The Study of Multinational Corporations¡¦ Knowledge Management ABSTRACT In order to look for lager space of growth and subsistence, Taiwanese corporations inevitably made direct investments in foreign countries and became members of worldwide multinational corporations (MNCs). According to their international expansion, the sources and distributions of these MNCs¡¦ resources and knowledge would not be limited by the boundaries among countries but be allocated effectively through two dimensions, Global Integration and Local Responsiveness. By twelve Taiwanese multinational corporations case study, the global integration and local responsiveness of multinational organizations¡¦ knowledge, the implementation situation of Knowledge Management, and the role of Human Resources Management while implementing Knowledge Management were all observed and discussed in this study. The proposition concluded by interviewing high-level managers of sample corporations are as follows: Proposition 1: The higher industrial technique maturity of multinational corporations is, the higher centralization of the allocation of corporations¡¦ resources and knowledge will be. Proposition 2: If the industrial technique maturity of multinational corporations is higher, explicit knowledge will be transferred across countries more than tacit knowledge. Proposition 3: The longer product life cycle of multinational corporations is, the more global integration ability of knowledge innovation strategy will be emphasized. Proposition 4: The higher local responsiveness need of multinational corporations¡¦ knowledge innovation strategy is, the higher ratio of value chain distributed in foreign subsidiaries will be. Proposition 5: The higher local responsiveness need of multinational corporations¡¦ knowledge innovation strategy is, the higher ratio of local employees hiring will be. Proposition 6: The more explicit knowledge of organization has, the more information technology infrastructure will be needed to implement knowledge management. The more tacit knowledge of organization has, the more important the tacit system will be, such as organizational culture, to implement knowledge management. Proposition 7: The corporations in technique growing industry will do knowledge processing in interactive way, and design the organization by commitment-base. Proposition 8: The role of human resources management will be more strategic during the early stage of knowledge management implementation. Proposition 9: If both of global integration and local responsiveness need of corporations¡¦ knowledge innovation strategy is required, the coordination and control role of human resources management will be more important.

S. David Young and F. O¡¦Byren (2000) divided the economic value added (EVA) into two parts, current operating value (COV) and future growth value (FGV). From financial markets, it was found out that the fluctuations of stock prices of businesses were mainly based on the expectation of the investors to the operation performance and future growth of the businesses. Hence, the businesses can create higher market value only their substantial growth rate exceeds expected growth rate from the market. This study adopts O¡¦Byren¡¦s theory (2000) to do the empirical case study of IC design industry in Taiwan. Firstly, the relationship between future growth value of business and their long term equity input rate (LTEI/IC), net operating profit after tax (NOPAT(G)%), Gross Profit/OE were examined. Secondly, by paradigm empirical case study, this study tries to find out the relationship between the factors that affect future growth value of business and the innovation strategy. Thirdly, this study tries to figure out recommendations for the business to enhance its future growth value. This study finds out the factors that affect the future growth value (FGV), in stock market, of business of IC design industry in Taiwan. The investors focus on NOPAT(G)% for on-growing businesses; they focus on continuous growth of Gross Profit/OE for expanding businesses; and they focus on higher expectation of investment performance from LTEI/IC for mature business sectors. In addition, the results of this empirical study of investors¡¦ expectation on the growth of MediaTek Inc. are as follows: 1. Its Gross Profit/OE and NOPAT(G)% are obviously superior to the other sample business sectors. 2. There is positive correlation between Gross Profit/OE and NOPAT(G)% for killer applications (high market-share products) resulted from applying disruptive innovation strategy. In conclusion, this study provides some recommendations for the businesses pursuing incremental growth or constant growth, as below: 1. Competition strategy decision: To take the innovation strategy in accordance with the performance and specification of the products, target customers and business models. 2. Effective cost control: Continuous improvements by innovative concepts and managements to reduce the costs in marketing, R&D, management, risk from material acquiring, yield rate and operation costs, etc. 3. Profit maximization: It is the key for business success and profit to apply correct innovation strategy as well as effective cost management.

En innovation handlar i grund och botten om en förståelse och inkorporation av den komplexa kreativiteten i en innovationsprocess. I denna studie har sex centrala kärnvärden kring den upplevda kreativiteten tagits fram med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer från tio respondenter. Utifrån en fenomenologisk ansats har dessa kärnvärden utvecklats från begreppen kreativitet och innovation. Inom kreativitet var – relatera, förändra och kommunicera – centrala begrepp för respondenterna. Inom innovation var det istället – mening, kvalitet och tillväxt. Genom att anta en tydlig och provocerande syn på kreativitet och innovation har dessa kärnvärden använts som redskap för att utmana den svenska innovationsstrategin N2012.27 i vilken svenska Regeringen vill utveckla det svenska innovationsklimatet till år 2020. Studiens resultat visar att denna satsning är missriktad och otydlig. Det är inte det innovativa Sverige som i första hand bör eftersträvas, det är den kreativa medborgaren. / Innovation is all about the understanding and implementation of the complex creativity in a innovation process. This study delivers six central themes regarding the experienced creativity. These themes is a product out of interviews from ten participants. With a phenomenological approach these themes has been made representive of the concepts innovation and creativity. The themes within creativity were – relate, change and communicate. Within innovation the themes were – meaning, quality and growth. By adopting a provocative approach these themes has been used as tools to challenge the Swedish innovation strategy N2012.27 in which the Swedish Goverment wishes to elaborate the national innovation climate until the year of 2020. The result of this study shows that this investment is misguided and vague. The pursuit of the innovative Sweden shouldn’t be the primary target. It should rather be in the pursuit of the creative citizen.

Today, new technologies are introduced to the market every day, and constantly changing our way of living. Especially in the healthcare sector, the change process is approaching a point where doctors can benefit from the use of, for example, connected portable reading devices instead of paper-based medical record systems. The information and communication technology is promoting the evolution of a new pathway of care delivery, a paradigm shift that alters the fundamental relationship between a doctor and its patient. The concept is defined as telehealth and formulates the provision of care at a distance and provides the possibility to treat patients in their home environment instead of at the hospital. This master’s thesis has been performed on the request of Cenvigo AB, a company active in the implementation of new IT-solutions into the healthcare and eldercare. Cenvigo AB are the owners of the Parkinson’s Digital Assessment (PANDA) application. The application has been developed through research at Dalarna University and Uppsala University Hospital.  This project will initiate the launch of PANDA and also create a model for implementation of innovative IT-solutions into the healthcare systems. The model is founded in a theoretical framework and shaped with interviews related to the implementation of technology with a focus on telehealth applications. Interviews has been performed with healthcare professionals, technology developers and users to acquire a complete picture and opinions regarding the introduction of innovation in healthcare today. From the acquired information, a model is formulated as a stepwise and chronological linear process were identified key activities are included to promote a successful implementation process. The model is connected to the practice through the implementation of PANDA. In the process of implementing PANDA into the Swedish healthcare system, a collaboration with the innovation centre at Uppsala University Hospital as a healthcare organization stakeholder, has been initiated. The model consists of five phases; Assessment, Dissemination, Adoption, Implementation and Continuation. The phases are seen as transitional steps in the innovation process, critical barriers to overcome towards a successfully implementation in a mainstream routine setting. Each phase includes a number of activities and to achieve progression in each phase, these activities must be performed in order to advance to the next phase. In the case of PANDA, the process of progression has passed assessment and are currently involved in activities related to the dissemination phase. The purpose of the model is to be used both for existing and future applications in the segment of medicine technology sector. The structure of the model is designed to promote a co-design or a common value principle of development and practice regarding an innovation. By connecting actors from both technology and healthcare in close relationships the actual needs of healthcare professionals could more effectively be identified and developed into a solution, a result from the amplification of a two-way engagement. The outmost aim is to serve as a catalysing factor, complementing the implementation models of healthcare in Sweden today. Through this study, a need for facilitating the implementation process of new technology into the healthcare systems has been identified. This model offers the necessary input that many technology companies lack. The recommendation to Cenvigo AB is to continue to develop the model during the last step in the process of launching PANDA, and parallel use this model as a business model mainly for technology start-ups and larger foreign companies that has not yet established pathways into the Swedish healthcare system. / <p>TVE 14 036</p>

The postindustrial market increasingly demands service infused products to add more value to the customer in order to be competitive. Much research regarding digitalized services indicates that companies have to be innovative in order to compete on the market. However, companies within different industries face different challenges with digital service development. This study has been conducted because there are little known about the opportunities and the challenges different industries faces with a globalized market. Our research question is what the challenges are and what opportunities does strategic digital service development entails for companies. To be able to understand digitalized services and to answer our research question about these challenges and opportunities we used a qualitative method, gathered data through interviews and literature studies. This study contributes a faceted understanding of digital service development within the electricity industry and an approach to strategic efforts at digital service development and what challenges and opportunities it entails.

I look at knowledge networks emerging through individual collaboration within incumbent firms and I make an effort to identify individual roles that are driving a number of meaningful firm-level innovation-related outcomes. I document how certain individuals occupy such positions in their firms' knowledge network that equip them with unique blends of human and social capital, thus making them consequential for the innovative performance of the system as a whole. Integrators are the actors with an extraordinarily large and dense network of different collaborators. Connectors are the individuals who collaborate with others across diverse knowledge areas and clusters. Isolates are actors who are productive while remaining relatively unconnected and independent. I find that relational stars (i.e. integrators and connectors) positively affect their organization's quantity and quality of inventive output. On the other hand, I find that it is isolates and star inventors who positively affect inventive productivity. I find that individuals with extreme patterns of collaborative behavior (either local or distant) facilitate exploration and that productive isolates drive exploitation. In addition, I find that organizational ambidexterity can be attained by having individuals who can simultaneously explore and exploit or by increasing the connectedness between exploratory and exploitative activities. Finally, I find that knowledge boundary choices are also affected by internal organization and human resource attributes.

Posto o contexto de competitividade no mercado global, é fato que nações e organizações buscam formas de inovar para permanecerem sustentáveis. Entretanto, para efetivar os anseios de serem competitivas e inovadoras, há uma necessidade de manter estratégias e uma estrutura de rotinas que as possibilite gerir e gerar as inovações, de forma a transformar suas capacidades tecnológicas em algo efetivo. O objetivo deste trabalho é a identificação de uma estrutura de um sistema de gestão de inovação adequada para atender o posicionamento estratégico de inovação. Utilizando o caso de uma empresa do setor do vestuário, elaborou-se um modelo para análise de capacidade tecnológica, focando tópicos relacionados à estratégia. Os dados foram coletados por entrevistas em profundidade com o corpo diretivo e por questionários de pesquisa respondidos por 50 líderes da empresa. Os resultados obtidos convergiram na estruturação de um sistema de gestão da inovação que contemple: a) estratégia de inovação; b) capacidade tecnológica que sustente funções de alinhamento e funções da organização – produtos/serviços, gestão de projetos, processo/tecnologia e infra-estrutura e c) sistema de gestão da inovação que tenha relações com alinhamento às estratégias de inovação de produtos e processo, estrutura adequada para inovar oriunda de gestão de projetos eficaz, desenvolvimento de produtos que identifiquem a empresa no mercado como inovadora e por fim, foco em seus mercados de atuação. / The competitive environment of global markets leads nations and organisations to engage in a continuous search for innovation, in order to maintain sustainability. However, to effectively become innovative, firms need to sustain a formal structure of strategies and routines that enable them to generate and manage innovation, enhancing their technological capabilities. This study aims to identify an innovation management system structure that better fits to the strategic positioning of a specific firm. The firm in which the case study is developed belongs to the clothing sector. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the firm’s directive body and application of research questionnaires along with 50 respondents. Results allowed the development of an innovation management system considering three aspects, namely: a) innovation strategy; b) technological capabilities to sustain organisational functions – products/services, project management, process/technology, and infrastructure; and c) structure and alignment, in order to allow efficient project management, development of innovative products and market orientation.

A Open Innovation (OI) é uma abordagem emergente que têm despertado cada vez mais o interesse de especialistas e de estudos acadêmicos na área de inovação. Entretanto, a implemen-tação dessa estratégia ainda é desafiadora, especialmente para as Pequenas e Médias Empresas (PMEs). A carência de métodos e processos documentados e estruturados para implementar a OI, também são fatores que causam resistências e desestimulam muitas vezes as empresas. Ou-tro fato é que poucas pesquisas e trabalhos empíricos têm explorado o potencial e influência dos Sistemas Regionais de Inovação (SRIs) na implementação da OI nas empresas. Frente a essa problemática de pesquisa, esta Tese tem como objetivo geral desenvolver um processo de implementação da estratégia Open Innovation voltado para empresas de SRIs. O produto final da Tese é um framework que representa o Processo para Implementação da OI (PIOI). É uma ferramenta gerencial que visa auxiliar e orientar os gestores quanto as etapas, documentos, e forma mais apropriada para conduzir a implementação. Sobretudo, permite a compreensão dos elementos e Fatores Críticos de Sucesso (FCS) que interferem na melhoria da capacidade de inovação em PMEs. Este trabalho de Tese está estruturado em sete capítulos, com cinco artigos propostos. O artigo 1 busca identificar os fatores determinantes para a implementação da OI em SRIs. O artigo 2 apresenta uma revisão sistemática da literatura para identificar os FCS para implementação da OI no âmbito das empresas. No artigo 3, desenvolve-se uma pesquisa apli-cada com 50 empresas de um SRI para diagnosticar as estratégias de inovação e os FCS para implementação da OI. No artigo 4, propõe-se um framework para implementação da OI em PMEs de SRIs. No artigo 5, o framework é testado e avaliado empiricamente através de um estudo de caso de uma empresa. A estrutura metodológica geral da Tese está fundamentada no método de pesquisa construtivista (Design Science Research – DSR). Os artigos abrangem le-vantamento bibliográfico, survey, estudo de caso e pesquisa-ação, e empregam ambos os mé-todos, quantitativo e qualitativo, conforme seus objetivos. A Tese oferece importantes contri-buições acadêmicas e práticas ao abordar os FCS que interferem na implementação da OI, e ao desenvolver um processo para implementação dessa estratégia em PMEs de SRI’s. Além disso, representa uma oportunidade para que as empresas possam transformar e melhorar o seu pro-cesso de desenvolvimento da inovação, implementando mudanças de estratégia e introduzindo estruturas mais colaborativas que suportem novos modelos de negócios. / Open Innovation (OI) is an emerging approach that has increasingly attracted the interest of experts and academic studies in the area of innovation. However, implementing this strategy is still challenging, especially for Small and Medium Companies (PMEs). The lack of documen-ted and structured methods and processes to implement OI are factors that cause resistance and often discourage companies, besides the fact that few empirical studies and research have ex-plored the potential and influence of the Regional Innovation Systems (SRIs) in the implemen-tation of OI in companies. Faced with this research problem, this thesis has as general objective to develop a process of implementation of the Open Innovation strategy directed at SRIs com-panies. The final product is a framework that represents the Process for Implementing OI (PIOI). It is a managerial tool that aims to help and guide managers on the stages, documents, and the most appropriate way to carry out the implementation. Above all, it allows the unders-tanding of the elements and Critical Factors of Success (FCS) that affect the improvement of the innovation capacity of PMEs. The thesis is structured in seven chapters, with five proposed articles. Article 1 seeks to identify the determining factors for the implementation of OI in SRIs. Article 2 presents a systematic review of the literature to identify the FCS for implementing OI in companies. In Article 3 we carry out an applied research with 50 companies in a SRI, in order to diagnose their innovation strategies and the FCS to implement OI. In Article 4, we propose a framework for the implementation of OI in PMEs of SRIs. In Article 5, the framework is empirically tested and evaluated through a company’s case study. The general methodological structure of the thesis is based on the constructivist research method (Design Science Research - DSR). The articles cover literature review, survey, case study and action research, and use both quantitative and qualitative methods, according to their goals. The thesis offers important academic and practical contributions by addressing FCS that affect the implementation of OI, and by developing a process to establish that strategy in PMEs of SRIs. In addition, it represents an opportunity for companies to change and improve their innovation development process by implementing strategy shifts and introducing more collaborative structures that support new business models.

A inovação é um fator crítico para o sucesso das empresas. A indústria farmacêutica é historicamente movida pela inovação. Entretanto, neste ramo, o desenvolvimento de novos produtos envolve custos elevados e um longo ciclo de desenvolvimento de produto acarretando em um alto risco de negócio. Recentemente, a estratégia de inovação aberta (open innovation) surgiu com alternativa às empresas para inovação sugerindo que as empresas mantenham-se abertas a idéias internas e externas, tornando o processo de inovação mais ágil, econômico e seguro, uma vez que ele passa a ser compartilhado com outras partes. Porém, embora este novo paradigma se aplique ao ramo farmacêutico, há poucas pesquisas até o momento que estudem diretamente a estratégia de inovação aberta à indústria farmacêutica. Desta forma, este trabalho busca estudar de forma exploratória a prática da estratégia de inovação aberta por indústrias farmacêuticas brasileiras e compreender: os motivos que levaram as empresas nacionais a adotarem este modelo, como esta prática está estruturada dentro destas indústrias e de que maneira elas trabalham com seus parceiros de inovação. A pesquisa comprovou que as indústrias farmacêuticas estão utilizando a inovação aberta como estratégia de inovação. Entretanto, o modelo de inovação aplicado possui adaptações, em razões de questões culturais e maturidade da empresa, de forma que o fluxo de idéias criativas ocorre somente na direção do ambiente externo para o interno da empresa. Entre os problemas relacionados à inovação aberta no Brasil, optou-se por investigar as relações entre os envolvidos como forma de encontrar oportunidades de melhoria para o modelo brasileiro que ainda se baseia muito na relação empresa-universidade. Dentre as empresas estudadas no estudo de caso indicou serem os principais stakeholder as universidades e institutos de pesquisa públicos e que estas parceiras se consolidam preferencialmente através de convênios de pesquisa. / In a highly competitive environment, innovation is a critical factor to the success and maintenance of any company. The pharmaceutical industry is historically moved by innovation in products. However, in the pharmaceutical business, the development of new products demands huge investments and a long development cycle which consequently increase the risk of the business associated to uncertainty. Recently, the open innovation strategy emerged as an alternative to companies to innovate and develop new products. This new paradigm suggests that companies must be opened to ideas from the internal and external environments and to perform co-development projects with the purpose of developing products faster, cheaper and in a less risky way. Although this new paradigm is adequate to the pharmaceutical segment, there are few researches that discuss the open innovation strategy in the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, this research has the purpose to study the practice of open innovation strategy by Brazilian pharmaceutical companies and to access: the reasons that motivate the national companies to adopt this model, how this practice is structured inside the companies and how they work with their innovation partners. From this investigation it was possible to verify that the pharmaceutical industries in Brazil use open innovation as a strategy of innovation. However, the open innovation model characteristics in Brazil consider adaptations from the original model suggested by Chesbrough. For cultural and the companies’ business maturity level, it was noticed that the influx of creative ideas is mainly from the outside towards inside company. Additionally, it was investigated the relationship among the co-development stakeholders, as an opportunity to find improvements to the Brazilian open innovation model. The case study findings indicate that the most relevant partnership type is the consortium with the universities and research institutes.

Posto o contexto de competitividade no mercado global, é fato que nações e organizações buscam formas de inovar para permanecerem sustentáveis. Entretanto, para efetivar os anseios de serem competitivas e inovadoras, há uma necessidade de manter estratégias e uma estrutura de rotinas que as possibilite gerir e gerar as inovações, de forma a transformar suas capacidades tecnológicas em algo efetivo. O objetivo deste trabalho é a identificação de uma estrutura de um sistema de gestão de inovação adequada para atender o posicionamento estratégico de inovação. Utilizando o caso de uma empresa do setor do vestuário, elaborou-se um modelo para análise de capacidade tecnológica, focando tópicos relacionados à estratégia. Os dados foram coletados por entrevistas em profundidade com o corpo diretivo e por questionários de pesquisa respondidos por 50 líderes da empresa. Os resultados obtidos convergiram na estruturação de um sistema de gestão da inovação que contemple: a) estratégia de inovação; b) capacidade tecnológica que sustente funções de alinhamento e funções da organização – produtos/serviços, gestão de projetos, processo/tecnologia e infra-estrutura e c) sistema de gestão da inovação que tenha relações com alinhamento às estratégias de inovação de produtos e processo, estrutura adequada para inovar oriunda de gestão de projetos eficaz, desenvolvimento de produtos que identifiquem a empresa no mercado como inovadora e por fim, foco em seus mercados de atuação. / The competitive environment of global markets leads nations and organisations to engage in a continuous search for innovation, in order to maintain sustainability. However, to effectively become innovative, firms need to sustain a formal structure of strategies and routines that enable them to generate and manage innovation, enhancing their technological capabilities. This study aims to identify an innovation management system structure that better fits to the strategic positioning of a specific firm. The firm in which the case study is developed belongs to the clothing sector. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the firm’s directive body and application of research questionnaires along with 50 respondents. Results allowed the development of an innovation management system considering three aspects, namely: a) innovation strategy; b) technological capabilities to sustain organisational functions – products/services, project management, process/technology, and infrastructure; and c) structure and alignment, in order to allow efficient project management, development of innovative products and market orientation.