| 1. |
- Barth, Henrik, 1971-
(författare)
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Barriers to growth and development in small firms
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of the extended summary is to develop the understanding of the existence and reasons behind barriers to growth and development in small firms. More specifically, four questions are addressed: (1) What do we know about the term barrier, how can it be defined? (2) What types of barriers to growth and development have been identified? (3) How can barriers to growth and development be addressed in a framework? and (4) How do the results of the appended papers (Papers I-V) contribute to the research field of barriers to growth and development?A literature review was undertaken to answer the first two questions. The literature review was conducted in two phases. The conceptual and operational definition of barriers was addressed in the first phase. The results reveal diverse ways of focusing on barriers, which made it necessary to address similar terms, such as problem and causes of business failure in the second phase of the literature review. The different terms used in the papers of the literature review are discussed in order to determine whether or not the understanding of their content is coherent and conceptual. Based on the conceptual understanding and definition of barriers, the different aspects focused on in the literature were discussed, which led to the second question, What are the various aspects of barriers to growth and development?The knowledge gained from the literature review and the development of the understanding of the barrier concept led to the third question, Can barriers to growth and development be addressed in a framework? The discussion takes its starting point in the studies identified in the literature review and is related to some of the appended papers (Papers I and II). Similarities and differences between frameworks used in the papers identified in the literature review are discussed and, based on this knowledge, a framework for barriers to growth and development in small firms is presented. The framework distinguishes two types of barriers, namely internal/external barriers and tangible/intangible barriers.The knowledge available in the reviewed papers within the field of barriers to growth and development in small firms in combination with the results from the appended papers (Papers I-V) resulted in the fourth question. Part of the contribution of the appended papers concerns the operational definition, for example that barriers to innovation should be categorised as either occurring or preventing firms from innovating (Paper II), while other contributions concern specific types of barriers, for example the importance of managerial skills (Paper V). Overall, the contribution focuses on conditional factors, such as strategy and planning, organisation and management, and institution and policy factors, in relation to growth and development.
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| 2. |
- Frishammar, Johan
(författare)
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Characteristics in information processing approaches
- 2002
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Ingår i: International Journal of Information Management. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0268-4012 .- 1873-4707. ; 22:2, s. 143-156
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper describes and compares different information processing approaches (terms). The purpose is to identify similarities and differences in the terms, relate them to and compare them with each other, but also to identify their underlying concepts and the course of events they represent. The terms or approaches addressed are Environmental scanning, Business, Competitive, Competitor, Market and Political intelligence, Marketing research and Information management. It was concluded that all approaches have a strong future orientation and strong ties to decision-making, and advocate that information is ennobled in one way or the other. The main differences lie in their focus, and in their scope. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 3. |
- Frishammar, Johan
(författare)
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Information use in strategic decision making
- 2003
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Ingår i: Management Decision. - Bradford : MCB publications. - 0025-1747 .- 1758-6070. ; 41:4, s. 318-326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper addresses the issue of information use in strategic decision making. The study employs a case study as a research strategy together with personal interviews and documentation as means of data collection. The starting-point is four specific strategic decisions recently made by medium-sized companies in Sweden. The study provides the reader with an insight into management information behaviour when taking strategic decisions, by addressing questions such as: Why is information used? What kind of information does management use? How do they obtain it? And finally, where do they obtain it? In addition, a short review of the literature pertaining to the above stated questions is provided.
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| 4. |
- Halila, Fawzi, 1958-
(författare)
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Networks as a means of supporting the adoption of organisational innovations in SMEs : The case of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) based on ISO 14001
- 2004
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Nowadays, a growing number of companies are aware of their responsibility to green their products, services and processes. Industrial companies have changed their attitude and developed more innovative and proactive environmental strategies due to market opportunities and in order to gain competitive advantage over competitors. In spite of their large numbers, most SMEs have little knowledge or interest in environmental questions and generally have difficulties when it comes to integrating environmental aspects into their activities. One way for SMEs to shift from a reactive to a proactive environmental behaviour is to adopt environmental innovations. Environmental innovations consist of new or modified processes, techniques, practices, systems and products to avoid or reduce environmental harms. In this study, I focused on a particular type of innovation: organisational environmental innovations, such as EMS in accordance with ISO 14001.One objective of this thesis was to understand and describe how SMEs can use an existing network as a basis for initiating environmental work. Another objective was to develop a model that can be used as a guideline for the adoption of an ISO 14001 EMS by SMEs collaborating in a network.This thesis is structured in three sections. The first section presents the relevant frames of reference. The second section comprises an empirical study based on three papers that are appended to this thesis, which describes how a network approach can be used to support the adoption of EMS by SMEs. The third section is based on the first two sections and presents a model for adopting an EMS based on ISO 14001 for SMEs working in a network.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Kristén, Lars
(författare)
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Possibilities offered by interventional sports programmes to children and adolescents with physical disabilities : an explorative and evaluative study
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Today, sport is a topic that interests and engages many people. However, pursuing sporting activities and being a member of a sports club is not a matter of course for children and adolescents with physical disabilities. The overall aim of this thesis is to study the possibilities offered by interventional sports programmes to children and adolescents with physical disabilities and to describe in what way they can be offered meaningful physical activities as well as active participation in sport clubs, with a view to improving their health and socialisation through sport. The thesis includes three descriptive and one evaluative study. The results of the thesis rest on a combination of methods: practical- empirical experiences based on theoretical reasoning, interviews in line with a method inspired by phenomenography, and data from questionnaires analysed by descriptive and analytical statistics. The results are also based on a variety of data sources i.e. children, young people and parents as well as theory triangulation i.e. socialisation and health. According to the findings, sports programmes offered possibilities to children and adolescents with physical disabilities for improving their health and socialisation. An important component of the sports programmes were sports clubs that offered meaningful physical activities as well as active participation. Guidelines for co-operation in and the organisation of sports programme for children and adolescents with physical disabilities were of great importance and should involve the families as well as sports organisations and local authorities. The children and adolescents regarded sport as a form of social arena to enhance their participation in society and as a means for achieving better health. They also stressed the importance of knowledge and experiencing nature as factors that promote an active and healthy lifestyle. The parents regarded sport as a form of health education and as a means for their children to achieve increased participation in society. The parents also stressed the fact that the learning process was important for empowering the children to influence their life situation. The findings also illustrate the importance of building co-operation between the habilitation centre, sports clubs and families of children with physical disabilities by means of a working team, as well as the importance of the sports movement opening up its activities to children and adolescents with functional disabilities and each sports club appointing a contact person with special responsibility for this target group. Continued external support was regarded as necessary in order to assist the sports clubs in implementing permanent and well-functioning activities in partnership with a personal sport and health counsellor, who advises and supports the children and adolescents to participate in physical activity.
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| 7. |
- Rundquist, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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The use of processes and methods in NPD : A survey of Swedish industry
- 2004
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Ingår i: International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM). - Singapore : World Scientific Publishing Company. - 0219-8770. ; 1:1, s. 37-54
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research often suggests that formal New Product Development (NPD) processes increase the success rate of NPD projects in a firm. However, recent studies indicate a relatively low usage of formal NPD-processes. Very few studies of NPD practices have been carried out in contexts other than that of the US, thus it is of interest to explore whether or not important differences exist. The present study aims to identify the use of and practices within formal NPD-processes in Swedish manufacturing firms and to compare the results with a study conducted in a US context. The results indicate that differences exist in for example reward systems for NPD teams.
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