This dissertation addresses gaps in the interaction between End-of-Life (EoL) product acquisition systems and disassembly sequencing. The research focuses on two remanufacturing research problems; 1) modeling uncertain EoL product quality, quantity, and timing in regards to EoL product acquisition and disassembly sequencing and 2) designing EoL product acquisition schemes considering EoL product uncertainty. The main research objectives within these areas are; analyzing, predicting, and controlling EoL product uncertainty, and incorporating EoL product uncertainty into operational and strategic level decisions. This research addresses these objectives by researching a methodology to determine optimal or near-optimal partial disassembly sequences using infeasible sequences while considering EoL product quality uncertainty. Consumer incentives are integrated into the methodology to study the effect of EoL product take-back incentives, but it also allows for the study of EoL product quantity uncertainty. EoL product age distributions are key to integrating the disassembly sequence method with EoL product acquisition management, acting both as an indicator of quality and as a basis for determining return quantity when considering incentives. At a broader level, this research makes it possible to study the impact of EoL product quality, and to an extent quantity, uncertainty resulting from strategic level (acquisition scheme) decisions, on operational (disassembly sequencing) decisions. This research is motivated by the rising importance of value recovery and sustainability to manufacturers. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Product Stewardship (PS) policies are, globally, changing the way products are treated during their use-life and EoL. Each new policy places a greater responsibility on consumers and manufacturers to address the EoL of a product. Manufacturers, in particular, may have to fulfill these obligations by such means as contracting 3rd parties for EoL recovery or performing recovery in-house. The significance of this research is linked to the growing presence of remanufacturing and recovery in the US and global economy, either via profitable ventures or environmental regulations. Remanufacturing, in particular, was surveyed by the US International Trade Commission in 2011-2012, where it was determined that remanufacturing grew by 15% to $43 billion, supported 180,000 full-time jobs from 2009-2011, and is continuing to grow. A partial disassembly sequence, multi-objective genetic algorithm (GA) is used a solution procedure to address the problem of determining the optimal or near-optimal partial disassembly sequence considering a continuous age distribution of EoL or available consumer products, with and without a consumer take-back incentive. The multi-objective GA, novel to the presented approach, relies on infeasible sequences to converge to optimal or near-optimal disassembly sequences. It is verified with a discrete economic and environmental impact case prior to incorporating EoL product age distributions. Considering the age distribution of acquired EoL products allows for decisions to be made based not only on expected profit, but also on profit variance and profit probability per EoL product, which was not observed in previous literature. As such, the research presented here within provides three contributions to disassembly and EoL product acquisition research: 1) integrating EoL product age distributions into partial disassembly sequencing objective functions, 2) accounting for partial disassembly sequence expected profit, profit variation, and profit probability as compared to disassembly sequencing methods that have, historically, only considered expected profit, and 3) studying the impact of EoL product age distributions and consumer take-back incentives on optimal or near-optimal partial disassembly sequences. Overall, this doctoral research contributes to the body of knowledge in value recovery, reverse logistics, and disassembly research fields, and is intended to be used, in the future, to develop and design efficient EoL product acquisition systems and disassembly operations. / Ph. D.

<p>The cereal couture company, <em>[me] & goji, </em>is the dream of three young entrepreneurs. They were the first online company ever to provide the U.S market with customized cereal mix. This case study finds that online companies with an innovative product such as <em>[me] & goji</em> may benefit from using Social Networks as a marketing channel to communicate their Value Proposition. Supported by Roger's Adoption theory, selected theories on, Value Proposition, Social Networks, and qualitative data gathered from, interviews and surveys several findings were made. The conclusion is that despite offering a relatively non complex product, with a high relative advantage the market may have difficulties with recognizing the value of the product. This is mainly due to the fact that products sold online cannot be tried by the customer until after purchase. This may be perceived as an uncertainty factor for some customers. The main benefit with viral marketing tools such as Social Networks is that they may increase the rate of the market adopting new products.</p>

The competition between organizations has become tougher due to the globalization of the market place. This case study has been conducted at Stilexo, which are situated in Skillingaryd. Stilexo is an aluminum die caster and is a part of the Alteams group. Within the Swedish market approximately half of the casted products used are imported and this is a trend that seems to be increasing. In order to stay competitive next to the foreign suppliers the Swedish manufactures needs to differentiate, the question is how? In order to find the answer to the question Thomke and Hippel (2002) argues that the suppliers must listen to their customer with the intention of finding the needs and wants of the customers. The purpose of this thesis is to interpret how Stilexo can create higher customer value. This thesis has been written with an interpretivistiv research position combined with an inductive approach. The research strategy used is a single case study strategy. A qualitative approach has been used with in-depth interviews of employees at Stilexo and of existing/potential customers to them. Price, quality and the ability to deliver on time are parameters that have to be fulfilled in order for a supplier to be qualified. If these parameters are reached there are other values that can make a supplier an order winner. The main finding is that the relationship between the supplier and the customer is very vital. A higher interaction between the two parties has the potential of increasing the customer value. Co-creation of new products is something that is mentioned as value adding that can be gained from higher interaction. Further on innovativeness, flexibility, technology, and that the supplier can handle the whole supply chain has also been identified as value adding activities.

The cereal couture company, [me] &amp; goji, is the dream of three young entrepreneurs. They were the first online company ever to provide the U.S market with customized cereal mix. This case study finds that online companies with an innovative product such as [me] &amp; goji may benefit from using Social Networks as a marketing channel to communicate their Value Proposition. Supported by Roger's Adoption theory, selected theories on, Value Proposition, Social Networks, and qualitative data gathered from, interviews and surveys several findings were made. The conclusion is that despite offering a relatively non complex product, with a high relative advantage the market may have difficulties with recognizing the value of the product. This is mainly due to the fact that products sold online cannot be tried by the customer until after purchase. This may be perceived as an uncertainty factor for some customers. The main benefit with viral marketing tools such as Social Networks is that they may increase the rate of the market adopting new products.

<p>The competition between organizations has become tougher due to the globalization of the market place. This case study has been conducted at Stilexo, which are situated in Skillingaryd. Stilexo is an aluminum die caster and is a part of the Alteams group. Within the Swedish market approximately half of the casted products used are imported and this is a trend that seems to be increasing. In order to stay competitive next to the foreign suppliers the Swedish manufactures needs to differentiate, the question is how? In order to find the answer to the question Thomke and Hippel (2002) argues that the suppliers must listen to their customer with the intention of finding the needs and wants of the customers.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to interpret how Stilexo can create higher customer value.</p><p>This thesis has been written with an interpretivistiv research position combined with an inductive approach. The research strategy used is a single case study strategy. A qualitative approach has been used with in-depth interviews of employees at Stilexo and of existing/potential customers to them.</p><p>Price, quality and the ability to deliver on time are parameters that</p><p>have to be fulfilled in order for a supplier to be qualified. If these parameters are reached there are other values that can make a supplier an order winner. The main finding is that the relationship between the supplier and the customer is very vital. A higher interaction between the two parties has the potential of increasing the customer value. Co-creation of new products is something that is mentioned as value adding that can be gained from higher interaction. Further on innovativeness, flexibility, technology, and that the supplier can handle the whole supply chain has also been identified as value adding activities.</p>

No description available.

Context: In many organizations, practices and processes of software engineering are carried out in a value-neutral setting. These value-neutral settings within software development are responsible for project failures. Value-based software engineering (VBSE) manages these value neutral settings by integrating value-oriented perspectives into software engineering. The fundamental factors that differentiate VBSE from value-neutral software engineering are value dimensions that play a crucial role in companies&apos; success by managing customer needs, demands, and expectations Objectives: The aims of this master thesis are to 1) systematically classify the contributions within VBSE and 2) investigate practical application and validation of solutions in industry to determine their practical usability and usefulness. Methods: In this study, systematic mapping, followed by systematic review were used as research methods. Results: The findings of systematic mapping show that a clear majority of value-based research has been conducted within requirements engineering, and verification and validation. Whereas, there were not many studies discussing value-based design. In terms of research types used, evaluation research and solution proposal were the most dominant contributions. While experience reports and philosophical research were less emphasized. In general, value-based contributions such as recommendations and processes were highly reported in VBSE studies. In addition, the finding of systematic review indicates that although many solutions were proposed for value-based requirements engineering but in the absence of qualitative and quantitative results from usability and usefulness perspectives make it hard for practitioners to adopt for industrial practices. Conclusion: The systematic classification of studies and resulting maps not only give an overview of existing work on VBSE but also identifies interesting research gaps which can be used by researchers to plan and carry out future work. The findings of systematic review can be used by industry practitioners to assess the level of applicability of the proposed value-based requirements engineering solutions with respect to their application/validation context and usability and usefulness. / Naseer Jan, Cell: 0046736181463, Muhammad Ibrar, Cell: 0046760605212

近年來，台灣高科技廠商開始投注大量的心血在於專利申請上，由公告的美國專利數目，台灣專利權人2005年在美獲取專利數已位居美國以外國家的第三位，在這樣的數據下，應該值得驕傲，然若從訴訟案例來看，台灣廠商卻仍明顯處於被指控專利侵權的窘境，在光電產業、光儲存產業、半導體產業、IC設計業等，有相當多的案例說明台灣廠商雖然在專利的數量上已達一定的成效，但營運上卻因為專利議題而障礙重重。 許多專利聯盟案例的成功，如MPEG LA與DVD 6C都說明了以專利為基礎所產生標準後能帶來的龐大商業利益。使得標準之爭，成為國際級大集團的必爭之地。反觀台灣或是中國，近年來都有許多與標準相關的聯盟產生，但都未能為主流產品所遵循、參與。 本文藉由MPEG-2 的案例，對於技術、專利、產品、產業的相互關係作一實證的探討，並以國際級跨國公司的智權管理來分析其營運模鏈式。發現推動標準的領導廠商，在標準制訂過程中，積極地參與標準組織、轉化研發成果為專利；在專利的佈局上，也善用專利申請的技巧在各國廣佈專利；積極推廣標準成為主流後，再組成專利聯盟、訂立授權機制。 國內廠商，若要制訂標準、組成專利聯盟，應建立許多研發的配套機制，例如研發過程中，標準、產品與專利的結、產業上中下游價值鏈的安排、研發聯盟的組成等。 / Hi-tech companies in Taiwan have begun to focus their resources on patent prosecution and the added-value thereafter in recent years. According to the statistics of USPTO, Taiwan ranks 3th on the total patent granted to a foreign origin. This is clearly an achievement to be proud of. However, Taiwan companies are still subject to many infringement challenges, be they in the field of optoelectronics, optical storage, semi-conductor or IC design. Clearly the growing patent ownership has not quite resolved the intellectual property issues these companies must overcome. The success of patent pools can bring profit to companies. In cases of MPEG LA and DVD 6C, they makes standard war a critical issue to international companies. On the contrary in Taiwan and China, many alliances aiming to promote standard fail to become standard finally. The case of MPEG-2 is analyzed in the aspects of technology, patent, product, industry and also their interactions. In addition, the IP management of the business model is also discussed. We found the leading company of industrial standard are aggressively participating the standard organization and applying patents. In patent application, there were skillfully in filing patents in different countries. After the technology become dominant standards, they start to form patent pool and build the license mechanism. Domestic companies should establish the infrastructure of R&D before setting standard and forming patent pool. For example, the connections of standard, product development, patent application, industrial value chain and R&D alliance should be planed and established during R&D process.

The rapid increase in clothing consumption over the last decades has meant a significant burden on the environment. Some examples of this are the high consumption of natural resources and land, increasing amounts of carbon emissions, excessive use of toxic chemicals, polluting air, land and water and increasing amounts of waste. The average clothing consumption in Europe is far higher than the world average, especially in Nordic countries including Sweden. Adopting and encouraging more circular economies is a part of the European commission‘s strategy to achieve sustainable consumption of resources and protection for environment. The purpose of this Research is to study the possibilities of improving the practice of second hand clothes consumption in Sweden and make it more effective towards the goal of sustainable consumption and circular economies. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to understand the challenges and find abilities for improvement in the value chain of used clothes in Sweden, with focus on the reverse logistics system of used clothes (collection and sorting processes) as well as the market of second hand clothes. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the conceptual framework has been formulated upon studying relevant literature and results of previous studies. Value chains of three charity organizations have been studied and empirical data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with participants from these three organizations. The empirical findings have been interpreted in relation to the conceptual framework and the results of previous studies, in order to answer the research questions. The results of the study showed potential for improvement and development in the reverse logistics system (collections and sorting processes) of used clothes, as well as in the Swedish market of second hand clothes. However, benefiting of this potential requires collaboration between all stakeholders in the value chain of used clothes, including individuals (either in a position of donors or consumers), interested businesses (nonprofit or commercial organizations), government, municipalities, politicians and finally the private sector in clothing industry.

The purpose of this master thesis is forming and developing new marketing strategies with focus on increasing the competitiveness of the company within the market of fast food restaurants. The work contains theoretical insight to given issue in the first part. Key part of the thesis is then analysis of the current situation of company policy and marketing strategy, which is used as a base for creating strategy new, containing specific steps to put it into practice.