The Semantic Web is the future of the Internet. It is the extension to the Internet in which information will be given well-defined meaning, enabling not only humans but also machines to find, share and combine information more easily. In the Semantic Web documents are not merely pages containing a set of words that form their content. They also encode the meaning and structure of those words. This enables various information retrieval techniques to be performed on the documents in addition to the ones restricted to keywords. The goal of this research is to explore a method for querying the Semantic Web using relational database theory and source transformation techniques. We take as input, documents annotated with XML mark-up and the information tags that we are interested in. We then extract and populate a relational view on the annotated XML documents using these tags and the implicit relations in the XML documents. We evaluate the feasibility of our system by testing on a variety of input and we also explore the kinds of queries that can be made on the extracted relational view. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-27 10:56:13.513

A substantial amount of work in the field of strategic management has attempted to explain the antecedents and outcomes of organizational learning. Though multinational corporations simultaneously engage in various types of tasks, activities, and strategies on a regular basis, the transfer of organizational learning in a multi-task context has largely remained under-explored in the literature. To inform our understanding in this area, this dissertation aimed at synthesizing findings from two parallel research streams of corporate development activities: strategic alliances and acquisitions. Structured in the form of two empirical studies, this dissertation examines: 1) the strategic outcomes of alliance experience of previously allying partners in terms of subsequent acquisition attempts, and 2) the performance implications of prior alliance experience for acquisitions. The first study draws on the relational view of inter-organizational governance to explain how various deal-specific and dyadic characteristics of a partnership relate to partnering firms’ post-alliance acquisition attempts. This model theorizes on a variety of relational mechanisms to build a cohesive theory of inter-organizational exchanges in a multi-task setting where strategic alliances ultimately lead to a firm’s decision to commit further resources. The second study applies organizational learning theory, and specifically examines whether frequency, recency, and relatedness of different dimensions of prior alliances, beyond the dyad-level experience, relate to an acquirer’s superior post-acquisition performance. The hypotheses of the studies are tested using logistic and ordinary least square regressions, respectively. Results analyzed from a sample of cross-border alliance and acquisition deals attempted (for study I) and/or completed (for study II) during the period of 1991 to 2011 generally support the theory that relational exchange determines acquiring firms’ post alliance acquisition behavior and that organizational routines and learning from prior alliances influence a future acquirer’s financial performance. Overall, the empirical findings support our overarching theory of interdependency, and confirm the transfer effect of learning across these alternate, yet related corporate strategies of alliance and acquisition.

abstract: Grounded in the relational view of leadership, this dissertation explores the dynamics of the leader/follower relationship in the context of a collective using a social networks approach. Specifically, I build on DeRue and Ashford’s (2010) work that focuses on dynamic, socially constructed leadership relationships within a dyad to focus on such relationships within a collective. In doing so, I conceptualize collective leader endorsement – receiving a grant of leader identity from a collective of followers – and examine the implications of collective leader endorsement. As a dynamic relationship, collective leader endorsement can change as individuals give and receive grants of leader identity. I draw on relational models of leadership theory and appraisal theory to examine how contextual situations (i.e., identity jolts) prompt change in collective leader endorsement at the network level and how such change can influence individual functioning at the individual level. As a socially constructed relationship, collective leader endorsement creates the potential for disagreement among members of the collective regarding grants of leader identity. I draw on social comparison theory and appraisal theory to suggest that agreement (or lack thereof) can influence the individual’s perceived demands and overall functioning within the collective. Using data from 106 individuals on a collegiate football team in the United States over 12 consecutive weeks, I find significant changes in collective leader endorsement and the associated leadership network over the course of the season. Specifically, I find that challenging situations prompted a reevaluation of leader identities and shifted the patterns within the leadership network. In addition, change in an individual’s level of collective leader endorsement prompted additional perceived demands and lowered well-being. This relationship was attenuated if the individual had a supportive coach to help him cope with additional leadership demands. Finally, (lack of) agreement regarding the individual’s leader identity also influenced the individual’s well-being. Specifically, the individual experienced enhanced perceived demands (and associated lower well-being) if the individual’s perception of who should receive grants of leader identity was incongruent with the collective’s perception of collective leader endorsement. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2018

No description available.

No / Organizations in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector are increasingly collaborating with other organizations to mutually raise overall joint value created. However, literature on inter-organizational collaborations in the NFP sector lacks a clear, empirically proven understanding about which factors drive such joint value creation and whether and how these factors and their effects differ for the two parties involved. Based on the relational view and an analysis of 121 partnership dyads, we identify that some factors governing the successful creation of joint value differ for the two partners while others are relevant to both parties. Those latter factors, in turn, differ in their effects on the respective outcome.

During the last two decades, strategic alliances have gained importance across many industries. This also applies the alliance of MAN and Scania as part of the TRATON Group operating in the commercial vehicle industry. After being created in 2015, the group has worked on developing a collaboration structure to leverage the benefits of working together. The thesis´ aim is to examine key challenges and benefits of the specific collaboration structure called Lead Engineering Concept as one approach of working together within the strategic alliance of the group. Moreover, it aims to investigate function-specific challenges occurring in different parts of the organization. This is supposed to create a holistic view of the strategic alliance of the TRATON Group and to formulate suggestions for improvement of the current collaboration structure. Applying the relational view as a theoretical framework, a lack of collaboration-specific assets investments, and the potential of the consolidation of synergy-sensitive resources could be identified. To complement the relational view, the dimensions of process alignment and sharing principles have been introduced, which aims to facilitate the discussion of challenges arising during the implementation of alignment measures. Lastly, the thesis concluded with suggesting six potential improvements of the lead engineering concept, namely (1) the integration of goals, (2) the sharing of principles, (3) the translation of high-level goals into function-specific directions, (4) the investments into collaboration-specific assets, (5) the consolidation of synergy sensitive resources, and (6) the definition of a common technical understanding.

Småföretag utgör den ekonomiska motorn som påverkar nationers utveckling. Därför bör de kontinuerligt stödjas för att fortsatt kunna främja länders utveckling. 99 % av alla bygg- och anläggningsföretag är idag småföretag och på grund av branschens höga konjunkturkänslighet, låga inträdeshinder och hårda konkurrens löper de stor risk att misslyckas. Detta medför en efterfrågan på strategisk forskning som kan appliceras på deras speciella karaktärsdrag; flexibilitet och småskalighet. Strategisk forskning har genom historien haft olika fokus vid förklarandet av företags konkurrenskraft. Idag riktas forskningen mot ett internt perspektiv där den resursbaserade teorin är den mest använda. Då den externa miljön är i ständig förändring och kunders preferenser är volatila skapar inte det externa perspektivet en säker grund för att förstå företags konkurrenskraft.   Syftet med studien är att ur ett internt och externt perspektiv öka förståelsen kring hur konkurrenskraft kan stärkas för småföretag inom bygg- och anläggningsbranschen. Detta genom att identifiera centrala resurser samt studera hur dessa förnyas, tillämpas och utvecklas. För att besvara syftet har en kvalitativ studie genomförts där den primära datainsamlingen utgjordes av fem semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Två undersökningsföretag valdes ut efter ett strategiskt urval. Kriterierna var att företagen skulle klassificeras som småföretag och vara marknadsledande.  Utifrån studien kan det fastslås att det inte var tillräckligt att enbart analysera den resursbaserade teorin för att förstå hur småföretag inom bygg- och anläggningsbranschen stärker sin konkurrenskraft. Undersökningsföretagen belyste vikten av deras externa relationer med kunderna. Kundrelationerna hade en direkt koppling till företagens konkurrenskraft i form av avtal och rykte. Att endast analysera det interna perspektivet hade resulterat i en bristfällig analys av dessa resursers påverkan på konkurrenskraften. Således adderades det relationella synsättet efter analys av empirin. Utifrån dessa två perspektiv kunde det konstateras att små bygg- och anläggningsföretag stärker sin konkurrenskraft genom att skapa inbäddade relationer med kunder och anställda samtidigt som heterogena resurser måste förnyas, tillämpas och utvecklas. Genom detta kan konkurrensfördelar skapas. / Small businesses constitute the economic engine which affects nations’ development. That is why they continuously need support to further encourage the development of countries. 99 % of all the construction companies are today small businesses and due to the industry’s high sensitivity to economic fluctuation, low entry barriers and intense competition there is a high business failure rate. This leads to a demand of strategic research that can be applied on their special characteristics, flexibility and small scaled. Strategic research has throughout the history had a different focus in explaining businesses competitiveness. Today, research is more directed towards an internal perspective whereas the resource-based theory is the most used. As the external environment is constantly changing and customers’ preferences are volatile the external perspective cannot form a secure foundation to use in the understanding of business competitiveness.  The purpose of this study is from a resource-based view increase the understanding of how competitiveness in small businesses in the construction industry can be strengthened. This by identifying key resources and study how these are renewed, applied and developed. To answer the purpose of the study, a qualitative study has been used whereas the primary data collection consists of five semi-structured interviews. Two businesses where chosen by a purposive sampling. The criteria’s where that the businesses would be classified as small businesses and be leaders of the market.  Based on the study it can be established that it is not sufficient to only analyze the resourcebased theory in order to understand how small businesses in the construction industry strengthen their competitiveness. The research businesses highlighted the importance of their external customer relations. The customer relationships had a direct connection to the businesses competitiveness in terms of contracts and reputation. Only analyzing the internal perspective would have resulted in an inadequate analyze of these resources impact on competitiveness. Thus, the relational view was added to the study after analyze of the gathered data. Through these two perspectives it was noted that small construction businesses competitiveness strengthens through embedded relationships with their customers and employees while at the same time renewing, applying and developing heterogenic resources. Through this, a competitive advantage can be created.

Submitted by Vanessa Nunes (vnunes) on 2015-07-28T17:31:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thais Dalcin.pdf: 1240099 bytes, checksum: d1eafadabdc2590133c5884dbc5a673e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-28T17:31:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thais Dalcin.pdf: 1240099 bytes, checksum: d1eafadabdc2590133c5884dbc5a673e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-10 / Grupo RBS / O presente estudo busca compreender o desenvolvimento e a competitividade de clusters de startup no Brasil. Para a compreensão desses arranjos tecnológicos pode-se utilizar diferentes lentes teóricas, porém para o presente trabalho utilizar-se-á a Visão Baseada em Recursos e a Visão Relacional, uma vez que dirigem a atenção aos recursos-chave para o desenvolvimento desses aglomerados. Desta forma, identificaram-se na literatura treze recursos-chave relacionados aos clusters de startups, sendo oito recursos tangíveis e cinco recursos intangíveis. A partir das evidências teóricas, realizou-se uma análise multicasos, nos clusters de startup de Belo Horizonte e Porto Alegre, a fim de analisar a presença e o desenvolvimento dos recursos em cada caso. A pesquisa empírica foi conduzida por meio de 42 entrevistas em profundidade com os principais agentes de cada cluster: empreendedores, investidores, dirigentes de órgão públicos, universidades, parques tecnológicos, aceleradoras, incubadoras, empresas e demais instituições. Os resultados da pesquisa levaram à construção de um esquema conceitual-analítico, o qual apresenta os principais recursos para o desenvolvimento de um cluster de startup, bem como a inter-relação entre eles. Desta forma, evidenciou-se que alguns recursos atuam como condições para o desenvolvimento de outros, como é o caso da localização geográfica, das condições estruturais (como por exemplo, marco regulatório, infraestrutura, políticas econômicas, dentre outros), dos valores socioculturais, do nível de liberdade econômica e social e da qualidade de vida de uma determinada região. Em seguida, destacou-se a presença e o papel dos empreendedores como agentes centrais e catalisadores do processo de mudança e inovação. Os recursos relacionados à oferta de capital de risco, capital humano, sistema de educação, ensino e pesquisa, existência de relações colaborativas e acesso a mercados consumidores foram considerados chave por prover as principais necessidades dos empreendedores para geração de startups. Por conseguinte, analisaram-se os recursos que atuam como apoio para o cluster, como é o caso dos parques tecnológicos, das incubadoras e aceleradoras, das empresas, dos programas governamentais e do nível de diversidade cultural da região. / This study aims to understand the critical resources for the development and competitiveness of startup clusters in Brazil. In the literature review, it was identified that the Resource Based View and Relational View theoretical concepts could help the understanding of the startup clusters development. So, it was identified in the literature thirteen resources on the subject, being eight tangible resources and five intangible. According to the theoretical evidence, this study presents a multi-case analysis, based on the startup clusters of Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre, in order to analyze the presence and the development of resources in each case. The empirical research was conducted through 42 in-depth interviews with each cluster agents: entrepreneurs, investors, public agency leaders, universities, technology and science parks, accelerators, incubators, companies, institutions and entities. The survey results led to the construction of a conceptual - analytical framework, which presents the main resources for the development of a startup cluster and the relationship among them. Thus, the evidence showed that some resources serve as conditions for the development of others, such as the geographical location, the structural conditions (for instance, regulatory environment, transportation and communication infrastructure, economic policies, among others), the socio-cultural values set and the degree of freedom and quality of life. Besides that, there is the presence and the role of entrepreneurs as key agents and catalysts of change and innovation process. The resources related to venture capital, intellectual capital, educational system, and access to consumer markets were considered key for providing the main needs of entrepreneurs. Therefore, it was analyzed the features that act as support for the cluster, such as technology and science parks , incubators, accelerators , companies ,level of cultural diversity and government programs. Finally, there is the need for collaborative relationships between all actors in the development of the resources of a startup cluster.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-11-24T11:51:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ingridi Vargas Bortolaso_.pdf: 2642377 bytes, checksum: 0dd7f4daf1f04248961c15763bed5376 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-24T11:51:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ingridi Vargas Bortolaso_.pdf: 2642377 bytes, checksum: 0dd7f4daf1f04248961c15763bed5376 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-20 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A cooperação entre universidade-governo-empresa (UGE) contribui para o desenvolvimento da indústria. A partir dessa cooperação, é possível explorar uma lacuna teórica, como o alinhamento entre a visão baseada em recursos e a visão relacional, gerando proposições de pesquisa. Quando se trata de indústria de alta complexidade tecnológica, como a dos semicondutores, essa cooperação torna-se essencial para o sucesso. Com o objetivo de ampliar a compreensão sobre a cooperação UGE na indústria de semicondutores e, em especial, como os recursos compartilhados pela universidade, governo e empresa contribuem para o desenvolvimento da indústria de semicondutores, a presente tese buscou compreender os recursos da universidade, governo e empresa. Isso porque essa cooperação pode estar intimamente relacionada com recursos disponibilizados por cada organização. Além dos recursos de cada organização envolvida, esta tese também identifica as ações relacionais desenvolvidas entre UGE e os recursos resultantes dessas ações. A aplicação dos conceitos-chave da visão baseada em recursos, alinhada com a visão relacional, contribui para a compreensão dessa cooperação. A estratégia de pesquisa utilizada é o estudo de caso único com unidades incorporadas. Assim, foi realizada uma coleta de dados envolvendo múltiplas fontes de informações, tais como: entrevista semiestruturada, material audiovisual, documentos das organizações e relatórios. A análise do caso estudado permitiu a geração de proposições de pesquisa e a elaboração de um esquema conceitual com os elementos críticos necessários para o estabelecimento da cooperação entre UGE. Como elementos críticos, identificou-se: os recursos internos da organização, os recursos compartilhados na cooperação, a relação como recurso, a orientação empreendedora da universidade, o posicionamento do governo como um ator-chave da cooperação e a existência de capacidades latentes nas organizações, característica essencial para o estabelecimento da cooperação. O presente trabalho também apresenta as implicações práticas e teóricas identificadas no processo de cooperação estudado e menciona recomendações para a continuidade deste estudo. / Collaboration amongst university-government-industry (U-G-I) contributes to the development of infant industries. When it comes to industries of high technological complexity, such as segment of semiconductor, this cooperation becomes essential for their success. In order to enlarge our understanding involving the cooperation between university-government-firm in the semiconductor industry and, particularly, how the resources shared by them contribute to the development of the semiconductor industry, this dissertation tries to understand the resources of university, government and firm. This is because such cooperation may be closely related to the resources provided by each organization. In addition to the resources of each of the organizations involved, we also have identified relational actions developed between U-G-I and resulting resources of such actions. An application of the key concepts of the resource-based view, aligned with the relational view, contributed to the understanding of this cooperation. The research strategy used is the case study with embedded units only. Thus, we collected data involving multiple sources of information, such as semi-structured interviews, audiovisual material, organizations’ documents and reports. The analysis of the case study allowed generating research propositions and elaborating a conceptual framework with critical elements necessary to the establishing cooperation amongst U-G-I. As critical elements, we found internal resources of the organizations, resources shared at the cooperation, relation as resource, entrepreneurial direction of the university, the position of the government as a key actor of the cooperation, and the stocks of latent capacities in the organizations, which are essential to establish cooperation. The present study also presents the practical and theoretical implications involved in the process of cooperation studied and makes some recommendations for continuing this study.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-06-28T15:52:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Kadígia Faccin_.pdf: 5715661 bytes, checksum: d848e99d1da8626663a9bb8f64bac6a7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-28T15:52:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Kadígia Faccin_.pdf: 5715661 bytes, checksum: d848e99d1da8626663a9bb8f64bac6a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-08 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo das práticas colaborativas de criação de conhecimento em projetos colaborativos de pesquisa e desenvolvimento é particularmente relevante quando se consideram projetos de indústrias intensivas em conhecimento, como a de semicondutores no caso do projeto do transistor FD-SOI 28nm, desenvolvido no cluster de microeletrônica, em Grenoble, na França. As evidências demonstradas na literatura sobre as características da criação de conhecimento não têm atentado às práticas vivenciadas pelos atores, que facilitam este processo. Assim, a dinâmica das práticas colaborativas não consegue ser suficientemente explicada pelas perspectivas teóricas existentes, apresentando-se como uma “caixa preta” para os estudos das relações interorganizacionais. Neste trabalho, buscou-se compreender como ocorre a dinâmica das práticas colaborativas de criação do conhecimento em projetos colaborativos de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (P&D), a partir do significado que os participantes do projeto atribuem às suas experiências. Na presente pesquisa, desenvolveu-se uma contribuição substantiva para explicar a dinâmica das práticas colaborativas de criação do conhecimento, que visa contribuir, tanto com o incremento da visão relacional, quanto da teoria de criação do conhecimento, utilizando os procedimentos metodológicos da grounded theory, bem como narrativa e mapas temporais em um estudo de caso único, tomando-se uma abordagem processual, de caráter qualitativo e de cunho analitico. Para que isso fosse possível, resgatou-se a história do desenvolvimento de um projeto colaborativo que começa na pesquisa básica e vai até o desenvolvimento experimental do produto. Neste estudo, contou-se a história do projeto colaborativo desenvolvido nos últimos 15 anos (1999 a 2014) a partir da percepção dos atores que colaboraram na criação do transistor FD-SOI 28nm. Dessa forma, por meio da análise de dados, foi possível fornecer uma descrição pragmática das condições contextuais responsáveis pela emergência de um conjunto de práticas colaborativas utilizadas no projeto. Essa descrição processual, somada à identificação das práticas colaborativas adotadas para a criação do conhecimento, permitiu a compreensão da dinâmica das práticas colaborativas em projetos conjuntos de P&D, que é a grande originalidade deste estudo. Entre os principais achados da pesquisa está o entendimento de que as diferentes práticas colaborativas adotadas tendem a agregar diferentes tipos de conhecimentos ao projeto; garantindo, assim, a síntese dinâmica entre conhecimentos tácitos e explícitos. Outrossim, reconheceu-se que o tipo de prática colaborativa adotada em um projeto conjunto de P&D varia de acordo com o estoque de conhecimento necessário para tornar o conceito realidade, e também conforme a estratégia de criação do conhecimento adotada em cada fase do projeto colaborativo de P&D. Este estudo possibilitou confirmar a tese de que a dinâmica das práticas colaborativas de criação do conhecimento em projetos conjuntos de P&D na indústria de semicondutores são fundamentais para a criação de conhecimento interorganizacional. Espera-se que os resultados encontrados por este estudo possam aumentar o conhecimento sobre a gestão de projetos colaborativos de P&D na indústria de semicondutores, assim como se espera que esses resultados possam gerar reflexões governamentais, sociais e novas contribuições acadêmicas sobre a criação de conhecimento interorganizacional. / The study of collaborative practices of knowledge creation in collaborative projects of research and development is particularly relevant when considering intensive- knowledge industry projects such as the semiconductor in the case of the project of the FD-SOI 28nm transistor, developed in the microelectronics cluster in Grenoble, France. The evidence demonstrated in the literature on the characteristics of knowledge creation do not attack the practices experienced by actors that facilitate this process. Thus, the dynamics of collaborative practices cannot be sufficiently explained by the existing theoretical perspectives, being a black box for the study of inter-organizational relationships. In this work, we sought to understand how the dynamics of collaborative practices of knowledge creation in collaborative projects of R&D occur, from the meaning that project participants attach to their experiences. In this research, we developed a substantive contribution to explain the dynamics of collaborative practices of knowledge creation, which aims at contributing to increase the relational view, as well as the knowledge creation theory by using methodological procedures of grounded theory as well as narrative and temporal maps, in a single case study, taking a procedural approach of qualitative and analitycal nature. To make this possible, we recovered the history of the development of a collaborative project which begins in basic research and extends to the experimental product development. In this study, the story of the collaborative project developed over the last 15 years (1999-2014) was described, according to actors who collaborated in the creation of the FD-SOI 28nm transistor. So, from the data analysis, it was possible to provide a pragmatic description of the contextual conditions responsible for the emergence of a set of collaborative practices used in the project. This procedural description, plus the identification of collaborative practices for knowledge creation, allowed the understanding of the dynamics of collaborative practices in joint R&D projects, which is the greatest originality of this study. Among the main findings of the research, it’s the understanding that the various collaborative practices tend to aggregate different types of knowledge to the project, thus ensuring a dynamic synthesis between tacit and explicit knowledge. It was also recognized that the type of collaborative practice adopted in a joint R&D project varies according to the stock of knowledge required to make the concept real, and according to the knowledge creation strategy, adopted at each stage of the collaborative R&D project. This study allowed us to confirm the thesis that the collaborative practices of knowledge creation in joint R&D projects in the semiconductor industry are fundamental to the creation of inter-organizational knowledge. We hope that the findings of this study will increase awareness of the management of collaborative projects of R&D in the semiconductor industry, and it is expected that these results will generate government and social reflections and new academic contributions on creating inter-organizational knowledge.