The environment and rapid technological changes have led to a change in business management. In the current context, absorptive capacity, understood as the ability to acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit external knowledge is crucial to innovation capacity, and to the development and sustainability of competitive advantage. This research analyzes how management of technological assets; top management support on technology; technological skills; and technological distinctive competencies are positively related to absorptive capacity; and how they affect organizational performance. / El entorno y los rápidos cambios tecnológicos han provocado un cambio en la gestión empresarial. En el contexto actual, la capacidad de absorción, entendida como la habilidad para adquirir, asimilar, transformar y explotar el conocimientoexterno es crucial para la capacidad de innovación, y el desarrollo y sustento de ventajas competitivas. Esta investigación analiza cómo la gestión de las variables tecnológicas, el apoyo de la dirección a la tecnología, habilidades tecnológicas y competencias distintivas tecnológicas se relacionan positivamente con la capacidad de absorción, y cómo estas influyen en el desempeño organizativo. / O atual ambiente e as rápidas mudanças tecnológicas levaram a uma mudança na gestão empresarial. No presente contexto, a capacidade de absorção, entendida como a capacidade de adquirir, assimilar, transformar e explorar o conhecimento externo é crucial para a capacidade de inovação e o desenvolvimento e sustentação da vantagem competitiva. Esta pesquisa analisa a forma como a gestão das variáveis tecnológicas, o apoio da alta administração na tecnologia, os conhecimentos tecnológicos e as competências distintivas tecnológicas estão positivamente relacionadas com a capacidade de absorção, e como elas influenciam o desempenho organizacional.

Inteligência Competitiva (IC) é um tópico emergente e estratégico para nações e organizações, e na medida em que desenvolve-se no plano teórico, surge a necessidade de estabelecer interfaces com outras áreas do conhecimento. Neste caso, observou-se uma lacuna de estudos empíricos que buscassem relacionar a IC com o Envolvimento da Alta Direção, fator essencial para o desenvolvimento de atividades deste nível dentro de uma organização. Mais que o suporte inicial de recursos e legitimidade, o Envolvimento da Alta Direção pressupõe o comprometimento e a participação continua da Alta Direção da empresa em programas desta ordem, postura que pode ser de significativa diferença para o seu sucesso ou fracasso. Portanto, esta pesquisa objetivou analisar a relação entre o Envolvimento da Alta direção e as dimensões de Contexto e de Processo de Inteligência Competitiva em empresas de médio e de grande porte da Serra Gaúcha. Também se propôs a desenhar um panorama do nível de desenvolvimento de IC na região, limitado às organizações destes portes, e a explorar a existência de relações entre Envolvimento da Alta Direção, Inteligência Competitiva e Desempenho destas organizações. Neste sentido, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa de caráter quantitativo descritivo, com base em survey aplicada em amostra de 168 organizações representativas do recorte deste estudo, utilizando-se escalas já operacionalizadas em estudos de IC internacionais, as quais têm como base o modelo composto das dimensões de processo e de contexto em IC. Os resultados indicaram que há relação positiva entre Envolvimento da Alta Direção e o nível de desenvolvimento em inteligência competitiva nas empresas de médio e de grande porte da Serra Gaúcha sendo identificadas as organizações numa matriz proposta nestas dimensões , e também foi observada uma associação positiva entre IC, Desempenho, Envolvimento da Alta Direção e a Integração das atividades de IC com o processo decisório destas empresas. Em termos de panorama do setor, observou-se que a maioria destas empresas desenvolve algum tipo de monitoramento (coleta de informação) de temas ainda que não denomine esta atividade de inteligência , sendo os focos principais em Vendas, Concorrentes e Produtos, indicando um caráter mais concorrencial, o que sinalizaria um princípio de desenvolvimento desta área nestas empresas da região. / Competitive Intelligence (CI) is an emergent topic with strategic importance for nations and enterprises, and with your continuum theoretical development, arise the necessity to establish links with another knowledge fields. It has been identified a gap of empirical studies that seek to relate CI with Top Management Involvement, an essential factor for the development of this activity within the organization. More than initial support of resources and legitimacy, Top Management Involvement presupposes the commitment and continuous participation of the Top Management in programs of this nature, a behavior that can be of significant influence for its success or failure. So, this research aimed to analyze the relationship between Top Management Involvement and the Context and Process dimensions of Competitive Intelligence Model in medium and large companies of Serra Gaúcha Brazil. Also, it has been proposed to learn about the level of CI development level in the region, limited to organizations of this size, and to explore the relations between Top Management Involvement, Competitive Intelligence and Performance at this organizations. Thus, a descriptive and quantitative research was carried out, based on a survey sample of 160 organizations, measured by scales proposed by another international studies and based on the theoretical model of context and process of IC. Results indicated that there is positive relationship between Top Management Involvement and the IC Development Level at the medium and large companies at Serra Gaúcha, and three out of four scenarios proposed can be perceived. Also there is a positive association between IC, Organizational Performance, Top Management Involvement and IC integration with the decision making process of these organizations. In general, it was observed that most of these companies developed some kind of monitoring (information collecting), even though they do not nominate this activity as "Intelligence". The main focus of monitoring are Sales, Competitors and Innovation in Products, which indicates a beginning of this field development in the companies of this region.d

This master thesis deals with problems of changes in the management of human resources connected to an expansion of a company. It focuses on small and middle-sized companies. The first part describes theoretical principles of company growth, change management and specifics of small and middle-sized companies, including differences in human resources management. The second part describes some practical examples in the field of company growth and related changes. Different attitudes and ways applied to implement changes while solving growth problems are shown on the sample of two selected companies Each of the two companies finally developed in an opposite way, depending on how they had implemented changes. The first company continues its development as a middle-sized company and the latter bankrupted. Analysis of reasons of the success or failure while managing the growth is a part of this master thesis.

The issue of gender equality is a constant topic where Sweden is known as one of the most equal countries in the world. Nevertheless, the gender distribution in the top management teams (TMT) of the Swedish listed firms is generally skewed. There are no clear differences in ability between the two genders that reflect this fact. The skewed gender distribution might be a problem since TMT have an impact on firm financial performance. The study investigated the relationship between the proportion of women in the TMT and firm financial performance. In addition, the gender distribution in the TMT and the firm financial performance were examined. As a complement to the study's main research issues, we studied the risk level of firms since it is associated with financial performance. The purpose was to examine if there are any financial incentives with an increased proportion of women in top management. The theoretical perspectives on which the study was based were ‘Agency Theory’, ‘Upper Echelon Theory’ and ‘Resource Dependency Theory’. The relationships were explored quantitatively using multiple regression analysis. The regressions manifested contradictory results where the significant results showed a negative relationship between the proportion of women and ROE. The results also showed that gender diverse TMT had the lowest financial performance in terms of ROE whilst they had the highest performance when tested against Tobin's Q. Furthermore, a significant negative relationship between the proportion of female managers and the firm beta value was identified. Lastly, it was concluded that the proportion of women in TMT, as well as gender diverse TMT, do not have a unanimous relationship with firm financial performance. However, the proportion of women in TMT have a significant negative relationship with the companies' risk level. / Jämställdhetsfrågan är ett ständigt aktuellt ämne där Sverige klassificeras som ett av de mest jämställda länderna i världen. Ändock är könsfördelningen i de svenska börsbolagens ledningsgrupper generellt sett skev. Det råder inga tydliga skillnader i förmågan mellan de båda könen som speglar detta faktum. Den skeva könsfördelningen kan vara ett problem då ledningsgrupper har en påverkan på företagens finansiella prestationer. Studien undersökte dels vilka samband som finns mellan andelen kvinnor i ledningsgrupperna och företagens finansiella prestationer samt sambandet mellan könsfördelningen i ledningsgrupperna och de finansiella prestationerna. Som komplement till studiens huvudsakliga forskningsfrågor studerades företagens risknivå som förknippas med finansiella prestationer. Syftet var att undersöka om det finns ekonomiska incitament med en ökad andel kvinnor i de svenska börsbolagens ledningsgrupper. De teoretiska perspektiv som låg till grund för studien var ‘Agency Theory’, ‘Upper Echelon Theory’ samt ‘Resource Dependency Theory’. Sambanden utforskades kvantitativt med hjälp av regressionsanalyser. Regressionsanalyserna visade på motstridiga resultat där de signifikanta resultaten påvisade negativa samband mellan andelen kvinnor och ROE. Resultaten visade även att jämställda ledningsgrupper presterade sämst när finansiell prestation definierades som ROE. Däremot presterade jämställda ledningsgrupper bäst när de testades mot Tobin’s Q. Vidare identifierades ett signifikant negativt samband mellan andelen kvinnliga chefer och företagens betavärde. Från resultaten drogs slutsatserna att andelen kvinnor i ledningsgrupperna samt jämställda ledningsgrupper inte har ett enhälligt signifikant samband med företagens finansiella prestationer. Däremot har andelen kvinnor i ledningen ett negativt samband med företagens risknivå.

The implementation of information systems creates risks foractivities, which means that it is a key element in the survivalof corporations. There are many studies on the very subjectof the implementation of information systems, which dealwith the same concepts such as the top management, visionsand objectives, team, communication, training and changemanagement. However, the problem that arises on thesubject is that a large number of these implementations arestill failing, either because the timetable is not met or becausethe financial expectations are exceeded. There is therefore aneed to examine whether the results of studies and the wayin which activities deal with implementation of informationsystems are consistent. The purpose of the study is thereforeto examine whether there is a convergence of existing studiesand the perspective of top management. The researchquestion is used to answer the purpose: What successfactorsdoes the top management perceive exist for animplementation, and how does it differ from previousresearch?To perform the investigation, six semi-structured interviewshave been conducted with people in the top managementwho are performing implementations in a qualitativecross-sectional study. The persons have been chosen by aselective method and they are working in different placesaround Sweden. All persons have a long experience inimplementation of information systems. 6 categories wereidentified from the theoretical framework of the study, andthey were used to carry out a deductive and inductivethematic analysis of collected data.The study presented a few anomalies that exist when itcomes to the knowledge of the information on the subjectand the previous research that exists on the subject. Thedifferences of previous research and the perception ofinformation related to the field of communication were thefield of communication. The information on means ofcommunication and communication plans is referred to agreat deal in the previous studies, while in the previousstudies it is widely communicated within the project, whereelements such as involvement, resistance and response areaddressed. A new finding was presented, a new underlyingfactor for every factor. In addition to the model a new factorwas added, agile. It showed that working agile wasbenefiting for the corporations. Rest of the factors werevalidated against the previous research and the importanceof having the rest of the factors in the development proved tobe important. / Vid implementering av informationssystem skapas risker förverksamheter, vilket betyder att genomförandet är enavgörande del för verksamhetens överlevnad. Det finnsmånga studier inom just ämnet implementering avinformationssystem, där några framgångsfaktorerförekommer oftare än andra, nämligen: ledning, visioner ochmål, team, kommunikation, utbildning ochförändringsledning. Problemet som dock uppstår inomämnet är att det fortfarande är en stor mängd avimplementeringar som misslyckas, antingen beroende på atttidsplaneringen inte uppfylls eller att budgetplaneröverskrids. Det finns behov av att undersöka om enöverensstämmelse av föregående studier och hurverksamheter behandlar implementeringar avinformationssystem. Syftet med studien handlar om attundersöka om det existerar en överensstämmelse hos debefintliga studierna och verksamhetsledningens perspektiv.För att sedan besvara syftet används forskningsfrågan: Vilkaframgångsfaktorer personer i verksamhetsledande rollerupplever som viktiga för implementationen avinformationssystem i sin verksamhet och vilka skillnadersamt likheter som finns hos tidigare forskning?För att undersöka området så har sex semistruktureradeintervjuer genomförts med personer i ledningen hosverksamheter som bedriver implementeringar avinformationssystem. Detta har sedan presenterats genom enkvalitativ tvärsnittsstudie. Personerna valdes ut genom enlämplig urvalsmetod och arbetar på olika platser runtom iSverige. Samtliga personer har lång erfarenhet inom ämnetimplementation. Sex kategorier togs fram utifrån studiensteoretiska ramverk, detta användes för att genomföra endeduktiv-induktiv tematisk analys av insamlad data.Studien presenterade ett fåtal avvikelser som existerar närdet kommer till informanternas vetskap kring ämnet och dentidigare forskningen som existerar inom ämnet. De olikhetersom tidigare forskning och informanternas uppfattningrelaterade till var kommunikationsområdet. Där benämnerinformanterna mycket kring kommunikationsmedel samtkommunikationsplaner medan inom tidigare studier går degenom kommunikationen allmänt inom projektet, där delarsom involvering, motstånd och bemötande behandlas. Samtatt ett nytt fynd presenterades, att varenda faktor har enunderliggande faktor. Dessutom så lades en ny faktor till:agilt tillvägagångssätt, då ett agilt tillvägagångssätt har visatsig främja arbetet. Resterande faktorer som presenteradesvaliderades mot den föregående forskningen, där vikten avatt faktorerna är med under en implementation är vital.

Studien omfattar 50 observationer av bolag inom First North och undersöker två hypoteser relaterade till demografisk mångfald inom ledningsgrupper och strategiska beslut. I studien förväntades demografisk mångfald ha en negativ påverkan på effektiva strategiska beslut och en positiv påverkan på strategiska beslut av kvalitet. Hypoteserna accepterades delvis och studien konstaterade att endast en del av de demografiska karaktärsdragen har en påverkan på strategiska beslut. / The study contains 50 observations of companies in First North and examine two hypothesises related to demographic diversity in top management teams and strategic decisions. The study expected demographic diversty as having a negative impact on effective strategic decisions and have a positive impact on quality of strategic decisions. The hypothesises showed partial support and found that only some of the demographic characteristics had an impact on strategic decisions.

The implementation of information systems creates risks for activities, which means that it is a key element in the survival of corporations. There are many studies on the very subject of the implementation of information systems, which deal with the same concepts such as the top management, visions and objectives, team, communication, training and change management. However, the problem that arises on the subject is that a large number of these implementations are still failing, either because the timetable is not met or because the financial expectations are exceeded. There is therefore a need to examine whether the results of studies and the way in which activities deal with implementation of information systems are consistent. The purpose of the study is therefore to examine whether there is a convergence of existing studies and the perspective of top management. The research question is used to answer the purpose: What successfactors does the top management perceive exist for an implementation, and how does it differ from previous research? To perform the investigation, six semi-structured interviews have been conducted with people in the top management who are performing implementations in a qualitative cross-sectional study. The persons have been chosen by a selective method and they are working in different places around Sweden. All persons have a long experience in implementation of information systems. 6 categories were identified from the theoretical framework of the study, and they were used to carry out a deductive and inductive thematic analysis of collected data. The study presented a few anomalies that exist when it comes to the knowledge of the information on the subject and the previous research that exists on the subject. The differences of previous research and the perception of information related to the field of communication were the field of communication. The information on means of communication and communication plans is referred to a great deal in the previous studies, while in the previous studies it is widely communicated within the project, where elements such as involvement, resistance and response are addressed. A new finding was presented, a new underlying factor for every factor. In addition to the model a new factor was added, agile. It showed that working agile was benefiting for the corporations. Rest of the factors were validated against the previous research and the importance of having the rest of the factors in the development proved to be important. / Vid implementering av informationssystem skapas risker för verksamheter, vilket betyder att genomförandet är en avgörande del för verksamhetens överlevnad. Det finns många studier inom just ämnet implementering av informationssystem, där några framgångsfaktorer förekommer oftare än andra, nämligen: ledning, visioner och mål, team, kommunikation, utbildning och förändringsledning. Problemet som dock uppstår inom ämnet är att det fortfarande är en stor mängd av implementeringar som misslyckas, antingen beroende på att tidsplaneringen inte uppfylls eller att budgetplaner överskrids. Det finns behov av att undersöka om en överensstämmelse av föregående studier och hur verksamheter behandlar implementeringar av informationssystem. Syftet med studien handlar om att undersöka om det existerar en överensstämmelse hos de befintliga studierna och verksamhetsledningens perspektiv. För att sedan besvara syftet används forskningsfrågan: Vilka framgångsfaktorer personer i verksamhetsledande roller upplever som viktiga för implementationen av informationssystem i sin verksamhet och vilka skillnader samt likheter som finns hos tidigare forskning? För att undersöka området så har sex semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med personer i ledningen hos verksamheter som bedriver implementeringar av informationssystem. Detta har sedan presenterats genom en kvalitativ tvärsnittsstudie. Personerna valdes ut genom en lämplig urvalsmetod och arbetar på olika platser runtom i Sverige. Samtliga personer har lång erfarenhet inom ämnet implementation. Sex kategorier togs fram utifrån studiens teoretiska ramverk, detta användes för att genomföra en deduktiv-induktiv tematisk analys av insamlad data. Studien presenterade ett fåtal avvikelser som existerar när det kommer till informanternas vetskap kring ämnet och den tidigare forskningen som existerar inom ämnet. De olikheter som tidigare forskning och informanternas uppfattning relaterade till var kommunikationsområdet. Där benämner informanterna mycket kring kommunikationsmedel samt kommunikationsplaner medan inom tidigare studier går de genom kommunikationen allmänt inom projektet, där delar som involvering, motstånd och bemötande behandlas. Samt att ett nytt fynd presenterades, att varenda faktor har en underliggande faktor. Dessutom så lades en ny faktor till: agilt tillvägagångssätt, då ett agilt tillvägagångssätt har visat sig främja arbetet. Resterande faktorer som presenterades validerades mot den föregående forskningen, där vikten av att faktorerna är med under en implementation är vital.

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With the rapid growth of industry 4.0 and the digital age, we can see that the use of digital tools, systems and solutions are becoming more standardized in all sectors. We are currently witnessing these tools becoming a much more integral part of future industry and therefore putting pressure on current organizations to adapt. Digital maturity is a phenomenon that has gained an abundance of exposure in recent years, and the importance of this phenomenon grows in relation to the growth of the digital environment. According to academia, questions about companies’ digital status have recently become topical. Digital maturity can act as a portal for possibilities and change. For example, exploiting opportunities, implementing technological processes and averting business risks that stem from advanced technologies. Academic research in this field mainly concentrates on the quantitative aspects and therefore we have engaged in a qualitative approach in order to fill the gap within this field of research. Moreover, we have identified that studies and contemporary assessment models do not consider the importance of management and aspect of change to the necessary extent. Academia mentions the importance of converting digital maturity assessments to company actions through a systematic engagement from managers. However, most studies in the field have focused on either giving overviews on different perspectives of assessments or answered questions regarding the success rate of digital transformations, we believe that management and change management are key components to digital maturity and transformational success. A qualitative approach is therefore suitable because of the exploratory nature of our interests. To gather data, we conducted interviews with participants chosen through a purposive sampling technique. The purposive sampling method was chosen to achieve a better and more qualitative result since the participants all had expertise within the field of digital development, digital maturity measurements and management. The interview questions were based on theories in our conceptual framework and served as a foundation for the interview guide. The intention was to see if our initial theories on digital maturity transformation would match the views of the participants. By using a thematic analysis method, we connected the participants answers to our identified framework themes, potentially altering our conceptual framework. The original components of our conceptual framework were: Importance of management and change management, which included theories of organizations, people, change kaleidoscope, the theory of constraints, PDSA-cycle and RACI-model. The result of the study showed that our predicted components of importance of management and change management were essential for the success of digital maturity. Our underlying theories also matched the participants views. However, new theories and components were added based on the empirical findings. These were: long term solutions and strategies, strong and motivating leadership, project triangle and communication plans. Our study indicates that management and change management can be success factors in the process of becoming more digitally mature.

This study sought to explore gender issues affecting management promotions in Malawi's health care services, utilising both qualitative and quantitative techniques in data collection and analysis. Promotion patterns were compared and contrasted for male and female managers. The study was based on the assumptions that • both men and women were aware of experiences that affected their promotion opportunities • promotion patterns showed fewer variations than did cultural, social and gender factors • male prejudices were maintained which oppressed women's promotions • increased decision-making power lowered stress about professional growth and development The findings supported the first two assumptions, but not the last two. The findings suggested that males and females encountered similar experiences concerning managerial promotions in Malawi's health care services. Factors that enhanced management successes for both males and females included management orientation and mentorship. Unclear promotion policies and procedures hindered management promotions. Information derived from this research could enable policy-makers to establish an environment that increases supportive networks and interactions between male and female managers in Malawi. Furthermore, to ensure equal opportunities in the health care services management, monitoring strategies by Malawi's Ministry of Gender, the Department of Human Resources Management and Development, and the Ministry of Health and Population need to be established and implemented. / Health Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)