<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate the suppliers’ view of their relation to Stora Enso. The study focuses on the relation between the central purchasing unit of Stora Enso and the suppliers but also gives indications of how the overall interface between Stora Enso and the suppliers works. The purpose is explored through a number of research objectives, which are presented below. </p><p>Areas essential for the functioning of the central purchasing unit: </p><p>- The overall organisation of Stora Enso’s purchasing activities, </p><p>- Stora Enso’s cross-functional purchasing teams, </p><p>- The internal coordination and communication, </p><p>- The relational bonds between Stora Enso and the suppliers </p><p>Important goals and visions for the central purchasing unit: </p><p>- Minimising the Total Business Cost, </p><p>- Being an attractive partner to the suppliers </p><p>Currently discussed issues within the central purchasing organisation: </p><p>- The potential for closer cooperation between Stora Enso and the suppliers, </p><p>- The professionalism of Stora Enso’s purchasers </p><p>Stora Enso is well organised for purchasing but the centrally coordinated cross-functional teams are not working as well as they could. The internal coordination has improved lately but the central purchasing unit’s mission to optimise for Stora Enso as a whole often creates tension within the organisation, as a result of the mills being profit centres. The internal communication is not efficient, and the suppliers are strengthening their bonds with the mills by taking over the responsibility for certain information flows. The central purchasing unit and the cross-functional teams have the responsibility but not the authority to carry out their task of identifying and reducing the Total Business Cost. Stora Enso is an attractive customer for their suppliers, mainly because of the big volumes they represent. The current negotiation strategies are not advantageous for the introduction of collaborative supplier relations but other factors in the relation between the suppliers and Stora Enso speak strongly in favour for such a strategic change. When it comes to professionalism and business moral the suppliers give the central purchasing unit a very positive evaluation.</p>

The purpose of this study is to investigate the suppliers’ view of their relation to Stora Enso. The study focuses on the relation between the central purchasing unit of Stora Enso and the suppliers but also gives indications of how the overall interface between Stora Enso and the suppliers works. The purpose is explored through a number of research objectives, which are presented below. Areas essential for the functioning of the central purchasing unit: - The overall organisation of Stora Enso’s purchasing activities, - Stora Enso’s cross-functional purchasing teams, - The internal coordination and communication, - The relational bonds between Stora Enso and the suppliers Important goals and visions for the central purchasing unit: - Minimising the Total Business Cost, - Being an attractive partner to the suppliers Currently discussed issues within the central purchasing organisation: - The potential for closer cooperation between Stora Enso and the suppliers, - The professionalism of Stora Enso’s purchasers Stora Enso is well organised for purchasing but the centrally coordinated cross-functional teams are not working as well as they could. The internal coordination has improved lately but the central purchasing unit’s mission to optimise for Stora Enso as a whole often creates tension within the organisation, as a result of the mills being profit centres. The internal communication is not efficient, and the suppliers are strengthening their bonds with the mills by taking over the responsibility for certain information flows. The central purchasing unit and the cross-functional teams have the responsibility but not the authority to carry out their task of identifying and reducing the Total Business Cost. Stora Enso is an attractive customer for their suppliers, mainly because of the big volumes they represent. The current negotiation strategies are not advantageous for the introduction of collaborative supplier relations but other factors in the relation between the suppliers and Stora Enso speak strongly in favour for such a strategic change. When it comes to professionalism and business moral the suppliers give the central purchasing unit a very positive evaluation.

Bakgrund: Den tilltagande oron för vår planets välmående har medfört ett ökat samhällsfokus på hållbar utveckling. Det är av vikt att företag engagerar sig i hållbar utveckling delvis eftersom de orsakar många hållbarhetsrelaterade problem, och delvis eftersom de har de resurser som krävs för att lösa problemen. För att påverka hållbar utveckling behöver företag driva fram hållbara innovationer för att förändra deras produkter, processer och affärsmodeller. Forskningsfältet gällande hållbara innovationer är dock i en initial uppbyggnadsfas, och därmed behövs fler studier. Framförallt är forskningsområdet i behov av fler kvalitativa studier som belyser hur hållbara innovationer utvecklas på företagsnivå. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att öka förståelsen för hur hållbarhet införlivas i företags innovationsprocesser. Metod: En kvalitativ studie med åtta respondenter fördelade över sju semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsatser: Studien visar på tre faktorer som behövs för att skapa en organisationskultur där lärande uppmuntras. De tre faktorerna är hållbarhetsramverk, tillit till anställdas förmåga samt frihet i att utforma arbetsprocesser. Tillsammans leder faktorerna till att skapa en lärande kultur som driver införlivande av hållbarhet i innovationsprocessen. Studien visar också att tvärfunktionella grupper behöver skapas i de initiala faserna av innovationsprocessen. De tvärfunktionella grupperna bör tillåtas inneha ett explorativt idésökande som arbetssätt. Det explorativa sökandet efter innovationer kan ske internt inom företagen eller genom externa samarbeten. / Background: The increasing concern for our planet’s well-being has induced an increased focus on sustainable development. It is of importance for companies to engage in sustainable development, partly since they are the reason for many sustainability-related issues, and partly because they have the resources required to solve the issues. In order to affect sustainable development, companies need to develop sustainable innovations to change their products, processes and business models. However, the research field concerning sustainable innovations is still in its infancy stage and therefore requires more research. In particular, the research field is in need of more qualitative research which refers to how sustainable innovations are developed on a company level. Purpose: The aim of this study is to increase the understanding of how sustainability can be incorporated into the innovation process. Method: A qualitative study with eight respondents distributed across seven semi-structured interviews. Findings: The study points out three factors that are essential when creating an organizational culture which encourage learning. The three factors are sustainable framework, trust in the employees’ abilities and lastly freedom for employees to form their work processes. Together the factors create a learning culture that drives the incorporation of sustainability into the innovation process. The study also pinpoints the need of creating cross-functional groups in the initial phases of the innovation process. The cross-functional teams should be encouraged to use an exploratory search method. An exploratory search for innovation can be conducted within the corporation or through external collaborations.

Among the diverse perspectives of value creation throughout history, recent studies imply that CFOs and finance officials can contribute to a holistic value creation process by integrating different business values. Therefore, this study aims to research whether the current dilemma of intangible assets (customer data) plays an important role in financial activities to lead to business value creation. The literature review highlights three independent variables; customer loyalty, decision-making, and predicting that are tested for an effect on the dependent variable value creation. Additionally, previous studies highlight data as efficiently utilized in cross-functional environments. A moderating variable cross-functional teams is thereby examined if it has a moderating effect. An online questionnaire was sent to 56 companies who were interested in participating, of which eventually 42 companies responded. Given the low response rate, the results revealed that decision-making was significant and valuable for the finance department’s value creation. However, the moderating effect significantly revealed, on the contrary, to strengthen predicting capabilities for the finance department to create value. / Begreppet värdeskapande har historiskt sett studerats utifrån olika perspektiv. Tidigare studier har visat på att finansavdelningen kan, utöver de traditionella uppgifterna, bidra till att skapa värde inom företaget. Med bakgrund i detta är syftet med studien att undersöka huruvida det nuvarande dilemmat med immateriella tillgångar (kunddata) spelar en viktig roll i finansiella aktiviteter för att leda till skapande av affärsvärde. En litteraturöversikt i studien belyser följande värden som kunddata eventuellt leder till: kundlojalitet, beslutsfattande och förutsägelser. Variablerna testas i denna studie för att se om det, ur ett finansiellt perspektiv, har en effekt på värdeskapande. Tidigare studier visar även att data kan användas effektivt i tvärfunktionella miljöer. En modererande variabel tvärfunktionella team undersöks därmed för att se om den har en interaktionseffekt. Ett frågeformulär sändes till 56 företag som var intresserade av att delta, varav 42 företag svarade. Givet bristen på antal respondenter, visar resultatet att beslutfattande är en värdefull faktor för värdeskapande. Resultatet av moderatorn visar att den styrker relationen mellan förutsägelser och värdeskapande för finansavdelningen.

Då färre forskning har riktats mot kollektiv sensemaking hos tvärfunktionella team, ämnar denna studie att kasta ytterligare ljus över den komplexitet som det innebär i situationer av samverkan. Således kommer djupare förståelse utvecklas för vilka aspekter som påverkar en kollektiv sensemaking. Detta är en kvalitativ studie med ett abduktivt förhållningssätt. Den empiriska datan samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer och analyseras i narrativ form. Studien är av interpretivistisk prägel, det vill säga tolkande. Expertiser, Obefogad tillhörighet; Beröringspunkter; Egen förståelse; Kompromisser; Horisontell kommunikation; Kommunikationsforum; Tydligt syfte; Att veta ‘nog’ mycket, visade sig vara aspekter som kan påverka förmågan till kollektiv sensemaking. Samtliga aspekter ger upphov till behovet av mer anpassad sensegiving. / As less research has focused on collective sensemaking in cross-functional teams, this study aims to shed further light on the complexity that it entails insituations of collaboration. Therefore, a deeper understanding will be developed of the aspects that influence a collective sensemaking.' This is a qualitative study with an abductive approach. The empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed in narrative form. The study is of an interpretivist nature. Expertise; Unjustified belonging; Intersections; Own understandings; Compromise; Horizontal communication; Communication forum; Clear purpose; Knowing ‘enough’, turned out to be aspects that can affect the ability for collective sensemaking. All aspects give further need for a more adaptive sensegiving.

Under de senaste åren har digitaliseringen av fysiska produkter ökat, och allt fler företag har därmed börjat implementera digitala komponenter i sina produkter. Att implementera mjukvara i en analog produkt innebär nya utmaningar för produktutvecklingsteam som tidigare arbetat med att ta fram analoga produkter. Många företag har i och med digitaliseringen valt att anpassa sina produktutvecklingsmetoder med målet att integrera de digitala och analoga produktutvecklingsprocesserna med varandra. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur produktutvecklingsprocesserna ser ut idag på produktutvecklande företag som har genomgått en digitalisering. De aspekter som har tagits extra hänsyn till är projekttid, produktutvecklingsmetod, företagets organisering och struktur samt insamling och implementering av användardata i produktutvecklingsprocessen. Företag som utvecklar uppkopplade produkter för hemmet är exempel på företag som just nu genomgår en digitalisering av tidigare analoga produkter, därför har företag med detta spår valts som inriktning vid denna studie. Studien har utförts genom en inledande litteraturstudie följt av kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra responderande företag, som samtliga utvecklar uppkopplade hemprodukter vilka innehåller IoT-teknologi. Studien visar att företagen strävar mot ett agilt arbetssätt, men att det finns svårigheter med att integrera hårdvaru- och mjukvaruutveckling i produktutvecklingsprocesserna. Trots detta upplevs utvecklingstiden i projekt som oförändrad jämfört med innan digitaliseringen. Det framkommer även att tvärfunktionalitet hos utvecklingsteamen är en fördel i samspelet mellan de digitala och analoga delarna av produktutvecklingen. Studien visade slutligen att kunddata som samlas in via digitaliserade produkter används av företag som ett verktyg för att effektivisera produktutvecklingen. / In recent years digitalization of physical products has increased, and many companies has therefore started to implement digital components in their products. To add software to an analog product creates new challenges for the product development teams, which up until then mainly have been developing analog products. Many companies have, as a result of the digitalization, chosen to adapt their product development methods to manage the integration between digital and analog development processes. The purpose of this study is to investigate what the product developing process looks like today in companies that have digitalized their products. The aspects that are specifically considered are; project duration, product development method, organizational structure of the company, and implementation of big data in the product development process. Companies that develop products for home use is one example of companies that are going through a digitalization process of their previously analog products, which is why this branch of companies is targeted in this study. The study was conducted through an initial literature study, followed by interviews with four responding companies, who all develop connected home products containing IoT-technology. The study shows that the companies aim for a more agile work procedure, but that there are problems with integrating hardware and software development in product development processes. Nonetheless, the time duration of the projects does not appear to have changed significantly in comparison to pre-digitalization. It is also revealed that cross-functional teams are an advantage within the collaboration between the digital and analog parts in the development process. The study finally shows that big data, collected through digitalized products, is used by the companies as a tool for increasing the effectiveness of the product development.

In a growing digital economy, the possibilities for newly established companies are immense, and the market for innovative, disruptive products has grown exponentially. In this environment, single-person start-ups exist alongside billion-dollar organizations with thousands of employees. Somewhere in the middle, scale-ups have become an increasingly interesting topic of study as they can be seen as the "successful" start-ups that are experiencing the transitional challenges of establishing themselves in an increasingly competitive market. As fast-growing scale-ups juggle customer's demand for new, innovative products/services alongside investor's demand for a viable business model, a need for a fast and adaptive product/service development environment arises. Here the concept of cross-functional teams becomes increasingly interesting as a tool for facing the challenges that such scale-ups face. This paper is an exploratory case-study following a cross-functional team at a tech scale-up in the Stockholm region. The company currently inhabits the gaming market and offers B2C products/services to thousands of customers. This case study follows the cross-functional team from its early inception to the later stages of its progress. This paper draws conclusions for optimal conditions and success factors that allow for cross-functional teams to reach their full potential. Being a case study, this paper is also able to analyze how different contextual factors have implications on how crossfunctional teams operate. In the end, success factors are laid out, both generally and contextually, giving readers insights into the benefits and challenges that go hand-inhand with cross-functional teams at high growth scale-ups. / I en snabbväxande digital ekonomi är möjligheterna för nyetablerade bolag enorma. Efterfrågan efter innovativa och disruptiva produkter har vuxit exponentiellt. I denna miljö existerar det både små start-ups och miljardbolag med tusentals anställda. Någonstans i mitten mellan start-ups och miljardbolag finns det ett bolagsstadie som benämns scale-up. Scale-up kan ses som framgångsrika start-ups som handskas med de utmaningar som kommer med att snabbt växa och samtidigt konkurrera i en tuff marknad. Snabbväxande scale-ups behöver balansera kundernas efterfrågan för innovativa produkter/tjänster samtidigt som eventuella investerare kräver bevis på att företaget har en lönsam affärsmodell. För att uppfylla allt detta krävs det en snabb, innovativ och adaptiv utvecklingsmiljö för företagets produkter och tjänster. Crossfunctional teams är en intressant modell för att hantera några av de utmaningar som scale-ups står inför. Denna studie är en explorativ fall-studie som följer ett cross-functional team på en svensk scale-up i baserad i Stockholmsregionen. Företaget är en leverantör till gamingindustrin och erbjuder B2C produkter och tjänster till tusentals kunder. Dennastudie följer ett cross-functional team från initierandet av teamet och under flera veckors tid. Studien bidrar med slutsatser gällande vilka förutsättningar och framgångsfaktorer som bidrar till att ett cross-functional team kan uppnå sin fulla potential. Denna fall-studie bidrar också med insikter kring hur olika kontextuella faktorer påverkar arbetet för crossfunctional team. Slutligen, presenterar studien olika framgångsfaktorer, både generella och kontextuella för cross-functional teams. Studien bidrar även med insikter gällande de olika fördelarna och utmaningarna som uppkommer om man arbetar med crossfunctional teams.

Konkurrensen på marknaden blir allt tuffare och i takt med detta blir kundperspektivet en allt viktigare framgångsfaktor. Syftet med denna rapport är därför att undersöka och fördjupa förståelsen för hur företag inom vitvarubranschen använder sig av användarinvolvering i produktutvecklingsprocessens olika faser. Dessutom ska det skapas en förståelse för vad detta ger för effekter för företaget samt hur de använder och sprider kunskap från involveringen av konsumenter. Forskningsfrågorna besvarades genom en djupgående litteraturstudie för sedan att bygga upp en teoretisk referensram och därigenom få en uppfattning av rådande teorier och metoder som används vid kundinvolvering. Detta jämfördes sedan med en semistrukturerad intervjustudie där kundinvolvering inom vitvarubranschen undersökts. Respondenterna som deltog i intervjustudien var anställda hos Electrolux, ett internationellt företag som arbetar med vitvaruprodukter. Studien visar att det finns olika åsikter kring kundinvolvering vad gäller i vilka faser konsumenten ska involveras i processen och i vilken grad involveringen ska ske. Resultatet visade att de metoder som används för att integrera användare i produktutvecklingen huvudsakligen används i informationssyfte för att skapa en förståelse och kunskap om konsumentens användande av produkten, som sedan kan användas av produktutvecklarna. Att involvera konsumenter i arbetet ansågs främst ha positiva effekter, men att det fanns vissa svårigheter som var viktiga att ta hänsyn till för att nå ett önskat och användbart resultat. Dessutom visar studien att tvärfunktionella samarbeten bidrar till enklare kommunikation och informationshantering eftersom flera olika funktioner är med under hela produktutvecklingsprocessen. / The competition in the market is getting far more resilient, hence, the customer perspective becomes an increasingly important success factor. The purpose of this report is, therefore, to investigate and immerse the understanding of how companies in the home appliance industry implement customer involvement in the different phases of the product development process. In addition, an understanding of how customer involvement will affect the company and how they use and spread the knowledge from these implementations will be created. The research questions were answered through an in-depth literature study to create a theoretical framework and therefore gain an understanding of prevailing theories and methods used in customer involvement. This was subsequently compared with a semi-structured interview study in which customer involvement in the home appliances industry was investigated. The respondents who participated in the interview study worked at Electrolux, an international company in the home appliance industry. The study shows that there are different opinions about customer involvement regarding the phases in which the consumer should be involved in the process and to what extent the integration should take place. The results of this research indicate that the methods used to integrate users in the product development process are mainly for informational purposes, to create an understanding and knowledge of the consumer's use of the product. This knowledge could later on can be used by the product developers. Involving consumers in the process was considered to have positive effects, however there were some difficulties that were important to take into account in order to achieve a desired and useful result. The study also shows that cross-functional teams could contribute to easier communication and information management since many different functions are involved throughout the product development process.

在全球化的趨勢下，產品的生命週期縮短、競爭也越來越激烈，各企業面對新產品的開發、新技術的發展及商業化速度的要求比以前更高。為了有效的開發新產品，為企業創造高額之利潤，強化企業競爭力，企業必須能夠在最短的時間內整合組織資源（例如行銷、研發與製造等核心能力），成為最有效率的公司。尤其，面對快速變化的動態環境之下，企業應以全球性的市場需求及標準，執行全球化的新產品開發流程與組織架構。 　　本研究從行銷與創新研發的整合，來探討新產品開發時有哪些成功關鍵因素，例如應該建立何種的流程與機制，可以快速有效的開發新產品，成功達到商品化的目的;行銷人員如何針對市場的需要，客戶的需求作市場調查，以確認、掌握機會；何種的組織創新平台，可以讓研發團隊能快速開發新產品，可以有效整合行銷與研發團隊，發揮組織之最大綜效。本研究主要在探討以下四項新產品開發時的重要問題，期望能提供給企業界一些具體之建議與做法。 　　1. 企業應採取何種新產品開發策略，才能快速有效的發展出新產品，並成功的商品化上市？ 　　2. 如何建立卓越的新產品開發流程，迅速成功的開發新產品？ 　　3. 新產品開發團隊中，行銷與研發團隊人員應如何有效整合？領導者如何發揮領導與溝通的角色？ 　　4. 哪些績效評估之機制與參考指標，可促進新產品開發之績效？ 　　本研究整理過去相關的新產品開發文獻與從四個個案之研究與分析中，可以從策略面、流程面、團隊領導溝通面與工具面，就新產品開發與行銷與研發之整合，發展出以下幾項之研究結論： 　　策略面： 　　1. 企業在規劃新產品開發策略時，應該採取新產品線與產品改良等同步進行的開發策略。 　　2. 為了加速新產品的開發，公司應同時採取內部自行研發與外部研發中心建立策略聯盟的合作方式。 　　流程面： 　　1. 明確的新產品開發流程，工作職掌分明，流程標準化，並以正式文件描述之，可以加速新產品開發的速度且成功地完成商品化與上市。 　　2. 完善的前置作業，作好初步市場調查與技術評估，可以提前完成新產品的定義，如此可以有助於新產品開發的成功。 　　3. 行銷人員提早介入、接觸市場，深入了解顧客之需求，將客戶的需求充分反映給專案小組，如此有助於新產品的開發成功。 　　4. 行銷人員與研發團隊應該更接近市場，以便能快速因應客戶的需求，迅速作回應，也可以提昇新產品開發的績效。 　　團隊領導溝通面： 　　1. 在高度不確定性、產品生命週期短的高科技產業裡，行銷與研發團隊的有效整合，對於新產品開發扮演重要的成功關鍵因素。 　　2. 跨功能團隊組織的建立及良好運作模式，可以快速因應市場與客戶需求，進而提高新產品與服務的品質。 　　3. 透過完善的溝通協調機制，可以有效解決團隊成員間的衝突。定期的會議，面對面會談，視訊會議，電話討論等都是很好的溝通機制。 　　4. 充份信任，授權的組織文化能夠讓新產品開發團隊成員發揮其最大潛能，也能提昇新產品開發績效。 　　5. 專案領導人的有效領導，激勵團隊成員充份發揮其潛能，產品成功率可以提昇。 　　6. 領導者彈性因應市場之需求，做好資源的有效分配與運用，並作好橫向溝通與協調，可以適時有效的發揮組織的功用，持續開發出新產品。 　　7. 領導者在團隊中，應該扮演教練的角色，也扮演守門員(Gate Keeper)之角色，協助團隊成員專注在重要的專案計劃，率先成功開發新產品。 　　8. 提供激發創意的環境與團隊氣氛，有助於新產品開發成功。 　　工具面： 　　1. 良好的績效評估制度與獎勵措施有助於行銷與研發的整合。 　　2. 明確而客觀的績效評估指標，例如，市場佔有率、產品獲利率、業績成長率，可以激勵團隊士氣，也有助於新產品開發成功。 　　3. 以網路系統、電子郵件作為知識分享、雙向溝通的工具。 / Under the trend of globalization, product’s life cycle turns shorter with severe level of competition. Thereby, the development in new product and technology as well as product commercialization are more important than ever for enterprises today. Only the ones with the capability to efficiently integrate resources in dynamic market are able to harvest remarkable profits and strengthen market competitiveness. Especially under the dynamic changing environments, enterprises should utilize the global market needs and standard as its foundation to execute new product developments and organization structure. 　　This thesis is to study the key success factors of new product development under the integration between marketing and research & development (R&D) teams. For example, what is the most effective process for new product development and commercialization? How to acquire business opportunity from accurate analysis of market demand? What kind of organizational platform enables R&D team to develop new product in timely manner? The thesis will focus on the following four questions of new product development, and is aimed to provide practical advices for enterprises in general. 　　1. What is the most effective strategy for new product development and commercialization? 　　2. How to establish distinct workstation for new product development? 　　3. How to effectively integrate marketing and R&D teams? What role should the leader play? 　　4. What kind of evaluation and reference enhance the performance of new product development? 　　With relevant documents and four case studies, the thesis concludes the research in four aspects, namely Strategy, Process, Leadership & Communication and Techniques. 　　Strategy Aspect: 　　1. New product development and reformation of existing product line should be undertaken simultaneously. 　　2. To expedite new product development, enterprise is recommended to form the strategic alliance between its own team and other R&D force externally. 　　Process Aspect: 　　1. Clear job description and standardized process accelerate new product development and leads to successful product launch and commercialization. 　　2. Impeccable marketing research and analysis allows enterprise to define new product’s market position at the initial stage. 　　3. Early study and approach of market demand and customer requirements enables the project team to penetrate the market precisely. 　　4. Both marketing and R&D teams should be familiar with market situation, providing timely services to meet customer’s needs. 　　Leadership & Communication Aspect: 　　1. Effective integration between marketing and R&D teams plays an important role for industries with dynamic environment, short product life cycle such as high-tech industry. 　　2. The development of cross functional teams and nice operation model at product development stage can proactively response to customer’s requirements and is able to improve the product and service quality 　　3. Periodical meetings and communication can effectively break conflicts among the teams. 　　4. Adequate trust and authorization allows team members to educe their potential for better performance. 　　5. Efficient leadership to inspire team members for the maximum potential and results is the key to the success of the new product development. 　　6. With good resource managements and horizontal communication & coordination, a flexible project leader could optimize its organizational function to continuously develop new products according to market demand. 　　7. A good leader acts as Coach as well as Gate Keeper to support team members to focus on the priority of new product development efficiently. 　　8. Providing innovative and harmonious working environments could expedite the success of the new product development. 　　Technique Aspect: 　　1. Fair performance appraisal and incentive policy enhance the integration of marketing and R&D teams. 　　2. The clear defined performance indicators such as market share, number of new projects, profit rate, sales growth rate are important to motivate the team members to dedicate on the project. 　　3. The web site, intranet, e- mail, e- learning are good tools for knowledge management and experience sharing that helps to a better communication and integration between marketing and R&D teams.

Work process knowledge (WPK) is a concept for systems-level knowledge of the workplace and has been shown to be most important in organisations requiring multi-functional working. Most of the previous body of knowledge on WPK has focussed mainly on manufacturing industries; there has been less investigation of WPK in the service sector and none in the visitor attraction (VA) industry, an important employer in Scotland. The VA industry is extremely dynamic and many businesses are rapidly moving towards multi-functional team working, driven by an urgent need to develop quality, customer-focussed strategies to survive in an over-supplied and very competitive market. This study identifies the nature of WPK in Scottish VAs, what relationship WPK has to customer service, how WPK in this service sector differs from selected published studies in manufacturing and other service sector contexts and what factors affect the development of WPK in VAs. Following recruitment of a number of VAs using an online questionnaire and subsequent site visits, six sites were selected for case study, on the basis that they demonstrated most evidence of multi-functional working and staff with developed WPK. The research design was comparative case studies of the work processes and knowledge within these six VAs, based on a social constructivist framework, using the methods of key informant interviews and shadowing. Although these six sites represent a cross-spread of attractions in terms of types, location and size, they nonetheless show strong similarities in their basic business structure. The data show that WPK is an essential element of workers’ roles and a vital requirement in providing good customer service. Although VA managers do not use the term ‘work process knowledge’, they nonetheless recognise the importance of having staff with a wider view of their business and are actively encouraging its rapid development. Multi-functionality and job rotation are main ways of developing WPK but sites also use key workers with job roles that help develop high levels of WPK, who are then used as a staff resource. The main factor contributing to the development of WPK is communication, especially of systems-level information. Cultural information-sharing is an essential pre-condition for the development of WPK in this context. Other determining factors are flexibility, employee biographies, seasonality issues, how weddings and functions are handled on-site and the size and complexity of the site. WPK is the foundation on which good customer service is based and elements of it deliver customer service. It is the closely integrated nature of the employee-customer relationship that has such a profound effect on WPK development in this service sector industry and is essentially what differentiates it from previously published studies. The identification of the customer as a hitherto unrecognised key driver of WPK is the most important contribution to knowledge made by this work.