The purpose of this thesis is to find out when Research and Development (R&D) becomes a suitable attribute for a production company to outsource. In an environment where innovations are following up quickly up and uncertainty about the type of innovation and customer is a fact, external sourcing can bring a competitive advantage. The empirical evidence shows that when R&D is outsourced the total cost does not increase at a due cause of outsourcing in this given study. Although a lot of theory explains outsourcing as a cost increasing factor, the internal experience and frequent relation between the technical production company Beta and its R&D vendor company Alfa can decrease costs considerably due to lower communication and governance costs. This was not explicitly expressed in related theory and is therefore a contribution to the academia as well as for managers who seek to find an answer to the question of when to outsource and when not to outsource.

From different points of view, including Resource-Based Theory, Resource-Advantage Theory, and Structure Conduct Performance, the research was firstly discussed if the iron and steel enterprises would have different competitive advantages with different strategy segmentations. In addition, how investors make investment decision and how management level distribute resource into which financial indicator in order to strengthen competitive advantage were discussed as well. The research was collected financial data (from year 2004 to 2008) of 40 domestic iron and steel companies which are listed in public stock market (including OTC) as sample pool. The sample pool was segmented into four groups, such as products, value chain of upstream to downstream, and top-to-down consolidated strategic groups. Competitive advantage was classified by average of equity return ratios of shareholders, and financial ratios were applied to analyze the source of competitive advantage in iron and steel industry. Firstly, started to analyze financial ratios of each group by description statistic method and implemented factor analysis to figure out common factors. Furthermore, from investors point of view, to clarify how those factors to be reflected on operating performance by applying multiple regression analysis. Moreover, from business operating level¡¦s eyes, to distinguish enterprises with competitive advantage from each strategic group. The result was shown that each strategic group has different sources of competitive advantage. Therefore, recommendations of the research are listed: I. Investors should invest in enterprises with better current ratio, quick ratio, and guarantee of multiplied interest. II. Aggressive investors should invest in enterprises that have stainless steel products and consolidated business from upstream, mid-stream, to downstream. III. Conservative investors should invest in enterprises that have plate steel products and consolidated business from upstream, mid-stream, to downstream. IV. In order to create resources of competitive advantage, management level of each strategic group should increase financial signals as first priority: 1. Plate steel and downstream enterprises: value-added of unit salary and percentage of employee bonus out of profit. 2. Bar iron, stainless enterprises with consolidation of upstream to mid-stream and top-to ¡Vdown conformity: current ratio, quick ratio and guarantee of multiplied interest. 3. Alloy steel enterprises: ratio of debt out of net assets, percentage of loan, stock and account receivable out of net assets ratio, and net assets out of assets ratio.

abstract: A fundamental question in the field of strategic management is how companies achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The Market-Oriented Theory (MOT), the Resource-Based Model and their complementary perspective try to answer this fundamental question. The primary goal of this study is to lay the groundwork for Standardized Strategic Assessment Framework (SSAF). The SSAF, which consists of a set of six models, aids in the evaluation and assessment of current and future strategic positioning of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The SSAF was visualized by IDEF0, a systems engineering tool. In addition, a secondary goal is the development of models to explain relationships between a company's resources, capabilities, and competitive strategy within the SSAF. Six models are considered within the SSAF, including R&D; activities model, product innovation model, process innovation model, operational excellence model, and export performance model. Only one of them, R&D; activities model was explained in-debt and developed a model by transformational system. In the R&D; activities model, the following question drives the investigation. Do company R&D; inputs (tangible, intangible and human resources) affect R&D; activities (basic research, applied research, and experimental development)? Based on this research question, eight hypotheses were extrapolated regarding R&D; activities model. In order to analyze these hypotheses, survey questions were developed for the R&D; model. A survey was sent to academic staff and industry experts for a survey instrument validation. Based on the survey instrument validation, content validity has been established and questions, format, and scales have been improved for future research application. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Technology 2012

Is it feasible to stimulate informal collaboration among non-urban firms and local public- and other private-sector actors, whereby they jointly strengthen the competitiveness of these firms? To answer this question, firms’ collaboration with local partner’s actors were examined. Most of the studied firms in this thesis are embedded in a regional “ecosystem” of a country (Sweden), with the usual set of public- and third-sector (not-for-profit) actors. Firms that “exploit” all their local external actors do create additional resources for themselves. This thesis argues that such fuller use is feasible and perhaps necessary in a non-urban Swedish context. The Resource-Based Theory (RBT) considers mainly internal firm resources to achieve superior performance. In order to extend this theory in the context of a non-urban area, collaborative excellence is advocated through informal public-private collaboration that can help firms to flourish economically. The collaboration between the public and the private sectors can also enhance a common spirit or identity of a place. Action Design Research (ADR) Methodology is invoked in this thesis, together with other supporting methods, such as interviews and observations as well as archival data analysis. The intervention was held as a set of workshops and has been used as a key research method at the same time. The results capture, amongst others, views from municipal management, private companies, and community (not-for-profit) associations. The essential aim of this research was to enhance the quality of the interactions among the key individuals from these organizations in their efforts to strengthen productive cooperation between the public and the private sectors. Informal public-private collaboration is important. Thus, more understanding of how such collaboration can be used effectively is paramount. This thesis shows that it is feasible to develop collaboration in a specific Swedish non-urban context when successful private firms and a municipality work well together with relevant, not-for-profit organizations that are also located in, and concerned with, the same region. Therefore, when addressing the competitive potential of a location, the quality of the informal public-private collaboration, should be considered. The abductive research approach of this study aims to offer an understanding of how informal collaboration between firms and local, non-commercial partners may take place, aiming for firms to flourish / <p>Nederländernas examen är endast doctor</p>

Informatics is a deep area of science with having information system as well as technology, and in recent times, Information technology organizations cannot exist without a functioning information system. It facilitates and promote the information flow within an organization, at all levels, particularly it allows set of data to reach the right persons, in the right format, and at the right time, generating a positive and beneficial contribution to the organization. The world has become a global village where every nation including Nigeria is striving to attain a high level of electronic governance to bring about inclusiveness, effectiveness, integration, and accountability. Which is why this thesis aims to examine the role of management information systems in enhancing interoperability between e-governance systems in Nigeria.  Interpretive qualitative research was carried out to examine the practices and performance of management information systems in Galaxy backbone in Nigeria to examine how it can be better enhanced interoperability within the organization. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and Focus group discussions and was analysed thematically to generate four themes. The findings were discussed in relation to the research questions and previous literature and were discussed with the use of Resource-based theory.  The result of the findings reveals that management information system important to enhance interoperability in the organization and it will go a long way bring about an integrative nature of information flow within the organization, it will change the physical and manual way processes to accommodate internal networks and departmental integrated systems. For a functional management information system, resources like Information communication technology infrastructure, skills, human resources must be available for effective interoperability. this shows that, management information systems will enhance interoperability between government systems and initiatives to make the government more open to citizen participation and involvement and be a tool for better governance. Management information systems will allow governments, through their departments and ministries, to easily generate, analyse, share, disseminate and manipulate information.

Företagsvärdering handlar om att uppskatta och beräkna det ekonomiska värdet på ett företag genom olika metoder och modeller. De finns dock en problematik med att de klassiska värderingsmetoderna utesluter en stor del av de icke-finansiella faktorerna. Dessa faktorer kan ha en betydande roll på företagets värde men utesluts då de inte finns något enkelt sätt att väga in deras betydelse i värderingsmodellerna. Flera tidigare studier lyfter fram humankapital som en av de viktigaste tillgångarna i ett företag. I små företag tenderar dessutom ägaren vara starkt kopplad till företaget. Detta beror på att ägaren ofta besitter förmågor och företagsspecifik kunskap som gör denne mycket betydelsefull för företaget och dess drift.  Syftet med rapporten är att undersöka vilken betydelse en ägare i små företag har på ett företags värde vid en försäljning. Den teorin som använts för att svara på rapportens syfte är den resursbaserade teorin och VRIO-ramverket, med ett urval av tre delar. Studien har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod och det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med företagsvärderare.  Studien har visat att en ägare oftast ses som betydelsefull i små företag. Hur betydelsefull ägaren anses vara kan däremot variera beroende på ett antal olika faktorer. En ägare kan besitta kunskap och förmågor som gör denne värdefull, sällsynt och icke-imiterbar i det specifika företaget. Det finns flera olika tillvägagångssätt för att ta hänsyn till ägaren vid en företagsvärdering, gemensamt är dock att alla värderare tittar på vilken risk som uppkommer när ägaren lämnar företaget. Ju mer betydelsefull desto större blir risken och desto mer påverkas företagets värde. Av studien har det framgått att det är kriteriet icke-imiterbar som har allra störst påverkan huruvida hänsyn tas till ägaren vid värderingen eller inte. Studien visar också att det finns ett flertal problem och svårigheter när hänsyn ska tas till ägaren och vid värdering av små företag. / Business valuation is about estimating and calculating the economic value of a company through various methods and models. However, there is a problem with the fact that classical valuation methods exclude a large part of the non-financial factors. These factors can have a leading role in the business’ value but are excluded since there is no easy way to weigh in importance in the valuation models. There are several studies which lift human capital as one of the most important assets. Moreover, in small businesses, the owner tends to be strongly linked with the company. This is because the owner often has a skillset and domain specific knowledge which make them significant for the business and its operation. The aim of the report is to investigate the impact of an owner in small firms on the value of a firm in the event of a sale. The theory used to answer the purpose of the report is the resource based theory and the VRIO-framework, with a selection of three parts. The study has a qualitative research method and the empirical material has been gathered through semi structured interviews with business valuators. The study has found that an owner is often viewed as a valuable asset in a small firm. How impactful the owner is varies on a number of factors. An owner can have knowledge and abilities that make them valuable, rare and non-imitable. There are several approaches to taking the owner into account in a business evaluation, a common denominator is that all business valuators look at the risk that incurs when the owner would leave the company. The more impactful the higher the risk will be which affects the value of the business. The study shows that the criteria non-imitable has the highest impact when it comes to if the owner will be taken into account or not. The study also shows that there are several difficulties and problems when taking the owner into account when valuating small businesses.

Numera fokuserar inte elitfotbollsklubbar enbart på den sportsliga prestationen, utan lägger även stor vikt på den ekonomiska utvecklingen. Det har i flertalet internationella ligor visat sig finnas ett samband mellan klubbarnas ekonomi och deras sportsliga framgång. För fotbollsklubbar som håller på med elitverksamhet finns det dessutom ekonomiska krav som måste uppfyllas. En viktig aspekt att ta hänsyn till är att den svenska fotbollen har andra specifika förutsättningar och regler att förhålla sig till gentemot utländska ligor.Syftet med studien är att utreda om ett antal ekonomiska nyckeltal kan förklara ett fotbollslags sportsliga framgång. Det kommer även att diskuteras och förklaras vilka resurser och nyckeltal som tenderar att ha betydelse för en varaktig sportslig framgång utifrån en resursbaserad teori.I studien har ett systematiskt urval genomförts, vilket har medfört att studien undersökt de lag som hållit sig kvar i Allsvenskan under perioden 2014–2018. Det har resulterat i 45 observationer, med data hämtad från föreningarnas årsredovisningar. Studien har undersökt klubbarnas resultat, tillgångar och lönekostnad för att förstå om de var för sig har en påverkan på den sportsliga framgången. Studien visar ett samband mellan de undersökta klubbarnas tillgångar respektive lönekostnader och den sportsliga framgången. Lönekostnaden var det nyckeltal som visade tydligast samband. Resultatet kunde inte påvisa någon påtaglig korrelation. Det förs sedan en diskussion om vilka resurser och nyckeltal som varaktigt påverkar sportslig framgång utifrån en resursbaserad teori. / Nowadays, elite football clubs not only focus on sporting performance, but also place great emphasis on economic development. In most international leagues, it has been shown that there is a connection between the clubs' finances and their sporting success. For football clubs that are engaged in elite activities, there are also financial requirements that must be met. An important aspect to consider is that Swedish football has other specific conditions and rules to relate to versus foreign leagues.The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a number of financial key figures can explain a football team's sporting success. It will also be discussed and explained which resources and key figures tend to be important for sustained sporting success based on a resource-based theory.In the study, a systematic selection was carried out, which led to the study examining the teams that remained in Allsvenskan during the period 2014–2018. This has resulted in 45 observations, with data taken from the club’s annual reports. The study has examined the clubs' financial result, assets and salary costs to understand whether they individually have an impact on sporting success. The study shows a connection between the surveyed clubs' assets and salary costs and the sporting success. The wage cost was the key figure that showed the strongest connection. The result could not show any significant correlation. There is then a discussion about which resources and key figures having a sustained effect on sporting success based on the resource-based theory.

Yes / Although prior research has examined the effects of different forms of disruptive market shift on organizational practice, structure, and performance, knowledge is lacking on its conceptual domain, antecedents, and organizational response outcomes. This study draws insights from an in-depth analysis of 23 organizations to conceptualize disruptive market shift and explore its antecedents and consequences. We find that digitization, technological advancements, political uncertainty and government regulations, competitive pressures, the media, and customer dynamism are major drivers of disruptive market shifts. Furthermore, evidence suggests that organizations establish collaborative relationships, initiate internal transformational processes, and develop innovative metrics and patterns to respond to disruptive market shifts. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings.

我國資訊科技產業自80年代起快速成長，企業組織亦同時朝向大型化及集團化發展，企業併購遂成為當時企業層級策略的主要選項。然而在企業聚焦核心事業以及修正多角化策略的浪潮下，企業分割已成為近來產業進行經營績效以及組織重整的重要策略工具。 分割策略提供企業「一而為多」的組織改造模式，有助企業進行專業化經營或建立退場機制，確立各事業之專業分工更可有使分割公司之價值提升之效果。本研究為補強學術上之論述，由資源觀點出發，擬透過了解新事業成長過程各階段資源發展、累積以及運用的情況，探究宏碁集團在施行企業分割策略時，各種資源流動以及分配的狀態。期待能歸納出企業在進行分割策略時，資源分配、流動以及母企業在後續資源連結之共通點。並試圖找出關鍵的影響因素。提供決策者有別財務績效外於可參考的指標。 / Taiwanese IT industry has grown by leaps and bounds since the 1980s and in the meantime, the entrepreneurs have turned themselves into large-size corporations or conglomerates. Thus, corporation’s merger and acquisition (M &A) gradually has become their major issue of strategy studies. However, while the increasing trend of business strategy is to focus on the corporation’s core business, the corporation’s spin-offs becomes the more important tool for generating profits and organizational restructuring. Spin-offs strategy offers enterprises with the so-called “one for all” model, enabling corporations to focus on their core businesses or divest from dog business. The spin-off strategy also ensures spun-out units can achieve individual performances and effectiveness. In order to complement current academic studies, this research based on resources perspective attempts to explore the status of resources allocation of Acer in the spin-off strategy. This study would like to observe how the resource flows and distributes when a spun-out company grows, in order to conclude similarities that firms might have.

台灣資訊電子業自八零年代初期開始，憑藉著充沛且低廉的高素質勞動力，為歐、美、日等國際大廠從事OEM、ODM業務，為自身培育出堅強的製造與設計研發能力，並且為台灣創下經濟奇蹟以及獲得「電腦王國」的稱號。然而這種主要為滿足國際大廠需求而塑造出來的發展模式，使得台灣廠商習慣於接受客戶訂單要求的經營模式，對於廠商本身在定義產品、國際行銷、品牌發展以及通路經營等方面並未有長足進步。此外，近年來受到全球化、區域經濟整合以及新興市場國家的崛起，加上台灣已逐漸邁入已開發國家，勞力不再低廉、土地成本高漲、環保意識逐漸抬頭等，使台灣廠商過去所仰賴的競爭優勢已不復存在。施振榮先生提出「微笑曲線」，他認為台灣產業必須從過去附加價值低的製造代工的角色，轉型走向價值鏈兩端的研發設計與品牌經營。近幾年來，企業界和政府已經感受到品牌對於企業經營的重要性，以目前看來，已經有許多台灣自有品牌廠商在各自領域中大放異彩，並且在全球市場上占有一席之地。 過去對於台灣廠商在自有品牌經營的發展狀況，已有許多學者專家投入相關議題的研究。然而在研究上大多為探索台灣企業經營自有品牌成功的關鍵因素，或者是自有品牌的經營策略，對於自有品牌成功關鍵因素之一的行銷通路建構，其相關議題研究較少。因此，本研究將著重於影響企業經營自有品牌成功的關鍵因素中，被多數研究所認同的關鍵成功因素：「行銷通路建構」，進行深入探討，並且針對從創業開始便從事自有品牌經營的廠商進行研究，藉以充分瞭解廠商自有品牌建立的實務過程。本研究擬採用個案研究方式，以在網通產業品牌經營有成的D-Link友訊科技與A公司作為本研究的個案對象，期望將有助於其他有志發展自有品牌之企業作為其未來經營之參考依據。 本研究之研究問題有三：1.台灣自有品牌廠商的國際行銷通路建構型態與方式為何？2.台灣自有品牌廠商在國際行銷通路建構過程中對於不同市場特性、產品組合與通路商類型的因應方式與對策為何？3.影響台灣自有品牌廠商國際行銷通路建構的關鍵性因素與作法為何？ 本研究先行針對相關文獻進行回顧，瞭解可作為通路建構模式的相關文獻，包括「自有品牌」、「行銷通路」、「組織學習理論」以及「資源基礎論」等相關理論，並透過個案訪談以及次級資料蒐集整理方式，獲得個案公司資訊，並分析個案公司的通路建構模式。本研究主要獲得以下結論： 1.自有品牌廠商在進入國際市場初期，地區代理商為其主要的行銷通路。然而經營主管對於通路經營理念上的差異，便會造成通路商數量選擇上的不同。此後，廠商便會針對通路商從事系統性的通路整合與管理，發展出整體行銷通路體系。 2.自有品牌廠商在各地區當地的業務主管與經營團隊成員對於其通路建構成功與後續通路管理扮演不可或缺的角色。 3.自有品牌廠商透過與通路商溝通以及提供通路商教育輔導，將有助於產品銷售以及減少通路衝突，強化彼此關係，創造彼此利益。 4.自有品牌廠商所提供的高品質、高效能的產品，將有助於廠商國際行銷通路之建構。 5.自有品牌廠商透過資源蓄積與組織外部學習方式，所建構出在資源面與能力面上的新策略性資源，將有助於廠商行銷通路建構。然而自有品牌廠商組織文化上的差異，將會造成通路建構策略與方式上的不同。 本研究對於實務上的管理建議為： 1.自有品牌廠商宜著重技術深耕與研發並且提供通路商高品質的產品與服務。 2.自有品牌廠商宜重視與授權在地化經營以增進在地經營團隊對於企業的認同感。 3.自有品牌廠商宜建立完善的組織學習機制。 關鍵字：自有品牌、行銷通路、組織學習、資源基礎論 / Taiwanese electronic companies are good at manufacturing and design, and take OEM/ODM business for the first-tier international electronic companies. However, in recently, the competitive advantages of Taiwanese companies gradually decline due to the booming of the the developing countries. Thus, industrial and government highly appealed the companies to develop their own brand, and hoped it will show good performances in the near future. Until now, some of the companies reveal outstanding results in their own industry, and become the global well-know enterprises. In the past, it had been many researches who did the relevant topics about the Taiwanese companies establishing their own brand. Neverethelss, most of the researches focused on discussion the successful factors of establishing own brand or the own brand business strategy rather than on establishing marketing channel, the key successful factor of establishing own brand. Thus, the study will focus on discussion the market channel establishment, and select to research the own brand companies which built their own brand from start-up in order to understand the practical procedure. The case companies are D-Link and A Corp., the first tier Taiwanese network communication manufacture company. Their remarkable performance can be the examples for the other companies to follow them. The main literature in this study includes own brand, marketing channel, organizational learning, and resource-base theory. The study takes case interview and collect the second-hand data to acquire the critical information of the case companies and analyze their marketing channel model. There are several conclusions from the study: 1.In the early stage of entry international market, own brand company’s main channel is local agency. However, the different channel management ideas between the leaders will induce to select differenct channels numbers. However, own brand companies will gradually conduct channel integration and management to develop their whole marketing channel system. 2.The local mangers and business teams of the own brand companies play the key players to establish marketing channel and their channel management. 3.Own brand companies who usually communicate with the channel members and provide education course for the channel parmters will bring benefits for their sales, reduce the conflicts, consolidate mutual relationship, and create mutual benefits. 4.Own brand companies who provide high quality and performance products will bring positive effects to establish marketing channel. 5.Own brand companies who accumulate internal resources and conduct external organizational learning will build strategy assets in assets and capabilities sides. Neveretheless, the organizational cultural difference will make a difference in the strategy and method of establishing marketing channel. In the study, the managerial suggestions for the companies who would like to develop their own brand include: 1.The companies have to focus on strengthen their R&D and provide high quality and performance products for their channel partners. 2.The companies have to empower the localization and promote the local business teams’ identity for the company. 3.The companies have to build a well-done organizational learning system. Key words: Own Brand, Marketing Channel, Organizational Learning, Resource Based Theory