This thesis examines product innovation processes in small established enterprises. The research questions are: (1) what motivates small established enterprises to innovate, (2) how do small established enterprises perform product innovation, and (3) how do small established enterprises manage resource scarcity in their product innovation processes? To answer the research questions, a multiple case study approach was chosen with three small established enterprises as cases and different product innovation processes as embedded units of study. The data collection method used was observation during a period of five months, complemented by interviews and secondary data. Product innovation in small established enterprises seems to be motivated by solving existing customers’ problems and the need for a sustained steady cash flow. A steady cash flow is also found to be a prerequisite during the product innovation processes. Product innovation seems to occur when there is a risk of decreased cash flow and/or when existing customers can be satisfied with new products that increase their loyalty so as to secure future sales, cash flow, and the enterprise’s survival in the long run. Promising innovation ideas alone do not result in product innovation. An innovation idea must also have supportive existing customers for product innovation to occur. Product innovation processes in the studied small established enterprises are found highly context dependent, intertwined in operational processes and made possible by a small organic organization and closeness to existing customers. The product innovation processes are further found to follow a flexible and informal overall scheme optimized for decreasing market and technology uncertainty and risk, dealing with resource scarcity, and facilitating fast and easy commercialization to avoid or moderate dips in cash flow. The design processes within the innovation processes can be linearly structured or cyclical and experimental, depending on the experienced novelty. To manage resource scarcity during the product innovation processes, the studied small enterprises used many different bootstrapping methods in combination. These methods can be divided into three categories according to their overall functions: for using existing resources more efficiently, for increasing resources and to secure a fast payback on resources invested in NPD. The studied small enterprises were due to their resource scarcity further found to favor an innovation strategy, only involving new products done with known technology and targeting existing markets. This way to innovate, which creates new products in a resource-efficient way that are accepted by the enterprises’ existing markets, seems to prevent unsuccessful product innovation, while at the same time excluding technologically radical innovation and innovation targeting new markets. / <p>QC 20140102</p>

在環境變遷劇烈的時代，改善流程、發展新商品、研發新技術已經無法讓企業在穩操勝算。近年來，企業開始關注商業模式之價值。但是，過往的商業模式創新多為組合式，但是對於複合商業模式卻所知有限。本論文分析出版業商業模式的複合創新過程，了解傳統產業如何藉由商業模式而轉型。本文以全球最大的出版公司培生為研究對象，分析培生是如何策劃其複合商業模式，於2000年到2013年間啟動四種商業模式之創新。本文發現，商業模式必須透過資源不斷的流動，引導其實驗性交換方能產生複合的效應。觀念上，本論文提出如何以資源流的方式來分析商業模式的複合效應。實務上，本研究指出複合商業模式的形成原來不是以混合或組合不同的商業模式進行；而是必須創造資源的綜效，才能有效的讓新與舊的商業模式產生「複合」的效果，提供創新的解決方案，完成企業轉型的任務。 / In this rapid changing environment, improving work processes, developing new products, innovate new technologies may not secure firms’ success. In recent years, firms begin to pay attention to the value of business model. However, our understanding of business model innovation is limited to the combinational form and the hybrid form of business model is less known. This thesis examines the innovation process of hybrid business model within publishing industry, and understands how a traditional industry could undertake transformation via business model renewal. This study examines Pearson Publishing, which is the world’s largest publisher at the time, and analyzes how Pearson strategized its hybrid business model while launching four types of business model innovation during 2000-2013. The findings indicate that business model must initiate constant flow of resources, guiding its experimental exchange so as to create hybrid effects. Conceptually, this thesis suggests how to examine business models’ hybrid effects through patterns of resource flow. Practically, this research warns that the shaping of hybrid business model may not simply blend or combine two different business models. It requires us to create some sort of synergy among resources so as to generate some kind of ‘hybrid’ effect between the old business model and the new business model, resulting in innovative solutions and achieving the mission of corporate transformation.

Changing trends in customer preference, competitors’ offerings, new technologies and development techniques may disrupt a firm from its current leading market position and may favor other firms that prioritize innovation. Once a market opportunity is identified (i.e., find an answer to the ‘what to do’ question), firms need to engage in a series of activities and information processing to determine an appropriate way to monetize that opportunity – that is, firms need to find an answer to the ‘how to do’ question. Alternately, a firm may first identify a technological opportunity (i.e. find an answer to the ‘how to do’) and then find a market opportunity (i.e. find an answer to the ‘what to do’ question) to make use of the technological opportunity. Two scales that measure the capabilities of firms to address the following two questions – ‘what to do’ and ‘how to do’ - were reported; these were labelled as market-scanning capability (MktScan) and technology-scanning capability (TechScan); and these two scales were also tested in a broader research model. In turbulent environments, marketing and R&D become more challenging, since they face an uncertain future. Firms need to learn systemic scanning and decoding of apparently random changes in their business environment and imagine a pattern that makes sense. One cannot plan for uncertainty. A better strategy is to be prepared for it. One way to prepare is to develop the capabilities that would help the firm to become more adaptive. Drucker (1992) also argued that instead of planning for the long term that is uncertain, firms needed to become adaptive to tackle uncertainty. The ability of a firm to adapt to the changes depends on its ability to sense the nature of the changes in its business environment and respond to those. Sense-and-respond framework (Haeckel 1999; Haeckel 2000; Day and Schoemaker 2006) was proposed to emphasize the identification of weak signals (Ansoff 1975) to tackle increased uncertainty in business environment. In current days, effectiveness of firm’s activities often depends on the richness of its sources of information and its capability to process the collected information to identify the patterns of change happening in its business environments. Information processing may happen in two dimensions: in market dimension and in technology dimension. Firms’ capabilities for information collecting and processing in these two dimensions were measured using two firm-level constructs. These are market-scanning capability and technology-scanning capability. Resource-based theory helped to understand how firms use their tangible and intangible resources to compete in the market. Specific problem-solving aspects of the processes, activities, and cultural norms enable firms to make decisions about engaging the available resources and capabilities in ways that maximize customer value, by realizing the identified opportunities into product and service offerings. This research identified the characteristic strength of this problem-solving approach of firms – collecting information both internally and externally about possible market opportunities and technological options, organization-wide processing of that information, and taking actions to respond using insights gained – as two latent constructs called ‘market-scanning capability’ and ‘technology-scanning capability’. The concepts of ‘market-scanning capability’ and ‘technology-scanning capability’ were first defined and then, scales were developed to enable researchers and managers to measure these firm-level constructs. Next, the predictive roles of these capabilities on firm performance were examined. Empirical analysis for scale development and validation of the research model were performed with data collected through a web-based survey of Canadian manufacturing firms. Firm performance was captured in two stages – first, by product innovation performance, and second, by overall firm performance. Product innovation performance was used as an intermediate performance measure to examine the direct influence on it of market-scanning capability and technology-scanning capability, and then, to relate product innovation performance to final business outcome measured using ‘overall firm performance’ scale. The study validated the notion of resource-based theory by supporting the belief that higher levels of market-scanning capability and technology-scanning capability would lead to improved product innovation performance. The role of environmental turbulence was also examined for its possible moderating effect. Two measures of environmental turbulence, namely, technology and market turbulence were used to test the moderation effect. The technology turbulence construct was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between technology-scanning capability and product innovation performance, indicating that firms needed to focus more attention on the changes in the technology landscape when turbulence in the technological field was perceived to be higher, in order to keep the same level of product innovation performance. Insight gained from the study contributed to a knowledge-base that might be useful to both practitioners and researchers. The combination of TechScan and MktScan scales could be used as a benchmark tool by managers to assess firms’ readiness to take advantage of the opportunities that existed. On the theoretical side, the study contributed to the understanding by showing that both market-scanning capability and technology-scanning capability had direct and indirect influences on firm performance. Also, it was found that the indirect influence of a certain scanning capability became important when firms were pre-disposed to emphasize the other scanning capability.

This thesis explores the relationship between culture and human-centred design in Botswana, a topic on which there is little previous research. The pinnacle of good product innovation is when it is grounded on sensitive cultural analysis of users' culture; however, it has been observed that designers have not yet been able to encode cultural phenomena to the same extent as cognitive and physical human factors. The study develops a theoretical framework of cultural analysis, comparing traditional with contemporary socio-cultural factors that can be applied to designing products. The content analysis method was used to extract and synthesise traditional and contemporary socio-cultural factors from Botswana's cultural sources. An experimental study was undertaken in Botswana to investigate how socio-cultural factors can be integrated in product design, and the participants' challenge was to transfer and apply these into product features that reflect Botswana's culture. This data was analysed using the qualitative method of textual and visual content analysis. A culture-orientated design model has been proposed to assist designers to consciously integrate culture in their design practice. The framework demonstrates how to specify, analyse and integrate socio-cultural factors in the early stages of the design process by advancing local thought, content and solutions. It advances a new approach to design education, theory, research and practice. It emerged that culture can be used as a resource of information and a source of inspiration for product innovation that connects with users' traditions. The research findings show that culture-orientated products have meaningful content that reflects users' lifestyles as well as providing them with symbolic personal, social and cultural values, and that these aspects facilitate product acceptance.

Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 301-327. / Introduction -- Literature review -- Methodology and phase 1 research design -- Phase 1 findings -- Phase 2 research design -- Phase 2 findings -- Conclusions and implications. / This research examines the relationship between innovation project portfolio management (IPPM) capabilities and competitive advantage. Innovation projects - or projects for the development of new products - are of escalating importance in an increasingly competitive, globalised and deregulated environment characterised by shortening product lifecycles and dynamic markets. IPPM capabilities aim to improve the success rates for product innovation activities by providing a holistic and responsive decision-making environment to maximise the long-term value of innovation investments across the portfolio of innovation projects. This research takes a wide view and investigates the overall rganisational capability for the management of the innovation project portfolio. -- Successful product innovation is no longer primarily a concern of manufacturing-based industries - product development in service industries is a growing endeavour in an increasingly important industry. Therefore this research includes service product development environments and is the first to extend beyond the traditional manufacturing industry base for IPPM research. This is also the first study to investigate IPPM capabilities in Australia. -- A pragmatic perspective guides a two-phase study encompassing a quantitative survey and a qualitative multiple-case study, the combination of methods providing a deeper level of understanding than could be achieved by either method alone. Findings support prior IPPM studies and suggest a positive relationship between structured IPPM capabilities and improved new product outcomes. The research highlights similarities and differences between service and manufacturing environments, and suggests future challenges will result from the increasing blurring of the boundaries between service and manufacturing industries. This research adopts a 'dynamic capabilities' perspective and draws on organisational learning theory to investigate the path-dependent nature of IPPM capability development. It adds to the understanding of how IPPM capabilities work with the resource base and contribute to competitive advantage. The findings of the research are presented in a maturity model and several conceptual models, and areas for future research are identified. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xxvii, 436 p. ill. (some col.)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:52:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5741.pdf: 3756867 bytes, checksum: d75ae6844f86f78217fb963284442b22 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-18 / This present work represents a case study conducted with different business units and corporate areas in a Brazilian branch of a multinational company (acknowledged by its innovative strength in multiple sectors: auto parts, consumer goods and industrial goods), aiming to understand what inhibits or enables a more venturesome innovative approach towards more disruptive products (understood as those genuinely new, designed after actual demands and unmet needs, avoiding limitations of technological paradigms and the erroneous inertial persecution of the same competitive attributes). For doing so, the following main objectives are established: 1. Understand how selected determinants (environment, human resources, financial resources, processes, culture and strategy) impact the product innovation portfolio composition in the units selected; 2. Therefore, identify ideas sources that are most frequently used and those considered most effective in each unit studied. As the background for this analysis, the literature review outlined starts discussing some concepts (disruptive innovation and value co-creation particularly) which exhort to the importance of a broader innovative orientation, dribbling an inertial conservative behavior that seems quite deleterious. After that, an approach on the main drivers that mold the innovation orientation is outlined (covering the lockin risks and opportunities brought by open innovation amidst the innovation strategy perspectives). Finally, the bottlenecks in the idea generation phase (which has been reported by some recent studies as the major cause for an alleged gap in disruptive innovations) are explored, some multidisciplinary contributions on innovation applied creativity (ideation concepts from cognitive and social sciences) are brought and the most effective and commonly used sources of ideas according to recent researches are covered. The analysis identifies three main innovation orientations in the studied areas (tech drivers with offensive strategies; need seekers with opportunist strategies; and market readers with more dependent strategies), what seems to be determined by deliberate corporate definitions molded by a more conservative and centralizing cultural and strategic approach of the company, dedicating limited innovation scope and resources for the branch. The idea sources follows this three main innovation orientations, also being close to those traditionally used internationally: technologically oriented areas with more innovative capabilities (offensive innovation strategy) tend to find more efficient and popular the technological prospection sources; dependent innovation approaches tend to rely on a more basic usage of voice of customer sources; and the opportunist orientation is the only approach more focused on open innovation methods (which generally have limited adoption). Besides and in general, internal and voice of customer sources tend to be disseminated and effectively used independently of the orientation. / O presente trabalho constitui um estudo de caso delineado em distintas unidades de negócios e áreas corporativas de filial brasileira de empresa multinacional (reconhecida por seu desempenho inovador em diversos mercados: autopeças, bens de consumo e bens industriais), buscando entender o que inibe ou viabiliza a busca por inovações mais disruptivas em produtos (concebidas como aquelas que buscam criar propostas genuinamente novas e vinculadas a reais demandas, às limitações dos paradigmas tecnológicos e ao aprisionamento na perseguição dos atributos competitivos estabelecidos). Pra tanto, são traçados dois objetivos principais: 1. Entender quão determinantes são algumas variáveis selecionadas (ambiente, recursos humanos, recursos financeiros, processos, cultura e estratégia) na orientação à composição do portfólio de inovação em produto das unidades estudadas; 2. Por conseguinte, identificar quais fontes de ideias são utilizadas com mais frequência e aquelas consideradas de maior efetividade em cada unidade estudada. Conformando uma base para essa análise, a revisão bibliográfica aqui delineada se inicia com uma abordagem sobre concepções (em especial a perspectiva da inovação disruptiva e da cocriação de valor) que exortam quanto à importância de se manter uma orientação à inovação atenta a mais amplas oportunidades, driblando um comportamento inercial que parece bastante deletério. Na sequencia, faz-se uma abordagem acerca de como a inovação é apreendida como estratégia nas empresas dentro de múltiplos determinantes, sendo também trabalhados os riscos de lockin e as oportunidades trazidas com a inovação aberta. Por fim, mostra-se que gargalos na etapa da geração de ideias vêm sendo apontados mais recentemente como a maior causa para esse lapso de inovação, sendo resgatadas contribuições multidisciplinares sobre a criatividade aplicada à inovação (conceitos de ideação desprendidos a partir de conceitos das ciências cognitivas e sociais e sendo trazidas as principais fontes de ideias atualmente empregadas) e apresentadas as fontes de ideias mais comumente utilizadas e aquelas consideradas mais populares segundo pesquisas recentes. Como resultado, a análise, à semelhança de estudos internacionais, identificou três principais orientações à inovação nas unidades estudadas (tech drivers com estratégias mais ofensivas; need seekers com estratégias mais oportunistas; e market readers com estratégias mais dependentes), o que parece estar determinado por definições deliberadas da corporação, moldadas por um embasamento estratégico e cultural mais tradicional e centralizador da empresa, sendo dedicados pela matriz poucos recursos e um limitado escopo à inovação à filial. As fontes de ideias empregadas, por sua vez, seguem essas três orientações principais, estando ainda bastante próximas daquelas mais tradicionalmente empregadas internacionalmente: a área com maior orientação e capacitação tecnológica (tech driver) apresentou uso mais eficaz e frequente de fontes de prospecção tecnológica; as áreas de orientação dependente à inovação (market readers) mostraram mais ampla adoção de fontes de clientes; a área com abordagem oportunista (need seeker) sobressaiu como a única a conferir certa ênfase na inovação aberta (o que tem comumente aplicação bastante limitada nas demais unidades). Ademais, as fontes de ideias internas, bem como aquelas de clientes são, em geral, disseminadas e efetivamente usadas independentemente da orientação.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvia Regina do Carmo Cravo.pdf: 508672 bytes, checksum: b2f0fae31287ae1bc5f3e438dc09735a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-25 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / This work, performed in line with business strategy, addresses the issues of technological innovation and competitive advantage. The study aims to determine the relationship between technological innovation and competitive advantage of companies in the sector of agricultural chemicals. For it to be answered, a descriptive study was conducted through a quantitative research, using a sample of non-probabilistic. Data collection was conducted through a questionnaire with closed questions. Through factor analysis, it is analyzed the factors of technological innovation and competitive advantage. With the regression model range, there was the existence of relations between these two variables, a fact proven by analysis of canonical correlation, who answered the assumptions made, that technological innovation is related to the competitive advantage of companies. Also hit are the specific goals proposed by identifying factors related to technological innovation that exert influence on business, which resulted in Technological Vanguard","Innovative Posture and "Followers of the market , and also the factors related to competitive advantage that are relevant to the industry, which resulted in" Product Development", "Incentives Participation and New Ideas","Market Forces" and "Knowledge Base Internal . From these findings it appears the importance of the study of the relationship between technological innovation and competitive advantage in organizations. / O presente trabalho, realizado na linha de estratégia empresarial, aborda os temas da inovação tecnológica e a vantagem competitiva. O estudo tem por finalidade verificar as relações entre a inovação tecnológica e a vantagem competitiva das empresas do setor de defensivos agrícolas. Para que fosse respondido, foi realizado um estudo descritivo por meio de uma pesquisa quantitativa, utilizando-se de uma amostra não-probabilística. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de um questionário com perguntas fechadas. Por meio da análise fatorial, analisaram-se os fatores de inovação tecnológica e da vantagem competitiva. Com o modelo de regressão Gama, verificou-se a existência das relações entre essas duas variáveis, fato comprovado pela análise de correlação canônica, que respondeu à hipótese formulada, de que a inovação tecnológica tem relação com a vantagem competitiva das empresas. Também atingiram-se os objetivos específicos propostos, identificando fatores relacionados à inovação tecnológica que exercem influência nas empresas, que resultaram em Vanguarda Tecnológica , Postura Inovadora e Seguidores de Mercado ; e também os fatores relacionados à vantagem competitiva que são relevantes para o setor, que resultaram em Desenvolvimento de Produtos , Incentivos à Participação e Novas Idéias , Forças de Mercado e Base de Conhecimento Interno . A partir dessas constatações infere-se a importância do estudo da relação entre a inovação tecnológica e a vantagem competitiva nas organizações.

Companies that strive for implementing a more holistic sustainability perspective, i.e. a socio-ecological sustainability perspective with a system view, need to recognize the integration ofsustainability methods into the product innovation process as a project in itself. To achieve thisan efficient method must be available to guide companies towards sustainable productdevelopment i.e. implementation of a strategic sustainability perspective in the early phases ofthe product innovation process, including a lifecycle thinking. To meet this challenge this thesisseeks to answer how a sustainability perspective can be integrated into product development to;facilliate a design team to identify critical areas in a products life cycle during the productinnovation process and with the help of sustainability methods guide the companies to a moresustainable future.The results is based on a literature study, interview- and workshops all conducted at a case-company were several barriers on why sustainability methods havn’t successfully been appliedwithin the companies were identified. The thesis identified the importance of having a morestructured and strategic product innovation process to enable a more holistic sustainabilitymindset within the company. The work contributed to a new product innovation process at thecase-company that allowed adapted sustainability methods to conveniently be integrated intothe working process. The process identified a handful of suitable sustainability methods thatfocus on the three sustainability dimensions (social, economic, ecological) to broaden thecompany’s understanding of sustainability. Selected methods were adapted, applied andvalidated at the case-company to ensure that they fulfilled their intended goals and can used toprovide a more holistic mindset and to identify hotspots in the product innovation process. / Företag som strävar efter att implementera ett bredare hållbarhetstänk, dvs ett socio-ekologiskthållbarhetsperspektiv med systemsyn, inom hela sin organisation behöver se integrationen avhållbarhetsmetoder och arbetsprocesser som ett projekt i sig. För att möjliggöra detta måste etteffektivt ramverk finnas för att hjälpa företagen i arbetet mot en hållbar produktutveckling. Föratt möta den här utmaningen söker den här uppsatsen svaret hur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv kanintegreras i produktutvecklingen inom industrin för att; underlätta för ett design team attidentifiera kritiska punkter på en produkts livcykel under produktinnovationsprocessen samthur hållbarhetsmetoder kan implementeras i processen för att navigera mot en mer hållbarindustri.Resultatet är baserat en litteraturstudie, intervjuer samt workshops på ett samarbetsföretag därett flertal barriärer vilket hindrar företag att mer effektivt navigera mot ett hållbar industriidentifierades. Studien identifierade vikten av att en strukturerad och strategiskproduktinnovationsprocess finns tillgänglig på företaget för att lättare välja och applicera ettstörre hållbarhetstänk inom företaget. Arbetet hjälpte samarbetsföretaget att ta fram en nyproduktinnovationsprocess för att på sådant sätt möjliggöra att hållbarhetsmetoder enklarekunde integreras på företaget. Processen identifierade ett flertal potentiella hållbarhetsmetodervilket fokuserade på att få med de tre olika hållbarhetsdimensionerna (social, ekonomisk,ekologisk) för att bredda samarbetsföretagets förståelse kring hållbarhet, hållbarproduktutveckling och hållbar utveckling. Intressanta hållbarhetsmetoder valdes ut för attanpassas och verifieras på företaget för att säkerställa att syftet av dem säkerställdes.

In this empirical research, the author focuses on the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software market. Based on a contingent perspective of how markets emerge and can be shaped, the author asks the research question of whether the emergence of the ERP market was a necessary, strong, or weak consequence of the product innovation of Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing (SAP), which was the pioneer innovator in this specific market. This question is answered with a graph theoretical model of contingency and causality in order to measure the causality between events occurring over historical time. In this sense, the research article provides an application of the method proposed by Lehmann-Waffenschmidt. The author finds that the emergence of the ERP software market is contingent and was not predetermined; path dependencies play a big role in the way how this market segment emerged. With respect to both entrepreneurial and economic factors of relevance, the case of the SAP is far from a predetermined success story. The results are relevant for a number of reasons. First, the results indicate that instead of talking about success stories, a new perspective in market shaping can highlight a more realistic way of the contingent nature of entrepreneurial activity and product innovations. Second, the results aim to bridge the gap between marketing and the emergence of markets, as it was indicated as a research gap by recent contributions in marketing science. Third, the introduction of counterfactual events in the business history of SAP indicate a methodological innovation that has not yet been considered by marketing and entrepreneurship scholars, which may be helpful regarding recognizing patterns from the past and also regarding contingent planning for the future.

Bakgrund: Fastighetsbranschen klassificeras som en stabil bransch med fastigheter som fortsatt kommer behöva driftas och förvaltas, vilket har lett till få incitament att driva innovation i branschen. Spridningen av innovationer i branschen utgör en brist, även om tillgänglighet av innovationsmöjligheter finns. Medvetenhet om nödvändigheten av innovation inom fastighetsbranschen har dock ökat under de senaste decennierna, vilket har lett till att fastighetsbolagen gjort satsningar på att driva innovation i högre grad. Innovationsarbetet i fastighetsbranschen påverkas av flera externa och interna faktorer. Här råder det en kunskapslucka, då innovationsprocessen i fastighetsbranschen inte är tillräckligt studerat.   Syfte och Frågeställningar: Studiens syfte är att med hjälp av en komparativ studie utforska skillnader och likheter i olika fastighetsbolags innovationsarbete. För att besvara detta syfte har följande frågeställningar använts: “Vad är drivkraften till innovation för fastighetsbolagen inom branschen?” samt “Hur ser processen ut för innovationsskapande för aktörer inom fastighetsbranschen och finns det några skillnader samt likheter?”  Metod: Denna kvalitativa studie har en abduktiv ansats eftersom studiens teoretiska ramverk har utformats utifrån förintervjuer och en litteraturstudie. Empiriska data har samlats in genom primärdata i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem olika fastighetsbolag vilka sedan har analyserats med en tematisk analysmetod.  Slutsats: Vad som driver innovation inom branschen visade sig vara följande områden: omvärldsanalys, hållbarhet, kunder, samarbeten samt intern vilja och drivkraft. Processen för innovationsskapande för de olika bolagen ser olika ut och processerna är individuella för bolagen. Bolagen har flertalet likheter i sina innovationsprocesser med tanke på medarbetarnas involvering, pilotprojekt och hur de mäter om en innovation har uppnått sitt syfte. Olikheter i processerna grundar sig ofta i initiativet till varför bolaget bedriver innovation och hur innovationsprocessen startas. Studien tyder på att de finns olika samarbets-nätverk kopplat till innovation. Samarbetet inom branschen är en viktig komponent i bolagens innovationsprocess och driver innovation i branschen. Ur intervjudatan framkommer det att hinder för branschen framför allt är den stora kapitalintensiteten och att incitament till innovation saknas på grund av den stabila konjunkturen i branschen. / Introduction: The real estate industry classifies as a stable industry with properties that will still need to be operated and managed, which led to few incentives to drive innovation in the industry. The spread of innovations in the industry constitutes a deficiency, even though there is an availability of innovation opportunities. Awareness of the necessity of innovation in the real estate industry has increased in recent decades which has led real estate companies to make efforts in pursuing innovation to a greater degree. The innovation work in the real estate industry is affected by several external and internal factors. There is a knowledge gap here because the innovation process in the real estate industry has not been sufficiently studied.   Purpose and research questions: The purpose of the thesis is to explore differences and similarities in the innovation work of different real estate companies through a comparative study. To answer this purpose, the research questions used are: “What are the driving forces for innovation for real estate companies in the industry?” and “What does the process look like for innovation creation for players in the real estate industry and are there any differences and similarities?”.   Method: This qualitative study has an abductive approach, which has meant that the study has designed a theoretical frame of reference based on preliminary interviews and a literature review. This qualitative study has an abductive approach. The empirical data has been collected through primary data in the form of semi-structured interviews with five different real estate companies which then have been analysed using a thematic analysis method.   Conclusion: What drives innovation in the industry turned out to be the following areas: external analysis, sustainability, customers, collaborations, and internal will and drive. The process of creating innovation for the different companies looks different and the processes are individual for the companies. The companies have several similarities in their innovation processes in terms of employee involvement, pilot projects, and how they measure whether an innovation has achieved its purpose. Differences in the processes are often based on the initiative for why the company conducts innovation and how the innovation process is started. The study indicates that there are various collaborative networks linked to innovation. Collaboration in the industry is an important component in the companies' innovation process and drives innovation in the industry. The interview data shows that obstacles for the industry are primarily the large capital intensity and that incentives for innovation are lacking due to the stable economic situation in the industry.