The main purpose of this research is to use Hermeneutic research approach to find out how Decision Support System (DSS) is used in banks and financial services. The research started from one stance, from which the further process could be extended to reach more complete picture of Decision Support System’s usage in strategic decision makings in banks. The research is also trying to find out the drawbacks and benefits of the DSS which have been used nowadays in banks. Furthermore, the future improvements of using DSS to make better decisions related with moral and different environments are also being discussed in the research findings. During the primary data collection, resources from different channels have been used to support the research. The primary data sources include lectures and discussion in three banks’ visiting opportunities in Stockholm, Sweden, one interview with IT Vice president from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, New York, two interviews with a professor and a director respectively from Lund University and Financial Services Innovation Centre in University College Cork, Ireland. Experiences from both academic and practical have been shared to strength the research’s validity and trustworthiness. Hermeneutic research approach addresses through the whole research process which needs to be open-minded and flexible. Unawareness of DSS for people who are working in banks is one of the issues today. Different embedded models regarding various functions are not so clear to bank staff; thus there is a gap between human decisions and system decisions. There is a variation of requirements between central banks, retail banks, commercial banks, investment banks. Hence there should be a differentiation when implementing a system. Banking systems are widespread systems which are influenced by environment factors, political, economic, socio-cultural and technological variables.

As organisations operate in a globalised, competitive and ever-changing environment, the process of making strategic decisions, the introduction and implementation of organisational changes, and employees’ responses towards these changes are typical challenges in organisational life. In this content, the recent financial crisis of 2007-2008 had a profound impact on the Greek economy, as the Greek banking sector had undergone a series of profound organisational changes that were met with a mixed response from employees. The aim of this study is to investigate and propose an integrated theoretical model on the relationship among strategic decision-making process (SDMP), organisational change and employees’ responses to change in Greek banks. To achieve this aim, the SDMP by which organisational changes were introduced in Greek banks, and employees’ EVLN behavioural responses towards these changes are examined. Two questionnaire surveys were conducted and data were collected from 11 CEOs and 78 members of top management teams, and 1,259 Greek bank employees. The study adopted the positivistic approach and data were quantitatively analysed by using the statistical software of SPSS version 2.1 and AMOS version 22.0. The findings suggest that top management teams used their Rationality, Intuition and Political behaviour during SDMP, and different contextual factors had a different impact on this process. Moreover, employees’ EVLN behavioural responses varied depending on the type of organisational change and the level of impact of organisational commitment, job satisfaction and psychological contract breach on their responses. Also, significant differences were found on employees’ responses in terms of their age, gender, educational level, length of service at the bank, position at the bank, and the bank they worked for before the changes. The key contribution to knowledge is that this is the first study that develops an integrated theoretical model that examines the relationship among SDMP, organisational change and employees’ EVLN behavioural responses. It also enhances our knowledge and extends the literature on a number of relationships such as the impact of the antecedents of SDMP on SDMP dimensions, the effect of SDMP dimensions on organisational change, and the impact of different types of organisational change on employees’ EVLN responses. Such contribution has significant implications on making strategic decisions and managing change in times of crises.

The world is changing. With more complex products and services available, shortened life cycles, and shifts in customers behavior due to the increased availability of information, companies needs to explore new capabilities and organizational practices to effectively preserve a competitive advantage through new innovations. A competitive advantage is said to be difficult to create and sustain in today’s markets. Many startups and corporates, are therefore, changing their innovation processes from a traditional linear process to more of an open process. Many scholars have studied this phenomenon from a corporate perspective, leaving a gap in existing literature on how startups are contributing with their innovative and entrepreneurial mindset to the context of open innovation. It is visible that startups are possessing an extensive amount of exploration capabilities, while lacking capabilities related to exploitation. Finding a balance between exploration and exploitation capabilities is an issue for startups due to its limitations of resources. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to distinguish how an innovation hub enables startups with balancing exploration and exploitation capabilities. For this study, the innovation hub of our choosing is Ignite. Based on the literature review and the identified research gaps, the following research question has been formulated to investigate the phenomenon of balancing organizational capabilities from a startup perspective: RQ: How can an innovation hub help startups find a balance between exploration and exploitation capabilities? To properly answer the research question, the chosen research approach was selected as a qualitative research method. The empirical findings were gathered from 11 semi-structured interviews, where nine interviews have been with managers from startups active in Ignite and two interviews with team members from Ignite. In addition to the empirical findings, we developed a proposed framework that explains the whole process of startups being active in Ignite from pre-intervention, addressing challenges related to startups and the reasons why they should engage in being active in an innovation hub, to post-intervention, addressing the possible outcomes received by being active in Ignite. To conclude, this thesis contributes with an understanding on how startups may use a third party, such as Ignite, to get help with the balancing act of exploration and exploitation capabilities. The findings show that the third party is helping the startups with balancing their organizational capabilities in an indirect way. This is done through Ignite’s accurate matchmaking process and their deep understanding about which capabilities the big corporations are looking for, which Ignite gathers from a needs analysis together with the big corporation. From this thesis, startups as well as big corporations, will understand the importance of involving a third party for the purpose of creating and sustaining a competitive advantage by balancing their exploration and exploitation capabilities.

The purpose of this study is to define Intuitive Intelligence and identify the role of Intuitive Intelligence in Leadership Strategic Decision Making. The study provides a framework for Intuitive Intelligence within the context of leadership strategic decision making. Empirical study: The study used a dual phased research design, which included qualitative mixed methods; deconstruction, grounded theory, triangulation, and the use of Atlas ti. Research Limitations / Implications: This study would be enhanced by future studies using an extended scope. Suitable testing and assessment methods would also offer a suitable quantitative perspective. Value / Benefit: The study serves to assist executives' awareness of factors enhancing decision making skills such as the utilisation of Intuitive Intelligence; as well as to highlight those risk factors which may inhibit effective strategic decision making. Summary: The research study is focused on the role of Intuitive Intelligence in terms of effective leadership strategic decision making. Rooted within the epistemological context of Leadership, Complexity and Chaos, Strategy as Practice, Knowledge Management, Sense making and Decision making, the focus is on the role of Intuitive Intelligence within such context. The research study contributes toward an understanding of how Intuitive Intelligence enhances the effectiveness of leadership strategic decision making; within the context of business leadership in South Africa, and strives to serve business leaders engaged in such strategic decision making. Findings and conclusion: The findings support the case for the development, use and role of Intuitive Intelligence in terms of effectiveness of leadership strategic decision-making. / Business Management / D.B.L. (Business Leadership)

Background: Digital technologies are increasingly transforming traditional businesses, and their pervasive impact is leading to a radical restructuring of entire industries. While the significance of generating competitive advantages for businesses utilizing big data analytics is recognized, there is still a lack of consensus of big data analytics influencing strategic decision-making in organisations. As big data and big data analytics become increasingly common, understanding the factors influencing decision-making quality becomes of paramount importance for businesses. Purpose: This thesis investigates how big data and big data analytics affect the operational strategic decision-making processes in enterprises through the theoretical lens of the strategy-as-practice framework. Method: The study follows an abductive research approach by testing a theory (i.e., strategy-aspractice) through the use of a qualitative research design. A single case study of IKEA was conducted to generate the primary data for this thesis. Sampling is carried out internally at IKEA by first identifying the heads of the different departments within the data analysis and from there applying the snowball sampling technique, to increase the number of interviewees and to ensure the collection of enough data for coding. Findings: The findings show that big data analytics has a decisive influence on practitioners. At IKEA, data analysts have become an integral part of the operational strategic decision-making processes and discussions are driven by data and rigor rather than by gut and intuition. In terms of practices, it became apparent that big data analytics has led to a more performance-oriented use of strategic tools and enabling IKEA to make strategic decisions in real-time, which not only increases agility but also mitigates the risk of wrong decisions.

Aim – The aim of this study is to explore how Management accountants (MAs) participate in strategic management processes nowadays and to explain reasons for potential differences in involvement of MAs in strategic management processes between different organizations.Method - The study is based on a multi-case study approach conducted among three independent companies in Sweden. The information from semi-structural interviews with MAs and archival data in form of job announcements for Senior MAs positions is used to analyze and cross-check the relationship. The time-horizon is cross-sectional.Findings - The study shows that involvement of MAs in strategic management processes varies a lot within organizations being influenced by the following factors: personal traits, business knowledge, relationship with management and established role. Some major variations on cross-company level are identified between subsidiary and HQ, and between representatives of different capital ownership forms.Conclusions - The study suggests that power imbalance in organizations hinders applying critical thinking and expressing objective opinion by MAs, that makes it difficult to claim a fully explicit business-partner role. Process of MAs’ involvement in the strategic management decision making presents a product of interrelation between two strategies for legitimizing of truth claims proposed by Heizmann and Olsson (2015): executing power of authority and executing power of expertise.

Organizations face multiple types of climate-related risks and opportunities. This creates financial and strategic challenges for organizations to solve, thus creating different frameworks, such as the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), that support organizations and increases their financial stability and strategic resiliency. Within the TCFD recommendations and current regulations, scenario analysis is a strong tool to be used and reported on, to increase the transparency and resiliency further. Therefore, this degree project takes a deep dive into what role scenario analysis has concerning organizations, specifically the battery manufacturing industry, and examines the possibilities to facilitate the deployment of the scenario analysis process, aligned with the TCFD recommendations. Meaning that the guidance created addresses the current gap in research and scenario implementation. The results of this degree project indicate that scenario analysis holds a big role in all organizations because of its benefits. Scenario analysis increases the overall understanding regarding uncertainties, improves the anticipation of climate-related risks and opportunities and it enhances the understanding related to the interconnections and dependencies between them. Most importantly, scenario analysis supports organizations with decision-making and strategic planning by looking into how risks and opportunities develop in multiple scenarios and time horizons. The results also indicate that the battery manufacturing industry can face multiple risks and opportunities at each step of the value chain. Furthermore, this degree project presents a step-by-step implementation guidance that facilitates the scenario analysis process aligned with TCFD recommendations. / Organisationer idag möts av många typer av klimat-relaterade risker och möjligheter.Detta leder till olika finansiella och strategiska utmaningar for organisationer sommåste hanteras. Därav har flera ramverk, exempelvis the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), skapats och hjälper organisationer att öka finansiella stabiliteten och strategiska motstånd. Dessutom finns det olika regelverk som företag måste rapportera inom, där scenario analys är ett område som måste rappoteras och presenteras. Därav, detta examensarbete kommer att undersöka vilken roll scenarioanalys har idag, speciellt inom batteriindustrin, och även undersöka möjligheterna att underlätta införandet av scenario analys process, i linje med TCFD:s rekommendationer. Resultaten av detta examensarbete indikerar att scenarioanalysen har en stor roll för alla organisationer på grund av dess fördelar. Scenarioanalys ökar den övergripande förståelsen för osäkerheter, förbättrar förväntan på klimatrelaterade risker och möjligheter och ökar förståelsen för sammankopplingar och beroenden mellan risker och möjligheter. Viktigast av allt är att scenarioanalys stöder organisationer med beslutsfattande och strategisk planering genom att undersöka hur risker och möjligheter utvecklas i flera scenarier och tidshorisonter. Resultaten indikerar också att batteritillverkningsindustrin kan möta flera risker och möjligheter i varje steg i värdekedjan, vilket ökar behovet av strategisk planering. Vidare presenterar detta examensarbete en steg-för-steg-implementeringsvägledning som underlättar scenarioanalysprocessen i linje med TCFD-rekommendationer.

Changes in the environment are a major area of concern to any firm in its strategic decision making process (SDMP). SDMP is considered to be an important component in the success of firms in the strategic management literature. This includes small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the electronic, telecom and information technology (IT) sector which are subjected to frequent and extremely dynamic environments both internally and externally, unlike many other industries. A lack of prior studies supporting an understanding of the SDMP in SMEs is evident, and coupled with the extremely volatile environmental conditions that compound the problem, makes SMES dealing in electronic, telecom and IT products and services highly vulnerable to closure. An immediate investigation into the SDMP in SMEs is needed and long overdue. This research seeks to address this gap in the knowledge. In order to address the gap this research used synoptic formalism and incrementalism to develop an understanding on how SMEs in the electronic, telecom and IT sector make decisions and what is the nature of these decisions. A Strategic Decision Making Process (SDMP) model was developed based on prior research. Decision magnitude of impact acted as the input to the SDMP, rationality and intuition acted as the process component, and decision process output as the output component. Thus these three concepts acted as the three components of a process (input-process-output) configuration. The model facilitated the development of an understanding of the functioning of decision magnitude of impact as a decision characteristic factor, its relationship to SDMP and process dimensions (rationality in decision making and intuition) as an antecedent (and hence as a predictor) of decision output variables (decision process effectiveness), quality of the decision process output through the mediation of decision dimensions. In line with the need to understand the SDMP in SMEs data were collected from managers of a large number of SMEs belonging to electronic, telecom and IT sector. The territory chosen was the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates) as this region provides a rich source of such SMEs and the environment is highly dynamic. A self-administered questionnaire was developed by adapting previously validated questionnaire scales. Pre-testing and pilot surveys were used to ensure that the contents, format and scales were appropriate. A range of decision makers in those SMEs were targeted. 464 valid questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of over 50%. The data was coded and analysed using SPSS/AMOS, two widely used statistical software tools. The data analysis steps included reliability and validity testing (Cronbach’s alpha and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, respectively). The entire model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Using SEM it was possible to identify the model, test the parsimonious nature of the model, determine whether the identified model makes theoretical sense and examine the fitness of the model to the data. The predictability of decision process output by decision magnitude of impact was analysed using path analysis as part of the SEM. The research outcome showed that in the electronic, telecommunication and information technology sector, where the environment is dynamic, decision magnitude as an important independent variable influences rationality in decision making directly and decision effectiveness, quality of decision process output and firm commitment indirectly. Rationality in decision making was found act as an important medicating variable in the strategic decision making process. In the same vein it was found that intuition is not affected by decision magnitude of impact. Further, dynamism in the industry and firm performance were also seen to influence decision effectiveness, quality of decision process output and firm commitment although the influence of dynamism in the industry on firm commitment was found to be very low. Thus the main contribution of this research is the development of an understanding of the relationship between decision magnitude of impact as input to the SDMP and hence as predictor of decision process output and the SDMP process output. Furthermore, the research has advanced current knowledge on the influence of rationality in decision making and intuition as mediators between decision magnitude of impact and decision process output variables. These two aspects have been tested in an SME sector that is affected seriously by dynamism in the industry and with varying firm performance as a contextual feature. The comprehensive research outcome can be of benefit to the SMEs in the electronic, telecom and IT sector and support them in overcoming potential vulnerabilities by making strategic decisions whose magnitude of impact on the firms is high and a decision process that is rational. In addition from the point of view of methodology this research has used SEM in understanding the nature and functioning of the model as well as the operationalisation of the variables. The outcome of this research is expected to benefit the SMEs in the electronic, telecom and IT sector in their SDMP and has opened up a new area of research for other researchers and academics.

The thesis shows how different aspects of sustainable development have been handled or not handled in the third generation infrastructure development in Sweden. The difference between the design of the 3G development – emphazising competition, growth and regional access, based on a strong technological optimism - and the implementation, as the roll out struck the landscape, including the non-handled radiation issue and the legal changes in order to facilitate the roll out, is discussed and analyzed. The roll out formally started in late 2000 as the licence allocation process, the so called beauty contest, was finished. Four operators were to build partly competing systems within three years, each covering 8 860 000 persons, more than 99,98 percent of the populated areas. The Post and Telecommunications Agency can sanction operators not fulfilling licence conditions by a considerable fine. The coverage by the end of the period was between 66 and 74 percent of the promised 8 860 000, with only three remaining operators still participating. Not until 1 December 2006 did the first operator report the required coverage, followed by the two remaining operators by 1 June 2007. The municipal permit handling was blamed for the delay, a reason that “could not have been foreseen”, which helped the operators avoid sanctions from the PTA. The thesis shows that a slow municipal permit process can not explain the lack of coverage in some areas of Sweden. Environmental aspects were not handled at national level but assessed locally in the building permit handling, as well as the regional 12:6 consultations at the County Administrations. This is why the municipal permit process holds many of the keys regarding environmental management and planning. Therefore the permit processes regarding 3G masts has been charted as they developed in time and screened for main issues and conflicts. Public participation can be found in the local context tied to the legal concept of being a concerned party in the permit process, or the 12:6 consultation. In spite of this, the much debated radiation issue is lifted from the participative aspects and legally defined as not relevant. The theoretical basis of the analysis combines spatial planning and sociology of law, applying the sociological concept of norms as entities controlling action on the discussion of two different paradigms of governance derived from planning theory. The thesis project has been a part of a study within the MiSt programme, an interdisciplinary research programme on tools for environmental assessment in strategic decision making funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Supervisors: professor Lars Emmelin, School of Planning, Blekinge Institute of Technology Karsten Åström, professor in sociology of law, Lund University / MiSt Report 4

Dans ce temps de crise, nombreuses sont les préoccupations qui réclament une moralisation du management. La revendication d’une référence valeurs s’est répandue dans les entreprises afin de servir de catalyseur aux comportements managériaux. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’analyser les valeurs énoncées par les deux types de banques islamiques et classiques, dans une dynamique stratégique afin de déterminer le rôle que peuvent jouer les valeurs dans le processus de prise de décisions stratégiques. D’abord, nous avons recensé les valeurs mises en avant par chaque banque. Ensuite, nous avons tenté de comprendre la perception et l’appropriation de ces valeurs dans leur pratique de management, notamment les projets stratégiques. Enfin, un audit de conformité aux valeurs s’est avéré intéressant pour mesurer les écarts par rapport à l’incarnation des valeurs.Sur le plan méthodologique, cette recherche s’inscrit tout d’abord dans une étude exploratoire dont les résultats vont servir à construire un nouveau cadre théorique d’analyse, ensuite nous avons procédé à une analyse intra-cas pour étudier en profondeur la problématique dans les cas retenus et pour terminer, une analyse inter-cas a eu lieu en vue d’effectuer l’étude comparative qualitative. / In a period of economic crisis, there are more and more concerns about moralizing management methods. Claims of values as a background of managerial behavior are becoming common in business. This thesis has as objective to analyze and compare, in a strategic and dynamical way, the set of values of both conventional and Islamic banks. The aim is to determine the potential role of values in the process of strategic decisions making. First, we identified the set of values displayed by each bank. Then we searched to understand the appropriation of these values in managerial practices especially in strategic projects. Finally, an audit was proposed in order to measure deviations from the displayed values. This research is an exploratory study. Indeed, research results were first used to build a new theoretical framework which served, in a second step, to analyze in depth the selected case studies. Finally, the same framework was again used in order comparative qualitatively these case studies.