The effective integration of technological innovation is vital to the success of small businesses and can catapult growth and profitability. Some business managers and supervisors, however, may not have a firm understanding of strategies for integrating technological innovations in businesses; this lack of knowledge may result in employee frustration and costly roadblocks to achieving business objectives. This case study was conducted to identify the strategies used by business managers and supervisors to integrate technological innovations in small businesses. Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation and Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovation served as the conceptual framework. Ten business managers and supervisors from Castries, St. Lucia, participated in semistructured interviews. Participants who were selected using purposive sampling worked in a small business in St. Lucia for atleast 5 years, were part of senior management, and used strategies for integrating technological innovations in a small business. Two of the themes that emerged from data analysis were integration challenges relating to technological innovation complexity, and technology cost regarding hardware, upgrades and software procurement. Findings from this study may contribute to positive social change by providing business managers and supervisors insight about strategies and innovative solutions they can use to develop better business practices, increase tax revenues, and employment opportunities, improve profitability, and boost the economy.

L’objectif de cette thèse consiste à identifier l’existence de liens potentiels entre d’une part, l’innovation et la performance de l’entreprise, et entre l’innovation et la pérennité de l’entreprise, d’autre part. L’intégration d’innovations organisationnelles et/ou technologiques est considérée aujourd’hui comme un élément essentiel à la performance et à la pérennité de l’entreprise. Cette double importance accordée à l’innovation en tant qu’élément clé de succès et de survie des entreprises nous a amené à poser cette problématique de recherche qui se décline en trois variables explicatives qui guident notre recherche empirique. Cette dernière est effectuée à travers trois études de cas dans le secteur des télécommunications mobiles. A partir d’une analyse qualitative des données recueillies et d’un retour sur les théories, les principaux résultats nous ont permis de constater que l’innovation semble avoir davantage contribué à la pérennité qu’à la performance des firmes étudiées. Ce différentiel est principalement du aux éléments contextuels ainsi qu’à l’exploitation et à la valorisation des apports potentiels de l’innovation. / The objective of this thesis is to identify the existence of potential links between innovation and business performance on the one hand, and innovation and sustainability of the company on the other. The use of organizational innovations and / or technology is now considered critical to the performance and the sustainability of the business. This research work studies the importance of innovation as a key element to success and business survival, while involving the three variables throughout our empirical research. The latter is performed through three case studies in the mobile telecommunications sector. Performing a qualitative analysis of the collected data and based on the theories, we found that innovation seems to have higher contribution to the sustainability than to the performance of the studied firms. This lag is mainly due to contextual elements as well as to the approach towards the potential contribution of innovation.

Aim: Innovation gets to be the pivotal factor for surviving and sustaining a business in the long term. The scenario of innovation management could be performed in a very particular way among developed, developing, and under-developed countries. We have found a gap, that no comparative research has been done among different geographical areas, especially in hotel industry innovation sectors yet. The main aim of this thesis is to identify how two different countries from different regions are practicing their innovation management process. Method: An explanatory sequential mixed method had been used to develop our study where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through surveys and interviews. To analyse the data a deductive technique was approached by using an established innovation management process framework; named ‘SPOTS' model, developed by Tidd (2001).  Results & Conclusions: There exist noticeable differences between Sweden and Bangladesh in terms of time management, budget, strategy, communication and others which also showcase why Sweden is the leading country in the matter of innovation. In the meantime, in spite of having enough human resources and materials Bangladesh is fighting to implement successful innovations due to the lack of guidance, strategy, and budget. Contribution of the thesis: We have conducted comparative research in the hotel industry in Bangladesh and Sweden, which represents the innovation management scenario in developed and developing countries. It also addresses the point of improvements for the respective countries. Our thesis will be helpful for future researchers who will conduct further studies in the hospitality industry of different economical background nations. Suggestions for future research: This thesis is limited to two countries, two hotels, and managerial views of the organization in innovation management. The future researcher could utilize the scope to work with a large sample size in different hotels in different nations. Moreover, further studies could be done to discuss and test all the five elements of the SPOTS model, developed by (Tidd, 2001) in the hotel industry.

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I denna studie utreds vad som påverkar innovation på bostadsmarknaden, med anledning av unga vuxnas svårigheter i att få tillgång till en bostad. Undersökningen är av kvalitativ karaktär med konceptbolaget Alive Bostad som fallstudie. Det teoretiska ramverk som används i studien baseras på generell teori om innovationsegenskaper, i kombination med branschspecifik teori som rör innovation på bostadsmarknaden. För att samla in det empiriska materialet i studien utförs intervjuer med aktörer inom Alive Bostads nätverk, vid ett specifikt bostadsprojekt i stadsdelen Rosendal i södra Uppsala. Vidare analyseras det empiriska materialet med hjälp av studiens teoretiska ramverk för att ställa det i relation till vad som påverkar innovation på bostadsmarknaden. Utifrån Alive Bostad som fallstudie är slutsatsen att det som främjar innovation inom konceptet är dess relativa fördelar, i form av ekonomisk genomförbarhet, social hållbarhet och miljömässig hållbarhet, i kombination med en gemensam värdegrund bland ingående aktörer. Det som däremot hämmar innovation i projektet är framförallt att få utomstående aktörer kan relatera till konceptet, varför det talar emot att det kan få potentiell genomslagskraft på marknaden. Dessutom påvisas i studien att samtliga innovationsegenskaper som innefattas i det teoretiska ramverket har betydelsen för innovation på bostadsmarknaden, vilket även stärks av att det finns en samverkan mellan dessa egenskaper.

As researchers found that throughout the history a common challenge for companies across different industries, when it comes to leveraging and capturing value from a technology innovation is strongly influenced by the company’s dominant business model, an established framework through which assessment takes place. The overall purpose of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of the role that company's dominant business model has on the assessment of the impact that new technology innovation, in this case, AI, will have on the company and the market on which company operates. This thesis is partially exploratory and partially descriptive with a qualitative and deductive nature. In order to answer the purpose, a research strategy of case studies was used where empirical data was collected from interviews held with 47 company’s top executives from different hierarchical levels and business units, from Sweden, Switzerland, the USA, Germany, and Finland. The theoretical framework that describes the how AI as a new technology tool is perceived from the Company X perspective, either as a radical, game changer, or an incremental innovation technology tool and examines the role that dominant business model has on this perception was created. The developed implementation framework had its foundation in previous research concerning innovation business model theories. The data that was collected from the company’s executives were then analyzed and compared to the model. The most significant findings suggest that AI as a new technology tool is perceived as a game changer, radical innovation tool for some areas within the Company X and that the company dominant business model profoundly influences this perception. / Som forskare fann att genom hela historien är en gemensam utmaning för företag inom olika branscher när det gäller att utnyttja och fånga värde från en teknologisk innovation starkt påverkad av företagets dominerande affärsmodell, en etablerad ram genom vilken bedömning sker. Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att ge en djupare förståelse för den roll som företagets dominerande affärsmodell har vid bedömningen av den inverkan som ny teknik innovation, i detta fall AI, kommer att ha på företaget och marknaden där företaget driver . Denna avhandling är delvis undersökande och delvis beskrivande med kvalitativ och deduktiv natur. För att svara på målet användes en forskningsstrategi av fallstudier där empiriska data samlades in från intervjuer med 47 bolagets ledande befattningshavare från olika hierarkiska nivåer och affärsenheter, från Sverige, Schweiz, USA, Tyskland och Finland. Den teoretiska ram som beskriver hur AI som ett nytt teknikverktyg uppfattas ur företagets Xperspektiv, antingen som en radikal, spelväxlare eller ett inkrementellt innovationsteknologiprogram och undersöker den roll som dominerande affärsmodell har på denna uppfattning skapades. Den utvecklade implementeringsramen har grundat sig i tidigare forskning rörande innovationsmodellteorier. Data som samlades in från företagets chefer analyserades sedan och jämfördes med modellen. De viktigaste resultaten tyder på att AI som ett nytt teknikverktyg uppfattas som en spelväxlare, radikalt innovationsverktyg för vissa områden inom företaget X och att företagets dominerande affärsmodell påverkar denna uppfattning väsentligt.

New technology, which has emerged as a part of the new industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, is changing the reality ofmanufacturing companies. Manufacturing companies are perplexed on which technologies to adopt in their productionprocesses, and when is the right time. This can be defined as a company’s ability to prepare for the future, andespecially, for these future technological challenges. A large part of being able to adopt these technologies into theproduction processes is related to the company’s ability to be innovative in their production processes. This is known asprocess innovation. Therefore, this thesis investigates how a production unit within a manufacturing company canmanage process innovation to prepare for future technological challenges. This purpose has been achieved by conducting a single case study, where the case company’s process innovation abilitieswere assessed, and combined with necessary tools to prepare the case company for the future. The case company chosenfor this thesis was Scania. They are a world-leading manufacturer of heavy trucks, buses, and engines. The case studyfocused on one of their productions units, which produce gearboxes and axles. The data for the study was collectedthrough qualitative interviews with members of the case company. The results indicate that the case company needs toimprove their process innovation abilities in order for them to be able to adopt new technologies in their productionprocess. They need a definition of innovation, and a strategy that includes innovation so that it is prioritized andviewed as important. Furthermore, management needs to encourage innovation, and increase their level of risk-taking sothat the culture of the case company is compatible with innovation. Finally, the results show that the case companymay need to redefine or reconsider their fundamental management principle “continuous improvement” to further givepriority to innovation in their production process. Furthermore, an overview of the necessary tools for preparing for thefuture are also covered. These are trend analysis, scenario planning, benchmarking, and technological roadmap. Usingthese four tools can help the company when making strategic decisions about the implementation of new technologies. Finally, this thesis contributes to science by providing empirical research on the topic of process innovation and gives aninteresting perspective on how it can be used to prepare for the future.

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