Small states have limited ability to influence the security environment and other states in the rivalry over scarce resources. How can a small state adapt to changes and challenges in the security environment and protect the state from perceived threats? The purpose of this thesis is to understand how a militarily non-aligned small state's threat perceptions adapts to changes in the security environment and how these developments affect its strategic adaptation. The thesis explains how some 21st century changes of the security environment have affected the Finnish threat perceptions and strategic adaptation of a small state.  The problem is solved by conducting a qualitative content analysis of Finnish security and defence reports of the 21st century and by utilizing an analytic framework constructed for this purpose. The question is answered by presenting the main changes in the Finnish security environment and threat perceptions, and by explaining how policy has been adapted to these changes. The questions are answered both conceptually with theoretic models from a small state perspective and with in-depth analysis utilizing the theoretic models for contextual understanding in a structured manner.  As a result, conceptual frameworks are presented as tentative explanations for a small state’s threat perceptions and strategic adaptation. The contextual results suggest that from a change perspective the Russian aggressions in Ukraine 2014 and 2022 have had the biggest impact on Finnish strategic adaptation in terms of conceptual changes, use of resources and alignment strategies.

This dissertation is a primarily theoretical study of self-organization, through which a constellation of organizations can control the process of strategic adaptation in the paradigm shift. Curiously, existing theories about the control mechanism seem to be insufficient to address the problems of control seriously in the pre-paradigmatic state. The dissertation includes three main chapters of literature review, theoretical analysis, and case study. The extensive literature review provides a fertile foundation to support this study. The chapter of theoretical analysis aims to theorize about self-organization as a new control mechanism. The case study chapter seeks to address the new conceptual model and its application to the phenomenon. Consequently, the dissertation not only presents a detailed comparison of existing theories but also elaborates the new model of control mechanism. This study considers the phenomenon of manufacturing without a factory as the evidence of the controlled system without governance structure in the paradigm shift. Through the content analysis method, the case study analyzes how differently IBM and Apple, Inc. have controlled manufacturing processes entirely outsourced to external partners and why IBM failed the challenges while Apple could succeed. The theoretical analysis addresses why firms must manage external adjustment processes and be agile with the high capacity of information processing as a constellation of organizations grows. This study will shed lights on uncovering the management of postmodern organizations in the twenty-first century. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

Forskningsfrågor:                         Hur identifieras och motiveras behovet av en organisationsförändring? Hur kan organisationers interna kommunikation och involvering bidra till att minska motståndet under förändringsprocessen? Hur påverkar strävan efter en enhetlig organisation utfallet av en organisationsförändring?  Syfte:                                                    Syftet med denna fallstudie är att utforska de specifika problem och utmaningar som en organisation inom finansbranschen upplever under en organisationsförändring. Arbetet syftar till att bidra med en djupare förståelse för hur utmaningar kopplat till förändringens bakgrund, involvering och kommunikation under förändringsprocessen samt utfallet och skapandet av en enhetlig organisation hanteras för att uppnå en framgångsrik organisationsförändring. Metod:                                                 Fallstudien använder en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med semistrukturerade intervjuer som insamlingsmetod. Respondenterna är noggrant utvalda för att representera olika avdelningar av organisationen med fokus på chefers perspektiv. Analysen av den kvalitativa empiriska data grundas i en tematisk analys där data kodats och tematiserats för att identifiera mönster och teman i relation till studiens forskningsfrågor. Slutsats:                                                                               Fallstudien visar att organisationen saknade ett tydligt strukturerat arbetssätt för samtliga marknader organisationen arbetar mot, vilket skapade behovet av en omfattande organisationsförändring för att skapa en mer enhetlig organisation. Resultaten visar även att de bakomliggande faktorerna till förändring behöver kommuniceras ut till organisationen genom en tydlig kommunikationsplan vilket omfattar involvering av medarbetare i tidigt stadie under förändringsprocessen för att motverka motstånd gentemot organisationsförändringen. Slutsatserna   visar därmed att en organisationsförändring kan bidra med en enhetlighet, där organisationsstrukturen har störst påverkan på organisationer inom finansbranschen. / Research questions:                   How is the need for an organizational change identified and justified? How can the organization’s internal communication and involvement contribute to reducing resistance during the change process? How does the pursuit of a unified organization affect the outcome of an organizational change?  Purpose:                                               The purpose of this case study is to explore and identify the specific problems and challenges that an organization in the financial industry experience during an organizational change. The thesis aims to contribute with a deeper understanding of how challenges related to the background of the change, involvement and communication during the change process as well as the outcome and the creation of a unified organization are managed to achieve a successful organizational change.  Method:                                               The case study uses a qualitative research method with semi structured interviews as an empirical collection method. Respondents are carefully selected to represent different departments of the organization with a focus on managers perspectives. The analysis of the qualitative empirical data is based on a thematic analysis where the data ss coded thematized to identify patterns and themes in relation to the study’s research questions.  Conclusion:                                       The case study shows that the organization lacked a clearly structured way of working for all the markets the organization work towards, which created the need for a comprehensive organizational change to create a more unified organization. The results also show that the underlying factors for change need to be communicated to the organization through a clear communication plan, which includes the involvement of the employees at an early stage during the change process to counteract resistance to the organizational change. The conclusions thus show that an organizational change can contribute to uniformity, where the organizational structure has the greatest impact on  organizations whitin the financial industry.

Pourquoi et comment la gestion des processus d'innovations pédagogiques se pratique dans les universités françaises? Cette recherche se situe au carrefour de quatre thématiques complémentaires : le management de l'innovation, le management stratégique, l'entrepreneuriat organisationnel ou intrapreneuriat et les systèmes d'innovation. A partir d'une perspective comportementale, la thèse emprunte aussi des concepts issus de divers domaines des sciences sociales, pour identifier et analyser en profondeur les processus de transformations organisationnelles qui sont toujours situés au sein d'un contexte institutionnel donné et qui émergent des interactions entre les processus stratégiques au niveau organisationnel et les processus de changement de pratiques au niveau individuel. Les innovations pédagogiques universitaires en constituent le terrain empirique. L'extrême autonomie et la faible interdépendance fonctionnelle dans les activités d'enseignement à l'université rendent ce terrain particulièrement prometteur pour une étude des processus innovants de l'action collective en contexte organisationnel. / Why and how does management of innovative initiatives proceed in French universities? This research is at the crossroads of four complementary themes: innovation management, strategic management, corporate entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship and innovation systems. This PHD thesis is drawing up a behavioral perspective; also borrows concepts from various fields of social sciences to identify and thoroughly analyze the processes of organizational transformations that are always embedded in a given institutional context and emerge from interactions between strategic processes at the organizational level and change of practices processes at the individual level. The empirical field consists of Innovations in learning and teaching in higher education. Academic Teaching and Learning practices are characterized by autonomy and low interdependence; they represent a promise field for studying innovative process in collective action in organizational context.

This research aims to understand the context, process and the content of the strategic changes which characterized the history of ALPOX, a self-managed alcohol distillery set up in Porto Xavier, a small town in the northwest of the Rio Grande do Sul State (in the south of Brazil), from 1984 to 2003. In a general way the research interprets and emphasizes the real strategic changes happened in the period mentioned above, the internal and external factors in the context that influenced it and the result got by the organization with the change implementation. In relation to the used methodology, it is an unusual case study developed through a qualitative approach (Triviños, 1992; Gil, 1999; Yin, 2001) and a contextualizing approach (Pettigrew, 1987, 1992). At the same time, it was also based on the method of historical and longitudinal analysis (Kimberly, 1976; Salama, 1992) when adopting the direct research procedures ( Mintzberg and McHugh, 1985). From the historical and interpretative analysis of the organization, it was described the main critical events occurred at the distillery and it was identified the three-strategic periods which make up the studied period. The first strategic period (1984-1990) is characterized by the implementation of the distillery in that town and the mobilization towards the whole structure of the first cane-plantations. The second one (1991-1996) signs the organization renting period as a strategy to overcome the financial crisis. And the third one (1997-2003) is marked by the strategic decision of the company s failure and the renting of the broken mass by COOPERCANA. During each strategic period it was done an analysis based on theoretical approaches aiming a better explanation about the strategic changes. The theoretical explanation made possible a more accurate comprehension about the events and their meanings attached by the organizational actors (interviewed people) and by the researcher through the perception and the parallels identification from the existing theoretical approaches about the subject. So it is emphasized as the main contributions of the present study: the strategic change discussion in an organization of the sugar-alcohol agriindustrial sector which plays an important role on the Brazilian economy as in the region it is insert; the methodology used in the research because it privileges the analysis into a historical, contextualizing and processional perspective, providing much information about the formulation process of an organization s strategies in the Brazilian context; and a critical reflection on the strategic behavior adopted throughout the history of the distillery serving as subsidies for future decisions and actions of its directors. / Esta pesquisa objetiva compreender o contexto, processo e conteúdo das mudanças estratégicas que marcaram a história da ALPOX, destilaria de álcool autônoma situada na cidade de Porto Xavier no Noroeste do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, no período compreendido entre 1984-2003. De maneira geral, interpreta e evidencia quais foram as mudanças estratégicas efetivas ocorridas no referido período, quais os fatores contextuais externos e internos que a influenciaram e qual o resultado obtido pela organização com a implementação da mudança. Em termos da metodologia empregada, trata-se de um estudo de caso singular desenvolvido através da abordagem qualitativa (Triviños, 1992; Gil, 1999; Yin, 2001) e contextualista (Pettigrew, 1987,1992). Ao mesmo tempo, utilizou-se do método de análise longitudinal e histórica (Kimberly, 1976; Salama, 1992) ao adotar os procedimentos da direct research (Mintzberg e McHugh, 1985). A partir da análise histórica e interpretativa da organização, descreveu-se os principais eventos críticos ocorridos na destilaria e identificou-se os três períodos estratégicos que compõem o período estudado. O primeiro período estratégico (1984-1990) caracteriza-se pela implantação da destilaria no município e a mobilização para a estruturação dos primeiros canaviais. O segundo (1991-1996) assinala o período de arrendamento da empresa como medida estratégica para sair da crise financeira. E o terceiro período (1997-2003) é marcado pela decisão estratégica de falência da indústria e o arrendamento da massa falida pela COOPERCANA. Em cada período estratégico realizou-se uma análise fundamentada em abordagens teóricas possibilitando uma melhor explicação das mudanças estratégicas. A explicação teórica propiciou a compreensão mais apurada dos eventos e dos seus significados atribuídos pelos atores organizacionais (entrevistados) e pelo pesquisador através da percepção e identificação de paralelos a partir das abordagens teóricas existentes sobre o assunto. Desta forma, destaca-se como principais contribuições do presente estudo: a discussão sobre mudança estratégica em uma empresa do setor agroindustrial sucroalcooleiro que desempenha um papel representativo na economia brasileira como na região de sua inserção; a metodologia da pesquisa por privilegiar a análise numa perspectiva histórica, contextual e processual, fornecendo uma gama de informações sobre o processo de formulação de estratégias de uma organização no contexto brasileiro; e, a reflexão crítica sobre o comportamento estratégico adotado ao longo da história da destilaria servindo de subsídios para futuras decisões e ações dos seus dirigentes.

The hospitality industry confronts continuous challenges from external environments, such as the COVID pandemic, the proliferation of short-term rentals, and the disruptive innovations of Generative AI. For businesses, understanding these external conditions and adapting strategies accordingly is crucial yet challenging, especially considering environmental uncertainties. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the effectiveness of different strategies in navigating market, competitive, and technological uncertainties, through a big-data analytical approach. It incorporates three studies, each focusing on one specific strategy and its varying outcomes under environmental changes. These studies employ machine learning algorithms to quantify strategies and utilize econometric models to infer the causal relationships between strategies and their outcomes. The first study examines how standardization affects short-term rental unit survival across two market conditions: pre-COVID growth and during-COVID decline. The results indicate that the risks arising from standardization are heightened under market decline. In addition, the effectiveness of standardization varies with design attributes to which the strategy is applied. Standardizing functional design boosts unit survival in the growing market but leads to a higher failure rate during the decline. Aesthetic standardization, on the other hand, negatively impacts survival in both conditions, with a stronger effect in the declining market. The second study identifies the impacts of differentiation on unit performance in the short-term rental context in two competitive environments: local versus city-level. The findings suggest that the effectiveness of differentiation increases with competitive pressure. At the local level where firms face localized competition, differentiation enhances unit performance. Conversely, in city-level environments where direct competition diminishes, it yields negative outcomes. Moreover, competition intensity, as reflected by the number of competitors and the degree of market concentration, is found to amplify the benefits of and mitigate the drawbacks of differentiation. The third study explores if adopting Generative AI to hotel online review response can improve customer feedback, under varying technological settings. It finds that simulated AI adoption improves customer perceptions when Generative AI models operate at high temperatures, while models with low temperatures lead to negative outcomes. The findings further underscore the importance of task-technology fit, revealing that Generative AI's effectiveness varies with review valence. Specifically, high-temperature settings for positive reviews generate significant benefits, whereas low-temperature settings lead to adverse effects. Conversely, for negative reviews, AI adoption demonstrates more stable outcomes across temperature settings, indicating balanced benefits of both low and high temperatures. In short, this dissertation identifies that the effectiveness of standardization, differentiation, and AI adoption strategies is contingent on environmental conditions. It underscores the importance of strategic adaptation in navigating contemporary challenges. / Doctor of Philosophy / It is difficult to operate hospitality businesses because this industry faces constant challenges from ever-changing external conditions, including the COVID pandemic, the rise of short-term rental platforms, and the breakthroughs in technology like Generative AI. It is important but challenging for hotels and short-term rentals to understand these conditions and plan their operations accordingly. Thus, this dissertation aims to help business operators to understand how to deal with different external changes. It carries on a series of studies based on big data, using various analytical tools. This dissertation is composed of three studies. The first one finds that, generally, it is risker for short-term rental hosts to make one property similar to his/her other properties when the whole market declines. There are differences identified between functionality and aesthetics. Keeping the functionalities, such as WIFI and coffeemaker, consistent among multiple properties will make the property more likely to survive when the market grows but it increases the likelihood of failure when the market demand decreases. When deciding property aesthetics, like color or layout, it is risky to have properties similar to each other, no matter if the market demand grows or drops. The second study concludes that short-term rental hosts should decide the product design relative to their competitors from different scopes of areas. They are suggested to make their properties' interior design style different from their nearby competitors to gain high revenues, especially when there are more neighboring supplies managed by a large number of hosts. On the contrary, it is more beneficial to follow the general trend of properties located in the same city when deciding one property's aesthetic style. The third study guides hotels to apply Generative AI like ChatGPT to generate response to customer online reviews. It found that, to reply to online reviews with four- or five-star ratings, hotels should not use the default GPT model to increase the quality of customer communication. Instead, they need to use the professional OpenAI API and set the parameter called temperature to 2. However, when hotels reply to online reviews with lower star ratings, like one or two, there is no big difference between low and high temperatures (0 to 2). They can simply use the default model. In general, there are no one-size-for-all solutions to deal with external challenges. Hospitality operators are highly recommended to adjust their operations to fit different conditions.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-07-15T16:32:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Fernando de Lucca Candia_.pdf: 1282320 bytes, checksum: c009f19ebfa998ca1088d2d278cdaccc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-15T16:32:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Fernando de Lucca Candia_.pdf: 1282320 bytes, checksum: c009f19ebfa998ca1088d2d278cdaccc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-19 / Nenhuma / A presente pesquisa consiste em um estudo transversal de cunho descritivo aplicado nas empresas componentes do cluster de Automação e Controle do Estado do RS. Seu objetivo é analisar se a tipologia estratégica desenvolvida por Desarbo et al. (2005) é capaz de diferenciar as estratégias de adaptação das empresas componentes da amostra considerada, bem como entender as relações existentes entre as capacidades estratégicas, as incertezas ambientais percebidas e o desempenho organizacional sob a ótica dos gestores estratégicos. Através de uma abordagem quantitativa, o estudo submeteu à amostra estudada o questionário proposto por Desarbo et al. (2005) com inserções e adaptações sugeridas pelo autor. Os dados obtidos foram então organizados e submetidos a um conjunto de procedimentos estatísticos – dentre os quais se destacam a estatística descritiva, a análise de conglomerados, a ANOVA e as análises de correlação e de regressão – com vistas a testar e validar as hipóteses investigadas. Os resultados encontrados permitem identificar diferenças nos processos de adaptação estratégica das empresas do cluster. Entretanto, não foi revelada nenhuma correlação significativa das capacidades estratégicas e incertezas com o desempenho organizacional não sendo possível, portanto, estabelecer qualquer modelo preditivo que pudesse explicar a variação do desempenho organizacional (variável dependente) pela variação dos níveis das capacidades estratégicas e das incertezas ambientais (variáveis independentes). / This research consists of a cross-sectional study with descriptive nature applied to the cluster Automação e Controle RS. Its goal is to analyze whether the strategic typology developed by Desarbo et al. (2005) is able to differentiate adaptation strategies in the companies which are part of the sample, as well as understand the relationship among strategic capabilities, environmental uncertainties and firm performance from the perspective of strategic management. Thru a quantitative approach, this study used the framework proposed by Desarbo et al. (2005) with some additions and adaptations suggested by the author. The data collected were organized and submitted to a set of statistical procedures - including descriptive statistic, cluster analysis, ANOVA and correlation and regression analysis - in order to test and validate the hypotheses investigated. It was possible to identify differences in the strategic adjustment processes in the cluster. However, no significant correlation among strategic capabilities, uncertainties and organizational performance was revealed. Because of this, no predictive model that explained the variation in the organizational performance (dependent variable) by varying the levels of strategic capabilities and environmental uncertainties (independent variables) was suggested.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:32:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 jony.pdf: 2214867 bytes, checksum: 61f4f2db4cd17a1187ea74d5a6acb987 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-06-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / No presente trabalho de dissertação o autor descreve, analisa e conclui sobre a predominância dos tipos de adaptações estratégicas vivenciadas pela organização pesquisada ao longo de sua existência. Como estudo de caso de um único indivíduo, no formato de pesquisa-ação, foi pesquisada uma empresa brasileira de desenvolvimento e comercialização de softwares integradas de gestão empresarial: a Datasul, no período de 1978 a 2006, segundo o modelo de adaptações estratégicas de Herebenik e Joyce (1985). Fundada em 1978, a empresa pesquisada atua no setor de tecnologia de software, e está exposta continuamente a novas tendências tecnológicas e a ambientes competitivos agressivos a mundiais. Para efetuar a pesquisa, foi adotada a coleta de dados primários e secundários, com mais de uma técnica de coleta de dados, para avaliar, sem testes prévios, as convergências das observações feitas, por meio de observação participante e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com executivos de nível estratégico, pesquisas documentais e registros de arquivos. Com base na tabulação final, a vista do modelo escolhido, foram classificadas as diversas adaptações estratégicas adotadas pela empresa pesquisada, o que permitiu identificar a tipologia predominante das adaptações adotadas. A predominância encontrada foi a de adaptações estratégicas denominadas de seleção natural , na quais existe alto determinismo ambiental e baixa escolha estratégica. Como resultado final da pesquisa, ficou comprovado que, em empresas como a que foi foco da pesquisa, as escolhas estratégicas costumam ser mínimas e as adaptações ao ambiente são necessárias para que não ocorra a alienação competitiva.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:32:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 74572.pdf: 974142 bytes, checksum: 5352658221f1fac6920a21ccc0574290 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-12-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The expansion of the higher education and the permanent search by an education of quality led the government to implement evaluation politics in the institutions of Brazilian higher education from the decade of 1980. The programs of evaluation introduced during the period in study were strategically adapted to the internal and external environments adjusting itself to the educational, social, economic, and political factors and to the prominent internal factors and inherent to each program. Within this context, the present study has like general objective to analyze the Program of Evaluation of the University Reform (PARU), the Program of Institutional Evaluation of the Brazilian Universities (PAIUB), the National Exam of Courses (ENC), the Evaluation of the Conditions of Offering (ACO), the Evaluation of the Conditions of Education (ACE), the Institutional Evaluation (AI) and the National System of Evaluation of Higher Education (SINAES), and to identify its adaptations The research enabled the verification of the settlements long-suffering by the programs in terms of content, procedure and context. The present dissertation has a qualitative nature, it is an exploratory, descriptive and evaluative research; and the data have been collected through bibliographical research and documental examination. Key words: Strategic adaptation; Evaluation; Institutional evaluation programs. / A expansão do ensino superior e a busca permanente por um ensino de qualidade conduziram o Governo a implementar políticas avaliativas nas instituições de ensino superior brasileiras a partir da década de 1980. Os programas de avaliação introduzidos durante o período em estudo adaptaram-se estrategicamente aos ambientes externos e internos ajustando-se aos fatores políticos, econômicos, sociais e educacionais e aos fatores internos relevantes e inerentes a cada programa. Nesse contexto, o presente estudo tem como objetivo geral analisar o Programa de Avaliação da Reforma Universitária (PARU), o Programa de Avaliação Institucional das Universidades Brasileiras (PAIUB), o Exame Nacional de Cursos (ENC), a Avaliação das Condições de Oferta (ACO), a Avaliação das Condições de Ensino (ACE), a Avaliação Institucional (AI) e o Sistema Nacional de Avaliação do Ensino Superior (SINAES), e identificar as adaptações estratégicas sofridas por cada programa. A pesquisa possibilitou a constatação dos ajustes sofridos pelos programas em termos de conteúdo, processo e contexto. A presente dissertação possui natureza qualitativa; utilizou-se dos tipos de pesquisa exploratória, descritiva e avaliativa; métodos indutivo e diacrônico; e como técnica de coleta de dados a pesquisa bibliográfica e de análise documental.

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