Magister Legum - LLM / The South African apartheid regime brought about many injustices. These injustices were mostly directed at people of colour, women and people with disabilities. People with disabilities were neglected, discriminated against and largely marginalised.1 A person is considered as having a disability in terms of the Code of Good Practice on the Key Aspects on the Employment of Persons with Disabilities,2 if they have a physical or mental impairment, which is a long term or recurring impairment and which significantly limits their prospects of entry into or any advancement within the workplace.

This study investigates whether balanced forms of organizational cultures moderate the effects of potential and realized absorptive capacities (ACs) to simultaneously generate exploratory and exploitative innovations. Using empirical survey data collected from 138 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we applied partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) combined with mediation and moderation analyses to test our hypotheses. Our results show that the effects of potential AC on organizations' exploratory and exploitative innovations are fully mediated by the organizations' realized AC. The positive effects of realized AC on innovation are contingent on the overall cultural balance of the organization, which, however, does not affect the strong link between potential AC and realized AC. We thus provide novel empirical insights into the multi-dimensional nature of AC and the importance of cultural equilibrium for both exploratory and exploitative innovation, which is of particular importance for ambidextrous SMEs facing dynamic markets.

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Manufacturing companies are facing many challenges with globalisation, changing customer demands and technology development. In order to stay competitive, manufacturing companies have to constantly develop their processes and products, and at the same time generating innovations to meet future demands. This increasing demand for development is shifting the generation of innovations from single units to collaboration within the whole organisation. Technology roadmap is a strategic management tool to help organisations map the future and identify potential products and technology, determining needed resource allocations to meet future demands. Research regarding Technology roadmaps has previously been associated with exploratory innovations and development, not mentioning or discussing the use of it for exploitative development. This study will investigate Technology roadmaps for exploitative development, based on a single case study in a large high technology manufacturing company.  The results shows that manufacturing units have troubles with deciding appropriate detailed level in the map, and the purpose for exploitative development to illustrating what needs to be done in order to meet future demands, rather on aligning product development with long term business strategy that is associated with exploratory development. The findings from this study put the theoretical implications for Technology roadmap in a new categorization of Exploitative development and the need of research regarding different hierarchical roadmaps within an organisation. Practical implications from the study are highlighting challenges and purposes for exploitative development units to adapt and use technology roadmaps, and that there are major differences between exploratory development and exploitative development with designing and purpose of the technology roadmap.

In this highly competitive environment, innovation seems to be the inevitable challenge to every company. The employees within the companies have become the key point for the companies to be innovative. So how do these companies use human resource management practices to promote innovation capabilities? In this thesis, the study will explore the relationship between human resource management practices and innovation capabilities and as well as the relationship between innovation capabilities and organizational performance. In addition, the business strategy as the moderator is also discussed. This thesis is conducted through opinion survey. This study gathered 86 valid questionnaires replied by the directors of research and development department in each company and the findings of this thesis can be summarized as follows: 1.Training and teamwork impact the exploratory innovation positively. 2.Recruitment, career system and employee participation impact the exploratory innovation positively. 3.Performance reward impacts the exploitative innovation positively. Performance appraisal does not have evident impact on exploitative innovation. 4.Recruitment, career system and employee participation impact the exploitative innovation positively. 5.Exploratory and exploitative innovations impact the organizational performance positively. 6.Business strategy does not have evident moderating effect.

<div>Invisibility is an abstract concept captured in film, literature, and social science. It is often desired as a superpower and in fiction portrayed as something that allows self-serving behaviors otherwise prevented by visibility. However, as a social construct used to describe marginalized individuals, it is regarded as largely distressing and disadvantageous. Key to these two opposing conceptualizations is the temporariness or permanence of the invisibility—if temporary and under the control of the individual, it serves the individual’s needs and desires; if permanent, it strips the individual of a sense of meaning and worthiness. The present studies examine invisibility from both perspectives. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate the desirable aspects of temporary invisibility, but also show that people are less enamored with possessing invisibility when its occurrence is permanent or not under the control of the individual. In Study 3, employing a 3-person video telephony paradigm, I test the impact of ostracism—being ignored and excluded—for one of two motives: role prescribed, in which individuals’ roles encourage their social invisibility, and oblivious, in which status differentials render those with lower status invisible. The results show that whereas obliviously ostracized individuals take advantage of their invisibility to prematurely begin a questionnaire, they also show higher levels of personal distress. These results indicate that being unnoticed may have negative psychological impact on individuals while also affording them the opportunity to engage in self-serving, yet possibly socially undesirable, behaviors. </div>

The impact that economic crises have on firms is profound. Such events affect the extent to which firms invest in innovation. This exploratory study aims to investigate to what extentfirms emphasize exploratory and exploitative innovation as a result of economic crises. The study further aims to examine the presence of a rigid or risk-seeking response, in terms of innovation, as a result of the crisis. Through analysis of the contents of the CEOs’ letters to theshareholders, I captured the firms’ emphasis on exploratory and exploitative innovation in a sample of 14 large Swedish firms, three years before and after the crisis and examined the presence of a rigid or risk-seeking response, by comparing both periods. The findings indicate a short-term rigid response as well as no indication of a risk-seeking response. The study contributes to the body of knowledge about how economic crises impact the firms’ emphasis on investing in innovation, a field lacking a consensus among authors.

Background The growth of global e-commerce along with technology and information adoption has driven the international expansions of retail firms. Even though e-commerce companies (ECCs) are changing the way businesses operate and generally have fewer physical barriers to new markets, they still face numerous challenges while internationalizing. Dynamic capabilities are found to have an impact on the internationalization process of ECCs, where exploitative and explorative dynamic capabilities will be the focus of this study. This topic is particularly relevant for the fashion industry since the industry has the characteristics of being highly dynamic, global and complex. Therefore, this paper will focus on the internationalization process of ECCs in the fashion industry. Purpose Due to limited research regarding the internationalization process of ECCs, the purpose of this study is to seek a deeper understanding concerning the internationalization process of fashion ECCs. In particular, in what way exploitative and explorative dynamic capabilities affect the internationalization process of fashion ECCs and how they use these capabilities. Method This is a qualitative study with an abductive research approach. Furthermore, the empirical data was collected from semi-structured in-depth interviews with six international fashion ECCs. Conclusion One main conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that all the ECCs use both exploitative and explorative dynamic capabilities in their internationalization, and hence, ambidexterity is achieved. Moreover, language, logistics and payment method are three major factors used in both activities and could be an explanation for how fashion ECCs use their exploitative and explorative dynamic capabilities when internationalizing.

Quality and innovation are central elements in a successful business, where organizations are not solely looking to satisfy existing customers with high quality but to create novel solutions for future customers as well. As a result, addressing both concepts are vital for sustaining business longterm, which has led to a conflict regarding where companies should allocate their efforts. This study analyzed a global manufacturing company’s complaints management (CM) process, where quality and innovation were addressed with the study questions: How can the CM process be improved to reduce recurring complaints? and How can the CM process be improved to foster innovation?. To answer these, a qualitative approach was used in forms of unstructured and semi-structured interviews as well as quality management &amp; control tools. The variables analyzed were partly constructed from the extensive literature review and partly from the employees involved with the CM process. The results showcased negligence towards the CM process, where process description and governance as well as knowledge management were lacking. Practical implications of the study indicates that if the CM process receives more focus in regards to the mentioned factors, the quality and its ability to foster innovation as well innovation will be improved. Theoretical implications of the study indicates a misalignment between the perception of the CM process and the actions of the company. Employees found it essential to the company’s strategy whereas the process, despite this received attention. These implications are limited to large manufacturing companies and in order to generalize the results, further research is required.