(in English) This thesis deals with the issue of information support of science and research development in Italy through information systems and library networks. The introductory chapter deals with several questions concerning the Italian academic environment and its relation to research and coordination of information. The second chapter introduces the current situation of Italian libraries, the library structures, legislation elements and mainly focuses on the institutions managing the libraries. The third chapter is devoted to science and research in Italy. The thesis also describes the current situation comparing it to other European countries. The emphasis is on major research institutions, support organizations and ministries. Followed by the explanation of funding and assessment of research institutions. The fourth chapter deals with the support of research in the area of Tuscany. The three largest universities of this region are analyzed - University of Florence, Pisa and Siena. After a description of these institutions, the thesis looks closely at their library networks, research activities and support. The conclusion summarizes the information obtained and answers the questions formulated in the introduction of this thesis.

In the 21st century, managing outsourced research and development (R&D) processes is critical to an organization's success. Guided by the logistic outsourcing theory developed by de Boer, Gaytan, and Arroyo, the purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies and processes organizational leaders used to manage outsourced R&D to maintain market competitiveness. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 5 purposefully selected business leaders who were responsible for outsourcing R&D in a single Fortune 500 corporation in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Company records were also gathered as data. Yin's 5-step process for a case study and key words in context analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings included 3 main themes: (a) the outsourcing decision-making process with internal and external constraints, (b) the effectiveness of managing outsourcing services and processes, and (c) the influence of outsourcing on business effectiveness and new products. Findings also indicated no practical system to measure effectiveness of outsourced R&D services on market competitiveness. The lack of measurement effectiveness was due to a lack of processes in place to measure R&D performance and no practical approach to measure impact of R&D on market competitiveness. Findings offered insight into strategies used by business leaders to manage outsourced R&D processes. Findings may also have implications for positive social change such as impacting communities through employment, generating government revenues through taxes, and creating a positive impact on job creation in the industries that promote R&D outsourcing.

La forte hausse des rendements agricoles, observée tout au long des 150 dernières années, est, pour une large part, due à l’amélioration des variétés, résultant elle-même essentiellement de processus de recherche et développement. L’optimalité sociale de l’effort de recherche entrepris par les firmes de ce secteur, ainsi que des institutions encadrant l’activité de recherche, constituent un sujet important pour les politiques publiques. L’objet de cette thèse est de contribuer à éclairer cette question, en s’efforçant de tenir compte de l’impact sur l’environnement de l’innovation en matière de variétés agricoles. Nous examinons ce sujet à travers trois prismes différents : celui de l’innovation en tant que telle, celui du processus de recherche, et celui du cadre institutionnel offert aux entreprises de recherche. Nous montrons que la prise en compte des effets environnementaux de la recherche en modifie les optima, et devrait donc conduire à une adaptation du cadre incitatif et règlementaire. / The sharp increase in agricultural yields in the past 150 years owes a lot to the improvement of plant varieties, which, to large extent, is the result of the research and development process. Whether the research and development effort undertaken by firms operating in this sector and institutions regulating research are socially optimal is an important question for public policies. This thesis aims to contribute to tackling this issue, and its main contribution is to endeavor to account for the impact of crop innovation on the environment. We address the question through three different perspectives: innovation per se, the research and development process, and the institutional framework available to research firms. We show that environmental externalities of research significantly modify social optima.

Around the globe, countries move away from banknotes and coins in the favor of digitized payments. A number of findings from academic research conclude various benefits associated with decreased cash usage, such as enhanced economic development, less costs for governments and banks, financial transparency as well as lower economic-related crime rates. In a light of various benefits moving towards cashless payments, it is hypothesized that there also could be a relationship between how innovative a country is and how much cash circulates in economy. The relationship could be both-sided like less cash circulation can trigger innovation and, at the same time, adoption of cashless payments could be driven by how innovative a country is. To be able to investigate a potential correlation, a correlation analysis is conducted between the two variables: an innovation level of a country and cash circulation in econom. The Global Innovation Index score will be used to summarize various factors that provide an overview of national innovation performance, and percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be used for currency in circulation. According to the findings, the hypothesis that there is a correlation between cash circulation and innovation performance in a country could not be rejected with a 5% significance level. / Runt om i världen öppnar länder upp för att gå från kontanta betalningsmedel mot digitala betallösningar. Enligt tidigare forskning, leder minskad kontanthantering till flertalet fördelar såsom kraftigare ekonomisk tillväxt, ökad transparens, minskade kostnader samt minskad ekonomiskt brottslighet. De fördelar som kontantlösa betalningar skapar kan vara kopplade till hur innovativt ett land är och hur mycket kontanta medel som cirkulerar i ett lands ekonomi. Ett potentiellt samband mellan mängd kontanter som cirkulerar i ett samhälle och innovation i ett land kan vara tvåsidigt, till exempel att minskade mängder kontanter i ekonomin kan skapa innovation eller så kan kontantlösa betalningar skapas av hög innovationsnivån i ett land. För att kunna undersöka ett potentiellt samband, utförs en korrelationsanalys mellan de två variablerna: nationell innovationsnivå och mängd kontanter i cirkulation i ekonomin. Global Innovation Index används för att sammanfatta olika faktorer som ger en översikt över den nationella innovationsnivå per land och en procentandel av bruttonationalprodukten (BNP) kommer att användas för mängd valuta i omlopp. Enligt framkomna resultat från korrelationsanalysen kunde hypotesen om att det finns ett samband mellan kassaflöde och innovationsnivå i ett land inte förkastas.

Försvarsmakten har under åren efter Berlinmurens och Warszawapaktens fall präglats av neddragningar och inriktning mot internationella militära insatser. Sverige försvaras bäst genom säkerhet och stabilitet på andra platser än inom landets gränser. Försvarsmaktens dimensionering och verksamhet ska styras av det säkerhetspolitiska läget i vår omvärld men sanningen är att den oftare påverkats av hur de politiska vindarna för tillfället blåst i Sverige. I och med de ryska aggressionerna under konflikterna i Georgien 2008 och annekteringen av Krim 2014 sker ett säkerhetspolitiskt uppvaknande i Europa och Sverige. Dessa händelser medvetandegör för svenska politiker därmed det läge som kommit att utvecklas sedan Warszawapaktens upphörande i början av 1990-talet. Detta har sedan tydliggjorts ytterligare av händelserna under första kvartalet 2022 då Ryssland på nytt inledde krigshandlingar i Europas absoluta närhet. Med start 2014 har Försvarsmaktens fokus varit på att växa och återtag av förmågan till nationellt försvar. Att genomföra den beslutade tillväxten och återgången till nationellt invasionsförsvar innebär att ett flertal olika förändringsprocesser initieras. Nya utbildningsplattformar ska, tillsammans med nya krigsförband, skapas vilket är exempel på stora och tydliga förändringar som innebär betydande svårigheter och utmaningar. Men även i det lilla sker stora förändringar i form av omorganisering av befintliga krigsförband, något som inte heller sker helt smärtfritt. T.ex. kommer handböcker, metoder och utbildningslinjer m.m. att påverkas. Det lilla hamnar lätt i skuggan av det stora. I denna kvalitativa intervjustudie skapas förståelse för de behov som uppstår hos yrkesofficerarna vid införandet av en ny krigsorganisation. Studien hämtar sin empiri från semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio yrkesofficerare verksamma vid Göta Trängregemente. Kodning av data har skett med metod inspirerad av Grounded Theory. Analysen har genomförts baserat på en referensram där teorier kring organisation och ledarskap samt förändring varit tongivande.   Studiens resultat visar att det är genom den övergripande kärnvariabeln Behov som acceptans och förståelse för förändring skapas. Detta utgör själva grunden för att förändringen ska kunna ske enligt tänkt plan och så smärtfritt som möjligt. Försvarsmakten bör därför dels säkerställa att befintliga processteg respekteras genom hela organisationen, dels sträva efter att utveckla förändringsprocessen för att tillgodose de behov som studien uppmärksammar. / In the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Warsaw Pact, the Swedish Armed Forces has been characterized by downsizing and a focus on international military operations. The political view is that Sweden is best defended by maintaining security and stability outside the nation's borders. The dimensioning and activities of the Swedish Armed Forces should be governed by the general security situation in the surrounding area with a focus on Europe, but the truth is that it has more often been affected by how the political winds are currently blowing. With the Russian aggressions during the conflicts in Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014, there is a security policy awakening in Europe and Sweden. These events make Swedish politicians aware of the situation that has developed since the end of the Warsaw Pact in the early 1990s. This has since been further underlined by the events during the first quarter of 2022, when Russia resumed hostilities in Europe's absolute vicinity. Starting in 2014, the Swedish Armed Forces' focus has been on growth and re-building the national defense capability. Implementing decided changes and rebuilding the capacity for national defense means that several change processes are initiated. Examples of major changes that involve significant difficulties and challenges are the creation of new training platforms and military units but even in the trivial things, major changes are taking place in the form of reorganization of existing military units, something that is not painless. Doctrines, methods, training and more will be affected.  This qualitative interview study describes the needs that arise among army officers in the introduction of a new organization to create understanding in the event of change. The study draws its empirical data from semi-structured interviews with nine army officers active at the Logistic regiment. Coding of data has been done with a method inspired by Grounded Theory. The analysis has been carried out based on a reference framework where theories in organization and leadership as well as change have been dominant. The results of the study show that it is through the core variable Requirements that acceptance and understanding of change is created, which forms the basis for the change to take place. The Swedish Armed Forces should therefore ensure that existing process steps are respected throughout the organization and strive to develop the change process to meet the needs that the study addresses.

This thesis carries out empirical investigations of the possible impacts of institutions relating to different aspects of innovation, namely incremental innovation activities, collaborative research and development (R&D) activities and radical innovation outcomes. It comprises three studies. The first empirical study focuses on examining the impact of financial constraints and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection on incremental innovation. Using firm-level data from transition countries and employing a two-step probit model with endogenous regressors, this study provides evidence that both financing constraints and strong IPR protection are negatively associated with the incremental innovation activities of firms. Results also confirm that financing constraints faced by firms are significantly influenced by the overall levels of development of financial institutions within a country. The second empirical study looks at the effects of contracting institutions and intellectual property institutions on firms’ collaborative research and development (R&D) activities in developing and transition countries. By employing the Cragg double-hurdle model, this study finds that efficient contract enforcement has a positive effect on the likelihood of firms engaging in R&D partnership and the intensity of firms' expenditures on collaborative R&D. On the other hand, the decision of firms to participate in R&D partnerships and their level of expenditure on collaborative R&D are adversely affected by the strength of IPR protection. The third empirical study investigates the influences of a set of institutions on producing new-to-the-world technologies, as measured by patents. This study is conducted by using a large panel dataset of 98 developed and developing countries over a period of 23 years. Building on the idea production framework, the unconditional quantile regression (UQR) estimates of this study show that along with key research inputs (i.e., existing knowledge stock and resources devoted to R&D), the strength of IPR protection, quality of governance and functioning of financial institutions are also significant determinants of the patent output of a country. The UQR methodology also demonstrates that the effects of institutions on patent production are heterogeneous throughout the various quantiles of patent output distribution. This thesis, therefore, offers an example of how the new institutional economics (NIE) theory is applicable in analysing innovation performances. The findings of this thesis propose useful policy directions that can assist policymakers and managers in accelerating innovation and technological development. / Ministry of Public Administration, the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

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Research has established when transferring knowledge, a gap occurs between the sender and receiver due to different expertise. Research has, however, not enlightened how an organization consisting of multiple development departments ensures that individuals with different expertise have the prerequisites needed to transfer knowledge across knowledge domains. The thesis explores possibilities in knowledge transfer processes, specifically among research and development (R&D) departments where the knowledge domain differs. Furthermore, exploring how the two perspectives of spreading and absorbing knowledge can answer how departments can ensure that the knowledge generated can successfully be transferred and interpreted by the receiver. Thus, the receiver understands the critical information and how it can be applied in a specific department. The methodology used was a qualitative case study as the study has conducted together with Husqvarna Group. The data collected was established through 14 interviews with Husqvarna, which have been analyzed in relation to a theoretical framework based on knowledge transfer literature. The focus has been on the organization's research and development departments, where much knowledge is being exchanged.  This study enlightens existing shortcomings within knowledge transfer processes and situations. However, these are general and common for organizations according to theory. The study suggests that individuals and departments more actively build and nurture relations to successfully bridge the gaps that exist. Furthermore, through management, the organization needs to encourage individuals’ motivation and incentives to receive and search for new knowledge. The organization could also consider balancing the existing communication channels, leading to less seclusion and a more inclusive organization. Finally, the entire organization would benefit from considering knowledge transfer as a coherent process, not several isolated processes.

The need for faster, more flexible and less risky ways for organisations to expand their capabilities and competencies increasingly lead to the formation and proliferation of networking strategies and partners. Understanding the potential contribution that CoP membership can provide within these teams is a step towards developing and refining a strategy to support and enhance the speedy progression of the team towards a productive phase. The study shows that membership of researchers to the same or similar CoPs have some impact on the norming stage, and assist in reaching the performing / productive stage faster in team development. The survey in particular has indicated that similar standards, practices, terminology, ethics, standards, peer recognition, trust and a sense of belonging have more of an impact on the productive phase of team forming, than on the norming phase. The hard factors such as terminology, standards and similar practices have a strong correlation with the softer factors such as a sense of belonging and trust. This information should be utilised in both the socialisation processes in academic institutions as part of the education of professionals, as well as organisational approaches to Research and Development (R&D), information sharing and development of the researchers. The paper also highlights emerging organisational and strategic Best Practices currently prevalent in R&D teams and collaborative projects. It is clear that research collaborations cuts across the whole spectrum of business and management areas - from strategy, across intellectual property issues, finance, strategic human resource management, R&D management and innovation, knowledge management, organisational values and culture, and many more. To support innovation and R&D on a strategic level, both internally and on inter-firm collaborations, requires a review of the total organisational strategy, culture and norms in an organisation. Innovation and R&D support should be a holistic approach, with strategic and pro-active risk management supported by appropriate strategic human resources management and systems. Literature on CoPs, teams, social capital (SC), knowledge management (KM), intellectual capital (IC), intellectual property (IP), strategy and governance provide theoretical grounding. / Business Leadership / Ph. D.

The need for faster, more flexible and less risky ways for organisations to expand their capabilities and competencies increasingly lead to the formation and proliferation of networking strategies and partners. Understanding the potential contribution that CoP membership can provide within these teams is a step towards developing and refining a strategy to support and enhance the speedy progression of the team towards a productive phase. The study shows that membership of researchers to the same or similar CoPs have some impact on the norming stage, and assist in reaching the performing / productive stage faster in team development. The survey in particular has indicated that similar standards, practices, terminology, ethics, standards, peer recognition, trust and a sense of belonging have more of an impact on the productive phase of team forming, than on the norming phase. The hard factors such as terminology, standards and similar practices have a strong correlation with the softer factors such as a sense of belonging and trust. This information should be utilised in both the socialisation processes in academic institutions as part of the education of professionals, as well as organisational approaches to Research and Development (R&D), information sharing and development of the researchers. The paper also highlights emerging organisational and strategic Best Practices currently prevalent in R&D teams and collaborative projects. It is clear that research collaborations cuts across the whole spectrum of business and management areas - from strategy, across intellectual property issues, finance, strategic human resource management, R&D management and innovation, knowledge management, organisational values and culture, and many more. To support innovation and R&D on a strategic level, both internally and on inter-firm collaborations, requires a review of the total organisational strategy, culture and norms in an organisation. Innovation and R&D support should be a holistic approach, with strategic and pro-active risk management supported by appropriate strategic human resources management and systems. Literature on CoPs, teams, social capital (SC), knowledge management (KM), intellectual capital (IC), intellectual property (IP), strategy and governance provide theoretical grounding. / Business Leadership / Ph. D.