| 1. |
- de Almeida Cadorin, Eduardo, 1976-
(författare)
-
Science Parks and talent attraction : a study on the development of Science Parks
- 2021
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation investigates the development of Science Parks (SPs) from the perspective of talent attraction activities. Studies on SPs often address only traditional services that parks provide tenant firms. Thus, few studies have focused on activities organised by SPs to attract talent, and even fewer studies have considered the perspective of SP management (supply-side) rather than tenant firms (demand-side). This dissertation argues that the characteristics of the talent attracted to tenant firms and the SP’s structure, processes, characteristics, and stakeholder relationships influence SP performance. In addition, the talent attraction activities developed by the SP mediate this influence.This thesis relies on five papers, both qualitative and quantitative, written in collaboration with other scholars. This study shows that SPs organise talent attraction activities according to the characteristics of the desired talent and park configurations, such as their collaborations with stakeholders and the level of maturity of the tenant firms. These activities provide tenant firms with access to human resources suitable for their growth, contributing to the performance of the SP.This study contributes to research on the development of SPs by shedding light on how talent attraction activities organised by SPs influence their development. Furthermore, this thesis presents talent attraction as a conceptual element and proposes a model that includes the influence of talent attraction in a supply-side perspective and as a mediator of SP performance.Finally, this thesis recommends that SP managers support tenant firms of all maturity in the search for qualified professionals, facilitate the entry process of talents and firms from abroad, strengthen ties with the local university and student community and promote a creative, enterprising and innovative environment.
|
|
| 2. |
- Hedner, Thomas
(författare)
-
Change in the Pharmaceutical Industry : Aspects on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Openness, and Decision Making
- 2012
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Over the past century, the pharmaceutical industry has been a major contributor of individual and population health and societal wealth. Its products and services have contributed to longevity of large groups of patients and symptom relief from major diseases. However, during the past 2 decades, the innovative capacity of the pharmaceutical industry has lagged behind, and there have been concerns and discussions on the prevailing business model of the industry, and whether it needs to be refined and altered. Development of a new drug is a time-consuming and complex undertaking, which involves elements of discovery as well as process development. Recently, the average cost of developing a new molecular entity (NME) was estimated to be around U$800 million for small molecules and around U$1,300 million for biologics. If post approval costs for Phase IV studies, costs to gain regulatory approval in various global markets and costs for obtaining additional label claims for new indications are included and adjusted for cost increases and inflation, the cost estimates per NME increase to U$1,754 million for small molecules and U$3,911 million for biologics. Revenue streams from global market sales are only able to offset these escalating costs to a limited extent. The present dissertation focusses on the on-going change processes in the pharmaceutical industry (Big Pharma). An important change process is related to open information and open intellectual property (IP) platforms. The work also relates to entrepreneurial orientation, inherent project uncertainty and decision modelling. In the biomedical field, there are an increasing number of stakeholders that collaboratively develop, package and build transactions around technology. Such open innovation model differs from the classical closed innovation model when openness is structured in open networks and business consortia. This thesis provides examples of how open innovation models function in the context of the pharmaceutical industry and how Life Science companies could design their IP-strategies to optimize the value extraction potential from open innovation in general and open IP platforms in particular. The present work also investigates perceptions of experts within the pharmaceutical industry and allied health sectors, with respect to entrepreneurial attitudes, intent and engagements during pharmaceutical innovation and new drug development. It was shown that positive attitudes and orientation towards entrepreneurship are perceived to be of high value for the early strategic selection and validation of the drug target area, for costs assessments and pharmacoeconomics, as well as for positioning and marketing of a new drug to patients and the public. Entrepreneurial traits were however judged to be less important for some major process steps during preclinical and clinical development. Based on real scenario cases, this thesis also investigates how employees make judgments in the pharmaceutical industry and allied health care sectors. Each case study relates to go/no-go decisions taken from the various steps in drug discovery through preclinical and clinical development (IND) on to market introduction (NDA) and treatment of the target population. Results revealed that there is a major inter-individual difference between experts in their individual intuitive go/no-go/recycle decisions during the drug discovery and development process. This lack of coherence and wide variability with respect to the drug development cases selected may reflect judgment in the real world. Accordingly, increased openness, entrepreneurial awareness and orientation towards entrepreneurial engagements and skills may help the pharmaceutical business sector to improve vital parts of its value creation processes. Also, by modelling decision-making in real cases from initial drug discovery to late development and marketing, in pharmaceutical industry R&D, we demonstrated that rational decision-making can commonly be managed by a group of 10 – 15 experts when mean group judgments over a series of decision points are clear go decisions. However, when mean group judgments from one decision point to another vary from go to stop in a specific case, i.e. involves a recycle component, there will be a need to expand R&D expert input substantially. In such cases, the drug development processes more or less takes on the form of an open innovation process. Thus, our findings may be used to construct a new model on how to plan and model the size of expert input in structured decision processes similar to those practiced in the pharmaceutical industry. Based on the findings in this thesis, it may be concluded that high-tech innovation in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors show signs of movement from a closed to a more open innovation paradigm. This change is driven by several factors such as the possibility of rapid and unlimited communication through the Internet, the increasing global availability of experts for complex decision-making, the international reach of innovators and entrepreneurs, the need of the venture capital market to support appropriate investment cases, as well as the increasing possibility and interest of external suppliers and interest groups to participate in new product and service development.
|
|
| 3. |
- Germain-Alamartine, Eloïse, 1992-
(författare)
-
Doctoral education in the entrepreneurial university : enhanced employability?
- 2020
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation explores the issue of employability of doctorate holders through the theoretical lens of the model of the entrepreneurial university. It starts from the observation that there is a bottleneck in the academic labour market in many countries, making it increasingly difficult for recent doctoral graduates to engage in an academic career. Traditionally, doctoral education was designed for a career in academia; but the employment situations of doctorate holders call for more relevance of doctoral education and doctoral-level skills on the non-academic labour market. The main argument of this dissertation is that the openness and the interactions of the entrepreneurial university with its environment, in particular its region, makes it a relevant model to enhance the employability of doctorate holders outside academia. The thesis is based on five publications written either solely by the author or in collaboration with other scholars, mostly case studies compiling both qualitative and quantitative data and approaches.Three main findings can be highlighted from the research: (i) the entrepreneurial university increases its socioeconomic impact by building an alignment with regional stakeholders over the years and thanks to key individuals, by retaining human and social capital within itself and by broadening the scope of its activities and stakeholders; (ii) doctorate holders’ employability is key in the entrepreneurial university’s regional socioeconomic impact, as they are increasingly employed outside academia but are likely to experience job mismatches in this situation, mainly related to education and skills; (iii) regional stakeholders can take different types of initiatives to enhance the employability of doctorate holders, and increase the entrepreneurial university’s socioeconomic impact: more specifically, doctorate holders and non-academic employers can get to know each other better; intermediaries such as Science Parks can support them through the creation of meeting places.The dissertation contributes to the literature on the entrepreneurial university by focusing on the population of doctoral students and doctorate holders, at the crossroads of its three missions (education, research and ‘third mission’). It also suggests the following main recommendations: to universities, beyond adapting the content of doctoral education to the needs of non-academic employers, put emphasis on marketing it to them, so that they understand what it is worth; to doctorate holders, expand their knowledge of career possibilities, and behave entrepreneurially by initiating activities to complement what could be missing in their education; to non-academic employers, collaborate with universities and communicate their needs to them to influence the design of curricula.
|
|
| 4. |
- Jansson, Elisabeth, 1968-
(författare)
-
Paradoxen (s)om entreprenörskap : En romantisk ironisk historia om ett av-vikande entreprenörskapande
- 2008
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to embrace entrepreneurship as a paradox and to additionally show how an anomaly can be the foundation as well as the energy for the paradoxical, entrepreneurial process. The empirical focus is on the creative industry, in which the intimate connection between entrepreneurship, enterprise, art, culture and creativity has been illustrated and accounted for. The study is conducted with a narrative-rhetorical approach and analyzes and interprets three empirical cases and their stories.The theoretical contribution of the present study is the fact that we enrich our understanding of entrepreneurship as a paradox by grasping it in a romantic ironic-manner. The current study ends in the following significant and illustrative paradoxes that also can be seen as conclusions: Entrepreneurship requires deviance – but also at the same time demands belonging, in the sense that entrepreneurship can be regarded as acting between endogenous self-fulfillment and exogenous purposes. In addition, the basis of the here illustrated phenomenon is to become entrepreneurial. In the name of the romantic irony we have to keep in mind that you can only become an entrepreneur, you can not be one. As soon as one thinks of oneself as an entrepreneur one ceases to be one.The never-ending deviation can be seen as the root-metaphor of entrepreneurship. Conclusively, entrepreneurship is – and will become – a never-ending endeavor. This is an endeavor in which “becoming entrepreneurs” – in the name of the paradox – acts in-between and thereby are limited by, as well as delivered by society’s and discourse’s expectations of economic growth and business creation.
|
|
| 5. |
- Laur, Inessa, 1982-
(författare)
-
Cluster Initiatives as Intermediaries : A Study of their Management and Stakeholders
- 2015
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation offers a platform to understand the nature of cluster initiatives as a socio-economic phenomenon combining cluster, entrepreneurship and intermediary features. They are particular types of ventures facilitating networks and dialog platforms adjusted to local contexts and offering a way to enhance regional development. The success of clusters and regions is shaped by the degree they are based on and involve entrepreneurial activity, which is viewed here under the prism of cluster initiatives. This dissertation uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches to study various organizational aspects of cluster initiatives and their intermediary role as well as providing recommendations for the management and support of these organizations. It is based on five papers written by the author of the dissertation solely and in collaboration with other scholars where the level of analysis is focused on cluster initiatives. Based on empirical material from the papers this dissertation brings together both the structural and organizational content of cluster initiatives by providing evidence in the areas of actors and relationships, mode of organization and intermediary specific, assessment and management as well as policy.This work has generated the following conclusions: firstly, cluster initiatives represent organizations bringing together a four-faceted constellation of interrelated actors (i.e. the initiative itself, key player, support and target group), through organization of intermediary activities. Secondly, these organizations are organized as temporary projects, but being able to attract many members and to satisfy their needs through diversified and innovative activities can help them to achieve longevity. The longevity of initiatives can also be supported by policy, which in order to become effective, should include a long-term perspective and bottom-up approach. And finally, the study proposes a model of five central qualitative success factors to be used for the assessment and management of the initiatives, which together depict a holistic picture of their functioning. This model contains elements such as idea, driving forces, activities, organization and critical mass. The two models of interrelated actors and of success factors form the main contribution of this work. Extending the stream of studies this dissertation raises awareness and calls for recognition of cluster initiatives as important actors working in-between the boundaries of other organizations and institutions.
|
|
| 6. |
- Svensson, Peter, 1974-
(författare)
-
The Dynamics of Innovation and Knowledge-Based Regional Development
- 2010
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Geographical regions as diverse as Silicon Valley, California and Linköping, Sweden have been the sources of new technology and endogenously created innovations. Scholars and policymakers recognise that specific regions or clusters of businesses have the capability to engage in more innovative activities and new business formation and to experience higher employment growth than others. This dissertation uses qualitative methods to study various aspects of regional development and innovation. It is based on five papers by the author and colleagues with levels of analysis ranging from regional to firms’ first sales in order to capture the dynamics of both the top and bottom levels of regional development. It then uses these papers’ empirical material to address the research questions of (a) how a new scientific knowledge base becomes established and exploited in a spatial context, and (b) how people create and diffuse innovations in a social and spatial context. This dissertation’s main findings are that (a) regional leadership involving the building of alliances with triple-helix actors is crucial for initiating a knowledge-based regional development process, (b) a consensus space is a catalytic mechanism for ensuring the speed and effectiveness of regional development, (c) lowering the barriers for the actors involved boosts participation and the rate of innovation, and (d) users’ perspectives are essential for social, institutional and commercial innovation. This dissertation’s main implications are that knowledge-based regional development’s initial stages require leadership that (a) builds alliances and establish an arena for the triple-helix actors, (b) analyses the regional barriers to the commercialisation of knowledge, and (c) utilises both endogenous and exogenous resources.
|
|
| 7. |
- Abouzeedan, Adli, 1955-
(författare)
-
SME Performance and Its Relationship to Innovation
- 2011
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Current SME performance models suffer from a number of disadvantages. The models use intensively a business ratio approach, they look at SMEs as a homogenous group, they consider firms to be closed systems, they do not directly incorporate the impact of an enterprise’s innovation activities, and finally they are complex and rely on sophisticated statistical refining methods making them unpractical to use by SME managers. There are four major challenges when one tries to build SME performance models that lack these deficiencies. The first challenge is that the desired performance evaluation model must optimally incorporate both quantitative and qualitative input. The second challenge is that the model must incorporate non-financial input parameters, such as firm size and age (among others), in the performance evaluation models. The third is that the model must consider the variety of SMEs as concerns their business sectors, nationalities, sizes, and ages. The final challenge is that the model must be able to utilize existing limited information available from the SMEs bookkeeping practices in an optimal way.The thesis addresses three questions related to constructing a better SMEperformance model, namely (1) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the existing models used in evaluating SME performance? (2) What characterizes a comprehensive model for measuring SME performance with acknowledgement of the firm’s innovation activities? (3) How can a firm’s innovation activities be enhanced in relation to the firm’s external environment?To construct a model that copes with these challenges, I used a literature-based selection of parameters as well as a theory-based selection. I used both a conceptual approach and an empirical approach to discuss and propose a model, the Survival Index Value (or SIV) model, as an alternative to the existing performance models for SMEs.The major contributions of this thesis to the field of SME performance can be summarized in three outcomes: the SIV model as a new model of SME performance evaluation, the ASPEM as a new tool for strategic utilization of SME performance models, and a new approach to account for innovation in relation to the external environment of the firm using the IBAM tool.The work adds to the theory of the firm, as it presents a new way of evaluating firm performance. It also contributes to bridging the theory of the firm to organizational theory, by elevating the significance of networking and its impact on SME efficiency.
|
|
| 8. |
- Frykfors, Carl-Otto
(författare)
-
Policy and transitions processes in sector systems of innovation and production
- 2010
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the last decades, innovation and innovation processes in industry have been regarded as critical to establishing sustainable economic competitiveness and development-both crucial for societal goals and visions. In the aftermath of the tirst oil crisis in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the influential work by research schalars' has inspired a comprehensive new order in economic research internationally which will be discussed in this thesis. In the frame of that a main interest has been devoted to look upan what characterizes the emergence and development of an innovation system and the factors that contribute to, but perhaps also limit, the development?As a faundatian for the thesis, three different papers have been written. The tirst paper is a literature review with empirical examples and deals with the roats and long tails of the Swedish model - development of institutionai structures on an aggregated level through seetorai systems of innovation and productian. This paper also describes attempts to trans form and adapt the model to new circumstances at the end of the 1990s and the tirst years of the 21 st century. The second paper describe a foresight model and shows how such a model can be a valuable strategic management tool for renewing goals and cognitive awareness in a local cluster group in a traditional industry. This papet also views the consumer secter from miera and actot perspectives on the programme leve!. In the third paper three an ongoing transition processes and mutual development in three mature branches is studied. The paper presents a system perspective on organisations- and mezzoIevel.The thesis generates tive main conelusions: I) Long-tenn thinking and a nation of "la longue duree" are prerequisites for development of innovation systems. 2) The existence of a reference base and a prehistory constitutes an important platfonn for the emergence of innovation systems. 3) Strong driving forces and intentionalily are fundamental to emerging innovation systems. 4) Institutions and organisations are important instruments of change in the emergence of innovation systems; and 5) Entrepreneurship and management at s!!Uctural and micro levels are important ingredients in an innovation system's development processes. Possible implications ofsome aspects of the conclusions for the Swedish policy landscape are many. One example is the matter of longterm thinking and "la longue duree", which this thesis hopefully has made elear are not synonyms. Long-tenn thinking and temporalily within "la longue duree" are important issues behind successful innovations, change processes, and development processes. Of this. there is an impressive quantity offacts and arguments.
|
|
| 9. |
- Lundmark, Erik, 1975-
(författare)
-
The Mobility of People, Ideas and Knowledge in the Entrepreneurial Society
- 2010
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As radical innovations facilitate communication, create new industries and make others obsolete, the established ways of organising society are being questioned. Over the last few decades, a theoretical framework and a worldview labelled the entrepreneurial society, has emerged. The entrepreneurial society is based on theoretical models, empirical observations and a belief in the importance of new businesses.The core of the entrepreneurial society is the claim that valuable ideas have to be commercialised in order to contribute to economic growth and prosperity. Unfortunately, valuable ideas remain dormant due to a number of barriers. Labour mobility, informal networks and entrepreneurship are mechanisms with the potential of overcoming these barriers.This thesis aims to increase our understanding of how ideas diffuse between and get applied within organisations. The thesis relates its findings to the entrepreneurial society and identifies and critically assesses basic assumptions and biases underlying the framework.The thesis presents and discusses six studies, each published as an article in a scientific journal, a chapter in an edited book, or as a conference paper at an international academic conference. Taken together, the findings in this thesis emphasise that the mobility of ideas is intertwined with the mobility of people and knowledge. More specifically, the findings indicate that employees in large R&Ddriven projects not only attain knowledge from external sources, but also that the use of external knowledge sources is positively related to new ideas connected to the projects.In addition, this thesis reinforces the argument that the mobility of knowledge workers is particularly beneficial to the diffusion of knowledge and ideas between organisations; the results show that employees in knowledge-intensive positions perceive greater opportunities to generate, share and develop ideas in organisations, as compared to employees in less knowledge-intensive positions.This thesis suggests that new employees tend to have an entrepreneurial potential in the form of a greater drive for change and less habituation with current practices. Nevertheless, such potential is often curbed by resistant routines. However, the thesis also finds that much entrepreneurship literature and the discourse of policy makers are biased towards overly optimistic views of entrepreneurship.The literature on the entrepreneurial society emphasises the diffusion and application of new R&D-related knowledge and ideas. This thesis also emphasises the diffusion and application of already widespread and established knowledge, ideas and innovations.
|
|
| 10. |
- Nouira, Semir
(författare)
-
Early-stage finance : exploring the financial context of small and young knowledge-intensive firms
- 2005
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis essentially explores early-stage finaneing of small and young knowledge-intensive finns. The three studies underlying the thesis deal with the entrepreneurs' attitudes to financing and the creation of spin-affs in a corporate venture capital setting. The major questions posed in the thesis embrace:What variables underlying the business creation process govern the elementary logic behind the entrepreneur's perceived importance of different actors as financiers?Do cognition elements of risk and contral influence the entrepreneur's attitudes towards financing?What is the strategic and financial logic behind a large public corporation initiative to continuously create internal and non-strategic ventures?In the pursuit of answering the above research questions two survey studies and one case study were accomplished. Interesting findings cornprise the significance of the business context, the novelty of the venture idea, existing financing, the entrepreneur's extent of self-efficacy and expectations on externai financiers in determining the entrepreneur's attitudes towards financing.Another insight uncovered in this thesis is the delicate balance between generating short-term financial gains through the creation of non-strategic internal ventures, and at the same time sustaining overall business strategy. In certain conditions, it might even be possible that such venturing activities might function as a strategic trash can reinforcing the business strategy pursued, and at the same time generate short-term profits.
|
|
