Abstract The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate a design to profit procedure and its implementation in industrial case environment. The procedure is demonstrated as a way to improve profits in a global company. The essential elements of the procedure are product business case calculations and profit consciousness of employees. This study utilizes a combination of product life cycle analysis, advanced costing methods and multidimensional data processing for the product business case calculations. The combination is necessary for solving the research task. The need of proactive design is emphasized in the telecommunications industry due to shorter and shorter product life cycles. However, traditional accounting methods do not support proactive design work sufficiently during the life cycle of the products. The design to profit procedure has been created to help business managers to solve following problems: 1. How to proactively ensure the growth of business profits in the future? 2. How to prevent suboptimal decisions from being made in functional units and to promote overall profitability? 3. How to judge the profitability of new product programs within a company? 4. How can we ensure an adequate level of cost consciousness and profitability-driven targets for the company's key employees? This study presents and discusses the construction of the procedure and describes its elements, implementation and use in practice. The argumentation is illustrated by case studies. This method has benefits, especially when the product life cycles are short and the market competition strong. The design to profit procedure is a proactive mind set or thinking pattern. This system makes the employees aware of the importance target profitability and especially target costing. There is no decision support system that could guarantee the profitability of business. Cautious utilization of the system results and common sense are required to achieve continuous growth of business profits.

M. Tech. (Engineering Department Applied Electronics and Electronic Communication, Faculty of Engineering) Vaal University of Technology / This study presents the design of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack that can be used to replace conventional sources of electrical energy in an uninterruptible power supply system, specifically for use in the telecommunications industry. One of the major concerns regarding the widespread commercialization of fuel cells is the high cost associated with fuel cell components and their manufacturing. A fuel cell design is presented in which existing, low-cost, technologies are used in the manufacture of cell components. For example, printed circuit boards are used in the manufacturing of bipolar flow plates to significantly reduce the cost of fuel cells. The first objective was to design, construct and test a single fuel cell and small fuel cell stack in order to evaluate the use of printed circuit boards in bipolar plate manufacturing. Since the use of copper in a fuel cell environment was found to reduce the lifetime of the cells, the bipolar plates were coated with a protective layer of nickel and chrome. These coatings proved to increase the lifetime of the cells significantly. Power outputs of more than 4 W per cell were achieved. The second objective was to analyze a small fuel cell stack in order to obtain a model for predicting the performance of larger stacks. A mathematical model was developed which was then used to design an electronic circuit equivalent of a fuel cell stack. Both models were adapted to predict the performance of a fuel cell stack containing any number of cells. The models were proven to be able to accurately predict the performance of a fuel cell stack by comparing simulated results with practical performance data. Finally, the circuit equivalent of a fuel cell stack was used to evaluate the capability of a switch mode boost converter to maintain a constant voltage when driven by a fuel cell stack, even under varying load conditions. Simulation results showed the ability of the boost converter to maintain a constant output voltage. The use of supercapacitors as a replacement for batteries as a secondary energy source was also evaluated.

自十九世紀末以來，購併已成為企業成長與改變競爭環境的重要推手。在面臨國際化的趨勢與全球化的競爭思維下，透過購併其他企業的方式，巳成為規劃經營策略的一種競爭模式。面臨新經濟的時代，電信產業的競爭方式丕變，因為市場的解除管制與科技的進步，更造成近年來電信產業的快速變革與蓬勃發展，相關購併的案例更是在全球蔓延，其規模與成交金額更是履創新價。 　目前國內電信產業的結構，已因全球化、自由化的衝擊而有所重大變革，整體的經營環境與競爭程度，已自動被迫升級與國際一流的企業相互競爭；另因國際間的購併動作不斷，顯現企業在競爭激烈的環境中，為確保其競爭優勢而不斷擴張企業版圖的決心，導致現階段的購併涉及諸多策略性的考量，呈現出「大者恆大」的現象。電信產業在必須創造規模經濟的前提下，專家更是建議電信業者藉由購併的方式以擴充營運規模，尤其是以電信大廠為首的新競爭局勢，購併勢將成為公司資源分配的有效方法之一。 　因此本研究採用歸納法，綜合文獻探討、個案分析與專家訪談等方式，完成電信產業之發展趨勢與效益分析，並比較國內外電信購併之個案，整理主併與被併公司的動機與背景因素，希求透過相關案例的分析，汲取其購併策略之規劃與經驗。 最後，本研究提出以平衡計分卡結合五個構面的動態價值因子，作為評估企業競爭力分析的基礎；並依據Michael Porter、Milford B. Green與Arthur Andersen所提出的"”Competitive Strategy”、”The Merger Framework”與”eMerger & Acquisition”為基本架構，嘗試建立適用於電信產業規劃購併策略之參考模型，將企業放進「電信產業環境」中考慮，以協助業者在制定經營策略、提昇產業競爭力與規劃價值導向管理系統之參考，因為無論企業採取何種購併的方式，皆須具有經營策略及購併準則，唯有認清自身與環境的互動關係，方能有效且正確地因應未來的發展與衝擊。 / Since the late 1800s, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become a driving force in both corporate growth and changing competitive environments. As the trend of internationalization and globalization, to merge other company becomes a competitive mode of planning business strategy. Facing the era of new economy, the competition of telecommunications industry is changing abruptly owing to the market deregulation and technology progress, and the phenomenon of mergers and acquisitions on telecommunications industry have increased with time. As mergers and acquisitions of an existing company typically speed up the entry process as well as the easiest way to diversify. It also takes a potential competitor out of the market. Due to the telecommunications liberalization in the past years, the structure of telecommunications industry has been modified. It forced many companies have to compete with other big companies worldwide. In order to survive in this intensive market and ensure the competitive advantage, the effect of "big is beautiful” involved strategic making in a lot of company. Even someone suggests that it is not the only good solution to expand the scale of business by merging other company but maybe an effective way to relocate resources efficiently. 　This research mainly uses three different methods, which are literature analysis, cases study and interview with experts to figure out the development trend and beneficial analysis of telecommunications industry after liberalization in Taiwan. We would like find out the motivation and background both acquiring company and target company by finding the planning story in merging a target company through the analysis of cases study. 　Finally, the research provides the basic structure combined the Balanced Scored Card with five-dimensional value system for the purpose of evaluating the corporate competition. Especially, the research develops a reference model of how to plan the mergers and acquisitions strategy in telecommunications industry modified to “the competitive strategy” for Michael Porter, “the merger framework” for Milford B. Green and “eMerger & Acquisition” for Arthur Andersen. In addition, this research imitates Porter’s points of the issue of “putting the company into the industrial environment” to consider. It will be useful for proprietors to organize the business strategy and to work out the value management system. As we know, only does the company understand the interactive relationship with circumstance. It can be effective and correct to cope with the development and impact on the market in the future.

The purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and innovation. This research responds to calls in the literature on HRM and innovation to consider a wider number of HRM practices that have previously been neglected and are likely to produce a positive impact on innovation awareness and commitment (Shipton et al., 2006; Zhao et al., 2012). Therefore, the research is concerned with a wide number of HRM practices and their impact on innovation awareness and commitment. The underpinning rationale is that while previous studies have revealed that HRM practices can be significant for innovation, these studies are not inclusive, and the research is still scant and in its early stages as there has been a lack of consideration of a comprehensive range of HRM practices (Shipton et al., 2006). In simple terms, previous studies have looked at the relationship between HRM practices and innovation based on a limited number of practices and at the macro or inter-organisational level. Therefore, the fundamental contribution of this thesis is the shift in perspective. While previous research has looked at a limited number of HRM practices that largely appear to be borrowed from high-performance work systems (HPWs), this thesis considers a wider range of practices that can impact on innovation at the intra-organisational level – more specifically, to study employees’ perceptions of HRM practices that may promote innovation awareness and commitment. Innovation awareness and commitment refers to the extent to which the organisation is engaged in innovation. Degree of innovativeness and the open innovation approach are studied in this research, to determine whether HRM practices can impact on radical or incremental open innovation. Additionally, departmental differences are considered in this thesis: that is whether employees in different departments have different perceptions of the extent to which HRM practices promote innovation’. To this end, the data set was obtained from two research phases. A quantitative survey was distributed to 280 employees in a Jordanian telecommunications company. Findings from the first phase of the research indicated a number of new HRM practices that were not recognised by previous studies. This research found a positive impact of HRM practices in promoting innovation, as perceived by employees. HPWs, HRM hygiene factors, motivation and communication were perceived by employees to promote innovation in their organisation. The results show that the relationship between HRM practices and innovation is perceived by employees to promote the origins of innovation, specifically open innovation and radical innovation. No support was found for expectations and sharing information to promote innovation. Phase two of the research consisted of semi-structured interviews conducted with senior managers and employees in the same company that participated in phase one. In phase two of the research, the interviews provided better insights and explanations of the results and findings from the survey questionnaire. The results from phase two confirmed the findings from the statistical analysis, and a distinctive finding was the differences between managers’ and employees’ perceptions of HRM practices. Employees identified or perceived practices that are related to their performance and that enable them to develop their levels of motivation and commitment. Managers identified practices that work in the favour of the organisation, with less focus on employee needs. This was clear when comparing which practices and indications were mentioned by managers and employees. It is worth mentioning here that, given the relatively close conceptualisation in the literature that innovation is a form of organisational performance, this thesis does not intend to rebrand ‘performance’ as ‘innovation’ per se. This is especially in this research as it seeks to understand the relationship between HRM practices and innovation by looking at employees’ perceptions of HRM practices that may promote innovation and cause their company to be perceived as an innovative workplace. This research is probably the first attempt to study the role of a comprehensive list of HRM practices in influencing innovation by considering employees’ perceptions of HRM practices that may promote innovation. Moreover, the intra-organisational level was considered, along with departments, degree of innovativeness (radical-incremental innovation) and types of innovation approach (open vs closed).

Innovation measurement is one of the most essential aspects in building innovation capability as it allows organisations to capture their current innovation capabilities and understand where they need to direct their efforts to improve. Further, measuring the innovation capability enables a data driven and insightful steering management. To succeed, incumbent organisations need to understand the KSF for innovation capability and internalise them.The purpose of this study is to investigate how incumbent telecom firms can use innovation measurement to improve their innovation capability. This was done through identifying KSF for innovation capability, reviewing existing innovation measurement frameworks and then, compare and analyse the findings to empirical data - from a case study at a major telecom operator.This paper is of an interdisciplinary nature and combines the theories of innovation capability, service innovation and innovation measurement. The methods used are qualitative, including a literature review, a focus group and 19 semi-structured interviews. The thesis resulted in six KSF for innovation capability in incumbent telecom firms, which was applied in an innovation measurement framework. The main challenges associated with these KSF are also identified and concrete proposals, for improving the innovation capability through using innovation measurement, are presented. Major contributions are of both theoretical and empirical character.The thesis contributes to the research field of how innovation capability can be measured and improved, through using multidimensional metrics, in incumbent firms working with high-tech service innovation. It also provides valuable empirical data around how innovation measurement can be interpreted and used, to improve innovation capability in an industrial context. / Innovationsmätning anses vara en av de viktigaste aspekterna för att bygga en stark innovationsförmåga eftersom det ger en förståelse för den nuvarande innovationsförmågan och för hur organisationer kan prioritera resurser och aktiviteter för att förbättra innovationsförmågan. För att lyckas behöver dessa företag förstå vilka som är de avgörande faktorerna för innovationsförmåga och sedan internalisera dessa.Syftet med studien är att förstå hur stora, etablerade telekombolag kan använda innovationsmätning för att förbättra sin innovationsförmåga. Detta har gjorts genom att först identifiera de avgörande faktorerna för innovationsförmåga, granska existerande ramverk för att mäta innovation. Sedan har detta jämförts med undersökningsresultatet från den genomförda fallstudien på ett ledande, svenskt telekombolag. Studien är av interdisciplinär natur och kombinerar teorier inom innovationsförmåga, tjänsteinnovation och innovationsmätning.Studien resulterade i sex avgörande faktorer för utveckling av innovationsförmåga i stora, etablerade företag inom telekomsektorn. Dessa tillämpas sedan i ett ramverk för innovationsmätning. De huvudsakliga utmaningarna kopplade till dessa faktorer har också identifierats och konkreta förslag för att förbättra innovationsförmågan genom tillämpning av innovationsmätning presenteras.Bidragen från denna studie är av både teoretisk och empirisk karaktär. Studien bidrar till forskningen kring hur innovationsförmåga hos traditionella företag som arbetar med högteknologiska tjänster kan utvärderas och förbättras genom att använda flerdimensionella mätvärden. Den bidrar även med viktiga empiriska data kring hur innovationsmätning kan förstås och användas för att förbättra innovationsförmåga i en industriell kontext.

Omvandlingar, såsom den digitala revolutionen, IT-utvecklingen och internationell integration i form av t ex EU har utmanat såväl företagande som politik och satt etablerade teorier och modeller om företagande och politik på prov. En longitudinell studie av Televerkets/Telias strategiska utveckling, med speciell inriktning på Televerkets/Telias interorganisatoriska strategier, telepolitikens framväxt samt den allmänna politikens utveckling sedan 1960-talet visar att: Företagande och politik är beroende av varandra även när de strävar mot oberoende. Det finns skillnader mellan hur statligt ägda företag och privatägda företag hanterar förhållandet mellan företagande och politik. Studien identifierar strategiska och politiska faser och analyser hur dessa påverkar förutsättningarna för strategiskt handlande. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

Both practice and theory present good reason to believe that collaborative interorganizational relationships have become particularly important for innovation and new product development in industries characterized by rapid technological change and dynamic competition. Even though collaboration across organizational boundaries represents an important change in the way companies innovate and develop new products (services and processes), it appears as if the process and practical steps of such arrangements are scantly explored.   The thesis Dating for Innovation addresses this gap by empirically studying a focal company’s attempts to bring new opportunities into the world through collaborative interorganizational relationships under conditions marked by fluid change. A diverse set of research methods ranging from an insider action research approach to more conventional case study methods were applied to shed light on contingencies that may play a role in influencing the process and practical steps.   The result suggests an explorative logic and process, where the partners make use of interorganizational relationships as a means to explore the knowledge necessary for creating, recognizing, and, eventually, developing future opportunities. Not only interest and continued motivation, but also calculated costs and perceived risks, were thus outcomes of the collaboration rather than prescribed beforehand. Furthermore, the empirical findings suggest that corporate entrepreneurs at lower levels in the organization have a more significant influence than previously assumed. From a general point of view, these results imply that parts of the process can be facilitated, but not all initiatives or activities can be directed. Managers are thus challenged to reflect on how to productively deal with interorganizational innovation activities without adapting a classical linear and/or hierarchical monitoring of interorganizational innovation initiatives. / Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2004 [10], iii, [1], 107 s.: sammanfattning, s. 108-265, [6] s.: 5 uppsatser

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Univ., 2003. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

The telecommunications market in Brazil has been extremely competitive since the privatization of Telebrás in 1998, especially the mobile phone sector. Brazilians own approximately 250 million mobile phones in a country with an estimated population of 200 million people. In 2012, due to these circumstances, Brazil\'s telecommunications regulator (ANATEL) auctioned off the rights to use the 2,500 MHz radio frequency bands. This granted the top bidders the right to operate mobile services using the fourth generation of mobile phone communication technology standards (4G). The technology enables mobile broadband to access the Internet. Auction participants offered R$ 2,93 billion for the right to exploit this frequency band for 15 years. These companies also committed an estimated R$ 20 billion over 7 years to set up the 4G mobile networks throughout Brazil. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasiability of investments in 4G mobile technology in accordance with the Bid Nr. 004/2012/PVCP/SPV ANATEL ( 4G Auction ) by using traditional methods of investment appraisal and the real options, associated with the Monte Carlo simulation. Even though the discounted cash flow method is commonly adopted in the analysis of investments in real assets, this technique is limited due to the fact that it does not allow for the valuation of managerial flexibility present in many projects. This research evaluated the projects of the four companies - Claro, Vivo, TIM and Oi - that won the right to operate the service throughout the national territory. The evaluation process was based on the four-step approach of CA (Copeland and Antikarov). The results indicate that when traditional metrics for evaluating investments were applied, nearly all these projects were unfeasible since they presented low probabilities of achieving a positive NPV (Net Present Value). Nevertheless, the adoption of the real options analysis indicated that positive results can be expected in 80% of the cases. This work was further complemented with an analysis of the risk and return, as well as a study of the effects of volatility on the option value. / O mercado de telecomunicações no Brasil tem se mostrado extremamente competitivo desde que ocorreram as privatizações do sistema Telebrás em 1998, sobretudo na telefonia móvel que em 2012 atingiu a marca de 250 milhões de celulares habilitados para uma população estimada em menos de 200 milhões de pessoas. Nesse cenário em 2012 a Anatel promoveu o leilão da faixa de frequência de 2.500 MHz concedendo o direito de exploração dos serviços de telefonia móvel usando tecnologia de quarta geração ou 4G, que possibilita acesso móvel em banda larga à Internet. Os participantes da licitação ofereceram R$ 2,93 bilhões pelo direito de explorar esta faixa de frequência durante 15 anos e estima-se que os investimentos para implantar as redes móveis 4G em todo o Brasil alcancem a cifra dos R$ 20 bilhões em 7 anos. O propósito deste estudo foi avaliar a viabilidade dos investimentos no projeto de telefonia móvel 4G no Brasil desenvolvido a partir do edital de licitação número 004/2012/PVCP/SPV da ANATEL. Para tanto foram usados os métodos tradicionais de avaliação de investimentos e a Teoria das Opções Reais em conjunto com as técnicas de simulação de Monte Carlo. Embora o método do fluxo de caixa descontado seja o mais usado na análise de investimentos em ativos reais, ele é limitado por não permitir a valoração das flexibilidades gerenciais presente na maioria dos projetos. Para alcançar esse objetivo essa pesquisa se propôs a avaliar os projetos das quatro empresas que adquiriram o direito de explorar o serviço em todo o território nacional, ou seja, Claro, Vivo, TIM e Oi. O processo de avaliação foi baseado no método CA (Copeland e Antikarov) de quatro passos. Os resultados mostraram que na avaliação usando os métodos tradicionais praticamente todos os projetos foram inviáveis ao apresentarem baixas probabilidades de atingirem VPL (Valor Presente Líquido) positivo, enquanto a análise por opções reais elevou a avaliação dos mesmos para patamares acima de 80% de se obterem resultados positivos. O trabalho ainda foi complementado com uma análise do risco e retorno do projeto, bem como um estudo dos efeitos da volatilidade sobre o valor das opções. / Mestre em Administração

無 / Purpose – The fast growth and global success of China’s ICT industry suggests the presence of national competitive advantages. The purpose of this study is to examine these competitive advantages and draw conclusions about their influence on company performance using the case of Huawei. Design/methodology/approach – Using the Porter Diamond Theory of National Advantage the study analyses the development of China’s telecommunication equipment industry and existing competitive advantages. Using the case of Huawei, the author explores the impact of Porter’s determinants on the company’s growth and global success. Findings – The study finds that China’s telecom equipment industry leveraged basic factors such as a large pool of low-cost labor while gradually developing more sustainable advantages. The Chinese government played a major role in driving initial demand for telecom equipment and facilitating the development of China’s ICT sector by opening its market to foreign investment and promoting innovation. Although the national competitive advantages elaborated in this study certainly helped the industry to excel, Huawei’s global success is also tied to its early decision to focus on R&D instead of relying on foreign technology. The additional support Huawei received from Beijing, particularly after being selected as a national champion, helped it in numerous ways but might hinder Huawei’s growth due to an increased negative image, particularly in the United States. Research implications – This research adds to the body of literature on the creation of national competitive advantages and their influence on the development and success of domestic industries.