Abstract In this research, we aim to look at the inner workings of Lead Generation and Add-on Sales through the eye of the people working directly with it. We do that with the objective of understanding what contributes positively to its success and what can cause problems or hinders it throughout all its stages from generating innovative ideas to implementing and selling them. We have chosen a qualitative method to conduct this study using an interpretive paradigm in performing our analysis of the findings. The data was collected by organizing interviews with participants that we selected in collaboration with Telco’s researchers. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded to form our primary data. In addition to that, we have used vast secondary data that was deemed to be relevant to the subject we were researching. After analyzing the results and findings, we look to answer the research questions, which concern the difficulties accompanying the innovative process between initiating an idea and implementing it as well as identifying the enablers and hindrances that arise during the operations of these innovative initiatives called Lead Generation and Add-on Sales. Once factors were identified, further analysis is performed to discuss if these factors are hindrances or enablers to the innovative initiatives at Telco. The frontline employees’ new business ideas (leads) or add-on sales are added as inputs to the ICT systems of this initiative and follow to subsequent phases until reach the commercialization phase in case they succeed, all the phases and processes occur through the ICT systems. In the context of this research, technology plays a key role and not only make the Lead Generation and Add-on sales processes viable but is also a factor that can either facilitate or impede potential leads or add-on sales to succeed. We put forward a model to better illustrate our findings and clarify the reasoning behind them. Despite the delimitations in terms of scope of this research, we believe that our findings and analysis can play a role in contributing to the understanding of factors that can be a barrier in the pursuit for innovation.

Acquisitions are common in today’s business and people involved in acquisitions face challenges when they become part of this process. This thesis aims to provide an understanding of the human factors that determine the outcome of acquisition integration. Various frameworks exist in the literature that focuses on human and task integration as measures for success. In addition to these, the author explores an additional aspect, customer integration, as an important measure to determine overall integration success. Execution is the key to successful acquisition integration. Employees of a technology company were surveyed to gauge their acquisition experiences over three past acquisitions. The survey was a limited targeted case study that focused on analytical value, rather than statistical value. The survey data is analyzed and aligned with the literature data to identify some possible best practices the technology company could follow in future acquisitions. The survey results are used to establish the implications for the company’s acquisition process and to help the development of a playbook for acquisition integration. / text

The purpose of this thesis is to explain the linkage between logistics and customer value. The focus is on how customer value can be created through logistics services. The thesis also explains how value is created in the internal logistics context. Today, logistics plays an important role in an organization which indirectly contributes to growth and profitability. Logistics service providers are striving to provide outstanding logistics services to their customers. This thesis seeks to identify the elements of logistics services and attempts to analyze and evaluate whether these services can create value to internal customers. The research project is conducted as a single-case study with Electrolux Laundry Systems (ELS). This study aims at explaining the linkage between the Logistics Centre in Ljungby (LCL), the logistics service provider of the company and the value LCL can create for their customers (internal), the Sales Companies. Finding the gap between the perceptions and expectations of the customers is also another objective of this study. Based on the theoretical framework developed for the purpose of explaining the above linkage, a survey with questionnaires was designed to collect empirical data for analysis. 23 respondents from LCL and 4 Sales Companies were interviewed. The key conclusion of this study is that logistics plays a strategic role in an organization when customer value is created through customer accommodation, value co-creation and customer integration. Superior logistics services generate customer value through achieving efficiency, effectiveness and differentiation/relevancy which can lead to competitive advantage for the organization. As a result of the case study, a proposition is made: “If customer value is to be achieved, then customer success has to be attained.”

Customer-centric business approaches have been theorized over the last decades (Sheth, Sisodia and Sharma, 2000; Sheth, Sethia and Srinivas, 2011; Rajagopal, 2020). However, the active usage of customer input for a successful product portfolio strategy is widespread but not yet fully implemented (Cooper, Edgett and Kleinschmidt, 2002). The co-creation aspects of having two equal partners in performing the product portfolio structuring task is a key issue for managers (Rajagopal, 2020). The aim is to find how customer input can be used as an important influencing factor for the product portfolio strategy. This aim is achieved through an analysis of the most commonly used influencing factors and the expert's assessment of information gathering procedures and their categorisation, supported by the Edvardsson et al. (2012) framework. Furthermore, a framework by Voss (2012) is examined regarding customer integration into project portfolio management to investigated possible additions. As an appropriate method, an exploratory approach with a single case study and semi-structured interviews of experts of the field is selected. The primary data of this case study is compared with a structured literature review, which consists of the latest theories on customer integration into the product portfolio strategy. Four major results are found. First, product portfolio strategy is mainly driven by financial input and not yet by customer input. Second, customer input should be collected through multiple channels. Thirdly, customer input is assessed as being a useful factor for the product portfolio strategy. Fourths the execution of input gathering is currently performed more towards past performances than for future-oriented input as needs and wishes for the product portfolio structuring. Finally, managerial implications with a method is provided for the collection, storage, analysis and distribution of customer input. In conclusion, the implementation fidelity of the future related customer input is not yet performed but desired. The approach of input collection from customers is considered to be valuable, however a suitable method is needed. Furthermore, two new connections can be made for the structuring phase of Voss’s framework and avenues for future research of the customer input integration are presented. / Över de senaste årtiondena har det teoretiserats kring affärmodeller koncentrerade kring konsumenterna (Sheth, Sisodia och Sharma, 2000; Sheth, Sethia och Srinivas, 2011; Rajagopal, 2020). Idèn att använda konsumenternas åsikter för att utveckla strategier kring sortimentet är välkänd, men ännu inte helt implementerad (Cooper, Edgett and Kleinschmidt, 2002). Frågorna kring hur två affärspartners tillsammans ska strukturera sina sortiment är av stor vikt för chefer (Rajagopal, 2020). Målet är att undersöka hur konsumenternas feedback kan användas för att påverka strategin avseende sortimentet. Detta uppnås genom en analys av de vanligaste fallen där kunderna påverkat strategin, samt utlåtanden från experter om insamling av information. Vidare undersöks ett ramverk från Voss (2012) vars syfte är att involvera kunderna i utformningen av sortimentet. En fallstudie samt öppna intervjufrågor till experter inom ämnet lade grunden till detta. Den viktigaste datan från studien jämfördes med aktuella teorier kring integration av kunder i utvecklingen av sortimentet. Resultatet visade framför allt fyra tydliga samband. Det första var att strategier kring sortiment framför allt drivs av finansiella faktorer, och inte konsumentkritik. Det andra var att feedback från kunderna borde samlas in från flera olika kanaler. Det tredje var att kundernas kritik värderades högt i utformningen av sortimentet, och det fjärde var att insamlingen av kritik från kunderna ofta fokuserar på utvärdering av tidigare sortiment, istället för att ta in önskemål från kunder om ändringar av sortimentet. Slutligen tillhandahålls en metod för insamling, förvaring, analys och distribution av kundernas kritik. Sammanfattningsvis är exaktheten för insamling av framtidsorienterad kritik ännu inte bra nog, men värderad högt. Att jobba tillsammans med kunderna anses mer värdefullt, speciellt när en lämplig metod är tillgänglig. Dessutom kan två nya kopplingar göras för strukturen i Voss's ramverk, och tillvägagångssätt för framtida forskning på konsumentkritik presenteras.

We test our hypotheses on 186 participants designing their own scarves with an MC toolkit. After completing the process, they submitted binding bids for "their" products in Vickrey auctions. We therefore observe real buying behavior, not merely stated intentions. We find that the subjective value of a self-designed product (i.e., one's bid in the course of the auction) is indeed not only impacted by the preference fit the customer expects it to deliver, but also by (1) the process enjoyment the customer reports, (2) the interaction of preference fit and process enjoyment, and (3) the interaction of preference fit and perceived process effort. In addition to its main effect, we interpret preference fit as a moderator of the valuegenerating effect of process evaluation: In cases where the outcome of the process is perceived as positive (high preference fit), the customer also interprets process effort as a positive accomplishment, and this positive affect adds (further) value to the product. It appears that the perception of the self-design process as a good or bad experience is partly constructed on the basis of the outcome of the process. In the opposite case (low preference fit), effort creates a negative affect which further reduces the subjective value of the product. Likewise, process enjoyment is amplified by preference fit, although enjoyment also has a significant main effect, which means that regardless of the outcome, customers attribute higher value to a self-designed product if they enjoy the process. The importance of the self-design process found in this study bears clear relevance for companies which offer or plan to offer MC systems. It is not sufficient to design MC toolkits in such a way that they allow customers to design products according to their preferences. The affect caused by this process is also highly important. Toolkits should therefore stimulate positive affective reactions and at the same time keep negative affect to a minimum. (authors' abstract)

For a retailer, who has a close and everyday contact with its customers, understanding the customers can be of benefit if they know how to use the information in the right way. One way of using the customer is to integrate customers when developing new services, to enhance the possibility of the new service gaining market acceptance. Customer insight, Omnichannel retailing and Big Data are areas that recently have caught the interest of retailers. The latter two are of interest as these provide retailers with better possibilities of gaining customer insight, by taking the opportunities to observe the customers’ virtual footsteps to a whole new level. This thesis is a study made with the market research company Nepa as employer of the thesis, in order to develop their B2B offer with end-customer integration. Why and how customers are integrated were further studied through the frame of reference. The factors that were chosen to describe from a theoretical standpoint how customers can be integrated were type of integration, role of the customer, type of customer and timing of the integration. The underlying factors that were chosen to answer why retailers choose different alternatives among the above mentioned factors were market orientation, service/goods dominant logic, environmental uncertainty and market maturity. The study was made with a qualitative, positivistic approach using a collective case study. The case study is a good way to be able to answer both how and why-questions and was therefore chosen as method. By investigating multiple cases and performing a cross case analysis the authors were able to draw more generalizable conclusions. Five retailers took part in the study and for each of these a developed service was chosen as case for investigation. By doing low structured interviews using a method called story-telling, the authors let the respondents from each company speak freely about the chosen case, and that information could then be analyzed. The conclusions of the study concern the different ways retailers choose to integrate customers and the reasons they do it in different ways. A company’s market orientation affects if and what type of customer integration is used in the idea-generating phases. The degree of market orientation also affects the amount of occasions and what type of customer integration is used in the execution-oriented phases. Retailers’ turbulent technology environment has influenced their general perception of risk and the risk of unacceptance with the specific project. This results in that a company can initially integrate customers proactively to let them guide the company or the company can consider customer integration to be secondary. Retailers generally are guided by a goods dominant logic which leads to them not choosing to integrate the customers in active roles in the innovation process. Instead, the retailers combine different integration techniques to gain some of the advantages that active customer could have brought. This is also connected to the retailers wanting to get quickly through the early phases of the process and instead use agile development after the launch of the service. The retailers do not choose different types of customers for integration, but the combination of integration techniques can still provide them with some of the characteristics of the more knowledgeable customer.

Forskning visar på betydande fördelar för företag som involverar sina kunder i de värdeskapande processerna, och som tar tillvara på sina anställdas kreativitet och kunskap. Tyvärr så misslyckas många företag med detta. Franchiseformatet har ökat i popularitet, och formatets styrkor bygger på den ömsesidiga delningen av kunskap som sker mellan franchisor och franchisetagare. Relationen till franchisetagaren är mångsidig. Franchisetagaren är en kund i värdekedjan, men kan även betraktas som en medarbetare i det hänseende att man representerar varumärket utåt och har närmast kontakt med slutkonsumenten. Litteraturen argumenterar för att franchisetagare bör betraktas som samskapare av värde, snarare än passiva operanda resurser. På det svenska franchiseföretaget ICA fanns en önskan om att ta reda på mer om hur kommunikationen i företaget ser ut mellan centralorganisationen och butiksägarna, de så kallade handlarna i frågor som rör innovations- eller produktutvecklingsprocessen. De önskade också en rekommendation på hur kommunikationen kan utvecklas för framtiden. Därför genomfördes en empirisk studie på de två avdelningarna med öppna och semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Kartläggningen av de befintliga kanalerna visar på att kommunikationen idag saknar en ordentlig struktur och att ICA saknar ett utvecklat digitalt system för att kunna föra en öppen dialog och dela kunskap mellan ICA centralt och franchisetagarna. Studien visar också på fördelar som en större inkludering skulle innebära. För framtida kommunikation önskade de anställda kanaler för både allmän kommunikation men också möjligheter för en mer exklusiv dialog med utvalda franchisetagare. Studien rekommenderar ICA ett nytt synsätt på frågor om involvering, transparens och dialog med franchisetagare. Studien föreslår även ett antal konkreta verktyg som tar hänsyn till de önskemål, krav och förutsättningar som identifierats  hos de anställda. / Research suggests several benefits for companies that choose to include their customers in the product development process. It also reveals that making use of the employees’ creativity and knowledge is essential to become successful in the market. Unfortunately, many companies fail to do so. The format of franchising has increased in popularity. The strengths of the format are built on the sharing of knowledge between the franchisor and the franchisees.  The franchisees can be seen as customers who purchase the products, but also as an employee since they represent the company and have direct access to information about the end consumer’s situation and needs. Therefore, the franchisors should start to view their franchisees as co-creators of value and integrators of resources. The Swedish franchise network ICA wish to find out more about what the communication between the franchisor and franchisee looks like today, concerning questions relating to the innovation or product development process. They also wish for a recommendation on how this can be improved in the future. An empirical study was therefore conducted at the two departments, with open and semi structured interviews. The mapping of the existing communication channels showed that the communication lacked a proper structure and that ICA lacks a developed digital system in order to maintain an open dialogue and share knowledge between ICA centrally and the franchisees. It also showed that a greater inclusion would result in several benefits. For future communication, the employees wanted channels for both general communication with the network as a whole, as well as opportunities for a more exclusive dialogue with selected franchisees. The study recommends a new approach to integration, transparency and dialogue with franchisees for ICA. The study also proposes a number of concrete tools that takes into account the wishes, requirements and conditions identified by the employees.

Der systematische Umgang mit Unsicherheiten, die in Form von Wissens- und Definitionslücken vorliegen, stellt eine zentrale Aktivität der Produktentwicklung dar. Im Zuge der Zielsystementwicklung liegen Unsicherheiten insbesondere in Form von aus Kunden- und Anwendersicht nichtzutreffender und fehlender oder unvollständiger Ziele und Anforderungen vor. Um bei der Konkretisierung des initialen Zielsystems dahingehend zu unterstützen, wurde eine Methode abgeleitet, welche die systematische Integration von Kunden und Anwendern in die Erhebung von Zielsystemelementen adressiert. Dabei formulieren Kunden und Anwender gemeinsam mit Produktentwicklern Ziele für das zu entwickelnde Produkt. Um dies zu unterstützen, werden die Ziele in Form von Satzschablonen formuliert, um die Vollständigkeit der Ziele zu gewährleisten. Weiter kann durch den Aufbau der Satzschablone sichergestellt werden, dass die Begründung in Form des Kunden- oder Anwendernutzens dokumentiert ist. Zusätzlich wurde ein Portfolio abgeleitet, welches die Ziele entsprechend der Zielgruppe und des relevanten Use-Cases strukturiert und damit fehlende Ziele darlegt. Im Rahmen einer Evaluation konnte gezeigt werden, dass durch die Anwendung der Methode in einem Entwicklungsprojekt von Hekatron Brandschutz die Vollständigkeit des Zielsystems gesteigert und die vorliegende Unsicherheit reduziert werden konnte.

Background: The needs of the consumers seem to develop at the same rate as the technology advancements and put more pressure on firms to produce new and innovative products at a faster pace. Research has shown that external sources can have a significant effect on the firms’ innovation performance, but the results are partial contradicting and more research is needed. Purpose: Investigate customer and supplier involvement in product innovation in Swedish manufacturing firms. Delimitations: The study was carried out to manufacturing firms in Sweden, as Swedish firms are the most innovative in Europe at this point in time. Only large and medium sized firms were under investigation as larger firms are more eager to innovate than smaller firms. Method: The research had a deductive quantitative approach. The data was collected through a questionnaire sent out by e-mail and 124 firms participated in the study. After assessing validity and reliability, the hypotheses were tested by multiple and single regression analysis. Conclusions: Firms that strives to improve their new product development process should seize their customer’s knowledge and use it to co-develop new products. Another important factor was to use lead users, as these will improve the innovativeness even more than “ordinary” customers. The study found no support for early supplier integration in the new product development process.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:50:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3243.pdf: 2770731 bytes, checksum: fecc6d83d7363e524492e52317c73556 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-07 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Understanding customer needs is considered, in the literature of management product development process, one of the major critical success factors of a new product. However, current researches highlight those traditional methods for lifting these needs show deficiency, especially those latent needs. It has emerged, therefore, theories that seek to improve this situation as: product development focused on the client, principles of ethnography applied to product development process and user innovation. In the latter, the client is considered as having skills not only of knowledge about market needs, but also with technological domain by experience in product use and ability to generate ideas and new applications for new products. Based on these precedings the research proposal on the integration of customers in product development process appeared. This thesis aims at proposing a process for managing the customer‟s integration in the product development process in companies of capital goods. The subsidies for elaborating the proposal derived from a literature review and field research, which included case studies in five companies. The process for the customer integration is composed of three macrophases and six phases. Each phase involves activities, specific tasks and use of techniques and tools to support realization of activities. The macrophase of Customer Integration on Pre-Development involves the phases: Prospection of customer needs and/ or market opportunities, selection of clients for the Pre-Development and integration of customers on idea generation and/ or business opportunities. The macrophase of Customer Integration on Development involves the stages: Selection of clients for his integration in the product development and Customer Integration in the product development. The macrophase of Customer Integration on the Post-Development has as phase the evaluation of the customers integration in the product development. The results of the thesis contribute to both the theoretical knowledge on the subject and the practice of companies. From the theoretical point of view, the proposed process brings together content from various subject areas, analyzes and synthesizes, following the guiding principle of customers integration in product development process. From a practical standpoint, the proposed process assists in the organization and operationalization of customers integration activities, particularly in capital goods companies. / Compreender as necessidades dos clientes é considerado, na bibliografia de gestão do processo de desenvolvimento de produto, um dos principais fatores críticos de sucesso de um novo produto. Entretanto, pesquisas atuais consideram que métodos tradicionais para levantamento dessas necessidades mostram deficiência, principalmente quando são necessidades latentes. Surgiram, assim, teorias que buscam melhorar essa realidade como: desenvolvimento de produto centrado no cliente, princípios de etnografia aplicada ao processo de desenvolvimento de produto e inovação de produto pelo cliente. Ainda, nesta última teoria, considera-se o cliente como tendo competências não somente de conhecimento sobre necessidades do mercado, mas também, com domínio tecnológico pela experiência de uso do produto e habilidades para gerar ideias e aplicações para novos produtos. Com esses antecedentes surgiu a proposta de pesquisa sobre a integração de clientes no processo de desenvolvimento de produto. Esta tese tem por objetivo propor um processo para gerenciar a integração de clientes no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos em empresas de bens de capital. Os subsídios para a elaboração da proposta são decorrentes da revisão bibliográfica e da pesquisa de campo que contemplou estudo de casos em cinco empresas do setor. O processo de integração de clientes é composto de três macrofases e seis fases. Cada fase envolve atividades, tarefas específicas e o uso de técnicas e ferramentas de apoio à execução das atividades. A macrofase Integração de clientes no Pré-Desenvolvimento envolve as fases: Prospecção de clientes com necessidades e/ou oportunidades de mercado, Seleção de clientes para o Pré-Desenvolvimento e Integração de clientes na geração de ideias e/ou oportunidades de negócio. A macrofase Integração de clientes no Desenvolvimento envolve as fases: Seleção de clientes para integração no desenvolvimento do produto e Integração de clientes no desenvolvimento do produto. A macrofase Integração de clientes no Pós-Desenvolvimento tem como fase a avaliação da integração de clientes no desenvolvimento do produto. Os resultados da Tese contribuem tanto para o conhecimento teórico sobre o tema quanto para a prática das empresas. Do ponto de vista teórico, o processo proposto agrupa conteúdos de várias áreas do conhecimento, analisa e relaciona-os seguindo a diretriz principal de integração de clientes no processo de desenvolvimento de produto. Do ponto de vista prático, o processo proposto auxilia na organização e na operacionalização de atividades de integração de clientes, especificamente em empresas de bens de capital.