Abstract The research investigates the sustainability and effectiveness of the projects that are funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in Kenya. SIDA is the Swedish central state agency responsible for planning, implementing and managing Aid. The research applies both the absorptive capacity and the institutional theory to explain the phenomenon of Aid projects failures in Kenya. The research has used a qualitative research method, a literature study that blend with structured open-ended interview questions which we have formulated. By studying the various Actors involved in Swedish foreign Aid, their operations and deliverance, it will facilitate our study to establish the major causes and origins of development projects failures in Kenya. The main and current Swedish development goals are “improving the standard of living for poor people”, the sub goals are Economic growth, Economic and social equality, Economic and Political Independence, Democratic Development and Protection of human rights, Sustainable use of natural resources, protection of Environment Conflict management and Security. The reason why Aid projects are not producing the intended results could be divided into two parts; the planning problem that emanate from the donors side. The irony is that development partners are viewed to be aiming at alleviating poverty without proper planning and even their priorities are not always right. The other major reason is attributed to the recipients’ side and could be summarized as lack of democracy, corruption, weak institutions, lack of absorptive capacity and mismanagement.

This master thesis analyses the housing cooperative´s capability to manageknowledge in order to improve its performances and create innovation. It is based on the analysis of elite interviews concerning the latest ten years of two Swedish housing cooperatives (bostadsrättsförenigar), which are Brf Grantorpand Brf Kullen that, because of their almost identical properties, made acomparison possible. Absorptive Capacity, which refers to the organization´s ability to identify, assimilate and apply knowledge in its specific context and Knowledge Management, which refers to the organization´s knowledge management activities, provided the basis for the theoretical framework. The empirical data show that, within the organizations, the main sources of knowledge are the Board members: when internal expertise knowledge is present then innovation takes place. Lack of policies in recruiting Board members means that innovation coming from within the organizations is always fortuitous, and depends on the individuals´ previous expertise knowledge. Even if the two years mandate constitutes a constrain in investing in knowledge development, it has been revealed that providing the Board members with a general knowledge in the housing cooperatives´ all-day activities constitutes a solid precondition to capture new opportunities: Brf Kullen acts in a more proactive way and actively identifies opportunities in the environment. Whilst Brf Grantorp does suffer the lack of basic knowledge and acts in a more passive way, waiting for someone else bringing in from the outside. However, both the organizations suffer the lack of explicit knowledge management policies. This is very noticeable when it comes to codification and storage: what is provided is essentially of tacit nature, and blanks out over and over again because it still remains in the members´ heads and it leaves when they leave the Board. Hence, both the organizations´ ability to exploit and transfer knowledge suffers lack of efficiency. Furthermore, even if they offer both formal and informal manners in order to share ideas between Board members, the activities are subject to each Board member´s commitment and time.

The key objective of Part I is to synthesize 23 years of innovation research findings from economic, strategy, and marketing literatures and extend the current theoretical knowledge base in these domains through meta-analysis. In general, empirical evidence of the nature of the relationship between innovation and its antecedents and consequences is provided, while at the same time providing answers to conflicting conclusions within this field. The conclusions reached provide a more comprehensive understanding of the drivers of innovation as well as the implications associated with the phenomena. In addition, this study seeks to aid in building a strong theoretical foundation relating to the nature of the relationship of innovation with key antecedents and outcomes. It is demonstrated that innovation serves as a partial mediator of the relationships between organizational and environmental antecedents and firm performance. Part II builds upon the innovation foundations set forth in Part I and extends the focus to consider how innovations are commercialized outside traditional organizational boundaries. Drawing upon the Resource-based view of the firm, the impact of two dynamic capabilities (network ties and absorptive capacity) on marketing strategy formulation effectiveness is explored. Utilizing a unique sample of university pre-startup teams, this research is able to track these teams over time (longitudinal research design) and provide an empirical examination of the role of dynamic capabilities in the effective formulation of marketing strategies. There has been very little empirical research on the formation of strategies at the team level and furthermore, even less research examining marketing strategy making for technologies that were developed outside traditional organizational boundaries and without a predefined market application. Overall, this research will not only contribute significantly to the current innovation and marketing strategy literature, but will also open up new avenues of research in marketing entrepreneurship.

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Due to the increasing global competition managers must realize the importance of competitive advantage. This can be done by reconsider how new knowledge should be acquired into the organization.  The importance of new competence creation is well known as a factor for longitudinal success for companies. There is a growing trend in outsourcing human resources activities that used to be in-house. There are numerous training vendors active on the market offering training and development opportunities to small firms. It can therefore be questioned how well the programs offered by the training vendors suites the needs of small firms.</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong><strong> </strong><em>The purpose of this study is to investigating the perceived training and development needs for small firms. This to understand and overcome the differences in the perception of small firms’ needs, between training vendors and small firms. </em></p><p><strong>Method: </strong>The research approach of this study is inspired by Grounded theory. Ten in-depth interviews have been performed, four with training vendors and six with small firms. The findings where then coded and categorized to answer the research questions and purpose of the research.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>From this research it can be seen that both small firms and training vendors do understand the need for training and development of small firms. The areas where training and development is needed for small firms can be summarised to fields of <em>general business management</em> and <em>business specific knowledge</em>. However, this research also identifies barriers that prevent small firms from attending external training. These barriers are <em>cost</em>, <em>time</em>, <em>relevance</em>, <em>pride</em>, <em>flexibility</em> and <em>suitability</em>. Time and cost are the most commonly mentioned barriers, but not the primary barriers that training vendors and small firms should focus on overcoming. Instead we argue that, the efforts should be on the attitude driven barriers: relevance, suitability, flexibility and pride. If you change the attitude among small firms towards training, the perceived benefits will become larger and therefore cost and price will become less important. If the small firms and the training vendors co-operate these barriers could easier be decreased. This could be done by ensuring that the training results in practical tools that the firms use and that they work on building a trustworthy relationship. This will help the small firms to see the <em>relevance</em> and the <em>suitability</em> of the courses offered and the training vendors to understand how to make the courses appear more <em>relevant </em>and <em>suitable</em> to the small firms.</p> / <p><strong>Bakgrund: </strong>I och med den ökade globala konkurrensen, måste företagsledare förstå vikten av att inneha och bevara en konkurrens fördel. Detta kan göras genom att fokusera på hur kunskap kan tas in i organisationen. Vikten av kompetens utveckling är en välkänd faktor för långsiktig framgång för företag. Det finns en ökad trend att lägga ut ansvaret för human resources på externa företag, vilket tidigare sköttes inom företaget. Det finns ett stort antal externa utvecklingsleverantörer på marknaden. Det kan därför ifrågasättas hur väl programmen, som de externa träningsleverantörerna erbjuder, passar med behoven hos småföretagarna.</p><p><strong>Syfte: </strong><em>Syftet med studien är att undersöka uppfattningen om tränings- och utvecklingsbehov hos småföretagare. Detta för att få en förståelse av småföretagarnas behov och komma över skillnaderna i uppfattningarna mellan externa utvecklingsleverantörer och småföretagare. </em></p><p><strong>Metod: </strong>Forskningsansatsen till den här studien är inspirerad av Grundad teori. Tio djupintervjuer har genomförts, fyra stycken med externa utvecklingsleverantörer och sex stycken med småföretagare. Det empiriska materialet har organiserats genom kodning och kategorisering enligt Grundad teori.</p><p><strong>Slutsats: </strong>Från den här studien kan det ses att både småföretagare och externa utvecklingsleverantörer ser behovet av träning och utveckling i småföretag. De områden där träningsbehov är identifierade kan summers till generell företagsekonomi och specifik kunskap inom företagets bransch. Genom denna studie har dock barriärer som motverkar träning och utveckling i småföretag identifierats. Barriärerna är: <em>kostnad, tid, relevans, stolthet, flexibilitet </em>och<em> lämplighet.</em> Tid och kostnad är de mest nämnda barriärerna, men dock inte de barriärer som primärts bör fokuseras på. Istället anser vi att kraften skall fokuseras på att minska de attityd drivna barriärerna: relevans, lämplighet, flexibilitet och stolthet hos företagarna. Om attityden hos småföretagarna ändras vad gäller träning så kommer den uppfattade fördelen av träning att öka, därmed minskar vikten av barriärerna kostnad och pris. Dessa barriärer kan lättare överbyggas om småföretagarna och de externa utvecklingsleverantörerna samarbetar. Samarbetet kan ske genom att fastställa att det praktiska verktygen, utvecklade av de externa utvecklingsleverantörerna, används av småföretagarna och att en tillförlitlig relation byggs. Detta skulle hjälpa småföretagarna att se <em>relevansen</em> och <em>lämpligheten</em> i de erbjudna kurserna och de externa utvecklingsleverantörerna skulle få en förståelse i hur man kan få kurserna att framstå som <em>relevanta</em> och <em>lämpliga</em> för småföretag.</p>

Abstract   This study addresses the research gap on knowledge transfer on a team level, by examining the potential and realized Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) on the receiver's side and potential and realized Disseminative Capacity (DCAP) on the sender's side. The research question and purpose relate to how ACAP and DCAP can aid innovation development teams in reaching their goals and what role social integration mechanisms play in this process. We develop a theoretical framework in which we synthesize existing literature and through which we analyzed the empirical data.   We follow a qualitative method and employ a single case strategy that fits our empirical data and allows to gain an understanding of social dynamics underlying knowledge transfer. The data was collected through interviews in the R&amp;D department of Atlas Copco, a large Swedish multinational corporation that operates in the mining and tunneling industry. From our analysis we conclude that social integration mechanisms can be used in order to lower the gap between potential and realized capacities. This can in turn lead to a higher innovative output of teams.

In today’s economical world, companies realize the importance to build corporate strategies on innovation to sustain a continuous profitability. Innovation is a crucial issue to develop a competitive advantage. In our networked economy, companies can not only rely on in-house activities anymore to raise creative and come up with breakthrough innovations they need to collaborate with actors from the external environment. Firms have to think outside their own boundaries to leverage the complementary resources and capabilities needed to innovate. Partnerships help to ensure firms’ future successes. The purpose of our study is to understand how companies, operating in the automotive industry, integrate ‘Open and Networked Innovation’ concepts in their corporate strategy to enhance their environmental friendly profile. As far as the EV market is concerned, our study will also lead to determine the Key Factors of Success and the barriers that companies have to face when they want to launch an electric car in the market. Various theoretical approaches have been developed over the time about Open Innovation and Networked Innovation. The dilemma of paradoxical organization needs of radical innovation, exposed by Dr Sigvald Harryson, is our theoretical starting-point to analyze company’s ability to find the right equilibrium between exploration and exploitation and absorptive capacity. Further on, we explore the question of absorptive capacity to know how firms identify, acquire, transfer and transform knowledge. Thereafter, the theoretical framework is confronted with empirical data based on a qualitative and abductive approach of two case studies – Tesla and Renault. Interviews with Tesla, located in the Silicon Valley, California, USA, have been conducted. We also met two key employees in Renault’s headquarter, Paris, France. Interpretation and explanation of the data collected is reported in our analysis of each case as well as in the cross-case analysis. A presentation of our recommendations and conclusions conclude our master thesis.

<p>In today’s economical world, companies realize the importance to build corporate strategies on innovation to sustain a continuous profitability. Innovation is a crucial issue to develop a competitive advantage. In our networked economy, companies can not only rely on in-house activities anymore to raise creative and come up with breakthrough innovations they need to collaborate with actors from the external environment. Firms have to think outside their own boundaries to leverage the complementary resources and capabilities needed to innovate. Partnerships help to ensure firms’ future successes.</p><p>The purpose of our study is to understand how companies, operating in the automotive industry, integrate ‘Open and Networked Innovation’ concepts in their corporate strategy to enhance their environmental friendly profile. As far as the EV market is concerned, our study will also lead to determine the Key Factors of Success and the barriers that companies have to face when they want to launch an electric car in the market.</p><p>Various theoretical approaches have been developed over the time about Open Innovation and Networked Innovation. The dilemma of paradoxical organization needs of radical innovation, exposed by Dr Sigvald Harryson, is our theoretical starting-point to analyze company’s ability to find the right equilibrium between exploration and exploitation and absorptive capacity. Further on, we explore the question of absorptive capacity to know how firms identify, acquire, transfer and transform knowledge.</p><p>Thereafter, the theoretical framework is confronted with empirical data based on a qualitative and abductive approach of two case studies – Tesla and Renault. Interviews with Tesla, located in the Silicon Valley, California, USA, have been conducted. We also met two key employees in Renault’s headquarter, Paris, France. Interpretation and explanation of the data collected is reported in our analysis of each case as well as in the cross-case analysis. A presentation of our recommendations and conclusions conclude our master thesis.</p>

Submitted by Celso dos Santos Malachias (celso.malachias@gmail.com) on 2017-01-10T12:46:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Celso Malachias Versao Final .pdf: 16026161 bytes, checksum: 41aeedafa13f8f5c3dde84db7b7e42f7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2017-01-11T16:54:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Celso Malachias Versao Final .pdf: 16026161 bytes, checksum: 41aeedafa13f8f5c3dde84db7b7e42f7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-12T11:30:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Celso Malachias Versao Final .pdf: 16026161 bytes, checksum: 41aeedafa13f8f5c3dde84db7b7e42f7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-20 / Esta tese examina o mecanismo de aquisição e interpretação pelas empresas, de sinais gerados no mercado, e que estimulam inovação, a partir da aplicação do marco analítico (“framework”) conceitual Visão Periférica Estendida (VPE). Este framework conceitual representa a capacidade que a empresa possui de monitorar seu ambiente externo, adquirir informações e convertê-las em ideias e inovações. Como proposição, argumenta-se que os elementos que integram o framework impactam na geração de ideias e na implantação de inovações. Adotou-se a metodologia qualitativa com entrevistas com executivos chave em doze empresas de serviços de Tecnologia de Informação. Foram encontradas evidências que suportam o framework VPE proposto como mecanismo de geração de ideias e inovações a partir de sinais externos. A empresa que gerou mais inovações foi também a mais aderente ao framework. A validade externa do modelo foi realizada comparando-se os resultados obtidos com dados secundários públicos de relatórios sobre inovações como resultado, elaborados por empresas de consultoria. As fases propostas no framework foram confirmadas mediante depoimentos dos executivos. Destacaram-se três conjuntos de achados: 1) capacidades, 2) práticas e 3) tendências; 1) As capacidades habilitadoras da inovação subdivididas em: liderança, comportamental, mercado, ressignificação, “glocal”, e engenharia; 2) As práticas percebidas para a geração de ideias e inovações categorizadas em temas: busca de padrões, procedimentos, ampliação do escopo de análise com o cliente, e análise do mercado; 3) As tendências monitoradas pelas empresas: tecnologia, modelos de negócios e sociais- demográficas. As inovações como resultado constatadas foram: processo, produto, modelos de negócios, organizacional, estrutural e marketing. Este trabalho contribui com a prática gerencial propondo um framework conceitual para a geração de ideias e inovações a partir de sinais externos à empresa. Ainda, apresenta uma série de práticas e capacidades que líderes de empresas podem se apropriar e replicar em suas realidades. Do ponto de vista acadêmico, contribui com uma literatura atualizada a respeito do tema da inovação vinda de fora da empresa, de forma integrada em seus elementos constituintes. / This dissertation examines the mechanisms companies use to acquire and interpret market signals, and which stimulate innovation. It applies the Extended Peripheral Vision (EPV) conceptual framework, which represents a company’s capacity to monitor its external environment, acquire information, and convert it into ideas and innovation. As a proposition, it argues that the elements that compose the EPV framework impact on the generation of ideas and on the implementation of innovation. Following a qualitative methodology, interviews with top-level executives from twelve Information Technology service companies were conducted. This study found evidences that support the proposed EPV framework as a mechanism of idea and innovation generation from external signals. The company that generated more innovations was also the one most adherent to the framework. The external validity of the model was made by comparing this research results with secondary data from publicly available reports on innovation, prepared by consulting firms. The interviews with the top-level executives confirmed the proposed stages in the framework. These can be aggregated into three groups: 1) capabilities, 2) practices, and 3) trends. 1) The capabilities could be further divided into leadership, behavioral, market-related, reframing, “glocal”, and associated to engineering. 2) The practices seen as relevant for the production of ideas and innovation can be categorized in: search of standards, procedures, expansion of the client’s scope of analyzes, and market analysis. 3) The trends companies have monitored are: technology, business models and socio-demographic trends. The resulting innovations were related to: process, product, business model, organizational, structural, and marketing. This dissertation contributes to the business management practice with a conceptual framework for the generation of ideas and innovation, based on external signals to the company. Moreover, it presents a series of practices and capabilities that business leaders can use and replicate in their own context. It also contributes to the academic scholars with an updated literature review of the innovation topic coming from external signals, in an integrated form of its constitutive elements.

La question principale de la recherche est la suivante : en quoi une politique d’intégration des nouveaux embauchés a-t-elle un rôle de transformation d’une compétence collective ? Le cadre théorique mobilisé s’articule autour de la GRH mais recouvre d’autres champs disciplinaires tels que le management stratégique. Notre méthodologie de recherche a consisté à mener une étude de cas approfondie au sein de SNCF Infra dans un contexte spécifique : l’ouverture prochaine à la concurrence du marché ferroviaire pour les voyageurs. Il ressort de l’analyse des données qu’à l’instar de la formation, le processus d’intégration contribue au renouvellement des compétences des salariés en mettant plus spécifiquement à l’épreuve les compétences collectives existantes. Cette recherche tend à mettre en exergue deux pistes de réflexion : assimiler la capacité d’absorption à une compétence organisationnelle et promouvoir le savoir coopérer comme une nouvelle méta-compétence. / The main research question is : how does a new integration policy hired a transformative role of collective competence ? The mobilized theoretical framework is based on HRM but covers other disciplines such as strategic management. Our research methodology was to conduct a thorough case study within SNCF Infra in a specific context : the next opening to competition of the railway market for travelers. It appears from the data analysis that, like training, the integration process contributes to the renewal of employee skills and more specifically by testing existing collective skills. This research tends to highlight two lines of thought : assimilate the absorption capacity to an organizational competence and promote knowledge cooperate as a new meta-competence.

La connaissance étant au coeur de la création et du développement d’un avantage concurrentiel à travers l’innovation, la capacité des organisations à absorber les connaissances en provenance de l’extérieur est aujourd’hui devenue critique. Cette recherche soutient que le déclenchement et le développement d’un processus d’absorption ne peuvent résulter des seuls efforts organisationnels internes. Elle vise à comprendre la façon dont les services marchands à forte intensité de connaissances (Knowledge-Intensive Business, KIBS) peuvent améliorer le processus d’absorption de leurs clients.En se basant sur l’approche par les capacités dynamiques, cette recherche met en évidence la nécessité de prendre en compte : (1) les conditions d’émergence et du développement de la capacité d’absorption ; (2) le rôle des organisations externes dans le processus d’absorption. Cette thèse sur travaux repose sur un article théorique et trois articles empiriques qui s’appuient sur une méthodologie qualitative d’études de cas multiples dans le secteur du conseil en conception innovante.Cette thèse donne lieu à trois contributions majeures en faisant émerger : (1) la notion de « capacité d’insémination » du KIBS qui adopte, sélectionne,contextualise et préserve les connaissances afin de faciliter le déclenchement et le développement d’un processus d’absorption de la part de son client ; (2) les correspondances entre la capacité d’insémination des KIBS et la capacité d’absorption de leurs clients ; (3) l’accompagnement par le KIBS des activités de co-production du client, critiques en conception innovante. Au final, cette recherche contribue à la littérature en sciences de gestion et en management stratégique sur la capacité d’absorption et l’innovation. Les résultats débouchent sur des recommandations managériales visant à développer la capacité d’absorption des entreprises au travers de la relation de service et de conseil. / With knowledge at the heart of the creation and maintenance of competitive advantage through innovation, an organization’s ability to absorb external knowledge is critical. This research supports the idea that the initiation and perpetuation of a knowledge absorption process are not only the result of internal organizational efforts. It aims to improve understanding of how Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) can enhance their clients’ absorption process. Based on the dynamic capabilities approach, this research highlights the need to take into account: (1) the conditions that will enable the initiation and perpetuation of a knowledge absorption process; (2) the role of external organizations into absorption process. This Multi-Monograph Thesis is composed of one theoretical article and three empirical articles utilizing qualitative multiple-case study methodology in the field of innovative design consulting. This thesis leads to three major contributions: (1) the notion of the “insemination capacity” of KIBS, which is the ability to adopt, select, contextualize and preserve knowledge so as to initiate and perpetuate a knowledge absorption process; (2) the connections between absorptive and insemination capacities; (3) the guidance provided to a client’s co-production activities in the context of innovative design. Ultimately, this research contributes to Management Sciences and Strategic Management literature on absorptive capacity and innovation. It also provides recommendations to managers on how to develop absorptive capacity through the service and consulting relationship.