Eftersom komplexa produkter innehåller många och skilda teknologier är det ofta omöjligt för en enskild organisation att utveckla dessa i egen regi. Därför sker produktutveckling i samverkan mellan organisationer – i så kallade interorganisatoriska samarbeten. Efterhand som produkterna i vår omvärld blir alltmer komplexa, ökar förekomsten av denna typ av utvecklingssamarbeten. Integrering av de olika bidragen i produktutvecklingsprojekten kräver att organisationerna kommunicerar med varandra. Genom kommunikation ges förutsättning för ömsesidiga anpassningar av planer, samt av tekniska lösningar och administration. Informationsteknologin öppnar nu nya vägar för kommunikation mellan organisationer, bland annat genom att deras olika datorsystem länkas samman och bildar ’interorganisatoriska informationssystem’. Dessa system ger möjligheter att effektivisera integrationsarbetet mellan parterna. Frågan som ställs i avhandlingen är hur samarbetsformerna mellan olika organisationer kan komma att förändras när interorganisatoriska system används för komplex produktutveckling. I studien identifieras förändring i tre organisationsdimensioner: aktörsstrukturen, aktivitetsstrukturen och kommunikationsstrukturen. Samtidigt som de nya informationssystemen ger möjlighet att dela upp arbetet mellan de inblandade aktörerna på hittills oprövade sätt, medför de också att rikedomen i den interorganisatoriska kommunikationen minskar. Detta ger behov av anpassningar i nätverket. Studien visar på att behovet kan tillgodoses med hjälp en intermediär aktörskategori som agerar översättare och anpassar arbetet till systemintegratörens krav och arbetssätt. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan

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Over the last few years there has been a downturn in business. As a response, many companies have initiated various downsizing activities – often on a short-term financial basis – in order to improve the competitive position of the company. Yet, at the same time, innovation is often cited as the key to long-term success by the very same companies. The central problem examined in this book is whether downsizing and innovation are compatible. The problem was studied during a two year exploratory case research in six cases – selected from a well-defined reference population consisting of 37 companies – facing the exact challenge of simultaneously downsizing and trying to sustain its high level of innovation. The simple answer found in the study is yes. Companies can simultaneously downsize and still maintain a high level of innovation, but it is difficult and challenging and it depends on the company’s ability to handle the knowledge creation process. So what is needed? Create an understanding in the company, at all levels, that balancing knowledge creation – the ability to share and transfer knowledge – is one of the most important tasks in order to remain innovative over time. This is done by building a commitment to knowledge creation. This commitment is achieved through making knowledge creation a visible and central element of the strategic intent, and organizing the company so that ideas can be generated and generalized. Examples of activities include: At an organizational level there is a need to create boundary spanning activities to facilitate knowledge creation between various part of the organization, but also to other organizations. At a top management level shared visions and values need to be created; exemplified in words and action. Important is that the top management not get involved into micro-management. Avoid cutting-down on initial activities – where visualization and brainstorming are in focus – in projects aiming for innovation, as these activities are the foundations the rest of the project. This book is useful for those who are faced with the challenge of finding a balance between short-term activities, often focusing on downsizing, and the more long-term activity of being innovative. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2004

Product development has become an important competitive factor for most companies. A central task is to select which projects, often from a large number of project proposals, are to be developed in order to achieve strategic objectives without exceeding available resources. Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is the research discipline which focuses on the decision-making processes used to evaluate, select and prioritise projects. Previous research has stated that companies must be able to select and commit resources to different types of ideas and projects. However, it is widely believed that PPM literature has not sufficiently investigated the challenges that companies might face when putting into practice different decision-making approaches to select different types of ideas and projects. This thesis aims to explore how different types of ideas and projects are evaluated and selected in the context of the development of complex technological products. It is based on a qualitative research approach and interviews and observations have been carried out with the cooperation of six companies. The findings of this thesis reveal that because different decision-making approaches encounter different levels of acceptance within an organisation, the dynamics by which an idea evolves are affected by the way in which decision makers deal with the legitimacy of the decision-making approaches that they put into practice. Decision makers use some mechanisms that allow them to avoid drawing exclusively on the highly accepted approaches when they are not considered to be suitable, and to give legitimacy to the decisions that have been made by the less accepted approaches. In addition, the way in which decision makers experience a decision situation influences how it is approached. If they experience ambiguity, they might display a decision-making logic in which actions are allowed to be taken within self-organised social interactions, in order to make sense of the idea, project or criteria. However, the occurrence of self-organised interactions is conditioned by how decision makers negotiate resources with stakeholders that display different interests and decision-making logics. These findings question the objective view that assumes that ideas and projects are already defined at the moment the decision is made and are able to be classified in pre-defined categories. It also led to the question of whether problems in fulfilling resource allocation plans and the risk of biases in decision making are problems that arise due to poor decision-making practices, and whether they should, instead, be understood as probable consequences of a flexible process. Finally, this thesis explores a way of enhancing decision makers’ abilities through scenarios in which decision makers experience decision situations and reflect on their own ways of making decisions. / <p>QC 20120918</p>

Background: As companies are operating more and more globally, the need for increasingly coordinating and cooperating activities are becoming important. One solution to problems associated with work in globally dispersed teams can be to organize business activites, such as product development, virtually. A virtual setting for knowledge transfer is becoming a part of day-to-day activities for globally dispersed organizations such as Autoliv, the company in focus for this study. Purpose: To explore to what extent and in what respect companies can, using virtual teams in the product development process, by codifying knowledge, improve communication and transfer of knowledge between business units within and between projects in order to improve and increase cooperation and coordination. Method: The approach taken, has been an hermeneutic case study where we have carried out 16 in-depth interviews with a total of 17 respondents. The interviews have been carried out in face-to-face or videoconference settings with Autoliv employees from all over the world. Results: Codification should be used as a complementary tool to the personalization strategy within knowledge intensive companies. The fact that Autoliv’s product development teams often are globally dispersed creates an even larger need for codification in order to reach efficiency in the knowledge sharing process. Positive effects from this can occur, such as help creating a common understanding, which will facilitate coordination and cooperation activities.

Organisations tend to focus more and more on product and process development to increase their competitiveness. Several major organisations, among them ABB, have developed models aimed to more effectively control and manage product development processes. ABB is using its standardised model ABB Gate Model for this. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how the introduction of ABB Gate Model has affected the outcome of decisions and also the decision-making in the product development process. The study is limited to elucidate the version of ABB Gate Model handling product development projects. No deeper study is conducted regarding the information used or the criteria for the gate decisions; instead, the focus is to findelements in basis for the decision- making that have a greater significance for the outcome at some gate or at specific types of gate decisions. The empirical data of the thesis has to a great extent been collected through interviews with respondents from both of the studied units and also the unit in charge of the implementation and development of ABB Gate Model. The study shows that ABB Gate Model does not to any significant extent affect the outcome of the decisions in the product development projects. In general, the same decisions are made as before and projects are seldom cancelled. The foremost effects of ABB Gate Model at the units are: increased clarity and support to the operational work, improved co- ordination between the units functional departments, and contributed to make essential aspects of the product development projects visible and taken into consideration.

Background: Knowledge of customer needs is a key factor in companies’ struggle to develop successful products. Several studies illustrate that the main reason for failure in product development is lack of customer understanding. Lately considerable changes have occurred. Large-scale mass production is continuously being replaced by customer orientation, especially in the high technological market. Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to analyze customer involvement in high technological product development projects. Research method: The study was conducted by realizing seven qualitative interviews at three different companies related to telecommunication. Result: Customers are involved in product development projects in different ways and to different extends. The involvement is carried out in two main ways; either by planned meetings, demanded direct involvement, or by market and sales departments, not demanded involvement. The characteristics of the customer involvement is primarily dependent on the sort of new product being developed, the character of the development process as well as the design of the project model in terms of duration and control.

The main process of this dissertation involves thedevelopment and refinement of a conceptual framework fordescribing and discussing cross-functional co-operation andnetworking within product realisation processes. The conceptualframework, the analysis of the case study and a discussion ofthe implications and challenges for research and industrialsector are the main results of the dissertation. Industrial firms face different demands, which create anumber of potential sources of conflicts(‘faster–better–cheaper’), for examplebetween market, product development and manufacturingfunctions. The transformation of industrial firms from beingtraditionally hierarchically organised to becoming team-,project- and process-based has delegated a number ofresponsibilities to employees–for example, to interactwith others in planning and decision-making, and to act onissues or problems that may arise during daily work. Thissituation requires that new workand co-operation patterns aredeveloped between employees and between work units. Theestablishment of new co-operative behaviour seldom developswithout active support. Several studies confirm that there is aneed for organisational/managerial support for cross-functionalco-operation to develop, but that this type of support is oftenneglected (Blackler et al, 1997; Gabrielsson, 1998; Majchrzakand Wang, 1996). The case study, reported in this dissertation, waslongitudinal and context-oriented. The study pointed out thatan integrative view of management on the entire ProductRealisation Process (PRP) was lacking during the first vitalphases of the organisational restructuring. However, itdeveloped continuously over time, which indicates a change inorganisational paradigm. Support for cross-functionalco-operation was considered and implemented only after thatco-operation had collapsed in a pilot group. The support was,for example, based on‘Work Reflection Seminars’,which served as forums for discussing the new ways of working.In addition, two different parallel networks, originating fromthe previous organisational structure, had considerable impacton the development of cross-functional co-operation, whichdemonstrates the importance and power of practised rather thanformally ordered activities. <b>Keywords:</b>Cross-functional Co-operation, Networking,Product Realisation Process, Concurrent Engineering, Productdevelopment, Production, Organisational Change, OrganisationalRestructuring.

The aim of the thesis was to investigate and analyze howproject members at operative level experience industrialproject work. The project goal, alongside the time limits,methods applied, and cooperation, were envisaged to set theprerequisites for the work situation. Four empirical studies,based on both qualitative and quantitative methods, areencompassed by this thesis. In total, 31 companies and 298respondents were involved in the studies. The studies wereperformed in product-development and construction settingswithin the mechanical engineering industry. The analysis showsthat project work is characterized by: 1) Goal-focusedcooperation in flexible and changeable work groups. Demandscompetence for cooperation; interaction and communicationconstantly adjusted to problem-solving processes; and jointactivities for goal definition. 2) Treating time as a resource.A fast pace of work demands shared responsibilities in a team;unconstrained interaction and communication; and socialsupport. Scarce time resources give rise to the risk ofneglecting needs for long-term knowledge development. 3)Development and insecurity. Development makes contingency-basedsupervision and planning needed, together with team-basedplanning and goal formulation. High levels of developmentstimulate knowledge and improvements to routines and practices.Technological development also entails insecurity, whichrequires the ability mentally to cope with flexibility andcontinuous adjustments. <b>Keywords:</b>Project organization, Project work, Projectmanagement, Project team, Product development, Constructionprojects, Psychosocial work environment.

Title SpotBox: The Concept Development of a Digital Jukebox   Authors Guilherme Gomes &amp; Pauline Droz   Supervisor Jean-Charles Languilaire   Level Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, Marketing   Key words Marketing, Concept Development, New-Product Development, NPD, Jukebox, Music, Spotify, Customer-Oriented business,Live streaming, mp3, Customer-Oriented Music System.   Purpose To Turn the new-product idea of the digital jukebox called SpotBox into a product concept.   Method In the method we explain the process to develop our concept. Based in three phases, we started by combining secondary data and primary data through a focus group in order to understand better the potential consumers of our product, then personal interviews are made with our customers and the technical requirements are measured in the end through an interview.   Theoretical framework Kotler´s and Cooper´s approach about New-Product Development are first introduced. Then the Concept Development theories of both authors are explained which allow us in a last paragraph to build and present our own approach of the process of concept development.   Conclusions The SpotBox concept developed through this work is presented and explained in detail: A digital jukebox in a futuristic shape which allows users to share, listen and program songs in a new, convenient and exciting way, giving to the music market a new customer-oriented dimension.