Between 1950 and 2013 the total amount of Swedish travelling has increased from about 20 billion to about 140 billion passenger kilometers. This included an increase in travelling with private cars from about 3 billion to about 105 billion passenger kilometers, and in bus travelling from about 2.5 billion to about 5 billion passenger kilometers. The European commission has indicated that public transportation (if powered by clean fuels) is a suitable way to reduce environmental and health problems.   This thesis focuses on sustainable personal road transport, and aims to develop and test a new approach to examining the economic and socio-ecological sustainability effects of various road vehicles for private travelling and related business models. A special focus is set on comparing various bus systems for public transport and ways (business models) for private people to access cars. The main comparison parameters are the total cost of ownership and carbon dioxide emissions of different energy carriers for buses and cars. The Design Research Methodology is used to guide the research approach. The approach also builds on the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, which includes, for example, principles that define any sustainable future and a strategic planning process. The approach first employs Strategic Life Cycle Assessment to give a quick overview of sustainability challenges in each bus life cycle stage from raw materials to end of life. Several analysis tools such as Life Cycle Costing, Life Cycle Analysis, Product Service System, and Business Model Canvas mapping are then iteratively used to ”dig deeper” into identified prioritized challenges. Literature reviews, interviews, and simulations are used as supporting methods.   The results from a first theoretical test of the new approach suggest that a shift from diesel buses to electric buses (powered by renewable energy) could significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions, while also significantly lowering the total cost of ownership. The theoretical calculations were followed up by testing of electric buses in real operation in eight Swedish municipalities. The tests verified the theoretical results, and showed that electric buses are better than diesel buses both from a sustainability point of view and a cost point of view, and also that electric bus operation is a practically viable alternative for public transport. The new approach was tested also by comparing a variety of business models for private car travelling. The results indicate, among other things, that only people who travel more than 13.500 kilometers per year would benefit from owning a car.   In all, the thesis suggests a simultaneous shift from diesel buses to electric buses in public transport and, for the majority of the car drivers that drive less than 13.500 kilometers per year, switching from car ownership to car use services would be favourable for an affordable transition of the transport sector towards sustainability.

Given the increasing emphasis on multi-perspective modelling, the University of Pretoria’s Industrial Engineering Department requires a tool that enables horizontal transformation between DEMO (Design and Engineering Methodology for Organisations) models and other models. This tool needs to be available free-of-charge, up-to-date, and vertically consistent, and should enable horizontal transformation between DEMO models and other models such as the BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) models. Using design science research, this dissertation develops a part of this tool by first identifying and evaluating currently available tools, then discovering how other authors have approached model consistency and transformation, and finally developing a tool in ADOxx that supports the modelling of DEMO’s construction model– more specifically, the organisation construction diagram (OCD) and transaction product table (TPT) and transformations from the OCD to BPMN collaboration diagrams. The new tool, called DMT (Demo Modelling Tool), is demonstrated by modelling two case studies within the tool, and then performing four transformations. It is evaluated by having postgraduate participants model the same case study and rate the tool using pre-established usability criteria. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Industrial and Systems Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

The Swedish Fintech company that is subject to this thesis has proposed a process through which all new ideas should go through before entering the development funnel, called the ‘Proof-of-Concept-process’. Today, there exists no material that helps and guides the idea owner through one of the more extensive phases of that process. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a material for this phase. The material is developed through a literature review and qualitative interviews. The topics included in the literature review are: ‘Innovation’, ‘Uncertainty’, ‘Front End of Innovation’ and ‘Business Modelling’. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were performed separately with three out of four members of the top management team. Continuous discussions with the industrial supervisor facilitated the development of the framework. The result consists of two parts, (1) the results from the interviews with the management team which aims to lay the foundation for the requirement specification on which components the framework should contain, and (2) a framework for how business modelling can be done at this phase of the innovation process. The result is a material that uses the graphical branding of the company so that it can be treated as an internal document. An unbranded version of the result is presented in this thesis. The framework is presented together with a deeper analysis of the separate building blocks that form its structure, together with suggestions on techniques that aims to help the user of the material. We argue that the result is a business modelling framework that considers recommendations for how to handle the FEI, and that regards theory on business modelling as well as interviews with managers at the subject company to establish what techniques such a framework should include. Further, the result is based on a wide variety of literature and authors. Concluding, we argue that the result can be considered a bridge between two relatively young research areas ‘Front end of Innovation’ and ‘Business Modelling’ with its primary application at one specific company. / Det svenska Fintech-bolaget som behandlas i denna masteruppsats har föreslagit en process genom vilken alla nya idéer ska gå igenom innan dess genomförbarhet testas i en ’Proof-of-Concept’. Denna process är på företaget kallad ‘Proof-of-Concept-processen’. Idag finns det inget material som hjälper och guidar idéägaren genom en av de mer omfattande faserna av processen. Syftet med denna masteruppsats är att utveckla ett material för denna fas.  Materialet baseras på en litteraturstudie och kvalitativa intervjuer. De ämnen som ingår i litteraturstudien är: ‘Innovation’, ‘Uncertainty’, ‘Front End of Innovation’ och ‘Business Modelling’. Kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer utfördes separat med tre av ledningens fyra medlemmar. Kontinuerlig diskussion fördes med företagshandledaren för att facilitera ramverkets utveckling. Resultatet består av två delar, (1) resultaten från intervjuerna med ledningsgruppen som syftar till att ligga till grund för kravspecifikationen på vilka komponenter materialet ska innehålla och (2) ett ramverk för hur affärsmodellering kan ske i detta stadie av innovationsprocessen. Resultatet är ett material med företagets grafiska profil för att det ska kunna bli behandlat som ett internt dokument. En version av materialet som inte har företagets grafiska språk presenteras. Ramverket presenteras tillsammans med en djupare analys av de separata byggstenar som tillsammans utgör dess struktur, samt förslag på tekniker som syftar till att hjälpa användaren av materialet att utveckla sin idé inför nästa utvärderingsmöte och möjliggöra en demokratisering av innovationsprocessen. Ramverkets struktur är ett resultat av inspiration från existerande ramverk samt intervjuerna vilket bidrar till dess anpassning till företagets specifika innovationsprocess. Vi anser att resultatet är ett ramverk för affärsmodellering som beskriver rekommendationer för hur man hanterar de tidiga faserna av innovationsprocessen. Ramverket och dess teoretiska bakgrund är baserat på ett brett utbud av litteratur och författare. Avslutningsvis hävdar vi att ramverket kan betraktas som en bro mellan två relativt unga forskningsområden ’Front End of Innovation’ och ’Business Modelling’ med sitt primära tillämpningsområde på det behandlade företaget.

In business development, a wide range of ideas and conceptual tools are employed to facilitate understanding and change. Graphical models are commonly used to express and communicate the views of people involved. However, without knowledge of what business modelling means for business development, the efforts can easily be hindered instead of supported. This thesis contributes new insights relevant both for professionals involved in business development, and for researchers exploring information and business. It comprises eleven distinctive chapters, seven of which have been previously published in conference proceedings and edited books. In addition to introduction and integration chapters, the thesis comprises four main parts that deals with theoretical structuring, empirical description, frame development, and frame application, respectively. In the part on theoretical structuring, a conceptual framework of the use of business models in development work is developed. Based on theories of signs, learning, and knowledge paradigms, the framework characterises different model artefacts, model activities, and model assumptions. For the part on empirical description, two cases of business development and the use of graphical models are provided. The first case addresses concerns and challenges for process owners at Ericsson Radio, and the second deals with dilemmas that influence the work on process orientation and business descriptions at Sweden Post. In the third part of the thesis, frame development, a set of business frames in the form of modelling perspectives are elaborated. Three specific frames – value, process, and concept – are detailed in conjunction with three critical areas of exploration within a business: strategy solutions, operations solutions, and information solutions. For the part on frame application, the elaborated set of business frames is used in eleven cases of business analysis in order to explore framing challenges in practice. For overall conclusions, the meaning of business modelling for business development is characterised in four ways: First, it means versatility, in that not only different model artefacts, but also different model activities and model assumptions influence the development work. Second, it means depth-seeing, in that the frames together give extra dimensions to the framing of business. Third, it means delimitation, in that the modelling frames not only comprise specific perspectives on the business, but also imply more or less explicit ideas on what to include and exclude. Finally, business modelling means dual dependencies, in that the models are seen as reliant both on the business itself, and on the people producing and using the models. Table of contents: INTRODUCTION   1. Business Modelling for Business Development PART I: THEORETICAL STRUCTURING   2. The Role of Business Models in Development Work PART II: EMPIRICAL DESCRIPTION   3. Process Ownership in a Rapid Growth Situation  4. Sweden Post’s Exploration of Processes and Descriptions PART III: FRAME DEVELOPMENT   5. Using Business Models in Process Orientation  6. Value Modelling for Exploring Strategy Solutions  7. Process Modelling for Exploring Operations Solutions  8. Concept Modelling for Exploring Information Solutions PART IV: FRAME APPLICATION   9. Challenges in 11 Cases of Business Analysis INTEGRATION   10. What Business Modelling Means for Business Development  11. Implications and Reflections / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005</p>

The purpose of business-IT alignment is to optimise the relation between business and IT in order to maximise the business value of IT. Successful business-IT alignment can be enabled by business processes and e-processes functioning as adaptive mediators between business and IT systems. Business processes are the ways actors work in enterprises and collaborate in value networks, while e-processes support a flexible flow of information between IT systems and business processes. The overall goal of this thesis is to propose methods for business process and e-process design and evaluation for achieving alignment between enterprise goals and IT systems. The methods are based on model-driven approaches, using enterprise and software models. More precisely, the proposed methods can be used for designing models of business processes supporting the fulfilment of enterprise goals in the setting of a value network; for designing models of generic and reusable business processes that support the fulfilment of enterprise goals; for designing models of e-processes that support a flexible alignment of IT systems with business processes; and for evaluating the extent to which business processes are aligned with enterprise goals and IT systems. The result of the thesis can be used to support business and system designers with practical knowledge on how to align business and IT systems in order to create efficient, high-quality, flexible and innovative organisations. The research presented in this thesis has been carried out following the design science paradigm. This paradigm is characterised by the creation of new and innovative artefacts for solving general problems, and the evaluation of their benefits and drawbacks.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:52:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissFPCS.pdf: 3175020 bytes, checksum: cd2ef75652e3937ea059b12ac168afcb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-06-06 / The purpose of this study is to investigate the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in small and medium enterprises (SME) in whom it says respect to the Business Processes Modeling (BPM) use. Until little time behind, the SME were not using conventionals of system ERP. Observed the BPM use, for the suppliers, and verified it influence in the integration of the internal processes of the business of the customer. Due to the fact that the utilization of (ERP) in small and medium enterprises is a recent issue, most of the reviewed literature was found in articles and books addressed to big companies. Substantive matters on business processes modeling (BPM) were found in international articles and books. Hardly ever, BPM, ERP or SME issues were discussed in the same article or book. Therefore, for this inquiry, one searched the information in the suppliers and customers of ERP, by means of differentiated questionnaires, that had been applied in the national supplying greaters of systems and in some customers of the system of these suppliers. This research contributed with the systematization of theoretical information regarding the concepts of BPM and in the vision of the ERP sustem in SME. With the carried through research of field, it made possible to get real information of the main characteristics of implementation with the use of the BPM for the suppliers and of its interference in the internal processes of business of some using customers, showing indications of that the BPM contributes for a bigger integration of the internal processes of business and that this option is made by the customer and that all the suppliers of this research had conditions to take care of it. / A proposta deste trabalho é de investigar a implementação de sistemas ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) em pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs), no que diz respeito ao uso de modelagem de processos de negócios (MPN). Até pouco tempo atrás, as PMEs não eram usuárias convencionais de sistema ERP. Observou-se o uso de modelagem de processos de negócios (MPN), pelos fornecedores, e verificou-se a influencia na integração dos processos internos do negócio do cliente. Por se tratar de um assunto recente, no que diz respeito á utilização de ERP em PMEs, a literatura encontrada foi, em grande parte, de artigos e livros direcionados para as grandes empresas. Quanto a MPN foram encontrados artigos e livros, principalmente, de publicações internacionais. Raramente, os assuntos de MPN e ERP em PMEs estavam num mesmo artigo ou livro. Portanto, para esta investigação, buscou-se as informações nos fornecedores e clientes de ERP, por meio de questionários diferenciados, que foram aplicados nos maiores fornecedores nacionais de ERP e em alguns clientes do sistema destes fornecedores. Esta pesquisa contribuiu com a sistematização de informações teóricas a respeito dos conceitos de MPN e na visão do sistema ERP nas PMEs. Com a pesquisa de campo realizada, foi possível obter informações reais das principais características de implementação com o uso da MPN pelos fornecedores e de sua interferência nos processos internos de negócio de alguns clientes usuários, mostrando indícios de que a MPN contribui para uma maior integração dos processos internos de negócio e que esta opção é feita pelo cliente e que todos os fornecedores desta pesquisa tinham condições de atendê-la.

Följande examensarbete har genomförts inom Högskoleingenjörsutbildningen i Maskinteknik, Industriell Ekonomi och Produktion vid Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Institutionen för Hållbar Produktionsutveckling. Studien har utförts på uppdrag av Alfa Laval Lund AB, vid enheten Business Unit GPHE, under vårterminen 2019. Målet med detta arbete har varit att utföra en kartläggning av intressenter i det digitala ekosystemet, identifiera kundbehov och aktörer på marknaden inom området prediktivt underhåll och uppkopplade produkter samt att definiera möjliga affärsmodeller. Alfa Lavals förväntningar av projektet har varit att resultatet skall understödja uppfyllelse av kundernas behov samt att bolaget skall erhålla en överblick av det digitala ekosystem som idag växer fram. Under genomförandet har metoder såsom research av intressenter samt intervjuer varit centrala. Efterforskningar av bolag har skett med avsikten att utforma en kartläggningsmodell. Intervjuer med aktörer och slutkund har varit till stöd för att undersöka i vilka fall uppkoppling skapar kundvärde samt för att få en helhetssyn kring andra spelares strategier inom digitaliseringen. Litteraturstudier har omfattat information beträffande Internet of Things, Connectivity, Industri 4.0, prediktivt underhåll samt affärsmodellering. Resultatet har visat att de mest förekommande kundbehoven är statusmonitorering av utrustning, prediktivt underhåll och högre produktivitet med flera, vilka alla har anknytning till att kunden vill minska sina kostnader. För det digitala ekosystemet kan det konstateras att det aktuella läget är ganska splittrat samt att det ständigt dyker upp nya lösningar och spelare som försöker positionera sig på marknaden. Studien visar likaledes att uppkopplingen till internet bidrar till uppkomst av nya erbjudanden i form av tjänster, varför det förekommer ett ökat behov av att implementera nya serviceinriktade affärsmodeller med nya intäktsströmmar baserade på prenumerationer. / This thesis degree project has been submitted for the degree program in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Business Administration and Manufacturing, at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Sustainable Production Development. The study has been carried out on behalf of Alfa Laval AB, Business Unit GPHE, during the spring term 2019. The goal of this thesis has been to perform a survey of interests in the digital ecosystem, identify customer needs and market players in the field of predictive maintenance and connected products, along with suggesting on possible business models. Alfa Laval’s expectations have been to receive anover view of the currently emerging digital ecosystem and that the project should support the fulfillment of customer needs. Interviews and research of stakeholders have been central methods during the implementation. In the project an investigation was made of different companies to design a mapping model. The study included in-person interviews with market players and end customers to support the survey on cases in which connectivity creates customer value and also to get an overview of strategies used by different market players in digitization. The literature studies have covered topics regarding Internet of Things, Connectivity, Industry 4.0, predictive maintenance and business modelling. The result has shown that the most common customer needs are asset status monitoring, predictive maintenance, higher productivity and others, all of which are related to the customer’s desire of achieving cost reduction. For the digital ecosystem, it can be stated that the current situation is fragmented and that there is a constant emergence of new solutions with quick implementations and new players trying to position themselves in the market. The study also shows that connectivity contributes to the development of new types of services, thus causing an increased need of implementation of new service-oriented business models with new revenue streams based on subscriptions.