Until now, car ownership has been a symbol of wealth and personal freedom. The high value of the car in society has been enforced by the powerful automotive industry with their well-funded marketing budgets. Currently, there are one billion cars worldwide, possibly increasing to 2,8 billion by 2050. However, the awareness of the negative consequences of car ownership on the environment, cities, and individuals in terms of reduced personal and financial freedom is increasing. The trend towards collaborative consumption involving activities like sharing and trading is leading to a shift from ownership to the access of goods and services. In this context, carsharing is receiving more and more attention and the number of users for B2C carsharing models is increasing exponentially. The least-developed business model with the biggest opportunities in terms of environmental benefits is peer-to-peer carsharing (P2P carsharing). Providers face daunting problems in reaching critical mass, due to a lack of consumer acceptance. Academic contributions on the topic are rare. The goal of this dissertation is to capture the acceptance factors, barriers and success factors for P2P carsharing. Additionally, the phenomenon is explored within the perspective of disruptive technologies, including the connected car and autonomous vehicles. A comprehensive literature review including collaborative consumption, carsharing, and in particular P2P carsharing, has been conducted. A mixed-method approach has been used. Qualitative interviews with leading academic and industry experts in the field of collaborative consumption and shared mobility, as well as a focus group discussion, have been executed. In the quantitative survey, the identified factors have been integrated into the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM), the theoretical foundation of the work. A representative survey was conducted in Austria with 801 respondents. The results were generated by applying a partial least squares analysis. Results show that the TAM model, including the extensions, appeared to be applicable. In particular, people with an innovative mindset are open to the usage of the business model. The main motivational factors for participating are economic, utility and enjoyment. The personal attachment towards one's own car remains one of the main barriers, next to fear of sharing and loss of convenience. Success factors in increasing acceptance are - among others - trust, value-added services and keyless car exchange. The preferred usage model for autonomous vehicles tends to be ownership. Even though the awareness of P2P carsharing is rather low among the Austrian population, 13,6% state that they would use the service. Sharing one's privately owned autonomous vehicle with others met with even higher levels of approval from the respondents. The extension of the TAM, as well as its application to a new field outside information system (IS) research, can be viewed as the major academic contribution of this work. Practical implications for P2P carsharing providers and the automotive industry include strategic recommendations regarding the current disruptive trends within the automotive industry. In particular, concrete measures have been identified to scale the business model by addressing new customers and reducing the identified barriers by providing extensive knowledge of relevant success factors.

This study is conducted within the domains of technology convergence and Open Innovation environment. Two frameworks have been adopted in the study, namely; Nexus of Forces and Capability-Based Framework for Open Innovation. The first purpose of the investigation was to identify to what extent and in what ways does Nexus of Forces affects the knowledge capabilities within the Open Innovation environment. The second purpose of the investigation was to identify what practical implications does Nexus of Forces brings to the Open Innovation practices. The investigation was conducted on a single company – Swisscom – by following a case study strategy. The methodological approach for collecting the data was a mixed method approach with concurrent embedded strategy. The study has focused mainly on qualitative data and the quantitative data was nested with the focus to strengthen the findings. For the primary data collection, 6 respondents were selected, Expert A and Expert B for interviews and 4 managers for survey.   In regard to the first purpose, our findings have shown that practices of Nexus of Forces have strategical implications on the process of managing knowledge capabilities. The extents of the NoF implications are through a direct and indirect level for the departments, which work with Open Innovation projects and at meta-level for the higher organizational structures within the company. In regard to the second purpose, our findings have shown that practices of Nexus of Forces have tactical implications on the Open Innovation practices. The final outcome of the study is a theoretical model that displays the strategical and tactical implications of Nexus of Forces on the knowledge capabilities and Open Innovation practices within the Open Innovation environment.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:36:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Monica Berton1.pdf: 644372 bytes, checksum: d17b2d33fbd8d72f8550ea85f06edab4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-11-10 / This research presents a scenario about the concepts related to information and knowledge, particularly about it s contributions to the processes of innovating, goods and services production. It presents, yet, a set of reflections about the innovating process and it s connections with the economic and social development, identifying the main features of the proper environments for innovation producing, as well as, stimulating strategies. In order to locate the subject, the globalization is approached as a social and economic phenomena which is always amidst the debate about new forms of production demanding increased knowledge production and aggregation to goods and services. In this context, we discuss the influence of fast information and communication technologies evolution on the processes of knowledge generation, and of goods and services production, referring to the main requirements for stimulating the social economic development, configured in appropriate public polices for stimulating the productive activity. We present a summary of the strategies adopted by the Brazilian State in it s effort to promoting economic growth and social welfare, mainly trough the definition of industrial, science and technology polices. Concerning public polices a brief analysis is made of the present Industrial Technological and Foreign Affairs Police (PITCE) and of one mechanism for innovation stimulating, the newly approved Innovation Law. The data collecting is implemented at a public Scientific Technological Institution ICT, function as stakeholder to promote the innovation process in goods and services. / Esta pesquisa apresenta um panorama sobre os conceitos relacionados ? informa??o e ao conhecimento, em especial sobre sua agrega??o aos processos de produ??o de bens e servi?os de natureza inovadora. Apresenta, ainda, um conjunto de reflex?es sobre o processo de inova??o e suas conex?es com o desenvolvimento econ?mico e social, identificando as principais caracter?sticas dos ambientes mais apropriados para a gera??o de inova??es, bem como as estrat?gias para estimul?las. Para localizar o tema, aborda-se a quest?o da globaliza??o, enquanto fen?meno social e econ?mico que permeia o debate sobre as novas formas de produ??o, cada vez mais demandantes de gera??o e agrega??o de conhecimento a bens e servi?os. Nesse contexto, discute-se a influ?ncia da r?pida evolu??o das tecnologias da informa??o e comunica??o (TIC) sobre os processos de gera??o do conhecimento e de produ??o de bens e servi?os, abordando-se os principais requisitos de est?mulo ao desenvolvimento s?cio-econ?mico, configurados em pol?ticas p?blicas apropriadas ao incentivo da atividade produtiva. ? apresentado um resumo sobre as estrat?gias adotadas pelo Estado brasileiro no esfor?o de promo??o do crescimento econ?mico e do bem-estar social, principalmente a partir da defini??o de pol?ticas industriais e de ci?ncia e tecnologia. Sobre a quest?o das pol?ticas p?blicas, ? feita uma breve an?lise da atual Pol?tica Industrial, Tecnol?gica e de Com?rcio Exterior PITCE e de um de seus mecanismos de est?mulo ? inova??o, a recentemente aprovada Lei de Inova??o. A coleta de dados ? feita numa institui??o cient?fica e tecnol?gica ICT, de natureza p?blica, atuante na ?rea de tecnologias da informa??o, criada com o objetivo de converter-se em instrumento do Estado para o apoio ? inova??o no setor produtor de bens e servi?os.