-assessment tasks. A series of tests were conducted using volunteers to establish the viability of the assessment process developed and test the features developed to improve user/website interaction. Suggestions for further development of the model and method will be made at the conclusion of the thesis. The work presented in this thesis provides an excellent foundation for future development of an Internet-based idea assessment tool to guide innovators through the design process.

Purpose        The overall purpose is to describe how manufacturing companies involve customers in order to develop new innovations that meet customers’ needs, and furthermore illustrate how the customer involvement process can be managed. By investigating companies in similar industries where the degree of technology and pace of innovation is high, we clarify how, when and with who companies can engage activities for customer involvement.  Method In this qualitative study, we use a deductive approach, where individual interviews were conducted in two case companies.  Theoretical framework In the theoretical framework we introduce the DART-model, in which building blocks of the interaction between companies and customers are treated. Connected to this, we discuss problems regarding transferring customer needs and receiving customer input. Furthermore we highlight conflicting methods of customer involvement, different types of customers to involve and different stages in which the interaction should take place.  Empirical study Empirical data were collected through personal interviews with six business managers at the headquarters of Electrolux and Volvo Cars.  Conclusion  In contrary to the overwhelming literary hype of open innovation where companies are suggested to actively co-create value together with the customers, our findings indicate that companies learn proactively from passive customers in the early stages of the NPD-process to acquire unarticulated needs in order to create customer value. These are conscious decisions to avoid opening up the companies to the customers in terms of transparency and access. This subsequently accompanies the further process for how, when and who to involve, as the process goes from proactive towards stepwise more traditional reactive methods of customer involvement for product innovation

This thesis aims to analyze innovation activities of a company with both cost calculations and business performance. First part of the thesis is theoretical and helps for deeper understanding of chosen subject. Practical part uses theoretical data and aims at the chosen company where the innovations are done. Mainly the thesis is focused on the innovated product and it's economical impact on the company.

Como objetivo principal, este trabalho investiga os fatores que direcionam o sucesso de mercado da inovação de produtos ambientalmente sustentáveis, utilizando para tanto estudos em múltiplos setores da indústria de transformação. Os principais resultados apontam que conhecimento de mercado (i), colaboração interfuncional (ii), aprendizagem orientada à inovação (iii) e domínio tecnológico (iv) são os mecanismos que impulsionam o sucesso da inovação de produtos ecologicamente corretos. Ainda, tendo em vista a relevância do fator conhecimento de mercado, estudos desenvolvidos com consumidores finais sinalizam que há conhecimento sobre os atributos de produto e de processo verde disponibilizados ao mercado por distintas organizações, bem como que a percepção de valor em produtos verdes aumenta a disponibilidade de pagamento na decisão de compra, pois a funcionalidade e a abstração percebidas tendem a reduzir certos riscos associados à mesma. Também foi constatado que variáveis demográficas, como sexo, idade e renda, interferem positivamente na qualidade percebida e consequente intenção de compra para produtos ambientalmente sustentáveis. Por fim, gerou-se uma proposição de sistema de relacionamento para os fatores e para as variáveis que direcionam o sucesso de mercado das inovações de produtos verdes. Diante do modelo estabelecido, infere-se que as empresas tendem ou podem organizar suas práticas de inovação verde a partir de investimentos ligados às pessoas, laboratórios, equipamentos e pesquisa tecnológica. Também que a visão e o dinamismo das lideranças fazem-se fundamentais para o desencadeamento de inter-relações importantes entre os fatores (i) conhecimento de mercado, (ii) colaboração interfuncional e (iii) aprendizagem orientada à inovação. / As the main goal, this paper looks into the factors that guide the market success of the environmentally sustainable products innovation, using for such studies in multiple sectors in changing industry. The principal results shows that market knowledge (i), inter-functional collaboration (ii), directed learning to innovation (iii) and technological mastery (iv) are the mechanisms that impel the success on ecologically correct products innovation. Still, in view of relevance of market knowledge, developed final studies with costumers showed that there is knowledge about the green product and process features available in market by distinct organizations, as well as the perception of values in green products increases the availability of paying in the moment of buying, due to functionality and realized abstractions tend to reduce some risks associated to it. Also, it was seen that demographical variables, as gender, age and profit, interfere positively on seen quality and consequently purchasing intention to environmentally sustainable products. At last, created a proposition of relationship system to factors and to variables that guide the success of green product innovation market. Before the established model, it interferes companies tend or may organize their practices of green innovation from investments connected to people, labs, equipments and technological research; Also the vision and the ambition from leaderships were fundamental to the unchain of important inter-relations between the factors market knowledge (i), inter-functional collaboration (ii), directed learning to innovation (iii).

Como objetivo principal, este trabalho investiga os fatores que direcionam o sucesso de mercado da inovação de produtos ambientalmente sustentáveis, utilizando para tanto estudos em múltiplos setores da indústria de transformação. Os principais resultados apontam que conhecimento de mercado (i), colaboração interfuncional (ii), aprendizagem orientada à inovação (iii) e domínio tecnológico (iv) são os mecanismos que impulsionam o sucesso da inovação de produtos ecologicamente corretos. Ainda, tendo em vista a relevância do fator conhecimento de mercado, estudos desenvolvidos com consumidores finais sinalizam que há conhecimento sobre os atributos de produto e de processo verde disponibilizados ao mercado por distintas organizações, bem como que a percepção de valor em produtos verdes aumenta a disponibilidade de pagamento na decisão de compra, pois a funcionalidade e a abstração percebidas tendem a reduzir certos riscos associados à mesma. Também foi constatado que variáveis demográficas, como sexo, idade e renda, interferem positivamente na qualidade percebida e consequente intenção de compra para produtos ambientalmente sustentáveis. Por fim, gerou-se uma proposição de sistema de relacionamento para os fatores e para as variáveis que direcionam o sucesso de mercado das inovações de produtos verdes. Diante do modelo estabelecido, infere-se que as empresas tendem ou podem organizar suas práticas de inovação verde a partir de investimentos ligados às pessoas, laboratórios, equipamentos e pesquisa tecnológica. Também que a visão e o dinamismo das lideranças fazem-se fundamentais para o desencadeamento de inter-relações importantes entre os fatores (i) conhecimento de mercado, (ii) colaboração interfuncional e (iii) aprendizagem orientada à inovação. / As the main goal, this paper looks into the factors that guide the market success of the environmentally sustainable products innovation, using for such studies in multiple sectors in changing industry. The principal results shows that market knowledge (i), inter-functional collaboration (ii), directed learning to innovation (iii) and technological mastery (iv) are the mechanisms that impel the success on ecologically correct products innovation. Still, in view of relevance of market knowledge, developed final studies with costumers showed that there is knowledge about the green product and process features available in market by distinct organizations, as well as the perception of values in green products increases the availability of paying in the moment of buying, due to functionality and realized abstractions tend to reduce some risks associated to it. Also, it was seen that demographical variables, as gender, age and profit, interfere positively on seen quality and consequently purchasing intention to environmentally sustainable products. At last, created a proposition of relationship system to factors and to variables that guide the success of green product innovation market. Before the established model, it interferes companies tend or may organize their practices of green innovation from investments connected to people, labs, equipments and technological research; Also the vision and the ambition from leaderships were fundamental to the unchain of important inter-relations between the factors market knowledge (i), inter-functional collaboration (ii), directed learning to innovation (iii).

Since the 1990s, the evolution to more environmentally sustainable business operations has gained increased recognition incorporations and the Academia, with sustainability becoming a key competitive priority for companies. In spite of a large amount of research on ecodesign,or the integration of environmental aspects into product design and development, recent surveys state that thorough ecodesign implementation is still a challenge for most firms.To overcome gaps found in prior studies (such as a distance between theory and practice, and over-technical and fragmented recommendations), this research aimed to identify and experiment how to incorporate environmental sustainability more effectively into product innovation and related activities of a company, and to propose a framework summarising the associated learning. This thesis is based on a set of five articles, applying a multi-methods approach. The framework was built with a methodology combining systematic reviews of previous literature and action research through a five-year long experiment. Inside a leading Brazilian cosmetics company, two implementation cycles were conducted, including customisation of ecodesign tools and their application in eight product development projects, and wide capacity building involving different stakeholders. The research led to three contributions. As a first methodological contribution, action research methodology and application guidelines were developed, for an effective collaboration mode between the Academia and companies, especially adapted to sustainable open innovation. Secondly, this study has deepened and experimented in real company context a broad view of ecodesign related activities, expanding the recognised approach centred on individual projects and validating the concept of formal insertion of customised ecodesign tools into of the Product Development Process. Such principle was further extended to include other managerial aspects, such as project and portfolio management, and linking them with strategic planning. To complement such technical and process related aspects, new \"soft\" side approaches were also experienced, building on the Transition Management theory. The third and major contribution, deriving from a synthesis of more than fifty models found in the literature and the action research, is the proposition of an \"Ecodesign Transition Framework\". The so-called \"15Ps ETF\"comprehends a \"pattern\" with eight main constructs (Purpose, Portfolio, Process, Platform, Pipeline, Practices & tools, Procedures and Project management) for a mature ecodesign and a \"pathway\" component, with five constructs (Planet, Public, Programme, Pilot, and People), for conducting the necessary transition addressing soft issues. The central \"Aztec pyramid\" shape of the framework represents the systemic three-level structure, combining the strategic, tactical and operational product related processes and activities. The ETF intends to support a far-reaching approach to better plan, implement and monitor the integration of environmental considerations in the whole innovation process of a company, through a systemic action learning process. The overall increased ecodesign maturity observed in the company showed congruence with the framework, with substantial challenges also observed. For further validation, the ETF could be applied in different contexts, and explored through qualitative and quantitative studies of associated limiting or success factors, to better address corporate specificities and complexity (e.g., culture, resistance to change, organisational entropy, etc.). / Desde os anos 1990, a evolução em direção de operações mais ambientalmente sustentáveis ganhou maior reconhecimento em empresas e na Academia, com a sustentabilidade se tornando uma prioridade competitiva. Apesar de uma grande quantidade de pesquisas sobre ecodesign, ou a integração dos aspectos ambientais no desenvolvimento de produtos, estudos recentes indicam que uma implementação completa do ecodesign ainda é um desafio para a maioria das empresas. Para superar as lacunas encontradas em estudos anteriores (como a distância entre teoria e prática, e recomendações excessivamente técnicas e fragmentadas), esta pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar como incorporar a sustentabilidade ambiental de forma mais efetiva na inovação de produtos de uma empresa, e propor um modelo que sintetiza os resultados. Esta tese, baseada em cinco artigos, aplicou uma abordagem multimétodos. O modelo foi construído combinando revisões sistemáticas de literatura e uma pesquisa-ação de cinco anos. Dentro de uma empresa brasileira líder do setor cosmético, dois ciclos de implementação foram conduzidos, incluindo customização de ferramentas de ecodesign e sua aplicação em oito projetos de desenvolvimento de produtos, com ampla capacitação de diferentes partes interessadas. A pesquisa levou a três contribuições. Como primeira contribuição metodológica, diretrizes de aplicação da pesquisa-ação promovem um modo de colaboração efetivo entre a Academia e as empresas, especialmente adaptado para a inovação aberta e sustentável. Em segundo lugar, o presente estudo desenvolveu uma visão larga das atividades relacionadas ao ecodesign, ampliando a abordagem tradicional centrada em projetos individuais, e validando o conceito de inserção formal de ferramentas de ecodesign customizadas no Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produtos. Além desse princípio, outros aspectos gerenciais, tais como gestão de projetos e de portfolio foram considerados, ligando-os com o planejamento estratégico. Adicionalmente, novas abordagens de gestão de mudanças foram experimentadas, com base na teoria de Gestão de Transição. A terceira e maior contribuição, decorrente de uma síntese de mais de cinquenta modelos encontrados na literatura, associada à pesquisaação, é a proposição do \"Ecodesign Transition Framework\". O chamado \"15Ps ETF\" compreende um \"Padrão\" com oito construtos (Propósito, Portfolio, Processo, Plataforma, Pipeline, Práticas e ferramentas, Procedimentos e Projetos) para um ecodesign maduro, e um componente chamado \"Percurso\", com cinco construtos (Planeta, Público, Programa, Piloto, e Pessoas), para a realização da necessária transição endereçando aspectos não técnicos. A parte central do modelo, com formato de \"pirâmide azteca\", representa uma estrutura sistêmica com três níveis - estratégico, tático e operacional - combinando os processos e atividades ligados à inovação de produto. O modelo ETF almeja apoiar uma abordagem ampliada para planejar, implementar e monitorar a integração das considerações ambientais em todaa inovação de produto de uma empresa, através de uma dinâmica de aprendizagem sistêmica. O aumento global da maturidade em ecodesign observado na empresa mostrou congruência com o modelo, com desafios significativos também observados. Para maior validação, o ETF poderia ser aplicado em diferentes contextos, e aprofundado através de estudos qualitativos e quantitativos de fatores de sucesso associados, a fim de considerar as especificidades das empresas e complexidade associada (como: cultura, resistência a mudanças, entropia organizacional, etc.).