The research in this thesis focuses on the intangible resources of organisations. Intangible resources include an organisation's collective knowledge and learning, leadership talent, the values that shape its culture, routines and processes and the collaborative relationships. These intangible resources are known as intellectual capital (IC) because they support organisational activity along with financial and physical capital. Previous research has classified IC into three principle components of human, organisational and relationship capital and has established a link between IC and organisational value. Recent studies have also emphasised the notion of interrelationships between the three components of intellectual capital in developing capabilities that drive value creation. Yet it is often unclear how the various elements interrelate to one another to generate organisational value. This thesis investigates how IC contributes to organisational value creation. Central to this research is the examination of the mechanisms through which IC factors are integrated within organisations in order to develop capabilities. As innovation is widely agreed to be a determinant of organisational value creation, this research adapted and extended the model of intelligence and innovation proposed by Glynn (1996) to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework for empirically examining the synergistic effects of IC. Building upon four major theoretical streams: resource-based view of the firm, innovation theory, intellectual capital theory and organisational capabilities, this research has elaborated the ideas and constructs presented in the original model and de-contextualised them to an intellectual capital perspective. A qualitative, interpretive approach was applied to two in-depth case studies for investigating the intangible resource-base of two knowledge intensive companies. The results were then expanded to a cross-case context in order to compare and contrast the value creating potential of the IC factors. The findings of this research are presented in the form of a descriptive framework that classifies the characteristics of a value creating process. The purpose of the framework is to provide pointers for identifying IC resources and developing capabilities in a way that provides an organisation with sustainable competitive advantage, and thereby, value.

This thesis aims identifying the sources of competitive advantage of the TUrkish clothing and cement industries with respect to the European Union following the methodology of the Diamond Framework, introduced by Porter (1990), which is based on the theory of competitive advantage. The methodology is modified in order to include the effects of Turkey&#039 / s integration process to the European Union on the industries. Using this methodology, this study assesses the sources of competitive advantage of the Turkish clothing and cement industries by evaluating the industries&#039 / factor conditions, demand conditions, firm structure, strategy and rivalry and the role of the government and European integration process. the main idea of this study is that both industries take their advantage from basic factor conditions. While the role of Turkey&#039 / s integration process to the EU is more effective on the clothing industry, it stays limited on the cement industry.

本研究旨在探討臺北市國民小學知識管理與學校競爭優勢之現況與兩者間的關係。本研究主要以問卷調查進行研究，以分層取樣方式選取臺北市57所國民小學之877名教師為受試樣本，回收問卷共803份，回收率91.6﹪，有效問卷784份。調查結果以t考驗、單因子變異數分析、積差相關與多元逐步迴歸進行資料分析，所得研究結果如下： 一、臺北市國民小學教師在知識管理各層面中，知覺知識取得最高，知識分享為最低。 二、男性教師在知覺知識分享層面高於女性教師。 三、臺北市國民小學教師在學校競爭優勢各層面中，知覺環境設備優勢最高，學生學習表現優勢最低。 四、男性教師在知覺整體學校競爭優勢及其各層面上的得分，高於女性教師。 五、學校歷史不同的教師在知覺整體學校知識管理及學校競爭優勢確實有差異。 六、整體學校知識管理與學校競爭優勢二者之間呈現高度正相關，意即教師知覺學校知識管理的程度愈高，則學校之競爭優勢愈強。 七、學校知識管理對於整體學校競爭優勢及其各層面的影響均為正向。 最後依據研究結論提出建議，以供教育行政者、學校教師以及後續研究者之參考。 / This study aims at probing the current situations and the relationship between knowledge management and school competitive advantage in elementary schools of Taipei City. Questionnaire was employed to conduct the study. 877 teachers of 57 elementary schools of Taipei City were selected as subjects through stratified sampling method. 803 copies of questionnaires were retrieved. The retrieval rate was 91.6%. There were 784 copies of valid questionnaires which were analyzed by means of t-test, one-way ANOVA, product-moment correlation, and multiple stepwise regression analysis, and the results were as follows: 1.Among all facets of knowledge management, the elementary school teachers of Taipei City scored highest in perceptive knowledge, and lowest in knowledge sharing. 2.Male teachers scored higher in perceptive knowledge sharing than their female counterparts. 3.Among all facets of school competitive advantage, the elementary school teacher of Taipei City scored highest in perceptive environment facilities advantage and lowest in students’ learning performance advantage. 4.Male teachers scored higher in holistic perceptive school competitive advantage and its related facets than their female counterparts. 5.Teachers from schools with different historical backgrounds showed differences in holistic perceptive school knowledge management and school competitive advantage. 6.High positive correlation was shown in holistic perceptive school knowledge management and school competitive advantage, meaning the higher teachers’ degrees in perceptive knowledge management the stronger school’s competitive advantage. 7.The impacts of school knowledge management onto the holistic school competitive advantage and its facets were all positive. Suggestions made based on the study results are meant for use as reference for administrators, teachers, and future researchers.

This thesis draws attention to understand how firms in the B2B commodity industry seek to utilize value-creating activities to achieve competitive advantage, which is also the overall purpose of this thesis. The premise of this thesis is of empirical nature, thus empirically applicable and experienced by other companies inside the commodity industry. In order to reach the purpose of this thesis a case study of Alpha International, Beta and Delta has been carried out which involved personal interviews with different respondents from the companies. The theoretical framework involves a description of competitive strategy, value creation, value chain, value proposition and finally value delivery. The empirical study is based on building a framework of how the companies create value by using different value creating activities.   In the analysis the theoretical framework is related to the results of the empirical study. It is here discussed how the different case companies value creating activities leads to a competitive advantage. In addition to analyzing the value creation activities; the value proposition of the case companies is analyzed and how these are delivered. It is concluded that the case companies studied seeks to utilize value-creating activities to achieve competitive advantage in many different ways.   Generally speaking, it is found that the case companies most commonly try to achieve similar types of value; delivery reliability and quality. However this is achieved in different ways; through different types of activities such as services, different types of integration strategies or a certain type of technology that surrounds the product offering that is utilized by different types of labor in the companies. The companies also have different ways in offering and communicating the value towards the customer by using a value proposition; depending on what type of benefit the customer seeks. At last, discussion and implications are given to present managerial and theoretical implications together with further research.

The potential importance of managing knowledge for competitive advantage has been widely discussed according to Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), with the sharing and application of knowledge being widely identified in recent years as key sources of sustained competitive advantage (Hall & Sapsed 2005, p57). While Alavi and Leidner (2001, p216) agree that much theory already exists on knowledge management, they argue that little empirical work has been undertaken and hence there are large gaps in the body of knowledge in this area. Bresnen, Edelman, Newell, Scarbrough, and Swan (2003) further suggest that only recently has attention been specifically directed towards managing knowledge in project environments. Evidence of poor IT project success continues to be provided by many researchers even though today's corporations recognize that to be successful, they need to understand modern project management techniques (Schwalbe 2002, p2). With Kotnour (2000) finding that project performance is positively associated with project knowledge, a better understanding of how to effectively manage knowledge in IT projects should have considerable practical significance for increasing the chances of project success. The focus of this research centres on the question of why individuals working within IT project teams might be motivated towards, or inhibited from, sharing their knowledge and experience in their activities, procedures, and processes. Using a combined qualitative/quantitative method of data collection in multiple case studies spanning four continents, and comprising a variety of organisational types, the research concludes with the development of a new theoretical model of knowledge sharing behaviour, &quotThe Alignment Model of Motivational Focus". This model suggests that an individual's propensity to share knowledge and experience is a function of perceived personal benefits and costs associated with the activity, balanced against the individual's alignment to a group of 'institutional' factors. These factors are identified as alignments to the project team, to the organisation, and dependent on the circumstances, to either the professional discipline or community of practice, to which the individual belongs. The model might be used within knowledge intensive projects, to help identify an individual's latent propensity to share knowledge, and to identify actions that may need to be taken in order to modify knowledge sharing behaviour.

This thesis examines the relationship between equity valuation and four value drivers: revenue growth, volatility, profit margin and competitive advantage. It is motivated by evidence that the predominant valuation techniques of equity analysts are not associated with improved portfolio performance. Prior research suggests that equity analysts devote considerable resources into forecasting near-term earnings, but derive target prices from those earnings in an almost arbitrary fashion. In contrast, the valuation techniques in the commercial world are increasing in sophistication. Around 30 percent of large corporations in the United States and Australia use real options analysis for project evaluation, according to recent surveys. Thus, the research question is whether sophisticated equity valuation, based on rigorous economic assumptions, is useful for investment decision-making.

<p>Our interest in this thesis is based on the discussion we had in previous courses about the development of emerging countries. Since two of the writers of this thesis are from Poland we tried to found a common interest, hence the relationship between the Polish subcontractors and Swedish customer is analyzed.</p><p>Poland is also known as a low cost country and that make it favorable when it comes about hiring subcontractors. The subcontractors in Poland are also known for the skills and expertise to produce quality. Something that is important for many foreign companies. IKEA has more than 40 subcontractors in Poland; the reason is just the factors mentioned above, to be able to produce good quality to low cost. (www.ikea.com)</p><p>Earlier research indicate that Poland is developing rapidly compare to other emergent countries in Eastern Europe. There have been and will be changes in the environment that most likely will affect the competitive advantage that the subcontractors are the leader in. In other words these changes might lead to that Poland loses its customers which choose other markets that still are able produce at lower costs.</p><p>The main problem for the thesis is to investigate how can polish subcontractors cope with environmental changes to sustain competitive advantage?</p><p>In order to answer this, we used a qualitative approach where the characteristics of a case study are conducted. We collected and analyzed data in an abductive way. The interviews with the three Polish subcontractors were made in a semi structure form via telephone. To be able to solve the above problem an environmental analysis of Poland was done, in order to found those factors that are mentioned as worries and are likely to change in the future. The changes are presented from subcontractors’ perspective and recommendation how to cope with them is given.</p>

This thesis aims identifying the sources of competitive advantage of the Turkish clothing and cement industries with respect to the European Union following the methodology of the Diamond Framework, introduced by Porter (1990), which is based on the theory of competitive advantage. The methodology is modified in order to include the effects of Turkey&#039 / s integration process to the European Union on the industries. Using this methodology, this study assesses the sources of competitive advantage of the Turkish clothing and cement industries by evaluating the industries&#039 / factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, firms structure, strategy and rivalry and the role of the government and European integration process. The main idea of this study is that both industries take their advantage form basic factor conditions. While the role of Turkey&#039 / s integration process to the EU is more effective on the clothing industry, it stays limited on the cement industry.

Background: The retail industry is highly affected by the changes in the world. With the disruptive force of digitalization, more and more of the transactions within retail is moved online as the e- commerce has expanded making the retail industry more competitive. This change has and is forcing many offline retailers to close business around the world but in this change, has new trends emerged. Both online and offline retailers are starting to see the value of having physical stores as well as having an online presence. Doing so creates opportunities for both e-commerce companies and physical retail stores to create value using multiple channels. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out how an independent fashion brick and mortar store can create value for consumers through multiple channels to gain a competitive advantage against pure online retailers and larger retail companies. Method: This topic will be studied with a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with customers in demographic 18-30 years old with the goal of understanding how customers purchase clothes in different channels to create insights for independent brick and mortar stores. The data were analyzed with the seven steps of Grounded Theory. Conclusion: The results of the research show that independent brick and mortar store have competitive advantages regarding personal service, products, and product assessment. However, many customers want to search for information and inspiration about products online before they shop, even if the actual purchase is made in a store which means that independent brick and mortar stores need to have their products online for that. It was also found that customers want more flexibility between channels. For example, purchase online and pick-up in store. The authors believe that with this changes, independent brick and mortar stores can compete in the 21st century while still maintaining their current advantages.

abstract: Restaurants have a cumulative impact on the environment, economy, and society. The majority of restaurants are small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Review of sustainability and industry literature revealed that considering restaurants as businesses with sustainable development options is the most appropriate way to evaluate their sustainable practices or lack thereof. Sustainable development is the means by which a company progresses towards achieving an identified set of sustainability goals and harnesses competitive advantage. The purpose of this thesis is to identify barriers to implementing sustainable practices in restaurants, and explore ways that restaurateurs can incorporate sustainable business practices. Energy consumption, water use, waste production, and food throughput are the four sustainability indicators addressed in this thesis. Interviews were conducted with five Tempe, Arizona restaurants, two of which consider their operations to be sustainable, and three of which are traditional restaurants. Results show that for traditional restaurants, the primary barriers to implementing sustainable business practices are cost, lack of awareness, and space. For sustainability-marketed restaurants, the barriers included a lack of knowledge or legal concerns. The sustainability-marketed restaurants have energy-efficient equipment and locally source a majority of their food purchases. There is a marked difference between the two types of restaurants in perception of barriers to sustainable business practices. I created a matrix to identify whether each indicator metric was applicable and present at a particular restaurant, and the potential barriers to implementing sustainable practices in each of the four indicator areas. Restaurants can use the assessment matrix to compare their current practices with sustainable practices and find ways to implement new or enhance existing sustainable practices. Identifying the barriers from within restaurants increases our understanding of the reasons why sustainable practices are not automatically adopted by SMEs. The assessment matrix can help restaurants overcome barriers to achieving sustainability by highlighting how to incorporate sustainable business practices. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Sustainability 2011