| 1. |
- Borg, Erik A
(författare)
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Knowledge, Information and Intellectual Property : implications for marketing relationships
- 2001
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Ingår i: Technovation. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 21:8, s. 515-524
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Knowledge and information have become an essential asset determining the profitability of technology-intensive enterprises. In knowledge-based industries, knowledge and information can be marketed to potential partners or clients separately from the products and services that are based on the application of specific knowledge. In the new, global computer-intensive economy, the knowledge base of the economy can determine the approval of an enterprise as a producer of future solutions. This means that it is crucial that enterprises identify and develop their knowledge base, not least in their market relationships. Knowledge emerges in network relationships between an enterprise and its surrounding organisations, and can be legally protected as intellectual property (IP). A clearer notion of the way IP can be analysed may improve the economic outcome of investments in innovation. Relationship marketing clearly has a role in the marketing of technological innovation and product development. A high-tech enterprise faces several decisions influencing its position in the market when developing its knowledge base. Key decisions determining the relationships established in a knowledge-intensive market include (i) make or buy decisions; (ii) organisational association or isolation; (iii) the innovation or adaptation of new technology; (iv) the protection or exploitation of knowledge; (v) public or private research funding; (vi) safeguarding or sharing of IP; and (vii) pioneering advantages or disadvantages.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Klofsten, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Stimulation of technology-based small firms—A case study of university-industry cooperation
- 1996
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Ingår i: Technovation. - : Elsevier. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 16:4, s. 187-193
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is well known that owner-managers of technology-based firms usually have superior technical skills but are less competent in the area of business development. Consequently, in order to address these weaknesses, it has been suggested that an important part of support activities for these firms should be oriented towards the development of their management and business competences. As such, this paper describes a successful model which has been developed over a 10-year period to stimulate the growth and development of small technology-based firms. Four types of interrelated activities are in operation: entrepreneurship and new business development programmes, development programmes, management groups, and club/networking activities. The success of these stimulating activities can, above all, be related to five factors: an ability to meet real needs, a core group, a clear focus, credibility, and close relations between the stimulation organization and the university. One important task for researchers and practitioners is to understand the mechanisms behind these criteria for success.
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| 4. |
- Landström, H.
(författare)
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Informal investors as entrepreneurs
- 1998
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Ingår i: Technovation. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 18:5, s. 321-333
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The scarcity of risk capital for start-ups and technology-oriented small firms is an ever-recurring theme in the economic debate. In recent years interest in the informal risk capital market, i.e., private individuals who invest their own capital in small unlisted firms, has grown significantly, but our knowledge about this market is relatively limited. Against this background, the aim of this study is to describe and explain the decision-making criteria used by informal investors when assessing new investment proposals. In the study a conjoint method is used in order to measure quantitatively the relative importance of one decision-making criterion in relation to another, In total 34 general decision-making criteria and 35 leadership criteria were identified. A subjective sample of 44 informal investors in Sweden answered either a questionnaire relating to general decision-making criteria or one relating to leadership criteria. The data were coded into a conjoint model in order to process the relative ranking between the decision-making criteria. Earlier research has regarded informal investors as the financiers of small firms, looking at their investments as objects, in this study another interpretation is made and the informal investors are themselves regarded as entrepreneurs, that is they see their investments as subjects. This means that the relationship between the investor and the entrepreneur in the firm in which they invest can be characterised by using the concepts "business creator" and "co-creator", i.e., informal investors look for future business opportunities, and they want to participate in the creation process. This is expressed in their assessment of new investment proposals. For example, the informal investors attach a great deal of weight to decision-making criteria related to the business potential of the investment, the relationship between the entrepreneur and investor, as well as the entrepreneur's own ability to develop his/her firm. Furthermore, informal investors do not have the opportunity to play an executive role in the portfolio firms, and they therefore regard the entrepreneur in the portfolio firm as their stand-in, i.e., co-entrepreneur. This is also expressed in the decision-making criteria used by the informal investors, in that it is entrepreneurs who can be characterised as having entrepreneurial ability, which seems to be what the investors are looking for. Looking at informal investors as entrepreneurs themselves may have several implications for policy-makers as well as for entrepreneurs seeking capital. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 5. |
- Löfsten, Hans, et al.
(författare)
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Determinants for an entrepreneurial milieu : Science Parks and business policy in growing firms
- 2003
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Ingår i: Technovation. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 23:1, s. 51-64
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In order to understand the "added value" of a Science Park location there is need for detailed research exploring the characteristics and performance of firms located on and off Science Parks. The analysis distinguishes between new technology-based firms on and off Science Parks (273 firms) in Sweden during 1996-1998 in an effort to identify any element of added value which the park provides for the new technology-based firms (NTBFs). The problem of obtaining finance is one of the major difficulties faced by NTBFs (Latent construction: Resources 1). Self-financing is the dominant characteristic of funding in the small-firms sector. The attitudes and motivation of the firm founders and managers is another key factor in the ability to raise funds and achieve high growth and profitability. Information on the location of customers shows whether firms are linked to local, national or international markets, and thus their potential for growth (Latent construction: market innovation). One significant variable is geographical markets (global market). NTBFs (on-Park) have much wider market distribution throughout Sweden and abroad than is typical for small firms.
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| 6. |
- Ottosson, Stig
(författare)
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Dynamic product development - DPD
- 2004
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Ingår i: Technovation. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 24:3, s. 207-217
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To be competitive on an increasingly competitive global market, companies must be better at quickly developing innovations and new product platforms. Particularly for companies with short product life cycles, it is important to quickly and safely develop new products and new product platforms that fulfill reasonable demands on quality, performance, and cost. Unfortunately, classical methods such as Integrated Product Development (IPD), Concurrent Engineering (CE), and Simultaneous Engineering (SE) were developed for re-engineering of existing products, and have written reports and project reviews at discrete points (at the gates) as feedback principles, which for all types of development means fragmented information, delayed information, and reactive management. Dynamic Product Development (DPD) has a different mindset and is the product concept developed as long as a project runs and not just before engineering starts. Feedback is in DPD based on management participation for immediate and qualitative information, which facilitates control and guidance in real time, reducing unwanted surprises to low levels. Frequent solution iteration (making almost right and quickly testing the solutions) is in DPD important, which is opposite to classical methods. High demands on creativity, development time, usability, cost, and quality have in practical tests shown to be satisfied using DPD. © 2002 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 7. |
- Ottosson, Stefan
(författare)
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Dynamic product development of a new Intranet platform
- 2003
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Ingår i: Technovation. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 23:8, s. 669-678
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new method of using dynamic product development (DPD) described for hardware product development has now also been tested for software development. This project was the development of a new Intranet platform called e-Professor. The e-Professor has a new mindset compared to the common pyramidal architecture used in most portals. The new mindset is spherical in nature which means that transfer of information and links from/to different parts of the portal are much more quickly achieved when compared to traditional portals. This new function saves a lot of time and effort especially, say, for teachers and lecturers who could have large numbers of students attending classes and courses. In order to test it as an application, the new portal e-Professor, has been tested as an e-learning portal in the course "Product Development" at three different universities in Sweden in 2002. Another application in 2002 has been to test it as a net portal for 30-50 unemployed persons in the city of Karlstad, Sweden. The investigations show that the technical objective, which was to make a simple, clear and user-friendly flexible portal, has been accomplished most satisfactorily. Thus, DPD has also been shown to work well for software development. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 8. |
- Ottosson, Stig
(författare)
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Participation action research - A key to improved knowledge of management
- 2003
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Ingår i: Technovation. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 23:2, s. 87-94
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Only by actively taking part inside ongoing processes in organisations for most of the time and occasionally moving out of the system to view it from a distance, and also to compare it with other systems and processes, can the optimal situation arise for a deeper understanding of the complexity of management and teamwork. This view of study and research is the basic principle of Participation (PAR), demanding that researchers act simultaneously as researchers and entrepreneurs, project leaders or team members. PAR is an extension of Action Research, which has mainly been used in social studies during the second part of the 20th century. In this article it is shown (for the first time?) that action research has a strong scientific support in modem science from quantum physics and chaos/complexity theory while in many ways it contradicts the classical (Newtonian) view of how 'good' science should be performed. In this paper a model is shown of how PAR can be used to combine industrial work with university resources in a fruitful way so that scientific findings can also be useful findings for practitioners. Our tests have shown that PAR has revealed important information on change management, project management, innovation management, and the development of (new) user-friendly products. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 9. |
- Ottosson, S.
(författare)
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Pilot your organization using cash flow planning with frequent feedback
- 1997
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Ingår i: Technovation. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 17:9, s. 513-520
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For enterprises which are growing, developing products or facing tough competition, cash flow is often a limiting factor which determines their success or failure. This article is based on action research in a small enterprise with liquidity shortage whose sales grew at a rare of 20% while R&D amounted to 15% and profits to 8% of turnover From the investigation it appeared that the most important managing/financial activity consisted of weekly cash flow planning with frequent feedback Discrepancies between estimates and outcomes suggested what action was to be taken. Some benefits of continuous liquidity planning include better knowledge of revenue and expenses, better total quality, greater personnel involvement, better liquidity, smaller inventory, better earning capacity, and so forth. In the article a model for continuous liquidity planning is presented based on the study's findings. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.
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| 10. |
- Ottosson, Stig
(författare)
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Planetary organizations
- 1998
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Ingår i: Technovation. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0166-4972 .- 1879-2383. ; 19:2, s. 81-86
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article presents a new organizational concept (the `Planetary Organization'). The aim of this new concept is to increase the flexibility and involvement of every individual associated with a project or a process. With regards to product development, and especially innovative product development, the aim is also to shorten the time needed to successfully complete tasks as well as to cut costs, encourage inventive solutions, and increase product quality. In the `Planetary Organization', the manager/project leader is in the center with sub-managers/sub-project leaders around him/her, in direct contact with one another. Grouped around each sub-manager/sub-project leader are associates, also in direct contact with each other. The management style for the managers/project leaders and the sub-managers/sub-project leaders should - for maximum efficiency - be Management by Walking Around (MBWA). An important characterization of such a planetary organization is the way in which experts and senior managers act as comets, pollinating and influencing others in the organization in a positive way.
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