Syfte och forskningsfrågor: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka på vilka sätt enmans- och mikroföretag tar till sig sökmotoroptimering. Detta för att bättre förstå vilka hinder företag upplever med att ta till sig sökmotoroptimering, så att kunskap om hur företag skulle kunna ta sig förbi identifierade hinder genereras.  1. På vilka sätt tar enmans- och mikroföretag till sig sökmotoroptimering som den digitala utvecklingen möjliggjort?  2. Vad finns det för hinder för enmans- och mikroföretag att ta till sig sökmotoroptimering?  Metod: Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär och har genomförts med en induktiv ansats. Datainsamlingen har främst skett genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från enmans- och mikroföretag samt med experter inom området från marknadsföringsbyråer.  Slutsats: Studien har resulterat i kunskap kring hur enmans- och mikroföretag tar till sig sökmotoroptimering. Resultatet visar att enmans- och mikroföretag upplever fyra framträdande hinder när de tar till sig SEO vilka är brist på finansiella resurser, tidsbrist, extern påverkan och bristen av kunskap inom informationsteknik och strategi. Studien har vidare identifierat fem nya hinder vid implementering av SEO vilka är kunskapsbrist om teknisk implementering av SEO, föråldrad generation på företag, brist på tillit, konjunkturell påverkan samt tidsbrist. Dessa hinder kategoriseras som interna eller externa hinder beroende på hur de påverkar företag. Kunskap har även genererats kring hur enmans- och mikroföretag skulle kunna ta sig förbi dessa hinder. / Purpose and research questions: The purpose of this study is to investigate how one-person- and microenterprises relate to search engine optimization. This to better understand what kind of barriers companies experience when adopting search engine optimization, to generate knowledge about how companies could overcome the identified barriers.  1. In what ways does one-person- and microenterprises adopt search engine optimization which the digital development has enabled?  2. What kind of barriers do one-person- and microenterprises experience when adopting search engine optimization?  Method: The study is of qualitative nature and has been implemented with an inductive approach. The data has mainly been collected through eight semistructured interviews with respondents from one-person- and microenterprises as well as experts in the field from marketing agencies.  Conclusion: The study has resulted in knowledge about how one-person- and microenterprises relate to search engine optimization. The result shows that one-person- and microenterprises experience four prominent barriers when approaching SEO. These four barriers are lack of financial resources, lack of time, external impact and lack of knowledge in information technology and strategy. The study has further identified five new barriers when enterprises approach SEO which are lack of knowledge about technical implementation of SEO, elderly generations at the company, lack of trust, impact of business cycle and lack of time. These barriers are categorized as internal or external barriers depending on how they affect companies. The study has also generated knowledge about how one-person and microenterprises could overcome these barriers.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Roberto dos Santos.pdf: 1032675 bytes, checksum: af3323bf1da0598581ce20cc7f1087c7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-03-13 / The adoption of the innovation in the organizations frequently occurs in two stages: at a first moment there is a decision of the organization in adopting the innovation which is called primary adoption, followed by one real implementation that includes individual adoption by the users, and corresponds to the secondary adoption (LEONARD BARTON; DESCHAMPS, 1998; GALLIVAN, 2001). The current study explores the traditional models applicability of innovation adoption and diffusion to identify the factors that influence the secondary adoption of the Project Management Methodology in Technology Information, in the organizations. Beyond this main objective, the research seeks to identify if these factors behave in a different way for the users who have experience in its use, being in some of the assimilation stages (COOPER and ZMUD, 1990) and the potential adopters. The study model, based on the Theory of the Planned behavior (AJZEN, 1991), on the Theory of Diffusion of the Innovation (ROGERS, 1995) and on the model of Secondary Adoption of the Innovation (GALLIVAN, 2001), incorporates and adapts relative constructs to the Attitude, Subjective Norm and Perceived Control. The data of the research were obtained from a sample of project managers in Technology Information. The model is analyzed using structural equation modeling, thus verifying the inter-relation among the constructs. The results of the research revealed that the Attitude, Administrative Subjective Norm and Team Subjective Norm influence significantly for users and potential adopters. As for the control dimensions, only the Organization Facilities construct was significant for the group of potential adopters. The research also confirmed the existence of differences in the factors that influence the adoption of the Project Management Methodology for users and potential adopters. The Attitude and Administrative Subjective Norm are more intense factors for the users, while the Team Subjective Norm, Individual Facilities and Organization Facilities are more significant for the potential adopters. The implications of the study are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented. / A adoção de inovação nas organizações ocorre freqüentemente em duas etapas: em um primeiro momento existe uma decisão da organização em adotar a inovação, o que é denominada adoção primária; é seguida por uma real implementação, a qual inclui a adoção individual pelos usuários, e que corresponde à adoção secundária (LEONARD BARTON; DESCHAMPS, 1988; GALLIVAN, 2001). O presente estudo explora a aplicação de modelos tradicionais de adoção e difusão de inovação para identificar os fatores que influenciam a adoção secundária da Metodologia de Gestão de Projetos em Tecnologia da Informação, nas organizações. Além deste objetivo principal, a pesquisa busca identificar se estes fatores se comportam de maneira diferente para os usuários - que possuem experiência na sua utilização e encontram-se em um dos estágios de assimilação (COOPER e ZMUD, 1990) e os potenciais adotantes. O modelo de estudo, baseado na Teoria do Comportamento Planejado (AJZEN, 1991), na Teoria da Difusão de Inovação (ROGERS, 1995) e no modelo de Adoção Secundária da Inovação (GALLIVAN, 2001), incorpora e adapta construtos relativos à Atitude, Norma Subjetiva e Controle Percebido. Os dados da pesquisa foram obtidos junto a uma amostra de gestores de projetos em Tecnologia da Informação, sendo utilizada a modelagem de equações estruturais para verificar a inter-relação entre os construtos. Os resultados da pesquisa revelaram que a Atitude, Norma Subjetiva Administração e Norma Subjetiva Equipe influem significativamente, para usuários e potenciais adotantes. Quanto às dimensões de controle, somente o construto Facilidades da Organização apresentou significância para o grupo de potenciais adotantes. A pesquisa confirmou ainda, a existência de diferenças nos fatores que influenciam a adoção da Metodologia de Gestão de Projetos para usuários e potenciais adotantes. A Atitude e a Norma Subjetiva Administração são fatores mais intensos para os usuários, enquanto a Norma Subjetiva Equipe, Facilidades do Indivíduo e Facilidades da Organização são mais significativas para os potenciais adotantes. As implicações do estudo são discutidas e sugestões para futuras pesquisas são apresentadas.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anderson Alves Silva.pdf: 1076466 bytes, checksum: 8c595d75817074baf8f116b5ea2ea321 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-06 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / The adoption of innovations, with emphasis on technological innovation in organizations has gained increasing proportion due to the globalization of business and the need to obtain a high degree of competitiveness. This study aimed to identify which factors are internal to organizations that contribute to the adoption of technological innovation defined by business management system (ERP). The study model was developed based on the Theory of Diffusion of Innovation (Rogers, 1995) and in studies by Perez (2006). The research, in a quantitative approach, sought also to identify the main results obtained on the basis of this adoption. The survey data were collected with an electronic questionnaire survey study on internet users and was answered by the ERP. It was used for data analysis, techniques of Factor Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis to verify the interrelationship between the identified factors. The research results obtained with the sample showed that the internal factors included the importance of the Social System of Procedure, the Leader Attorney or Agent of Change Readiness and Environment Introduction to Internal Innovation can directly influence the adoption of a technological innovation with ERP. In the case of the sample, the decision by the Innovation and Organizational Structure did not influence significantly the adoption of the system. The survey also confirmed that the adoption of ERP innovation directly influence the creation of new services, processes and the decision-making of users. Constraints and implications of the study are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented. / A adoção de inovações, com destaque às inovações tecnológicas nas organizações, ganha cada vez mais proporção, em virtude da globalização dos negócios e a necessidade de obter um grande grau de competitividade. O presente estudo teve como principal objetivo identificar quais são os fatores internos às organizações que contribuem para a adoção da inovação tecnológica, definida pelo sistema de gestão empresarial (ERP). O modelo de estudo foi desenvolvido com base na Teoria da Difusão de Inovação (ROGERS, 1995) e nos estudos de Perez (2006). A pesquisa, de natureza quantitativa procurou, ainda, identificar os principais resultados obtidos em função desta adoção. Os dados da pesquisa foram coletados com um questionário eletrônico do tipo survey, disponibilizado na Internet, que foi respondido por usuários do ERP. Utilizaram-se, para a análise dos dados, as técnicas da Análise Fatorial e Análise de Regressão Linear Múltipla, para verificar a inter-relação entre os fatores identificados. Os resultados da pesquisa, obtidos com a amostra utilizada, revelaram que os fatores internos, compreendidos como a importância do Sistema Social Interno, o Líder ou Agente Promotor de Mudança e o Preparo do Ambiente Interno para Introdução da Inovação, podem influenciar diretamente a adoção de uma inovação tecnológica como o ERP. No caso da amostra estudada, a Decisão pela Inovação e a Estrutura Organizacional não influenciaram de forma significativa a adoção do sistema. A pesquisa confirmou ainda que a adoção da inovação ERP influencia diretamente a criação de novos serviços, processos e a tomada de decisão dos usuários. As restrições e implicações do estudo são discutidas e sugestões para futuras pesquisas são apresentadas.

L’incertitude est présente dans toute innovation. Dans le domaine des nanotechnologies, l’incertitude qui entoure les risques sanitaires et environnementaux dont ces technologies pourraient être porteuses est si importante que la question de leur succès se pose.En partie du fait du manque de données cohérentes, il n’existe qu’une littérature empirique limitée sur les déterminants de la diffusion des nanotechnologies. Dans le cadre d’un programme de recherche sur les nanotechnologies, cette thèse a pour but d’investiguer les déterminants de l’adoption d’innovations dans une situation d’incertitude sur les risques environnementaux et sanitaires. Dans cette optique, nos travaux visent dans un premier temps à fournir une meilleure compréhension de la diffusion d’un produit qui est présent sur le marché depuis longtemps. Nous avons choisi une substance chimique très utilisée, le bisphénol A (BPA). Différentes méthodes économétriques sont appliquées afin de mieux comprendre la relation entre la consommation, la croissance économique, les nouvelles connaissances scientifiques concernant le risque et d’autres variables utilisant les données relatives au BPA. Les résultats illustrent un ensemble de facteurs qui influencent la consommation de BPA au niveau international.Dans un second temps, nous montrons dans quelle mesure cette étude permet d’éclairer la réflexion initiée sur la diffusion des nanotechnologies, notamment le nano-argent.Le comportement des différents acteurs en réponse à la production de connaissances scientifiques nouvelles sur les risques est étudié, ce qui nous permet d’aboutir à une compréhension approfondie de “développement nanoresponsable”. / Uncertainty is immanent in every innovation. Uncertainty about environmental and health risks that surround nanotechnology raises the questions of innovation success. Due in part to a lack of consistent data, there is limited empirical literature on determinants of the diffusion of nanotechnology. As part of a research program on nanotechnology, this research aims to investigate determinants of uptake of innovation in a situation of uncertainty about environmental and health risks. With this goal, as a first step, this work seeks to provide better understanding of the diffusion of a product that has been on the market for a long time. We have chosen a chemical, bisphenol A (BPA), because of the lack of historical data on nanomaterials. As a second step, we compare the results of the BPA study to nanosilver. We apply different econometric methods to gain insights into the relationship between consumption, economic growth, new scientific knowledge about risk and other variables using the data on BPA. The results illustrate a set of factors that influences the consumption of BPA at international level. The comparative study between BPA and nanosilver helps to refine the interpretation of main results and to obtain additional insights into the determinants of uptake of nanosilver. An explanatory analysis sheds light on the actions that different stakeholders undertake in response to new scientific knowledge about risk and deepens our understanding of “nanoresponsible development”.Keywords: Innovation, diffusion of innovation, product life cycle, nanotechnology, bisphenol A, risk, uncertainty, environment, health, precautionary principle, Safer by Design, responsible development

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Poor post-school outcomes for young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have underscored the need to gain insight into the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in the planning and implementation of transition services. EBPs for effective transition planning and implementation have been documented in the literature but do not appear to be fully utilized in practice to achieve desired student outcomes, reflecting a research-to-practice gap. EBPs have the potential to produce positive outcomes at the high school level, if implemented with fidelity. Special education personnel, especially administrators, play a vital and unique role in transition planning. They can either facilitate or hinder the process. This phenomenological study investigated the perceptions of public school administrators regarding the extent of their awareness of EBPs to ensure the successful transition of students with ASD and associated barriers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 secondary-level public school administrators. Major themes identified through analyzing the qualitative data included (a) a positive vision for students with ASD, (b) characteristics of a good transition program, (c) administrators' roles in the transition process, (d) barriers to EBP implementation, (e) strategies to reduce barriers, and (f) ownership of what administrators can do to remedy the problem. Lastly, the study generated recommendations to assist school districts with improving transition services for students with ASD.

The field of natural language processing has received increased attention lately, but less focus is put on comparing models, which differ in complexity. This thesis compares Random Forest to LSTM, for the task of classifying a message as question or non-question. The comparison was done by training and optimizing the models on historic chat data from the Swedish insurance company Hedvig. Different types of word embedding were also tested, such as Word2vec and Bag of Words. The results demonstrated that LSTM achieved slightly higher scores than Random Forest, in terms of F1 and accuracy. The models’ performance were not significantly improved after optimization and it was also dependent on which corpus the models were trained on. An investigation of how a chatbot would affect Hedvig’s adoption rate was also conducted, mainly by reviewing previous studies about chatbots’ effects on user experience. The potential effects on the innovation’s five attributes, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability were analyzed to answer the problem statement. The results showed that the adoption rate of Hedvig could be positively affected, by improving the first two attributes. The effects a chatbot would have on complexity, trialability and observability were however suggested to be negligible, if not negative. / Det vetenskapliga området språkteknologi har fått ökad uppmärksamhet den senaste tiden, men mindre fokus riktas på att jämföra modeller som skiljer sig i komplexitet. Den här kandidatuppsatsen jämför Random Forest med LSTM, genom att undersöka hur väl modellerna kan användas för att klassificera ett meddelande som fråga eller icke-fråga. Jämförelsen gjordes genom att träna och optimera modellerna på historisk chattdata från det svenska försäkringsbolaget Hedvig. Olika typer av word embedding, så som Word2vec och Bag of Words, testades också. Resultaten visade att LSTM uppnådde något högre F1 och accuracy än Random Forest. Modellernas prestanda förbättrades inte signifikant efter optimering och resultatet var också beroende av vilket korpus modellerna tränades på. En undersökning av hur en chattbot skulle påverka Hedvigs adoption rate genomfördes också, huvudsakligen genom att granska tidigare studier om chattbotars effekt på användarupplevelsen. De potentiella effekterna på en innovations fem attribut, relativ fördel, kompatibilitet, komplexitet, prövbarhet and observerbarhet analyserades för att kunna svara på frågeställningen. Resultaten visade att Hedvigs adoption rate kan påverkas positivt, genom att förbättra de två första attributen. Effekterna en chattbot skulle ha på komplexitet, prövbarhet och observerbarhet ansågs dock vara försumbar, om inte negativ.

The paradigm of diffusion research can be traced back all the way to the 1940s when Ryan and Gross investigated the diffusion of hybrid seed among farmers in Iowa. Since the 1960s diffusion research has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, for instance, to study the diffusion of the Internet and the non-diffusion of the Dvorak keyboard. Currently, the technologies that are on top of the Gartner Hype Cycle are all associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which shortly can be defined as learning devices that perceive their environment and take actions to maximize their success at some goal. Consequently, some people suggest that the current hype surrounding AI can be the end of the human kind, while others believe it will give way for millions of fresh jobs and cleverer decision-making. In recent years both media and political organizations have shown great interest in AI. In addition, the industry is captivated by the potential uses of AI. In the last years, AI-related companies in the US have raised billions of dollars in the stock market together with a large number of acquisitions. The large flow of capital into AI technology underpins the fast development of AI solutions. The purpose of this study is to investigate how groups approach AI. What can be concluded after reviewing different sectors is that organizations seem to share a common interest of AI. Furthermore, organizations share the opinion that eventually AI will be a more natural part of their processes. Organizations investing a larger share of their budget in R&D have a longer experience of using AI and are currently doing projects utilizing more advanced technologies within AI. In organizations from other sectors, the investments in AI depend on the people with the authority to invest money in projects and their view on AI. Organizations generally seem to approach AI in a similar way. Firstly, they evaluate what AI is. Secondly, they find areas to make small iterative PoC-projects utilizing AI, usually with machine learning. Finally, more money is invested if the PoC-projects were successful and the organization starts looking at how to acquire more competence within the area to fully exploit the value of AI. / Paradigmet för innovationsspridning kan spåras ända tillbaka till 1940-talet när Ryan och Gross undersökte spridningen av hybridfrön bland bönder i Iowa. Sedan 1960-talet har forskningen tillämpats inom en mängd olika discipliner, till exempel för att studera spridningen av Internet och icke-spridningen av Dvorak-tangentbordet. För närvarande är teknologierna som ligger på toppen av Gartner Hype-cykeln alla förknippade med artificiell intelligens (AI), som kan definieras som lärande enheter som uppfattar sin miljö och vidtar åtgärder för att maximera sin framgång gällande något mål. Hypen som nu finns kring AI har lett till att vissa människor tror att det kan innebära slutet för mänskligheten medan andra tror att det kommer att ge plats för miljoner nya jobb och smartare beslutsfattande. Under de senaste åren har både medier och politiska organisationer visat stort intresse för AI samt visat intresse för potentiella användningsområden av AI. AI-relaterade företag i USA har under de senaste åren har tagit in miljarder dollar i riskkapital. Ett stort antal förvärv och kapitalflödet till AI-teknik ökar den snabba utvecklingen av AI-lösningar. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva spridningen av AI i organisationer från ett antal olika sektorer. Vad som kan sägas efter att ha studerat olika sektorer är att organisationer delar en gemensam nyfikenhet för AI och att de tror att AI kommer bli en allt mer naturlig del av sina processer. De företag som spenderar mycket pengar på FoU har längre erfarenhet av att använda AI och gör för närvarande projekt som använder mer avancerade tekniker. I andra organisationer är investeringarna inom AI beroende av de anställda som har rätt att investera pengar i projekt och deras syn på AI. Organisationer verkar allmänt närma sig AI på ett liknande sätt där de först utvärderar vad AI är. Därefter väljer de ett antal områden där de gör små iterativa projekt där de utnyttjar AI, vanligtvis via ML. Därefter investerades mer pengar om de små projekten lyckas och företaget börjar titta på hur man kan förvärva mer kompetens inom området.

The adoption of blockchain technology for cross-border payments is not an easy task.However this qualitative study further investigates the connotations associated with adoptionof blockchain in cross-border financial transactions within Swedish financial institutions suchas banks, fintech, and credit management service companies. To answer this question, weinterviewed six participants that work in a credit management company, an open bankingcompany, and a digital mortgage service company using semi-structured interviews. Datacollection was done using this method because the purpose of this research work is to identifypeople's insights and experiences based on their real-life experiences. Data were analyzedusing thematic analysis. Our results showed that the impact of adoption of blockchain incross-border payment transactions in terms of technical implementation challenges,customers' use cases and pilot programs, compliance and security enhancements, industrycollaboration and knowledge sharing, legacy systems integration and interoperability, and keydrivers beyond adoption. In addition, the study findings were compared with the determinantsand influence factors of the model through the lens of the DOI. The implications of this studycould used to help financial institutions' focus on blockchain adoption in cross-borderpayment transactions. As a whole, this study contributes to the idea that financial institutionsshould develop an accurate strategy, as well as guidelines that can assist them in leveragingblockchain technology for cross-border payments, enhancing their services, and fosteringsustainable growth in cross-border digital markets.

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