AbstractTitle: How Marknadsdata information AB works with relationship marketingLevel: Final Thesis for bachelor degree in Business AdministrationAuthor: Randip ChoudhurySupervisor: Dr. Aihie OsarenkhoePurpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how Marknadsdata information AB workswith their relationship marketing, and examine possible gaps between their strategy andimplementation of their relationship marketing. This study aims to provide insights on thecore components of CRM and the implementation of CRM strategy.Methodology: I have used primary data for this study by doing, interviews with ChristerJönsson at Marknadsdata AB to get his insight view of how the company operates to be ableto answer the purpose of this thesis which is to find out if there are any gaps in the way howMarknadsdata AB operates its business and how it resembles or differs with Donaldson’smodel. The secondary data I have used for this research is mainly from the Internet, articlesand literatureFindings: Marknadsdata information AB will not be successful on their market if they don’twork with their relationship marketing strategy. They have to keep in touch with customers,respond to the trends in the market and, in particular, to the changing demands of customers.For Marknadsdata information AB it’s important with relationship marketing both internallyand externally. Internal service quality for the company is about employee satisfaction whichultimately effects externally to customer satisfaction. By creating value to employees they cancreate value to customers.Research conclusions: Companies will not be successful on the market until they developtheir relationship marketing strategy. Companies need to keep in touch with customers,respond to the trends in the market and, in particular, to the changing demands of customers.Practical implications: By working with research and evaluating customers’ needs, which Ifound will reflect their future business. I think it’s also important that the management at thecompany works with employee’s on a regular basis. If the company doesn’t work with marketresearch and other customer generating mechanisms I think that the company is going to havedifficulties with their relationship work and to be able to make business at their market area.Value: The study shows customer relationship marketing strategy as a key to operate businessand implementing it in the organization. This thesis contributes a deeper understanding in thesubject relationship marketing.Keywords: Customer relations, Customer service management, Relationship marketing,Cross-functional integration, Management strategy

I here have been very few studies carried out on enhancing CFC (Cross-functional Collaboration) for the product design development. nevertheless there is a clear consensus among researchers that this issue is a critical one in ne product design development. Besides, almost all of the research work, which attempted to encourage CFC in NPD situations, was carried out focused on the cross-functional team which is the most effective organisation type to encourage collaboration between other functional groups, rather than the functional organisation, which is difficult organisation to facilitate collaboration between other functional groups. On the other hand, there is still no clear evidence which proves that CFC improves the performance of' design development. Nevertheless, this proof is essential premise to support the value of producing the information to improve CFC for product design development. This research attempts to fill in this gap in the deficiency of research. This longitudinal research has been conducted with complementary research methods: a qualitative research and a quantitative research in the field. As the main body of this research, 15 key -decision makers for new product design development were interviewed and 243 questionnaires from eight leading consumer electronics companies in three countries (Korea, Japan. UK) were analysed. In conclusion, firstly, this research has proved there is a plus correlation between the level of CFC and several dimensions of the design development performance of consumer electronics products. Furthermore, a new framework model is developed and proposed after compressing and combining all vital findings of this research work. This developed model presents three major findings of this research. Firstly, the factors affecting CF C for design development of consumer electronics products, secondly, the priority of importance of these factors, and finally, factors directly contributing to design development performance in several dimensions. Overall, the findings of this research help to people what are valuable factors for building CFC climate and what are prior factor in a quandary concerning, where to concentrate their efforts so as to successfully implement their (TV to improve their design development performance. In particular, the findings of this research could further help designers and design managers who lack the experience and knowledge of collaboration situations in the rigid functional organisational boundaries, which many consumer electronics companies face.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 218-237.

A presente pesquisa trata da compreensão e caracterização do papel do design dentro de uma empresa de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais por meio do ponto de vista de membros das equipes de projetos e seus gestores. Uma das principais motivações para a condução do estudo provém do fato de que poucas pesquisas do tipo foram realizadas em âmbito regional e direcionadas a projetos digitais, a fim de explorar o tema. Pretende-se com a pesquisa, fornecer subsídios para um melhor aproveitamento dos benefícios do uso do design e das habilidades dos designers. A investigação foi conduzida, a partir de um estudo de caso realizado na empresa onde a pesquisadora atua também como designer e fundamentada sob uma perspectiva temporal dos papéis do design e do entendimento sobre o funcionamento de equipes multidisciplinares no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais. Foram selecionados dois instrumentos de fundamentação teórica para análise dos resultados, a Design Ladder e a Taxonomia dos Papéis do Design. Por fim, apresenta-se uma discussão sobre a percepção do design pelos membros da equipe e concluiu-se que o nível de maturidade em design detectado no objeto de estudo encontra-se no segundo nível da Design Ladder: design como provedor de diferencial estético, embora seja percebido através dos discursos o desejo pelo terceiro nível, que trata o design como processo. / This research deals with the understanding and characterization of the role of design in a digital product development company and through the point of view of members of the project teams and their managers. One of the main motivation for conducting this study is due to the fact that little research has been conducted at the regional level and oriented for digital products, in order to explore the topic, and also with the aim of providing subsidies to better exploit the benefits of the use of design and designers skills. The investigation was conducted from a case study in the company where the researcher works as a designer too and based on a temporal perspective of the roles of design and understanding of the functioning of multidisciplinary teams in the digital product development process. Two instruments were selected from the theoretical background in order to analyze the results: the Design Ladder and the Taxonomy of Roles Design. Lastly, a discussion is presented on the perception of design and was concluded that the ripeness level of design are in the second level of Design Ladder: design as esthetics, although it is perceived by the team speech a desire for reach the third level who treats design as a process.

I denna studie presenterar författarna sin forskning om hur ett företag kan utforma en arbetsyta för att öka kreativitet och samarbete. Tidigare vetenskaplig forskning visar ett gap i studier som gäller sambandet mellan den fysiska arbetsytan och kreativitet. Denna fallstudie är skriven med ett kvalitativt angreppssätt. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in från semistrukturerade intervjuer, en fokusgrupp och två olika observationer. Företaget, som fallstudien handlar om, arbetar med digital skyltning. I företagets arbetsprocess arbetar medarbetarna i så kallade tvärfunktionella grupper, medan de är fysiskt grupperade utifrån sin befattning. Eftersom medarbetarna idag är placerade på kontoret, baserat på deras befattning, behöver de ett annat utrymme där kompetenser från dessa grupper kan arbeta tillsammans. Företaget har en idé om att expandera sitt kontor med ett sådant rum och denna studie är avsedd att vara en förstudie för designen av rummet. Svårigheter kan uppstå på en arbetsplats som ständigt behöver innovativa idéer. Anledningen till detta är förväntan om hög prestation på medarbetarna samtidigt som det är brist på tid. Detta leder till huvudsyftet med studien, vilket är att undersöka komponenter som krävs för att främja kreativitet och samarbete. Studien syftar också till att föreslå hur dessa komponenter kan tillämpas på arbetsytan i verkligheten. Studien visar att kreativitet och samarbete kräver både fysiska och psykologiska förutsättningar. Medarbetarna behöver anpassade tekniska verktyg för att kunna utföra sina arbetsuppgifter. Samtidigt behöver medarbetarna en lugn plats att vända sig till när de behöver en kort paus från det vardagliga arbetet. Den sociala miljön på arbetsplatsen är en viktig aspekt. De anställda måste ha möjlighet att göra misstag och lära av dem. Om så är fallet kommer de anställda att ha rätt inställning för att kunna öka sina kreativa idéer. I slutsatsen presenteras en modell med de viktigaste komponenterna som krävs för att främja kreativitet och samarbete. Modellen presenteras av författarna till denna studie och ger läsaren sex komponenter av vilka var och en av dem är viktiga att överväga. / In this study, the authors present their findings on how a company could design a workspace to increase creativity and teamwork. The study was undertaken, since there is current a gap in scientific research regarding the relations between the physical workspace and creativity. This case study is written with a qualitative approach with empirical data being collected from semi-structured interviews, a focus group and two different observations. The company, about which the case study is written about, works with digital signage. In the company’s work process, employees with different tasks are working together in so called cross-functional groups. However, the employees are today positioned within the office space according to their occupation, and the company is therefore in need of a space were individuals from each group can sit and work together. To meet this need, the company plans to expand their office space with a room that can accommodate such a work space and the current study is a pilot study for the design of such a room. Difficulties may appear in a workplace that constantly needs innovative ideas. A reason of this is the expectation of high performance by the employees within a limited time frame. This leads to the main aim of this study, which is to investigate factors required to increase creativity and teamwork. The study also aims to suggest how such factors may realistically be applied to the work space. The result shows that creativity and teamwork depend on both physical and psychological aspects to maximize the effect of the process. The employees are in need of customized technical implements to be able to develop their work assignments. At the same time, the employees need a quiet place to turn to when they need a short break. The social environment at the workplace is an important aspect. The employees must have the opportunity to make mistakes and to learn from these. With these criteria fulfilled, the employees are more likely to have the right mindset to increase their creativity. In the conclusion, a model, made by the authors, is presented for the most important components that are required to increase creativity and teamwork. The model provides the reader with six factors of which each and one are important to consider.

A presente pesquisa trata da compreensão e caracterização do papel do design dentro de uma empresa de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais por meio do ponto de vista de membros das equipes de projetos e seus gestores. Uma das principais motivações para a condução do estudo provém do fato de que poucas pesquisas do tipo foram realizadas em âmbito regional e direcionadas a projetos digitais, a fim de explorar o tema. Pretende-se com a pesquisa, fornecer subsídios para um melhor aproveitamento dos benefícios do uso do design e das habilidades dos designers. A investigação foi conduzida, a partir de um estudo de caso realizado na empresa onde a pesquisadora atua também como designer e fundamentada sob uma perspectiva temporal dos papéis do design e do entendimento sobre o funcionamento de equipes multidisciplinares no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais. Foram selecionados dois instrumentos de fundamentação teórica para análise dos resultados, a Design Ladder e a Taxonomia dos Papéis do Design. Por fim, apresenta-se uma discussão sobre a percepção do design pelos membros da equipe e concluiu-se que o nível de maturidade em design detectado no objeto de estudo encontra-se no segundo nível da Design Ladder: design como provedor de diferencial estético, embora seja percebido através dos discursos o desejo pelo terceiro nível, que trata o design como processo. / This research deals with the understanding and characterization of the role of design in a digital product development company and through the point of view of members of the project teams and their managers. One of the main motivation for conducting this study is due to the fact that little research has been conducted at the regional level and oriented for digital products, in order to explore the topic, and also with the aim of providing subsidies to better exploit the benefits of the use of design and designers skills. The investigation was conducted from a case study in the company where the researcher works as a designer too and based on a temporal perspective of the roles of design and understanding of the functioning of multidisciplinary teams in the digital product development process. Two instruments were selected from the theoretical background in order to analyze the results: the Design Ladder and the Taxonomy of Roles Design. Lastly, a discussion is presented on the perception of design and was concluded that the ripeness level of design are in the second level of Design Ladder: design as esthetics, although it is perceived by the team speech a desire for reach the third level who treats design as a process.

A produtividade e competitividade de empresas intensivas em capital é muito dependente do grau de utilização de sua capacidade industrial. Muitos indicadores têm sido utilizados para medir o desempenho da manufatura, dentre eles o Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Contudo, somente altos índices de OEE não garantem um desempenho superior em uma fábrica. Alguns autores sugerem que a adoção de indicadores com maior abrangência como o Overall Plant Effectiveness (OPE) é mais adequada à medição e análise do desempenho global da manufatura por contemplar a influência de outras áreas da organização sobre a utilização da capacidade de uma fábrica. Esta pesquisa discute a aplicação do OEE em empresas cuja competitividade depende fortemente da sua habilidade em racionalizar a utilização da capacidade industrial e explora indicadores derivados da sua utilização. Com este propósito é realizada uma revisão bibliográfica da literatura para identificar suas limitações, relacionar os indicadores derivados do OEE e caracterizá-los como ferramentas gerenciais que podem oferecer uma perspectiva mais global à medição do desempenho da utilização da capacidade. Além disto, um estudo de caso é desenvolvido em uma empresa processadora de alimentos para identificar como se pode envolver os diversos agentes responsáveis pelas perdas de capacidade de produção, inclusive aqueles que atual além da área de manufatura, para eliminação ou controle deste problema. O estudo mostra que a aplicação do OPE além do OEE pode tornar a detecção da causa raiz de problemas mais eficaz, além de induzir a integração da estratégia de produção com outras estratégias funcionais e desta forma promover o aumento do desempenho global da manufatura. / Process industries have to strive to attain high resource utilization so as to increase their productivity and competitiveness in the market. Many indicators have been used to measure their manufacturing performance, one of them is the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). However, high OEE values per se do not ensure superior global performance. Some authors suggest that the consideration of indicators with broader magnitude such as Overall Plant Effectiveness (OPE) is more appropriate to measure and analyze the overall manufacturing performance since it also reflects the impacts of support areas on a plant\'s capacity utilization. This research reviews the application of OEE in companies that depend heavily on the ability to rationalize the utilization of their production capacity and explores the use of indicators derived from it. With this purpose, a literature review is presented to identify the limitations of OEE, to enumerate indicators derived from OEE and characterize them as management tools that may offer a more global perspective to the measurement of capacity utilization. Moreover, a case study is developed in a food processing company to identify how the diverse agents responsible for the losses in production capacity including those who perform beyond the manufacturing function, can be involved in the effort to eliminate or control this problem. The study shows that the use of OPE besides OEE can make the detection of the root cause of problems more effective and induce the integration of manufacturing strategy with other functional strategies, and thus promote the increase of overall manufacturing performance.

Today’s world of work, especially in highly specialized knowledge-based industries such as scientific communications, is increasingly complex. Leaders are challenged to drive growth through innovation. Cross-functional teams are challenged to bring innovative ideas to life. Despite a growing body of literature on team learning, current research does not extend to this highly specialized setting, especially around how innovation is implemented by cross-functional teams. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to discover how one cross-functional innovation team within a scientific communications agency learns, performs, and contributes to team and organizational outcomes, specifically what learning conditions are present and what behaviors are adopted. The research revealed how team members characterized their experience of cross-functional innovation teaming; what the team members perceived to be the optimal organizational and team learning conditions; what kinds of behaviors team members adopted to optimize their learning and performance; and what types of learning outcomes the team achieved. For cross-functional teams implementing innovative projects, conclusions were that: (1) successful implementation is facilitated by the organization’s approach to innovation, specifically their strategy and their support for cross-functional teams; (2) optimal learning conditions for the team are a shared aspirational vision, a climate of psychological safety, and innovation-responsive operating principles; (3) psychological safety and innovation-responsive operating principles facilitate innovation team behaviors of experimenting, crossing boundaries, and collaboration; (4) cross-functional innovation team leadership is emergent and may come from multiple sources based on the expertise of the team members and what leadership functions are most needed when; and (5) team outcomes include implementation of a new product, discovery of new ways of working, and team member satisfaction. Knowing this helps to determine what team learning models and research are most relevant to innovation teams in this practice setting and what additional practices or supports might be helpful to guide these kinds of cross-functional innovation teams and their organizations to greater success.

Lean Product Development is a knowledge-based business concept in order to maintain high quality, meetcustomer requirements and to make product development more efficient. An important part of the processis to add a lot of resources at an early stage and execute the development as an iterative process betweendepartments exploring many alternatives thoroughly. The work focuses on how Lean ProductDevelopment is carried out and explores how to manage interaction between different departments andexpertise with regard to cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing i.e. learning.The information for the studies was gathered at a major Swedish company from two projects. The projectswere carried out as cross-functional and possible key factors for cross-functional collaboration wasidentified.The results have been correlated with theories of Lean, Product development, Lean product developmentand Learning. The analysis shows that to carry out activities according to Lean product development willrequire more than to follow the concept’s framework for successful implementation. Factors that areidentified as important in cross-functional collaboration is also recognised in the Lean productdevelopment theory. However the theory does not indicate how the factors is implemented and carried outbut how it should be implemented. This will create opportunities and problems for companies that want towork and implement Lean product development.

Game development today is a complex process that differs from traditional software development by presenting unique challenges stemming from a multidisciplinary structured process, including teams from multiple fields, such as art, sound, programming, design, human factors and more. This, together with the growth of the industry during recent years has increased the need for a more efficient cross-functional collaboration and understanding between these teams. This study focuses on the collaboration and understanding between two distinct teams, User Research (UR) and Development in order to try and shed some light on an emerging challenge of a gap in understanding that exists between the two fields. A case study was conducted at an established game company in Sweden, where a UR team was closely observed and analyzed. The results of this study showed that the issues and practices could be grouped into three different areas, Process, Communication, and Understanding that affected each other differently. Where a majority of the issues found often related to Communication and Understanding problems. The findings provided a glimpse of the gap in understanding in a game development process and what problems it can entail and what the possible solutions could streamline the process. However, in order to fully understand and fill this gap more thorough observations during a longer period of time is required. / Spelutveckling idag är en komplex process, som skiljer sig från traditionell programutveckling genom att den presenterar unika utmaningar som härstammar från en multidisciplinär strukturerad process. Som inkluderar teams från många olika fält, såsom konst, ljud, programmering, design, mänskliga faktorer och många fler. Detta tillsammans med utvidgning av industrin de senaste åren har det skett ett behov av mer effektivt tvärfunktionellt samarbete och förståelse mellan dessa team. Denna studie fokuserar på samarbete och förståelsen mellan två specifika team, User Research (UR) och Development för att försöka belysa den uppkomna utmaningen av en klyfta i förståelsen som existerar mellan de två fälten. En fallstudie gjordes på ett etablerat spelföretag i Sverige, där ett UR team noggrant observerades and analyserades. Resultaten från studien visar att problem och praxis kunde grupperas i tre olika områden, Process, Kommunikation och Förståelse där var och en påverkade varandra olika, där majoriteten av de identifierade problemen ofta relaterade till Kommunikation och Förståelse problem. Upptäckterna gav en skymt av klyftan i förståelse som finns i en spelutvecklingsprocess och vilka problem den kan medföra samt vilka möjliga lösningar som skulle kunna effektivisera denna process. Dock, för att få full förståelse över denna klyfta och hur man kan skulle kunna fylla den så behövs en mer noggrannare studie över en längre tid.