Den tekniska utvecklingen går framåt och påverkar samhället i allt högre grad. Det finns samtidigt en oklarhet i hur verksamheter påverkas av den. Det framgår i studier att det behöver forskas mer kring hur den tekniska utvecklingen påverkar samhället. För att bidra till en ökad förståelse och kunskap inom området fokuserar den här studien på att granska ett område inom den tekniska utvecklingen och dess påverkan på värdenätverk inom en specifik bransch. Ett fenomen inom den tekniska utvecklingen som är på framfart är plattformsutvecklingen. Det är ett fenomen som förenklar och effektiviserar hur mjukvara hanteras och levereras samt beskrivs få konsekvenser för värdenätverk i branscherna som anammar det. Vilka konsekvenserna är, är dock oklart. Det beskrivs att en bransch som ser ut att anamma plattformsutvecklingen är affärssystembranschen. Dock är det även där oklart vad fenomenet kommer att innebära för branschen och dess värdenätverk. För att nå den ökade förståelsen och kunskapen som eftersträvades inleddes arbetet med att ta fram en litteraturstudie. Därefter gjordes en kvalitativ undersökning där empiriskt material samlades in genom att intervjua respondenter från konsultbolag och affärssystemleverantörer. Dessa två aktörer är de som traditionellt sett varit de som skapat värdena för slutkunderna i affärssystembranschen. Med hjälp av litteraturen och det empiriska materialet kunde studien sedan undersöka hur plattformsutvecklingen kan komma att påverka det traditionella värdenätverket i affärssystembranschen. Studiens resultat visar att plattformsutvecklingen påverkar affärssystembranschens värdenätverk och gör så på flera sätt. Om fenomenet anammas kan värdenätverket få fler roller, nya relationer mellan rollerna och förändrade och nya värden som utbyts mellan dem. Grunden till att plattformsutvecklingen påverkar värdenätverket på det här sättet är dess sätt att möjliggöra och främja nya sätt att samarbeta och skapa värden för slutkunderna.

Humanity confronts an existential threat without historic precedent. Environmental pressures have reached such intensity and pace of change that the earth system may be irreversibly tipped into a new and unpredictable state. The emerging global reality is, in turn, redefining overall conditions for business success. Addressing these challenges both demands and brings great opportunities for innovation. An important and sometimes neglected aspect of innovation is the design or redesign of business models, which has been identified as a greater source of lasting competitive advantage than new products and services per se. The business model has also been suggested as a new unit of analysis when discussing sustainability. However, this is still a relatively underexplored area. The aim of this work was therefore to develop an approach to business model design that supports strategic sustainable development, i.e., supports organizations to contribute to society’s transition towards sustainability in a way that strengthens the organization.       To be able to design a business model that supports strategic sustainable development, it is necessary to know what sustainability is and how to develop sustainability-promoting, economically viable strategies. Therefore, the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, which includes, e.g., an operational definition of sustainability and strategic guidelines for how to approach it, was used as an overarching framework. Specific research methods and techniques included, e.g., literature reviews, questionnaires, interviews, work with focus groups, participatory action research with partner organizations, creative problem solving techniques, modeling, and simulation.   The literature reviews revealed potential sustainability benefits of developing business models in conjunction with product-service systems (PSS). However, a knowledge gap exists regarding how to effectively connect these fields. Arguably, PSS strategies can best contribute to sustainability when business models support their implementation and when both the business models and the PSS strategies are guided by an understanding of strategic sustainable development. Therefore, an integrated approach to Business Model Design for Strategic Sustainable Development was co-developed and tested in PSS innovation work with partners, e.g., companies within the energy and lighting sectors. The tests indicated that the new approach helped to clarify strengths and weaknesses of current business models from a strategic sustainability perspective; to transform an organization’s vision and strategy into a sustainability-framed vision and a sustainability-promoting strategy; and to communicate the new vision and strategy to the value network as a basis for engaging important stakeholders in the change. For example, the approach supported one of the partner companies in its transformation towards providing sustainable PSS solutions in the form of light as a service. Examples of business benefits of the new approach include improved scalability and risk avoidance, which provide a foundation for better investment strategies. Benefits also include improved differentiability and a broadened view on, and a more solid foundation for, collaboration with stakeholders that are increasingly important to sustainable business success.

Abstract     BACKGROUND:  As being acknowledged relatively recently there is a scarcity of empirical studies regarding the phenomenon of high-growth companies. What effect high-growth has on sustainable business model innovation and the firm’s sustainable value network has not been researched widely yet if at all, and this study aims to provide an insight to these matter with reviewed literature and the case study.   RESEARCH QUESTION: How is high-growth related to sustainable business model innovation?   PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to describe, if high-growth affects the need for sustainable business model innovation and in addition how sustainable business model innovation affects to value network in Product-service systems. By bringing these aspects closer together in this dispersed research field of studies related to sustainable business model innovation and broaden the academic field and develop understanding among these concepts and their interrelations, and to provide some theoretical framework for the future research, and to provide some insights on the matters and maybe offer some general guidelines for managers who are working with these matters as part of their job.

<p>Mobile TV is an application which has not yet been much described in academic literature. But the media and telecommunications industries are busy with Mobile TV deployment, motivated by for example decrease in revenues from existing products. This study should be seen as an exploratory study in the academia, aiming at a context for the experiences from exploratory work in the industry.</p><p>The study of the status of the application Mobile TV focused on legislation, spectra, content and terminals. These areas are of great interest for the telecom and the media industries, and their interests were described with regards to Mobile TV. Large structures like local legislation, spectral resource management on EU level and charging for content becomes visible and are discussed. On a lower level, two differences between the industries were high-lighted. One is the way revenue is collected for content, and the other is information sharing about the Consumers preferences. Overcoming these differences would ease collaboration. Another business topic for the two industries is the relation between the SIM card (which manifest the subscription) and the charging for content.A value network model which satisfies the legal, technical and business requirements is presented. In particular, a new role as Content Site Provider is identified. Since the interviewees suggested a future hybrid solution, both Mobile TV via streaming and via broadcast are included in the model.It is concluded that the telecom industry had all the means and incentive to create Mobile TV. It is also concluded that the process of digitalization is an ongoing process which continues to have an impact on the two industries, in that different offerings can be bundled together. One possible scenario is an Internet-like evolution of the mobile Internet, the Consumers will learn to find the applications closer to the source. This would make a broadcast solution less likely. The higher cost for over-the-air transmission is one obstacle for this scenario, but it might vanish with next generation mobile networks.</p>

In order to strengthen the entity of the company, enlarge the size of the company and let the company become more competitive, a company should have, not only well-planed prospects and goals, but also solid operation strategies and implemented the strategies certainly. According to the present and future prospects of the company, the thesis makes a so-called ¡§double growth in five years¡¨ plan as a mid-term and long-term goal. The basic target is to double the turnover and capital values in five years. However, the essential meanings are as below. 1. to solve the current difficulties of the company 2. to increase the effectiveness and create more profit 3. to maintain the competitive advantage of the company 4. to lead the company into a second business establishment 5. to establish a foundation for future sustainable development Regarding to the operation strategies, the thesis is mainly aimed at the condition which meets the case-study company to provide the feasible action plans. The focused contents include brand, professional ability, negotiating ability, low-cost strategy, human resources management, marketing opportunity and future relative business. This research targets at a case study of water and electrical engineering company, which is located in Kaohsiung. The study structure starts with planning the mid-term and long-term goal, developing the operation strategy, assessing the strategy and implementing the plan, followed by a systematic analysis and discussion, and then expecting to achieve the goal of ¡§double growth in five years¡¨ plan and keep the competitiveness of enterprise. Next, the research has merged the theory of strategic management with practical operation experience, and has linked the thinking mode of strategy with operation activities of the enterprise for achieving the goal of internalizing the strategic knowledge. The research method is to collect the opinions by consulting many experts, scholars and professional suppliers, and refer to many reference articles, and precede the case analysis and descriptive research. The following conclusions have been obtained after summarizing the above information. 1. In order to overcome the difficulties and create a new era for the company, the small-sized and medium-sized construction or electrical engineering companies should plan the operation strategy and implement it certainly. This can break through the difficult position to create company value. 2. According to the research analysis, some operation defects, which existing many years, have been found in the case-study company. Those defects should be improved as soon as possible, in order to promote the company and achieve the mid-term and long-term goals. 3. Learning and utilizing of the strategic management knowledge are the necessary management tools for each manager in the present time, as well as the best weapon towards success for each enterprise.

Mobile TV is an application which has not yet been much described in academic literature. But the media and telecommunications industries are busy with Mobile TV deployment, motivated by for example decrease in revenues from existing products. This study should be seen as an exploratory study in the academia, aiming at a context for the experiences from exploratory work in the industry. The study of the status of the application Mobile TV focused on legislation, spectra, content and terminals. These areas are of great interest for the telecom and the media industries, and their interests were described with regards to Mobile TV. Large structures like local legislation, spectral resource management on EU level and charging for content becomes visible and are discussed. On a lower level, two differences between the industries were high-lighted. One is the way revenue is collected for content, and the other is information sharing about the Consumers preferences. Overcoming these differences would ease collaboration. Another business topic for the two industries is the relation between the SIM card (which manifest the subscription) and the charging for content.A value network model which satisfies the legal, technical and business requirements is presented. In particular, a new role as Content Site Provider is identified. Since the interviewees suggested a future hybrid solution, both Mobile TV via streaming and via broadcast are included in the model.It is concluded that the telecom industry had all the means and incentive to create Mobile TV. It is also concluded that the process of digitalization is an ongoing process which continues to have an impact on the two industries, in that different offerings can be bundled together. One possible scenario is an Internet-like evolution of the mobile Internet, the Consumers will learn to find the applications closer to the source. This would make a broadcast solution less likely. The higher cost for over-the-air transmission is one obstacle for this scenario, but it might vanish with next generation mobile networks.

AbstractTitle: Incumbent firms and Response to Disruptive Innovation through Value Network Management - Lessons from Eastman Kodak‟s failure in the digital eraAuthors: Helen Gebremeskel Tesfaye &amp; Thi Hong Nhung NguyenSupervisor: Marie BengtssonBackgroundThe question of why incumbent or established firms get into difficulties when they are faced with disruptive innovations has been extensively researched and discussed by many authors. Many explanations given for such failure seem to take “inside-out” approach by focusing on problems of organizational inertia, complacency, lack of insight and incompetence. On the other hand, Christensen‟s (1997; 2003) explanation takes an “outside-in” approach by focusing on the role of established firms‟ value network, particularly mainstream customers, as a determining factor to what incumbent firms can and cannot do.Purpose(i) Examine comprehensively the impacts of the value network on the incumbent firms when they are challenged by the arrival of disruptive innovations; (ii) Developing a model for the incumbent firms to recognize and manage effectively changes occurring in the value network in the face of disruptive innovations; and (iii) Gain a new insight into Kodak‟s failure in the reign of digital technology from the value network management perspective.DefinitionsDisruptive Innovation: Disruptive innovations in this study are considered as new products based on new technologies and which provide different attributes or product characteristics than what the company‟s mainstream or established customer segments historically value, while at the same time bringing new performance attributes to the market.iiValue Network: Value network is the context or environment within which a firm identifies and responds to customers‟ needs, solves problems, procures input, reacts to competitors and strives for profit.ResultsA Value Network Management model is developed for the incumbent firms to recognize and manage effectively changes occurring in the value network caused by the arrival of disruptive innovations. More specifically, the model aims at helping firms to overcome insight and action inertia and to choose the right partners among various new actors entering the value network. This model is iterative in essence and incorporates steps of searching/scanning, value network analysis and partner selection on the basis of appropriate role selection in the value network.

Management of Virtual Organizations faces new challenges that traditional approaches cannot address. This research proposes a performance measurement framework for service oriented virtual organizations including a structural and a procedural component. The structural framework aligns the activities of partners in a virtual organization at three different layers. The first layer is designed for partners’ strategic alignment through coordination of the value creation network. In the second layer, performance dimensions of partners’ collaboration are defined and mapped to the service choreography model. The third layer focuses on assessing effectiveness and efficiency of partners’ domain specific services, which is designed based on ITIL V3 service level management guidelines. In order to consolidate the structural framework, these three layers are integrated using a method for extracting service choreography model and SLA aggregation patterns from the value network. The procedural framework, on the other side, defines the processes required to design the KPI structure, implement the solution, communicate the results, and derive improvements. We propose an implementation architecture that enables inter-organizational performance management in collaborative environments. Then, the IBM products for business process and performance management (IBM BPM, Business Monitor, and Cognos BI) are employed to implement the proposed architecture. The conceptual framework along with the implementation architecture provides an integrated solution for decentralized performance measurement without the need for a central authority. We demonstrate that the proposed solution enhances flexibility, scalability, and interoperability, and supports transparency of partners’ performance information at an agreed-upon level as a basis for mutual trust.

Management of Virtual Organizations faces new challenges that traditional approaches cannot address. This research proposes a performance measurement framework for service oriented virtual organizations including a structural and a procedural component. The structural framework aligns the activities of partners in a virtual organization at three different layers. The first layer is designed for partners’ strategic alignment through coordination of the value creation network. In the second layer, performance dimensions of partners’ collaboration are defined and mapped to the service choreography model. The third layer focuses on assessing effectiveness and efficiency of partners’ domain specific services, which is designed based on ITIL V3 service level management guidelines. In order to consolidate the structural framework, these three layers are integrated using a method for extracting service choreography model and SLA aggregation patterns from the value network. The procedural framework, on the other side, defines the processes required to design the KPI structure, implement the solution, communicate the results, and derive improvements. We propose an implementation architecture that enables inter-organizational performance management in collaborative environments. Then, the IBM products for business process and performance management (IBM BPM, Business Monitor, and Cognos BI) are employed to implement the proposed architecture. The conceptual framework along with the implementation architecture provides an integrated solution for decentralized performance measurement without the need for a central authority. We demonstrate that the proposed solution enhances flexibility, scalability, and interoperability, and supports transparency of partners’ performance information at an agreed-upon level as a basis for mutual trust.

The development and expansion of cities has led to increased public awareness of the influence of building sustainability on the environment, society, and economy. Green building eases the pressure of urbanization by saving energy, reducing waste, protecting the environment, improving the living standard, and encouraging industry. Consequently, green building has developed rapidly for 20 years. This study reviews the literature on green building, recognizes the stakeholders’ motivations for and barriers to green building development, uses value network analysis, cost–benefit analysis, and case study method for understanding value creation, value sensing, value delivery, and value capturing mechanism of green building to augment the knowledge of green building development for both academics and practitioners. This study proposes an applicable analysis tool. / Business Administration/Finance