Even though knowledge management has progressed from an embryonic to an increasingly recognized discipline over the course of the last decade, the bulk of studies in knowledge management have been descriptive and focused on definitions and integrating existing definitions. There have been relatively few studies (mostly surveys) that focus on knowledge management in relation to other organizational factors (Zack, McKeen & Singh, 2009), and work in the area of knowledge management and competitive advantage has been found to be theoretically and empirically immature and underdeveloped (Chuang, 2004).   Therefore, aim of this research was to fill in the identified gaps by utilizing the resource-based view of a company to conduct an exploratory qualitative study to provide empirical and practical evidence regarding the relationship between knowledge management and competitive advantage. This was done mainly through interviews with knowledge management academics and practitioners in an attempt to have multiple perspectives on the matter to gain deeper understanding.   From the interviews, a number of observations were made. First, knowledge management can be used strategically to gain competitive advantage but this can only be done by introducing a successful knowledge management initiative. This calls for an implementation approach based on focus and measurement as principles and that takes into account strategy, organizational learning, culture and systems and technology as pre-conditional dimensions for a successful knowledge management project. In addition, these principles and preconditions all have to take the people into consideration as the people play a centre role in this system, being the ones that actually establish, run and maintain these mechanisms.   These findings are then synthesized into a knowledge management implementation model that may serve as a starting point for further research in successful knowledge management implementation. Practitioners may also use these findings and model as a tool for successful knowledge management implementation.

In this paper, I investigate the use of SWOT analysis and the resource based view as tools to elaborate a business plan and in academic research by assessing the two methods’ strengths and weaknesses.   I found that SWOT analysis is useful to structure and prioritise information in a short and concise way. Even though, the information and the information collection methods as well as the concepts and theories used in combinaton with the model and their quality is of the most importance for a proper use of the model.   The resource based view is useful to reflect over which internal resources are the most valuable for the company, even though it can be difficult to assess the most important assets, i.e. the intangible assets. I also found that the fact that the resource based view, which is a explanantory theory, is used as a predicative theory causes uncertainaty and is problematic.

En ce qui concerne la perception du tourisme durable, on constate que les directeurs publics ont la même approche ou définition. Mais, en matière de stratégies, les moyens manquent dans tous les domaines pour développer un tourisme durable. De façon plus précise, les contraintes se résument aux cinq enjeux qui sont liés aux ressources humaines, aux méthodes de travail, au cadre juridique, à l'appui institutionnel et financier, et à la sensibilisation publique dans le secteur touristique du Cambodge. Ces insuffisances ont entraîné une exploitation peu réfléchie des potentiels de ressources touristiques et ont provoqué des fuites économiques élevées à l'étranger. Sans planification pensée à long terme, certaines attractions ne sont plus en mesure d'assurer leur durabilité, menant à la dévastation de trésors touristiques, à l’altération des valeurs socio-culturelles et d'identité nationale; ce mécanisme évolutif pourrait conduire à un développement incontrôlé contribuant à dégrader rapidement la communauté locale et l’environnement. Comme le ministère du Tourisme au Cambodge l’a souligné, s'il n'est pas correctement géré, le développement du tourisme permettra d'enrichir une petite minorité tout en excluant la majorité de la population du pays. Dans ces conditions, les directeurs provinciaux chargés du tourisme, en tant que représentants du ministère, jouent un rôle déterminant dans le tourisme durable et influencent directement à la fois le pouvoir politique et la prise de décision locale et même nationale. Leur rôle s’applique à la gestion interne et la coopération externe qui sont fortement dépendantes de la qualification personnelle des individus, c’est les « ressources et compétences ». Cependant, si les directeurs locaux sont aujourd’hui confinés dans un rôle plutôt de gestionnaires, avec de faibles moyens, nous estimons qu’ils pourraient devenir de véritables directeurs locaux susceptibles de faire travailler ensemble les acteurs dans le cadre d’une politique claire. / Current issues concerning the sustainable tourism in Cambodia based on the action of Local Tourism State Actors (LTSA) in terms of Resources and Competences, particularly defining the roles of the LTSA, are systematically explored in this research. The LTSA are the director of provincial or city tourism department who take a lead role in managing a localized tourism industry of the government. The central research question focuses on the “Strategy towards Sustainable Tourism in Cambodia, according to the perceptions of the LTSA”. In investigating to this context, the qualitative methods were used to collect primary data through in-depth interviews (semi-structured) with all the 25 LTSA. The data was further analyzed through a content analysis with a usage of NVivo10, a computer based program for coding or categorizing. The findings indicate that there are five main local challenges to Cambodia’s sustainable tourism: (1) Professional Tourism Skills and Qualifications, (2) Working Attitudes of Managers and Employees, (3) Tourism Law, Regulations, and Circulars, (4) Finances and Facilities, and (5) Public Tourism Awareness and Participation. These challenges can be broadly categorized as personal, institutional, and external problems; particularly related to the lack of financial resources, and especially human resources in regards to both quality and quantity of professional tourism officials. In order to effectively transcend sustainable tourism and local tourism management challenges, state actors play important roles. Firstly they have an internal managing role as a local manager, and secondly they have an external cooperating role which is closely defined as a local ambassador. Moreover, the state actor should strive for a third role: referred to as the personal advancing role. This is where the managers become a learner in order to improve personal skills and capacity based on experiential learning. Personal advancing roles can be further augmented through self-directed studies, workshops, seminars, training and education. As highlighted in the findings and discussion section, the quality of managing and cooperating roles of LTSA are heavily dependent on personal advancing roles. The role of LTSA has significant influence on sustainable tourism because the manager is the most central actor dealing directly with all relevant sustainable tourism stakeholders, especially for their contributions to the policy and decision making. Thus, the continuous advancement of qualifications, effectiveness and efficiency of LTSA in implementing their role is a priority and highly needed. State actors should focus on personal advancing roles to enhance managing and cooperating roles.

[pt] As firmas enfrentam hoje um cenário altamente volátil e competitivo e muito mais complexo que 10 ou 20 anos atrás. Para enfrentar este cenário, as firmas têm usado a terceirização de atividades da sua cadeia de valores para reduzir custos, melhorar o desempenho e manter o foco nas atividades que propiciam vantagens competitivas. As teorias da Economia dos Custos de Transação (TCE) e Visão Baseada em Recursos (RBV) têm sido usadas nos estudos sobre fazer ou comprar (terceirização). Na TCE, o foco da questão são as transações internas da firma e desta com o mercado, analisando as dimensões de risco, ativos idiossincráticos e freqüência de trocas. Na RBV, o centro da questão está associado aos recursos que compõem a firma, analisando os atributos desses em relação à vantagem competitiva e desempenho comparado com o mercado. O objetivo central desta tese é compreender o porquê das firmas terceirizarem atividades da sua cadeia de valores. Para este fim, uma extensa revisão das teorias TCE e RBV foi feita, com o foco de aprofundar a compreensão das questões relacionadas com a terceirização. A pesquisa examina o entendimento de seis firmas da indústria de café solúvel em relação aos fundamentos dos processos de terceirização. A pesquisa foi qualitativa, através de múltiplos estudos de casos, onde entrevistas com altos executivos das firmas foram realizadas para elucidar e avaliar os casos. A indústria de café solúvel foi escolhida pela disponibilidade de acesso aos seus dados e integrantes, bem como pelo uso da terceirização em todas as firmas. Nos casos, buscou-se observar as vantagens competitivas particulares, os motivadores e variáveis das terceirizações e quais atividades foram terceirizadas. Na análise dos casos foi encontrado que quanto maior o risco que envolve a transação, maior a tendência das firmas internalizarem atividades. Competências internas fracas aumentam a probabilidade de terceirização, enquanto que quanto maior a possibilidade de vazamento de conhecimento estratégico proprietário, menor a probabilidade de terceirização. Esta tese afirma que as teorias TCE e RBV devem ser usadas de forma conjunta para determinar as fronteiras de uma firma, fundamentando a análise se uma atividade deve ser terceirizada ou mantida internamente. Adicionalmente, este trabalho sustenta que os custos de oportunidade são relevantes para a definição da terceirização de atividades e devem ser comparados aos custos de transação. / [en] Today, firms are submitted to a highly volatile and competitive scenario, far more complex than that of ten or twenty years ago. In order to face this, firms have outsourced some of their value chain activities, in an attempt to reduce costs, enhance performance and focus on activities that result in competitive advantages. Both the Transaction Costs Economics (TCE) and Resource-Based View (RBV) theories have been applied in outsourcing studies. TCE focuses on the firm’s internal transactions and transactions with the market, by evaluating risk dimensions, idiosyncratic assets and frequency of exchanges. The core issue for RBV is related to the firm’s resources; the theory evaluates their attributes in terms of competitive advantage and performance as compared with the market. The fundamental objective here is to understand why firms outsource their value chain activities. A thorough review of the TCE and RBV theories has been performed, aimed at deepening the understanding of outsourcing related issues. The present research assesses how six instant coffee firms perceive the outsourcing process rationale. The survey was qualitative and based on multiple case studies, and high executives of these firms were interviewed for clarification and evaluation of each case. Instant coffee industry was selected due to the availability of information and access to their members, and because all firms are engaged in outsourcing. In these cases, we have attempted to observe the particular competitive advantages, motivating factors and variables of outsourcing, and which activities had been outsourced. Case study analysis has shown that the higher the risk involved in a transaction, the more firms will tend to internalize activities. Weak competences increase the probability of outsourcing, while high risk of leak of strategic proprietary knowledge reduces the probability of outsourcing. This thesis asserts that both TCE and RBV theories shall be used in conjunction in order to determine the frontiers of a firm, and underlie the evaluation of whether an activity should be outsourced or performed internally. Additionally, this paper affirms that opportunity costs are relevant in defining the outsourcing of activities, and ought to be considered and compared with transaction costs.

Value and waste are concepts that are used in improvement projects. In lean the concepts are fairly simple. Reduce the waste and the value has increased. However, value is both multidimensional and differs over time. If the concepts value and waste are to be used, the concepts must be clearly defined and measured. Otherwise, value can be reduced for the customer/user and the cost increased for the producer/seller. The purpose in this thesis is to investigate how value and waste are perceived by different stakeholders, how value and waste are related, and how value and waste are measured. The focus of the study is the improvement of production and services. The study does not investigate the product/service development. The conclusions are based on a number of cases and research from different fields such as resource-based view and marketing. The study use mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Measures of forecasting accuracy and their relations where explored with different statistical tools in order to understand the influence of measures and dimensions. The view of value concerning energy efficiency was examined in a statistical analysis of a survey concerning stakeholders’ view of a specific value, energy efficiency, as well as their influence on the value creation process. A multiple qualitative case study explores the relation between value and waste in different settings and the consequences of waste focus. The findings in the multiple case study are confirmed and elaborated further by an additional case study, both qualitative and quantitative, of value stream mapping.Value and waste are analysed with the use of order winners and qualifiers. Also, a model to clarify the consequences of mixing value creation and value exchange for customer/user and producer/seller have been defined and used in the analysis.Depending on the stakeholder there is a difference between whether value can be regarded as a use value, exchange value or both. Even if exchange value is related to a specific moment in time, use value is not. The view of value differs among stakeholders which increase the risk of sub-optimisation in production.Value and waste have multi-dimensional properties and there are links between the different dimensions. The relationships depend upon the situation in question. The lean seven types of waste are not independent dimensions. Also, the concept of waste as anti-value is too simplistic. In all cases studied the focus is on waste, not value. Also, it is often the symptoms of waste that are of interest in measures taken not the root causes. Reduction of waste without considering the value can create new waste. Since waste is a dependent variable, it should not be measured without considering value. Another complication is that value and waste often occurs at different points in time and in different settings.Single measures are sensitive to its environment. Several measures are more robust. Measures distort and influence the perception and thereby the decision of the studied phenomena. Also, the notion of value and waste becomes harder to define and trace as the resolution and detailing of the studied process increases. / Godkänd; 2016; 20151028 (petwal); Nedanstående person kommer att disputera för avläggande av teknologie doktorsexamen. Namn: Peter Wallström Ämne: Byggproduktion /Construction Engineering and Management Avhandling: On Value and Waste Opponent: Docent Kristian Widén, Avd för Byggproduktion, Institutionen för Byggvetenskaper, Lunds tekniska högskola, Lund. Ordförande: Professor Ove Lagerqvist, Avd för byggkonstruktion och -produktion, Institutionen för samhällsbyggnad och naturresurser, Luleå tekniska universitet, Luleå. Tid: Onsdag 14 september, 2016 kl 13.00 Plats: F1031, Luleå tekniska universitet

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>

This dissertation is one of the earliest to systematically apply and empirically test the resource-based view (RBV) in the context of nascent social ventures in a large scale study. Social ventures are entrepreneurial ventures organized as nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid organizations whose primary purpose is to address unmet social needs and create social value. Nascent social ventures face resource gaps and engage in partnerships or alliances as one means to access external resources. These partnerships with different sectors facilitate social venture innovative and earned income strategies, and assist in the development of adequate heterogeneous resource conditions that impact competitive advantage. Competitive advantage in the context of nascent social ventures is achieved through the creation of value and the achievement of venture development activities and launching. The relationships between partnerships, heterogeneous resource conditions, strategies, and competitive advantage are analyzed in the context of nascent social ventures that participated in business plan competitions. A content analysis of 179 social venture business plans and an exploratory follow-up survey of 72 of these ventures are used to analyze these relationships using regression, ANOVA, correlations, t-tests, and non-parametric statistics. The findings suggest a significant positive relationship between competitive advantage and partnership diversity, heterogeneous resource conditions, social innovation, and earned income. Social capital is the type of resource most significantly related to competitive advantage. Founder previous start-up experience, client location, and business plan completeness are also found to be significant in the relationship between partnership diversity and competitive advantage. Finally the findings suggest that hybrid social ventures create a greater competitive advantage than nonprofit or for-profit social ventures. Consequently, this dissertation not only provides academics further insight into the factors that impact nascent social value creation, venture development, and ability to launch, but also offers practitioners guidance on how best to organize certain processes to create a competitive advantage. As a result more insight is gained into the nascent social venture creation process and how these ventures can have a greater impact on society.

Title: The Role of Organizational Culture on Green Marketing Level: Final Thesis for Master’s Degree Program Authors: Lucia Gido Chuwa  and Ukpemeobong Usen Ibokette Supervisor: Dr. Daniella Fjellström Examiner: Dr. Maria Fregidou-Malama Date: June 2020   Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the influence of organizational culture on green marketing. Method: This study applies a qualitative research approach on seven selected companies in Sweden and Nigeria.  We interviewed seven people using seven semi-structured interview questions and we carried out thematic data analysis by grouping the findings into common themes to guide our discussion. Result &amp; Conclusions: This study concludes that organizational culture influence implementation of green marketing as it dictates what happens within the organization and how it happens. The organization that embraces environmental values in its culture needs to disseminate it to all employees to create common understanding and commitment towards its implementation. We also discovered a lower level of customer awareness on green marketing which requires more efforts by organizations and stakeholders to create this awareness or advocacy which will help firms investing on green marketing to sell their products. Suggestions for future research: We suggest a future study which could complement this study using a bigger sample size. We also propose a comparative future study which may help to highlight how implementation of green marketing in developed countries like Sweden differs from the developing countries like Nigeria. Furthermore, we suggest an explorative study on how best the customer awareness on green marketing can be enhanced so that to support green marketing. Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to the body of knowledge about organizational culture, environmental sustainability and green marketing through highlighting how organizational culture influence implementation of different components of green marketing mix, which was an underexplored area. We also contribute that customer awareness is an important aspect to encourage green marketing Key words: Green marketing, green marketing mix, organizational culture, Sweden, Nigeria, environmental sustainability and Natural Resource Based View Theory.

Den tilltagande digitaliseringen och framväxten av flersidiga plattformar har intensifierat konkurrensen på marknaden. Vilket i sin tur försvårat e-handlarnas strategiska arbete för att upprätt hålla konkurrensfördelar. E-handlarnas innovationsförmåga utmanas och allt större uppmärksamhet har riktats mot affärsmodeller, att bli mer konsumentcentrerade samt att reagera snabbare på de förändringar som sker inom handeln för att vara konkurrens kraftiga.Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur svenska e-handlare arbetar med sin affärsmodell och vilka strategier de väljer att implementera för att upprätthålla konkurrensfördelar i och med ökat inträde av flersidiga plattformar. Intervjuer av två fallföretag har genomförts med teoretiska utgångspunkter i resource-based view, fenomenet Big data och value creation. Dessa intervjuer visar att insamling och analys av konsumentdata anses vara en grundläggande förutsättning för att e-handelsföretag ska kunna vara konkurrenskraftiga. Med hjälp av data kan e-handelsföretagmöta konsumenternas behov i större utsträckning. Slutligen visade även resultatet av studien att det uttrycktes en positivitet från respondenterna gällande Amazons lansering på den svenska marknaden.

In the current literature, a gap is identified concerning how SMEs can achieve eco-efficiency through digitalisation. This study sets out to explore how firms can achieve eco-efficiency objectives by employing digitalisation as a resource. It does so by viewing digital resources through the lens of the resource-based view which concerns the link between resource heterogeneity, mobility of resources, and the competitive advantage benefited by the firm. The study employs an explorative investigation using qualitative data collection in the form of interviews with six case companies. All of the cases operate within the Swedish logistics industry. The selection of the logistics industry was made since it is cost and efficiency-oriented, burdensome on the environment, and reliant on digital technologies. The data revealed that the cases have a stronger inclination towards one of two main eco-efficiency motivations. Some are more economically motivated, and others are more environmentally motivated. In either case, the types of digital resources employed are characterised by whether they are configurable or generic. The firms share a commonality in that they all strive to make their digital resources more productive by combining them with digitalisation capabilities, which are a specific form of capabilities that enable companies to deploy digital resources more effectively and efficiently towards eco-efficiency. They do this to separate themselves from the competition and create a sustained competitive advantage.