Background: Medical device companies must consider different laws and regulations when developing new products. Not just laws and regulations put on themselves, but also laws and regulations put on the market, including the public sector. New product development consists of what is known as the fuzzy front end (FFE) of innovation, where companies must make ill-defined decisions with limited information. Problem formulation: There is a vast number of studies within the FFE of innovation, many of which focus on what causes the fuzziness, namely uncertainty, complexity and equivocality. There are, however, limited studies focusing on the FFE within the medical device industry, emphasising the public sector. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the FFE of innovation within the Swedish medical device industry, where the public sector is prominent. The aim is also to highlight industry-specific aspects of the whole FFE for medical device companies to consider when commercialising their products to the public sector, which is arguably an even fuzzier market. Method: To be able to answer the research question, this thesis is built upon a qualitative, multiple case study with an abductive approach to theory development. Five interviews were conducted with four different companies within the medical device industry in Sweden., and two interviews were conducted with two different county councils in Sweden. Findings: The main findings of this thesis are that the public sector creates higher amounts of uncertainty and complexity within the medical device industry. Thus, the FFE of innovation is industry-specific and also depends on what type of product is being developed. Equivocality as well is found to have other dimensions within FFE in the Swedish medical device industry. Conclusion: Many aspects of the FFE of innovation from previous studies exist in the medical device industry in Sweden, but the FFE seem to contain higher amounts of each cause of fuzziness.

Several researchers talk about how the greatest source of competitive advantage is a firm's capability to be innovative, and it is a fact that economic growth is built upon innovations and ideas. Ideas belong to the early activities of innovation processes, which can be defined as he front end of innovation (FEI). FEI has clearly been stated to be crucial for the innovative performance of firms, but yet an area which many companies often lack of handling in a structured way. What need to be considered for a successful FEI has laid the foundation of this thesis. The aim with the thesis is to investigate what are key success factors and common pitfalls for processes and activities within the FEI, and how these can be handled by management. The thesis is also investigating how ideas and innovations can be measured in order to take the right decisions for different types of ideas by a suitable level of decision-makers. The thesis was carried out as a case study at Construction Tools division at Atlas Copco who had expressed the same demand as many companies appear to struggle with: a structured FEI. The goal with the thesis is therefore to propose recommendations towards a successful FEI, including structures, methods, and tools for the case company. In order to do so, twelve semistructured qualitative interviews with internal employees followed by ten semi-structured qualitative interviews with external companies in different industries and sizes were conducted. Along with the case study, a literature study was also performed. The collected data were analyzed and benchmarked towards the literature and the research questions, which resulted in several conclusions which are both general as well as organizational specific for the case company. These are amongst others: a structured innovation portfolio management including clear budget allocation and innovation strategy; enabling a creative culture; separating staff for conducting work regarding disruptive ideas; involvement by top management in the development of ideas. / Flertalet forskare pekar på att bland det viktigaste för ett företag att vara konkurrenskraftig handlar om deras förmåga att vara innovativa. Idéer hör till de tidigaste aktiviteterna i innovationsprocessen, vilket kan definieras som förutveckling som har visat sig vara tydligt avgörande för företagens innovativa prestanda. Vilka faktorer som företag måste överväga för en framgångsrik förutveckling har lagt grunden för detta arbete. Syftet med projektet är att undersöka vilka framgångsfaktorer och vanliga fallgropar som förekommer i det tidigaste skedet i produktutvecklingen och dess tillhörande aktiviteter, samt hur dessa kan hanteras och påverkas av chefer. Projektet undersöker också hur idéer och innovationer kan mätas för att beslutsfattare ska kunna fatta rätt beslut kring olika typer av idéer. Projektet genomfördes som en fördjupad fallstudie hos Construction Tools divisionen på Atlas Copco som uttryckt samma problem som identifierats hos andra företag: bristen av en strukturerad förutvecklingsprocess. Målet med projektet är därför att föreslå rekommendationer till en framgångsrik förutveckling som inkluderar strukturer, metoder och verktyg för uppdragsgivarna. För att möjliggöra detta genomfördes tolv halvstrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med interna medarbetare på uppdragsföretaget, följt av tio halvstrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med externa företag i olika branscher och av olika storlek. Kombinerat med fallstudien genomfördes också en litteraturstudie. Den insamlade datan från intervjuerna analyserades och jämfördes mot litteraturen och forskningsfrågorna, vilket resulterade i flertalet slutsatser som både är generella samt organisatoriskt specifika för uppdragsgivarna. Dessa innefattar bland annat vikten av en strukturerad innovation- och produktportfölj, innehållande en tydlig budgetallokering och innovationsstrategi; möjliggörandet av en kreativ kultur; att separera personer för att enbart arbeta med disruptiva och radikala idéer; aktivt deltagande av ledande befattningshavare vid idéutveckling.

Den tidiga fasen av företags innovationsprocess har fått stor uppmärksamhet i modern akademisk forskning. Det diskuteras hur man strukturerar denna fas kallad “fuzzy front end” kopplat till innovation och även ett koncept som allmänt kallas “öppen innovation” har introducerats - involvering av tredje parts individer i utvecklingsprocessen. Detta examensarbete fokuserar huvudsakligen på öppen innovation genom olika event för att främja innovationsarbete såsom: workshops, hackathons, idea jams och andra typer av sammanhang som inkluderar både externa deltagare och experter samt anställda och partners inom organisationer. Genom att designa, vara värd för, övervaka samt utvärdera ett hackathon för innovation som heter LiveHacks, samlar detta examensarbete relevant information för att förstå motiven för företag såväl som individer att delta i ett sådant sammanhang. Slutligen bedöms i detta examensarbete hur man kan organisera framgångsrika öppen innovations-eventsåsom hackathons. Dessutom har en generaliserad mall som tredje part skall kunna ta efter utvecklats. / The front end of a corporate’s innovation process has caught much attention in contemporary academic research. Efforts discuss how to structure the “fuzzy frontend of innovation” and introduce a concept widely known as “open source” – the involvement of third party individuals to the development process. This Masters thesis specifically focuses on open innovation through the medium of event-based innovation facilitation; e.g through workshops, hackathons, idea jams and other events that include both external users and experts as well as employees or partners within organizations. By designing, hosting, monitoring and evaluating an innovation event called “LiveHacks”, this thesis collects relevant data to understand both, the motives of corporations as well as of individuals to participate in open innovation events. Finally, this thesis assesses how to host successful open innovation events and develops a generalized template for third party adoption.

À mesure que les entreprises grandissent, elles deviennent moins flexibles. Leurs processus réglés permettent le développement de produits de haute qualité basés sur les produits existants. En contrepartie, ces processus limitent l'introduction de nouveauté et limitent donc le potentiel d'innovations radicales. Par définition, une innovation radicale introduit une évolution majeure dans un système existant ou remet en cause les codes qui y sont établis. Mais, la culture des processus réglés au cœur des entreprises matures limite cette possibilité. Pourtant, dans un contexte d'innovation radicale, les entreprises doivent avoir la possibilité de rechercher, expérimenter et sélectionner de nouvelles idées parallèlement aux processus standards, et de les mettre en œuvre dans des conditions très différentes. Notre étude de cas se déroule dans le cadre d'une entreprise mature dont l’activité est régie par des processus réglés. Centenaire, notre entreprise pilote veut relever deux grands défis pour assurer sa prospérité : répondre aux enjeux économiques et aux enjeux sociaux. Les enjeux économiques de la société consistent à développer des innovations radicales afin d’assurer sa pérennité et son développement. Les enjeux sociaux consistent à utiliser des méthodes de travail modernes pour satisfaire les salariés, en attirer de nouveaux et permettre la valorisation de la totalité de leurs compétences. Notre étude de la littérature nous a conduit à proposer un nouveau modèle : le modèle UX-FFE (User eXperience Fuzzy Front Ends). Mis en œuvre dans notre entreprise pilote, il propose une réponse à cet objectif central. En effet, il associe les approches User eXperience (UX) et Fuzzy Front-End (FFE) pour prendre en compte, d’une part, l’aspect social en s’intéressant à l’expérience que vivent les salariés qui innovent et, d’autre part, l’aspect économique en s’assurant que ce modèle permet de créer et valider des concepts d'innovation radicale. / As companies grow, they become less flexible. Regulated processes allow the development of high quality products on existing products. In return, these processes limit the introduction of novelty and limit the potential for radical innovations. In definition, a radical innovation introduces a major increase in a existing system or calls into question the codes that are established. But, the culture of processes set at the heart of the mature companies limits this possibility. Yet, in the context of radical innovation, companies must have the opportunity to research, experiment new ideas in parallel of the standard processes, and implement them under very different conditions. Our case study concerns a mature company whose business is governed by regulated processes. Centennial, our pilot company want to treat two great challenges to safe future: economic and social. The economic stakes of our pilot company are to develop radical innovations to ensure its sustainability and development. Social issues involve using modern work methods to satisfy employees, to attract new employees and to make the most of their skills. Our study of literature enables us to create a new model: the UX-FFE model (Front User Fuzzy Front Ends). Implemented in our pilot company, it proposes a response to this central objective. Indeed, it combines the User Experience (UX) and Fuzzy Front-End (FFE) approaches to take into account the social aspect by caring about the experience salaries experiments when they innovate and others by ensuring that this model allows for the creation and validation of radical innovation concepts.

Background: It is argued that most of the new product do not fail in the end but it fails in the beginning of the innovation. Managing front end of NPD, is the most important and difficult challenges facing the innovation managers. Effectively promoting front end activities can contribute directly to the success of the new product. So, integrating market-based partners (suppliers and customers) in the front-end phase enhances the quantity and quality of ideas. Problem discussion: Authors have suggested the involvement of market-based partners as early as possible in the NPD process will reduce the fuzziness in front end phase. The collaboration process with market-based partners implies that combining the idiosyncratic resources in unique ways, firms would relish greater innovation success. But this process of integration or collaboration with market-based partners are not that easy as it entails different appropriation and coordination concerns. Majority of the literature is concentrated on integrating market-based partners in the back-end activities of NPD, leaving a bit of void in the front-end phase of NPD. Method: The methodological choice of this thesis follows an exploratory study to seek new insights into an existing subject. The thesis is a following a deductive approach and is qualitative in the research choice. Purpose: To provide insights on integrating market-based partners in the front-end phase of new product development where the information is scattered around. This thesis identifies a structure that facilitates the integration of market-based partners in the fuzzy front end of NPD to mitigate the appropriation concerns and challenges.

Abstract Applying the principles of user-centered development (UCD) in software development practice is not straightforward. In technology-push type software product development it is not clear how to match the new product innovation to the future needs of potential future users. Intensive collaboration between different organizational functions becomes essential. UCD provides valuable tools and practices as learning mechanisms both for users and for the company. The purpose of cross-functional interaction is to iteratively define the best possible market for the emerging new product. This study investigates cross-functional interaction during the early phases of a new software product. The roots of UCD are in traditional software engineering (SE). However, in a software product company it is necessary to take a broader new product development (NPD) perspective. The results indicate that the early phases of software NPD are actually a collaborative learning process in which representations of the new product are built iteratively, increasing multidisciplinary knowledge related to the evolving shared object of development. The cross-functionally shared object is more than the new software product. It is an emerging new vision for the whole new business area. Both the product and its users-customers-market develop iteratively. Traditionally this is considered to happen through communication within a cross-functional NPD team. Rather than one cross-functional team effort, software NPD seems to be a network of cross-functional activities. Furthermore, in software NPD practice the development of the new business unit may actually overlay the more established business organization. This has not been visible enough, and part of the problems with cross-functional interaction may be due to confusion between these two activity systems during every-day practices. Different mediating representations of the multidimensional object knowledge become crucial. The study starts with a summary of a three-year process improvement effort in one case company, providing the basis for theoretical reflections and analytical generalizations. SE and NPD literature is reviewed to situate the case within current theoretical understanding. The findings are synthesized using concepts from cultural-historical activity theory. This study will hopefully provoke the rethinking of some of the current taken-for-granted issues related to the management of new emerging software product businesses.

Innovation is a key factor for economic development and growth, and firms need to continuously innovate in order to stay competitive. However, innovation is complicated in today’s markets as there are many different aspects for companies to manage. The very first phase of innovation, the fuzzy front end (FFE), is critical and this phase presents one of the greatest opportunities of improvement for the overall innovation process. Yet, the research on this phase is limited. The new product development (NPD) and the FFE are different from each other and require different ways of thinking and working. The FFE is the phase that takes place before the structured NPD phase and it aims to develop a sustainable flow of ideas. All innovations are born as creative ideas and creativity is the production of new and useful ideas. Many stress the importance of the environmental variable climate as important for creativity and innovation. This thesis is a case study which aimed to investigate the climate for creativity and innovation at an innovation department at Arla Foods Sweden. The innovation department is working successfully with NPD but lately, the ideas that the innovation department has produced have been rather few and not good enough for the results they want to achieve. Therefore, this case study had the overall goal to find improvements areas regarding the climate for creativity and innovation in the FFE. In order to investigate the climate an established instrument, a questionnaire, was utilized. This gave an initial diagnosis of the climate for creativity and innovation at the department. Thereafter, interviews were carried out with each of the members of the department to gain in- depth understanding of the current climate. Additional interviews at Arla Foods were carried out to provide the results with a wider picture. Moreover two projects which took place in the FFE were observed to get insight of how professional consultants work with creating a favorable climate. The two managers of these projects were also interviewed. The results of this thesis revealed that the current climate is relatively favorable for working in the NPD while it is not favorable for the FFE. Thus, it was indicated that additional requirements are placed on a climate that are to be favorable for creativity and innovation in the FFE. For this specific case study, a number of dimensions (risk taking, idea time, dynamism/liveliness, playfulness/humor, idea support and encouragement, debates, and discussion) and underlying factors (input and inspiration, idea process, and clarity) that could be improved at the Innovation department were identified.

No description available.

New product development (NPD), represent a valuable source for companies’ futuresustainability and development. Previous literature underline the importance of managing theearly period of NPD, since this can increase the performance and consequently reduce theproducts time to market. Organizational politics is present during the whole innovation process,but especially in the front end where there is uncertainty or dissent about choices. For thisreason, contributing a developed understanding of organizational politics within the front end ofinnovation (FEI), is the aim of this study.The theoretical framework of this study combines prior theories that relate to the organizationalpolitics. The structure of it is based on two elements referring to the individual- and theorganizational elements. Organizational elements can further be particularised to structural- andstrategical elements.A qualitative study and a research design with six interviews, where conducted in six innovativefirms of all size. This choice of methodology reflects the explorative purpose of this research.The empirical data are only primary data, collected during the interviews with Research andDevelopment (R&D) managers and R&D subordinates.The analysis of empirical findings revealed relevant conclusions, which can bring value to theresearch area, and also to the practice. Our findings show that diverse sources of organizationalpolitics can be identified in the front end of innovation. Organizational politics both on theindividual and organizational level are identified. Further its we find that informal and formalpower is distributed both in the organizational level and the individual level.The study’s practical relevance consists in the advices and implications to decision makers ofinnovative companies and managers within R&D. By identifying and increasing knowledge inthe field of organizational politics in the front end of innovation, organizations can make frontend activities more efficient and therefore obtain competitive advantages. The theoreticalimplications reflect the organizational politics in the area of the FEI.

Purpose – This study has two different purposes. First, we aim to understand and describe the new phenomenon of extreme openness within the area of open innovation by answering the following question: How can this new concept of extreme openness within the Fuzzy front-end be understood and described? The second purpose of this study is to investigate how Fuzzy front-end activities can be held at a distance by answer the following question: Which technology-based communication can facilitate distance-based Fuzzy front-end activities? Method – This study was conducted as an abductive single case-study of the Fuzzy front-end process where extreme openness is performed at a multinational conglomerate company. Interviews have been held with both employees at the case company as well as external actors.  In total, 41 interviews were conducted, where 35 were unique respondents. The results were generated through the use of thematic analysis.  Findings – The findings from the study are summarized in two different frameworks in which the first framework explains the phenomenon of extreme openness and gives insight into why and how large companies provide innovation power to external actors. The second framework illustrates which communication technologies to use in the Fuzzy front-end process and provide necessary information about needed functionality and criteria when having Fuzzy front-end activities distance-based.  Theoretical and practical implications – The study provides implications for research on open innovation by empirically explicating the new phenomenon of extreme openness and connect the open innovation literature with the social exchange theory. Our findings reveal that business-to-business relational exchange can result in future benefits and that top managers can use this strategy to build long-term relationships and achieve financial improvements. Further, we also provide implications into the research on the Fuzzy front-end by empirically clarifying functionality and criteria that are specifically needed when having these activities distance-based. Our result provides implications relevant to both top managers and project managers. Limitations and future research – The study is limited by a single case study of the new phenomenon of extreme openness and which communication technology to use in distance-based Fuzzy front-end activities. We recommend future research to validate and extend findings from this study in new contexts.