There is an increasing pressure on service firms to innovate and compete on new offerings. As our lives become more digitized through the ubiquitous connectivity by the usage of digital devices, companies are now able to collect vast amount of various data in real-time, and thus, know radically more about their customers. Companies could leverage on this growing body of data and developing relevant services based on customer demands accordingly. One industry compelled to benefit by utilizing customer information is the telecom industry due to fierce competition and a need of innovation in a saturated market. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate how telecom companies use customer information in their development process of new services by answering the research question: How do telecom companies use customer information within their New Service Development process? To illuminate this, a qualitative research was conducted on three Swedish telecom companies. The findings indicate that telecom companies possess a beneficial position since they are able to collect a vast amount of data about their customers due to the digital nature of their services. However, they struggle to efficiently integrate the data and seamlessly disseminate the obtained knowledge internally. Hence, leveraging customer information in new service development has not reached its full potential and how well it is incorporated is determined by the skills of key employees and their collaboration rather than deployed internal processes.

Submitted by Marlene Santos (marlene.bc.ufg@gmail.com) on 2016-04-04T21:12:54Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Luciana Padovez Cualheta - 2015.pdf: 1603506 bytes, checksum: 640fe4870b9279aeeca49723b2392ea9 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-04-05T11:13:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Luciana Padovez Cualheta - 2015.pdf: 1603506 bytes, checksum: 640fe4870b9279aeeca49723b2392ea9 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-05T11:13:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Luciana Padovez Cualheta - 2015.pdf: 1603506 bytes, checksum: 640fe4870b9279aeeca49723b2392ea9 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-30 / The air transport sector is highly relevant to the global economy and has grown about six times the global GDP in recent years. Nevertheless, it has not been able to generate the desired profitability, due to high costs and the inability to deliver differentiated services to customers. In this context, innovation in services is a priority. This study aimed to identify what are the main practices in the new service development process (NSDP) for companies in the air transport industry. Several NSDP practices are identified in the literature which make up a conceptual model. By conducting multiple case studies and comparing the results with the literature, ten of those practices are found to be recurrent in the air transport industry. They are: analyzing the external environment, analysis of the financial capacity of the company, the creation of support activities, the new service price definition, employee training, adaptation of the physical structure, the disclosure of the new service, disclosure of the benefits of the new service for the customer, obtaining customer feedback and the comparison of actual costs versus planned costs. Future research should try to understand how and why those activities occur. / O setor de serviços de transporte aéreo é altamente relevante para a economia global e tem crescido cerca de seis vezes mais que o PIB mundial nos últimos anos. Apesar disso, o setor não tem sido capaz de gerar a rentabilidade desejada devido aos altos custos e a incapacidade de entregar um serviço diferenciado ao cliente. Nesse contexto, a inovação em serviços tornase prioritária. O presente estudo teve como objetivo identificar quais são as principais práticas do processo de desenvolvimento de um novo serviço (PDNS) para empresas do setor de transporte aéreo. Para tanto, são identificadas as práticas de PDNS propostas na literatura, que compõem um modelo conceitual. Através da condução de estudos de casos múltiplos e da comparação dos seus resultados com a literatura, identificou-se que dez dessas práticas são recorrentes para as empresas do setor de transporte aéreo, sendo elas a análise do ambiente externo, análise da capacidade financeira da empresa, a criação de atividades de suporte, a definição do preço do novo serviço, o treinamento dos funcionários, a adaptação da estrutura física da empresa, a divulgação do novo serviço, evidenciação dos benefícios do novo serviço para o cliente, a obtenção de feedback dos clientes e a comparação dos custos realizados versus o planejado. Sugere-se que pesquisas futuras busquem compreender como e porque cada uma dessas práticas é realizada, ampliando a compreensão acerca do assunto

Scania is a leading European developer and manufacturer of trucks, buses and engines, based in Södertälje in Sweden. From traditionally having been focused on offering their customer high quality products, Scania is now moving towards becoming a solution provider. This requires a combination of products and services and a deeper understanding of their customers’ business. Hauliers are one of Scania’s most important customer segments. In order to improve its solution offer, Scania wants to gain a deeper understanding about how hauliers develop. Recent studies at Scania have shown deficiencies in knowledge about haulier development. To fill this gap, this master’s thesis was initiated with the purpose of "gaining insight into haulier development and listing implications for Scania‟s business and service development". The aim of the study was to identify drivers, challenges and other important factors for growing hauliers. This result was then used to understand how Scania can contribute to its haulier customers’ growth by offering services. Seven hauliers were selected based on a number of criteria and studied closely. The results showed a gap between the services offered by Scania today and the services suggested after analyses. Particularly, it indicated that non vehicle related services could help hauliers make crucial steps in their development. Scania is advised to further deepen its understanding about haulier development. By doing this, Scania would take an important step into becoming the solution provider it aims to be.

Idag skiftar industrin sitt fokus från att producera fysiska produkter till att utveckla tjänster. En ökande konkurrens på marknaden gör att företag måste använda effektiva utvecklingsprocesser för att snabbt lansera tjänster av hög kvalitet. Tjänster definieras ofta utifrån deras immateriella karaktär vilket komplicerar mätning av kvalitet. För att bestämma kvalitet kan fysiska produkter kontrolleras mot en kravspecifikation genom att testas och mätas. Tjänster däremot utgår ifrån hur väl de uppfyller kundernas och användarnas behov. För att öka tjänsters kvalitet är det viktigt att förstå kunderna och användarna och i praktiken blir det allt vanligare att involvera dem i utvecklingen. Tjänster har nyligen fått stor uppmärksamhet i industrin och i forskningen och den allmänna beskrivningen av tjänster omfattar många olika ämnesområden. Detta innebär att det inte finns en entydig definition av vad en tjänst är och det saknas en vedertagen tjänsteutvecklingsprocess som möjliggör involvering av användarna. Vidare efterfrågar forskningen studier i hur kund- och användarinvolvering bör ingå i utvecklingen av tjänster, speciellt i ett tidigare skede, och hur det påverkar tjänsters resultat. Utifrån en litteraturstudie har denna studie föreslagit en process för att involvera centrala intressenter, till exempel kunder, användare och interna intressenter, i utvecklingen av tjänster. Processen implementerades sedan i ett praktikfall där examensarbetet samarbetspartner, ett mindre IT-företag, gett i uppdrag att utveckla ett koncept av en friskvårdstjänst. Praktikfallet omfattade endast de första delarna i utvecklingen där exempelvis teknisk utveckling och lansering inte ingick. Efter att processen implementerats levererades ett färdigt koncept till samarbetspartnern och en ny justerad process presenterades baserad på analyser från empirin. Denna studie styrker dagens forskning genom att påvisa att kund- och användarinvolvering i tjänsteutvecklingen kan bidra till en effektiv process, tjänster av hög kvalitet, en ökad kundlojalitet till företaget och en ökad marknadsacceptans. Däremot är det avgörande att involveringen sker på rätt sätt med rätt intressenter. Innan utvecklingen bör syftet med intressenternas involvering definieras omsorgsfullt så att involveringsmomenten kan anpassas därefter. Efter att syftet med intressenternas involvering bestämts kan processen från denna studie med fördel implementeras i all tjänsteutveckling. Sökord: tjänsteutveckling, tjänstedesign, kundinvolvering, användarinvolvering, process / Today the industry is shifting focus from producing goods to developing services. With increasing competition on the service market companies need to establish efficient development processes to quickly launch services of high quality. Services are often defined in terms of its intangible nature, which complicates the measurement of quality. Goods can be physically tested and measured to be checked against a requirement specification. On the other hand, quality in services is based on how well they meet customer and user needs. To gain quality the understanding of customers and users is crucial and in practice it is becoming increasingly common to involve customers and users in the service development. Services have recently gained attention within the industry and research. Furthermore, the general description of services includes a variety of subject areas. Because of this there is no established definition of what a service actually is and the research lack recognized processes for its development. In addition, the research request studies on how customer and user involvement should be part of the development of services, especially in the early stages, and how it affects the services’ results. Based on a literature study, this thesis has proposed a process for involving key stakeholders, including customers and users, in the development of services. The process was then implemented in a case where a small IT company commissioned to develop a concept of a wellness service. The case comprised only the first stages of the full development where, for example, technical design and launch was not included. After the process was implemented, a final concept was delivered to the business partner and a new adjusted process was presented based on the analysis of the empirical data. This study verifies today's research by demonstrating that customer and user involvement in service development can contribute to an efficient process, quality, increased customer loyalty to the company and a greater market acceptance. However, it is crucial that the right stakeholders are involved according to a purpose. Before the development, the purpose of the stakeholder involvement must be defined carefully so that activities can be designed accordingly. After this, the adjusted process presented in this study can advantageously be implemented in any service development. Keywords: Service development, Service design, Customer involvement, User involvement, Process

Das Service Engineering hat sich innerhalb der letzten Jahre zunehmend als eine wissenschaftliche Fachdisziplin etabliert. Das vorliegende Heft bietet in kompakter Form einen kurzen Abriss über die Entwicklung dieses Bereiches der Wissenschaft und kondensiert die Grundideen und bisher in der Forschung betrachteten Aspekte. Darüber hinaus erfolgt eine Auseinandersetzung mit neuen Anforderungen seitens der veränderten Dienstleistungswirtschaft. Aus diesen ergibt sich, dass bisherige Ansätze des Service Engineerings grundlegend weiterentwickelt und neue Ansätze bereitgestellt werden müssen. Diese bilden die Entwicklungspfade für ein Service Engineering 2.0.

Estudos de expressão gênica geralmente envolvem a realização de processos de análise integrados para a obtenção de respostas biológicas de interesse. A realização destes processos frequentemente requer o uso combinado de uma série de ferramentas de software. No entanto, o processo de integração manual de ferramentas pode ser demorado e propenso a erros devido ao crescente número de ferramentas e formatos de dados disponíveis no domínio. De modo a automatizar o processo de integração, algumas abordagens têm sido propostas tanto para a adaptação das ferramentas de análise existentes como serviços web semânticos, quanto para o desenvolvimento de ambientes de suporte à integração (composição) de serviços web semânticos. Embora estas abordagens representem avanços, nenhuma solução adequada para o desenvolvimento e composição de serviços foi especificamente definida para o domínio de genômica funcional. Neste contexto, o principal objetivo deste projeto foi investigar uma solução completa para o desenvolvimento e composição de serviços web semânticos para a análise de expressão gênica. Como parte da solução proposta, definimos uma metodologia integrada para a implementação de serviços web semânticos criados a partir de ferramentas de software existentes e para a anotação semântica destes serviços. Nossa metodologia fornece diretrizes concretas para o desenvolvimento sistemático de serviços, considerando também os principais aspectos técnicos associados ao processo de desenvolvimento. Esta metodologia foi aplicada a um conjunto representativo de serviços que fornecem suporte às principais atividades de análise realizadas em diferentes tipos de dados de expressão gênica. De forma complementar, definimos uma solução completa para a composição semântica de serviços no domínio de análise de expressão gênica. A solução proposta foi implementada em uma plataforma de suporte semi-automático à composição de serviços web semânticos, chamada SemanticSCo. Esta plataforma fornece suporte flexível a todas as atividades envolvidas no processo de composição de serviços, incluindo a criação, publicação, requisição, descoberta, seleção, composição e execução de serviços. Além disto, a plataforma SemanticSCo foi projetada para prover suporte adequado a diferentes tipos de usuários, incluindo biologistas e bioinformatas. Neste sentido, a plataforma fornece aos usuários um alto nível de abstração para a definição de seus processos de análise, permitindo que os mesmos se concentrem mais nas questões de pesquisa biológicas do que nos aspectos subjacentes do processo de composição. Adicionalmente, a plataforma SemanticSCo suporta a definição e incorporação não apenas de serviços simples, definidos em termos de uma única operação, mas também de serviços complexos, definidos em termos de um conjunto de condições que restringem a ordem de invocação de suas operações. Finalmente, de modo a avaliar a plataforma de suporte desenvolvida, definimos diferentes cenários de composição para a análise (integrada) de dados de expressão gênica. O uso da plataforma SemanticSCo facilitou a definição destes cenários, permitindo assim a reprodução dos resultados obtidos a partir de diferentes estudos de expressão gênica previamente documentados na literatura / Gene expression studies usually involve the creation of integrated analysis processes for obtaining responses for a biological question. The creation of such processes often require the combined use of a number of software tools. However, the manual integration of tools can be cumbersome and error prone due to the increasing number of tools and data formats available in the domain. In order to automate the integration process, some approaches have been proposed for the adaptation of existing analysis tools as semantic web services as well as for the development of software environments to support the integration (composition) of semantic web services. Although these approaches present advances, to the best of our knowledge, no suitable solution has been proposed for the development and composition of web services in the functional genomics domain. In this context, this project aimed at investigating a complete solution for the development and composition of semantic web services to support gene expression analysis. As part of the proposed solution, we have defined an integrated methodology for the implementation of semantic web services created from existing software tools and the semantic annotation of such services. Our methodology provides concrete guidelines for the systematic development of services, also taking into account the main technical aspects associated with the development process. This methodology has been applied in the development of a representative set of services that support the main analysis activities performed on different types of gene expression data. Complementary to our methodology, we have defined a complete solution for the semantic composition of web services in the gene expression analysis domain. The proposed solution has been implemented in a software platform to support the semi-automatic composition of semantic web services, named SemanticSCo. This platform provides flexible support to all activities involved in the service composition process including service creation, publication, request, discovery, selection, composition and execution. Additionally, the SemanticSCo platform has been designed to support different types of users, including biologists and bioinformaticians. In this sense, the platform provides users with a high level of abstraction in the definition of their analysis processes, thus allowing them to focus more on biological research issues rather than on underlying details of the composition process. In addition, the SemanticSCo platform supports not only the definition and incorporation of (simple) services defined in terms of a single operation, but also (complex) services defined in terms of a set of conditions that constrain the order in which service operations should be invoked. Finally, in order to evaluate the developed support platform, we have defined a number of composition scenarios for the (integrated) analysis of gene expression data. The use of the SemanticSCo platform has facilitated the definition of these scenarios, thus allowing the reproduction of the results obtained from different gene expression studies previously documented in the literature.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:40:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 29 / Nenhuma / O tópico de desenvolvimento de novos serviços (NSD – New Service Development) tem recebido bastante atenção nos últimos anos por sua importância na geração de diferencial competitivo para as empresas de serviços. No entanto, sua investigação empírica nas organizações tem sido lenta em função da escassez de escalas e itens de medição confiáveis e válidos. Recentemente, um constructo multidimensional denominado de competência em NSD foi proposto para refletir a capacidade da organização de utilizar recursos e rotinas, usualmente em combinação, a fim de atingir um determinado resultado no lançamento de um novo serviço. O constructo foi operacionalizado através de cinco escalas complementares entre si (foco no processo de NSD, acuidade de mercado, estratégia de NSD, cultura de NSD e experiência em TI) e validada em uma amostra de bancos de varejo americanos. A fim de analisar a validade externa da nova escala, esse estudo utilizou uma amostra oriunda de uma empresa brasileira prestadora de serviços de telecomuni / The topic of NSD (New Service Development) has received a lot of attention in the past years, especially given its important competitive necessity in many service industries. However, NSD empirical investigations have been hindered by the lack of sound measurement items and scales. Recently, a second-order multidimensional construct called NSD competence has been proposed to reflect an organization´s expertise in deploying resources and routines, usually in combination, to achieve a desired new service outcome. The construct was operationalized through five complementary multi-item scales (NSD process focus, market acuity, NSD strategy, NSD culture and information technology experience) that were validated in a sample of American retail banks. In order to assess the external validity of the NSD competence construct in a different cultural setting, a sample obtained from key informants of a specific Brazilian telecommunication service provider was used. The results showed a partially satisfactory construct

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:57:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marly das Neves Benachio.pdf: 1590843 bytes, checksum: d6eb044657aaf13124d30da95119d69a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-09-26 / The present essay intends to be a contribution to the in-service development program understood as a priority space of teacher formation in the school where teachers give their lessons. To understand the impact of this program, we chose as our case studies three teachers in this process of in-service development program of a private school in São Paulo city. We tried capture the subjective directions produced by these teachers on their teaching practice and then to point out awareness markers in these developing teachers. The Theory of the Subjectivity, by Fernando González Rey (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2004a, 2005), together with the contributions by Aguiar (1997, 2001), Aguiar and Ozella (2006) helped us in this analysis which allowed us to understand the subjective directions expressed by the teachers. As reference for the development program we based our research on authors such as Placco (2000, 2000a, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008), Almeida (2000, 2007), Gatti (1972, 2003), Nóvoa (1992), Marcelo Garci'a (1999, 2007), Mizukami et al (2003), Imbernón (2004) and Zeichner (1993, 1993a), amongst others. The methodology used is inserted in the paradigm of the qualitative research, having interviews as main source of information, besides some other tools such as short essays, choosing paintings by some known painters and observation. In the development process of the analysis, markers and meaning groups emerged making possible the acquisition of directions, from which we made the awareness markers of the teacher inserted in this program. These awareness markers are the subjective directions produced by the teachers in the sense of value to their teaching practice; emotions such as involvement, satisfaction, willingness; search for knowledge necessary for teaching; the value of spaces for the in-service development program; the confrontation and relationship between the coordinator and the teacher which should be based on respect, cooperation, focus on the professional. Getting to know Indicators of teachers awareness movement in the process of in-service continued education helps the coordinator/trainer to be more appropriately and efficiently supportive during the teachers development / O presente trabalho pretende ser uma contribuição para a Formação Continuada em Serviço, entendida como um espaço prioritário de formação docente na escola em que os professores ministram as aulas. Para a compreensão do impacto dessa Formação Continuada, escolhemos como objeto de estudo três professores inseridos em um processo de formação continuada em serviço de uma escola de ensino particular da cidade de São Paulo. Buscamos apreender os sentidos subjetivos engendrados por esses professores sobre sua docência e, a partir deles, apontar indicadores de movimentos de conscientização nesses professores em processo de formação continuada em serviço. Auxiliou-nos nessa análise a Teoria da Subjetividade, de Fernando González Rey (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2004a, 2005) que, juntamente com as contribuições de Aguiar (1997, 2001), Aguiar e Ozella (2006), permitiu compreender os sentidos subjetivos expressos pelos professores. Como referência para a formação continuada, apoiamo-nos em autores como Placco (2000, 2000a, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008), Almeida (2000, 2007), Gatti (1972, 2003), Nóvoa (1992), Marcelo Garcia (1999, 2007), Mizukami et al (2003), Imbernón (2004) e Zeichner (1993, 1993a), dentre outros. O método utilizado insere-se no paradigma da pesquisa qualitativa, tendo como procedimento para coleta das informações, prioritariamente, entrevistas recorrentes, além de outros instrumentos, como redação, escolha de quadros de pintores e observação. No processo de desenvolvimento da análise, emergiram indicadores e núcleos de significação que possibilitaram a apreensão de sentidos, a partir dos quais elaboramos os indicadores de movimentos de conscientização dos professores inseridos nesse processo de formação continuada em serviço. São indicadores de movimentos de conscientização: os sentidos subjetivos engendrados pelos professores na direção da valorização da docência; emoções como: envolvimento, alegria, disposição; busca pelos saberes necessários à docência; a valorização dos espaços de formação continuada em serviço; o confronto com os pares e a relação coordenador-professor baseada no respeito, na parceria, na valorização do profissional. Conhecer indicadores de movimentos de conscientização do professor em formação continuada em serviço favorece ao coordenador/formador interferências mais adequadas, eficientes e eficazes nos processos de formação

Den demografiska utvecklingen i Sverige går mot en befolkningssammansättning med allt högre medelålder. Prognosen tyder på att nästan var fjärde svensk år 2025 kommer vara 65 år eller äldre. Många av dessa individer har en aktiv, frisk och relativt lång ålderdom framför sig. Studier har visat att morgondagens seniorer är en relativt välbeställd grupp med höga krav och stora förväntningar på ålderdomen och det framtida boendet. Allt detta innebär en utmaning för samhället där nödvändiga prioriteringar kan leda till att individen måste ta ett större ansvar och eget initiativ för boende och omvårdnadstjänster gentemot tidigare. I avhandlingen (”studien”) har seniorboendekonceptet med integrerade service-, vård- och omsorgstjänster studerats särskilt. Seniorboenden är ett marknadssegment med kraftig tillväxt under 2000-talet. Antalet seniorbostäder i Sverige har ökat från ca 10 000 år 2000 till ca 28 000 år 2007. Det som karaktäriserar konceptet är att boendet och de anslutande tjänsterna har anpassats och särskilt utformats för ett liv i åldrande. Studien rapporteras i form av en monografi bestående av två olika delstudier. Forskningsfrågan som varit vägledande för den första delstudien är ”Vad skapar en stark marknadsposition för en aktör på seniorbostadsmarknaden med integrerad service, vård och omsorg?”. Forskningsfrågan i den andra delstudien är ”Vilka produktionsstrategier och styrsystem går att identifiera hos några av de mest framgångsrika konceptbyggarna?”. Den andra delstudien utgår från den första delstudiens resultat. Forskningen, som har bedrivits som en explorativ fältstudie, har pågått under perioden 2002-2008. Mätinstrumentet har bestått av fasta intervjufrågor med öppna svarsalternativ. De underliggande intervjuerna har tillsammans med sekundärdata presenterats i ett antal fallbeskrivningar. I studien har ett antal framgångsrika, såväl svenska som nordamerikanska, aktörer medverkat. Den första delstudien har analyserats utifrån en föreställningsram som byggts upp kring begreppen omgivning, strategi, resurs, tjänstekoncept och konkurrenskraft. Resultaten har formulerats i ett antal strategiska vägval vilka sammanfattats i begreppen differentiering, fokus, integration, samverkan, kontroll, verksamhetsutveckling, kärnkompetens och resurser. Det har kunnat påvisas att framgångsrika aktörer följer den differentieringsstrategi om Porter (1980) definierat. Vidare har en affärsstrategisk typologi över aktörer på seniorboendemarknaden formulerats. Den första delstudiens slutsatser har formulerats i fyra strategiska idealtyper: förvaltare, konceptbyggare, entreprenörer och idealister. Utgångspunkten i den andra delstudien, som bl.a. hämtats i Nilssons och Rapps (2005) teoretiska ramverk, har varit idealtypen konceptbyggare. Med vissa kompletteringar har detta ramverk nyttjats och utvecklats för att beskriva och analysera orsakssambanden kring strategisk kongruens och integrerad styrning. Kompletteringar och justeringar har skett för att även omfatta strategier och styrsystem för bygg- och tjänsteproduktion. Föreställningsramen har, utifrån den erfarenhet som erhållits vid analysen av insamlad data, justerats. Justeringen har bestått i klassificeringsdimensionerna IT, organisationskultur och värdegrund. I studien, som bl.a. består av fallbeskrivning och analys av konceptbyggare, har framkommit att de konceptbyggare som nått framgång också har lyckats uppnå strategisk kongruens och integrerad styrning. Studien har bl.a. kunnat påvisa vad betydelsen av boendets fysiska planering innebär för möjligheten att bedriva tjänsteproduktion. Studien har bl.a. visat att nordamerikanska konceptbyggare har en hög grad av samstämmighet mellan strategi och styrsystem. Samstämmigheten kan sammanfattas i marknadskännedom, tydlig verksamhetsidé, branscherfarenhet, insikt om skalfördelar via klustring, organisatorisk småskalighet, känsla för värdeskapande, målinriktning, långtgående befogenheter och delegerat ansvar, värdestyrd verksamhet och en väl utvecklad organisationskultur. De nordamerikanska konceptbyggarna har definierat sina verksamheter som hotellverksamhet för seniorer vilket innebär att de boende blivit kunder och de äldre i allmänhet betraktas som en tillgång. / The demographic trend in Sweden features a population with a rising average age. According to forecasts, nearly one Swede out of four will be 65 or older by the year 2025. Many individuals in this category of older persons, or seniors, can look forward to an active, healthy and relatively long old age. Studies have shown that tomorrow’s seniors and retirees will be relatively well off as social groups. In addition, attitude and generation surveys have indicated that these groups have high demands and expectations for their old age, future housing and related services. Society will thus face a considerable challenge, which includes maintaining a basic commitment to continue guaranteeing the standard of quality in housing and services for the elderly that is presently taken for granted. Necessary societal priorities, however, may require individuals to take more initiative and assume greater financial responsibility than before in some of these areas. In the 2000’s a new market segment has been established and shown vigorous growth. That segment is the senior housing market, where various housing concepts are offered to the target group, seniors, or persons aged 55+. The number of senior housing units in Sweden has soared in the last few years, from about 10 000 in 2000 to some 28 000 in 2007. In this study, the concept of senior housing, with features of integrated service and care, has been of special interest. What characterizes this housing concept is that housing and related services have been adapted and specially designed for living as an aging individual. This dissertation (”the survey”) is reported in the form of a monograph consisting of two separate studies. The research question that has guided the first study is, “What creates a strong market position for a player on the senior-housing market with integrated service, health care and other forms of service and care?” The research question for the second study is, “What production strategies and control systems can be identified for some of the most successful concept-builders?” The two studies are related in that the latter is based on the results of the former. The studies were conducted over a period from 2002 to 2008. The research was done as an exploratory field study. The field-study approach has given priority to breadth and inclusion of many aspects. The instrument of measurement has consisted of set interview questions with open-ended alternative responses. The underlying interviews, together with secondary data, have been presented as a number of case studies. In the survey, a number of successful players have been selected on the basis of the criteria considered typical of successful actors on the senior housing market. Both Swedish and North American organizations have participated in the survey. The empirical material of the survey has been analyzed on the basis of the theoretical conceptual frameworks developed for the two respective studies. The first study has been analyzed with a framework based on the concepts of environment, strategy, resources, service and competitiveness. The results have been formulated in a number of strategic choices that are summarized in the concepts of differentiation, focus, integration, collaboration, control, business development, core competence and resources. In this connection, it has been possible to show that actors who operate a successful business follow largely what Porter (1980) has defined as a strategy of differentiation. Moreover, a business-strategy typology of actors on the senior housing market has also been constructed. Also, the tentative conclusions of the first study have been formulated in four strategic ideal types: administrators, concept-builders, entrepreneurs and idealists. The point of departure for the second study has been the ideal type referred to as the concept-builder. The conceptual framework has therefore been developed further, based in part on the theoretical framework of Nilsson and Rapp (2005). With certain additions, these foundations have been used to construct a detailed theoretical framework for the study. The conceptual framework has been designed to describe and analyze the causal relationships relating to strategic congruence and integrated control. In this regard, additions and adjustments have been made to include strategies and control systems for the construction of buildings and the production of services. The results of the second study include a case description and an analysis of successful concept-builders. One reason for their success is assumed to be their ability to achieve strategic congruence and integrated control. In light of the findings from the analysis of the data, the conceptual framework has been somewhat modified. This adjustment has consisted in classification along the dimensions of IT, organizational culture and fundamental values. In this connection it has been possible to demonstrate the importance of the physical planning of housing for the production of services. Emphasis has been placed on designing the physical facility and housing right from the beginning so as to facilitate the service-producing operation in a later stage of the life cycle. One finding of the survey is that with North American concept-builders there is a high degree of consistency between strategies and control systems. The factors underlying this consistency can be summarized as market knowledge, industry experience, understanding the economies of scale attainable through clustering, organization on a small scale, a clear concept of business, a sense of value creation, a focus on objectives, farreaching delegation of authority and responsibility to the operating level, skilled management, value-oriented operations and a well-developed organizational culture. Through the survey, a number of customer-controlled operations have been illustrated in the case studies. It is apparent that compared to the past, there has been a shift in industry attitude in North America, creating a situation that differs from Swedish conditions in some respects. The North American concept-builders have defined their businesses as hotel operations for seniors. This has automatically shifted the focus toward one where residents have become customers and older people in general are regarded as assets.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:54:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo6624_1.pdf: 2520643 bytes, checksum: b69b2ba2918606ef2803cf6322485425 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has far outgrown its initial purpose as a standard visual notation for constructing intuitive, high-level blueprint models of object-oriented software. A series of extension, such as OCL, XMI, ASL, MOF, UML profiles, and different proposed formal semantics, to the language and to its application scope have fedoff each other in synergy. While these extensions constitute a sound starting point to make UML the pivotal element for the Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) and Semantic Web (SW) visions, many other building blocks are still missing, including: (1) Complete formal semantics for UML and OCL; (2) UML inference engine based on such semantics to support model checking and intelligent agent reasoning with UML semantic web ontologies; (3) UML model compilers to fully automate both structural and behavioral code generation from detailed UML/OCL models. In this thesis, we present the MODELOG framework based on a single proposal to address these three issues: it consists of an automatic mapping from fully refined UML/OCL models to the object-oriented logic programs in the Flora-2, an executable and Turing-complete language with a well-defined formal semantics. We developed the MODELOG mapping as model transformations. As source for these transformations, we reused the UML2 and OCL2 metamodels provided by OMG and as target we developed a Flora metamodel. As we experimented and compared two language to implement the transformation: the dedicated transformation language ATL based on OCL, and Flora itself viewed as a model transformation language. As validating case study for MODELOG, we developed the Triangram robotic assembly puzzle. It is an example of planning tasks often executed by agents and it requires a complex class hierarchy together with complex structural and behavioral constraints. The Flora PSM of this puzzle was entirely automatically generated from its UML/OCL model by applying the MODELOG transformations. The main originality of this thesis is twofold. First, it simultaneously tackles various gaps in UML for its new extended role: formal specification language, MDE, semantic web services and agent engineering, Second, it does so without putting forward any new language but only by reusing a theoretically consolidated and efficiently implemented one. In contrast, previous proposals tend be limited to one or two such applications while often proposing new languages. The thesis makes contributions to various fields: For MDE, it shows the feasibility of completely automated full structural and behavioral executable code generation from a UML/OCL PIM, on a non-trivial, complex case study involving automated reasoning; For agile development, it reconcile that the robustness of formal methods with the early testing of fast prototyping, since MODELOG not only generates executable code, but also model checking code from UML/OCL models. For UML and OCL, it provides a fully integrated denotational formal semantics in Transaction Frame Logic on which Flora is based; For logic programming, it provides compositional metamodels of all the languages integrated in the Flora platform that clarify their relations and make them available as source or target language for a variety of MDE tasks such as model checking and fast prototyping; it also provides a way to develop logic programs using the consolidated full-life cycle object-oriented software engineering processes; For agent engineering, it shows how to get combine the complementary strengths of the object-oriented and logic paradigms, the two mostly widely reused in agent-oriented methods; For the semantic web service development, its introduced a highly automated MDE approach allowing to model them visually with UML-based industrial strengths method and CASE tools, and automatically generate their specification in the W3C standard SWSL, which is a XML-enabled variant of Flora