In recent years, the financial and economic decisions have changed which has created and utilized new methods and techniques that have led to new and different products, processes, and services. However, the changing methods and techniques have led to the movement of digital technology and enabling financial services within the financial industry. The changes have resulted in the phenomenon of FinTech that has derived from financial services. In order for companies to be competitive in the industry and create value for their customers, they need to use a business model as a conceptual tool to help improve their performance. High dynamics in technological solutions within the financial industry provides the base for business model innovation. Whilst there is little empirical insight about business model and business model innovation within the qualitative field, this study aims to explore how FinTech companies are developing their business models to enable business model innovation in Sweden, as well as what is influencing business model innovation. An explorative study with semi-structured interviews was conducted to explore how FinTech companies’ business models are built. The empirical findings were supplemented with data from the company’s websites and financial reports. This study’s findings show four key factors within the FinTech companies' business models: Technological innovations, digitization, value propositions, and human resources. All companies have developed innovative technology and software solutions and created new technical systems. Hence, all companies are innovative by creating new processes and methods through their technical development and resulting in different innovations such as API-systems and self-built algorithms. Further, business model innovation within this study has been influenced and driven by exceptional events as the market changes and problems occur within the company that forces innovations to be created for companies to overcome these obstacles. In addition, market pressure has influenced business model innovations by e.g. competitors and customers changing the market demand and making the companies adjust continuously.

For the last decades there has been a steady shift from cash to card payments and with increased smart phone penetration, payments have started to move into our mobile devices. This thesis studies how mobile payments can change the traditional payment landscape. The purpose is to assess the disruptiveness of the Swedish mobile payment market and describe key stakeholder strategies for managing a potentially disruptive change. The study has been designed as a combination of a theoretical and an empirical study where the theoretical part consisted of a literature review that hinted on a gap in terms of available literature on the disruptiveness of different mobile payment business models. Main theoretical concepts used are; disruptive innovation, business model innovation, and theories on competing solutions and dominant design. The subsequent empirical study consisted of a number of qualitative, indepth interviews with key stakeholder from the Swedish mobile payment industry: five mobile payment providers, one major merchant, and the Swedish Trade Federation. This thesis shows that two fundamentally different types of mobile C2B payments are emerging; mobile payment solutions based on existing card payment schemes and mobile payment solutions that build on new and independent payment schemes. The independent model has been defined as the most powerful disruptive force in relation to the existing market for card payments, mainly because it offers opportunities for innovative players to build simple new payment schemes that bypass traditional card payment players and therefore can be made far more cost efficient. However, many established card payment players are inhibiting this development since they are afraid it could seriously harm their existing card business.

Background: Green hydrogen energy systems can address environmental and societal concerns within the energy sector. Therefore, increased attentions from both public and private stakeholders has led to the general perception that hydrogen systems can serve as a disruptive innovation.  Given that disruption innovation theory has seen increased entrepreneurial involvement over recent years, the study focuses on assessing the role of green entrepreneurs within the implementation of hydrogen systems through cross-collaborative efforts and disruptive innovation drivers.    Purpose: The development of a theoretical matrix that interconnects disruptive innovation, entrepreneurial involvement, and cross-collaborative initiatives to establish entrepreneurial positioning roles within the energy market.    Method: The epistemology chosen was interpretivist, and its ontology subjectivism. The research followed an inductive approach. The research was qualitatively conducted and adopted a case study approach. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, and followed a theoretical sampling approach.   Conclusion: The study proposes a theoretical matrix that extended disruptive innovation theory to green entrepreneurship and concluded that high levels of cross-collaboration, and a high innovation impact, serve as key drivers for green entrepreneurial implementations of disruptive energy. Results highlight the need for entrepreneurial involvement across all stages of market implementations.

Simulation as a pedagogy is used extensively to educate healthcare professionals in both academic and clinical arenas with the intent to improve the delivery of care and patient outcomes. Advanced practice nursing (APN) programs use simulation as a pedagogy even though APN accreditation and certification organizations prohibit substituting simulation hours for the minimum 500 clinical hours. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore faculty perceptions of educating APN students using simulation. Focus groups were conducted with a convenience sample of APN simulation faculty. Disruptive innovation theory was used by the researchers to guide the data analysis. Themes emerging during analysis included: 1) extrinsic tension and pressure in the midst of chaos, 2) internal vulnerability, and 3) passion and tenacity to remain resilient. The study results provide clarity to understand integration of APN simulation in the current environment, and introduce the impact of simulation as a disruptive innovation.

Implementing an effective social media marketing strategy campaign to engage customers and increase sales is a challenge for owners of small retail business owners The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the social media marketing strategies owners of small retail businesses used to increase sales. The conceptual framework for this study was the social media marketing strategy theory. Data were collected from 5 small retail business owners in North Carolina through semistructured, face-to-face interviews and a review of company documents, websites, and social media sites. Data analysis through Yin's 5-step process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding data resulted in 3 emergent themes: social media engagement strategy, outsourcing strategy, and target market strategy. Owners of small retail businesses might benefit from the findings of this study to increase sales by understanding how to integrate a mix of social media marketing platforms, improve customer engagement, use third-party social media experts to improve advertising, and target customers using social media. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential for small business owners to increase job opportunities, lower local unemployment rates, and improve local economic growth and stability.

Most law firms have done little to address the opportunities and threats related to potentially disruptive technology (DT), such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that law firm leaders in the United States used to address the potentially detrimental influences of DT, such as AI and ML, on their organizations. The systems approach to management was employed as the conceptual framework. Data were collected from 6 participants at 2 international law firms with offices in California using semistructured interviews and organizational artifacts. Data were analyzed using Miles, Huberman, and Saldana's data analysis method, resulting in 4 themes: recognizing the legal ecosystem and legal firms are open systems, but organizational subsystems often function as semiclosed systems; acknowledging that while DT represents the most significant potential challenge in the near future, the immediate challenge is improving technology, which requires organizational adjustments; recognizing the need for firms to invest more heavily in innovation generation activities; and realizing the need for increased utilization of augmenting technologies, such as AI or ML, to streamline nonadvisory outputs. The findings of this study might support best practices for addressing DT and contribute to social change by outlining ways in which firms can lower costs to clients while increasing access to legal services for those in underserved communities.

Industries with conservative mindsets are known for being reluctant toward adoption of new technologies and resistant to change. The diamond business is one of those examples that encounter challenges in implementing disruptive innovations like blockchain technology despite its potential benefits. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the antecedents influencing adoption of disruptive innovations in conservative industries, with a particular emphasis on benefits and challenges of embracing blockchain technology in the diamond industry. Employing a qualitative research approach, this thesis utilizes semi-structured interviews with the four industry experts from different companies. The empirical data is analyzed using the Technology Acceptance Model, the Innovation Diffusion Theory frameworks, and contextual data.Findings reveal that most of the antecedents are not favorable to the adoption of disruptive innovations in traditional sectors. Competition was found to enhance the adoption process, while resistance to change, industry heritage, uncertainty, and dependency on industry leaders have unfavorable effects. Transparency, customer trust/pressure were found to have both positive and negative impacts. Findings show that benefits of blockchain technology implementation outweigh its challenges for the diamond industry, however, its observability, and complexity, hinder the adoption due to the fact blockchain is a relatively new technology that is still hard to grasp for most industry professionals. This thesis contributes to the body of knowledge by linking findings to the Technology Acceptance Model and Innovation Diffusion Theory frameworks, exploring deeply conservatism within industries, and identifying antecedents as obstacles and opportunities to widespread blockchain acceptance. Additionally, the researchers provide a solution for observability in the form of an in-depth marketing strategy, which aims at creating a differentiation between ‘blockchain diamonds’ and naturally mined diamonds.

Background:Rising greenhouse gas levels through the use of traditional ICE technology in the transport industry have created a worldwide environmental crisis. Battery Electric Bus adoption is a prominent alternative currently being discussed in the public transport industry and represents an inevitable change towards a sustainable future. Purpose:The establishment of a theoretical framework that analyzes primary and secondary data todefine the factors promoting BEB implementation. Method:The study follows a qualitative research approach gathering data in the form of semi-structured interviews which are analyzed to develop an objective theory. Conclusion:The results show that the primary factors influencing diffusion of BEBs are technology factors, macro-economic factors, and socio-political factors. The research defines the relationships between them to further understand their effects on BEB diffusion. The findings develop a theoretical framework around these factors and their effects on one another and the diffusion of BEBs in the industry.

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This research study explicates the underrepresentation of Black students in public school instrumental music programs through a critical race perspective, focusing on socioeconomic and epistemological barriers perpetuated by public policy and school music curricula. Such barriers have encouraged some Black musicians to seek agency and satisfy their musical interests in spaces outside of the classroom, particularly in the church and community. Considering that the theory of disruptive innovation purports the potential to increase access and disrupt both socioeconomic and epistemological barriers through the use of technology, this exploratory research study sought to investigate whether Black instrumental musicians use technology in order to disrupt the socioeconomic and epistemological barriers unveiled by a critical race perspective. By employing qualitative research methods, participants’ personal experiences were synthesized into a thematic analysis which ultimately support the potential of technology to increase access, revealing that participants successfully disrupted socioeconomic and epistemological barriers through the use of asynchronous online lessons.