| 1. |
- Cavalcante Bernat Junior, Stefan, 1974-
(författare)
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From Approaching to Challenging the Forerunners : A Study of Innovation Capability Building in Brazilian Firms
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Innovation capability refers to the ability to continuously innovate. Firms have recognized this ability as the most critical source of innovation performance, firm performance, and sustained competitiveness. In emerging economies, innovation capability is also noted as a significant source of economic development, which can lead to improvements in education, health, and democracy. It is not easy to build innovation capabilities in emerging economies. Unlike firms in developed economies, emerging economy firms (EEFs) lack resources, competencies, and capabilities. They depend on international clusters of innovative suppliers, as critical resources are not readily available within the firm or with other domestic partners. EEFs also face low-quality education, weak institutions, and financial constraints. Although innovation capability building has attracted the interest of scholars over the last decades, the possibilities for developing better explanations of the concept are far from exhausted. The literature in this field still lacks consistency, a comprehensive viewpoint, and efficient operationalization. Moreover, economic slowdowns in several emerging economies reinforce the need to better understand how EEFs build innovation capability. For this purpose, the case study method was applied in the research papers to investigate firms from Brazil, a recognized emerging economy in Latin America. The research included 13 case studies based on 47 interviews and numerous secondary sources. In addition, different levels of analysis, ranging from project to firm to ecosystem, helped to complement and enrich the findings and conclusions. The research shows that EEFs build innovation capability by first learning and accumulating technological capabilities to approach the forerunners. Once the technological gap has been reduced, EEFs continue building their innovation capabilities by sensing the environment, seizing windows of opportunity, reconfiguring existing technological capabilities, managing suppliers and complementors, strategically aligning the technology upgrading, and providing continuous learning to keep their workforce prepared. At this later stage, the goal is to seize opportunities that help EEFs challenge or even overtake the forerunners. Finally, it is especially noteworthy that learning is present throughout the entire process.
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| 2. |
- Sushandoyo, Dedy
(författare)
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Managing discontinuous changes in complex products : Cases involving the development and market introduction of heavy hybrid-electric buses
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a study about managing the development of discontinuous changes in complex products characterised by integration of a significant amount of new technologies and firms’ existing technologies and market introduction of such products. In particular, this study analyses how firms’ technology selections influence the conditions for the firms to manage such development and market introduction. Empirically, the purpose is to investigate how leading firms in the heavy vehicle industry struggle in managing the challenges related to the development and market introduction of heavy hybrid-electric buses. This thesis involves a study of two sets of comparative, longitudinal, real-time cases. The first set is used for analysing the development of heavy hybrid-electric buses at Scania and Volvo. The second set is used for analysing the market introduction of Volvo’s and BAE Systems’ heavy hybrid-electric buses.The findings of this study demonstrate the importance for firms to closely manage several aspects of the development of discontinuous changes in complex products and market introduction of such complex products. This study shows the criticality and the implications of firms’ technology selections particularly related to where in the product structure the technological changes occur (loci of technological change), types of technological change, types of product architecture, and degrees of technology and application novelties. It is in this study demonstrated that firms’ technology selections influence the conditions for the firms to manage such development, in particular regarding to in-house knowledge development, supplier collaboration and types of NPD organisations. It is also shown that firms’ technology selections affect the firms’ possibilities to offer various performance attributes to the market. Furthermore, this study shows that firms’ technology selections influence the firms’ market strategies when introducing such complex products to the markets.Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature on discontinuous innovations. The contributions are on managing the development of typical discontinuous innovations that involve integration of a significant amount of new technologies and firms’ existing technologies, and managing market introduction of such innovations. This thesis integrates streams of literatures related to both development and market introduction of discontinuous innovations, which in previous studies are seldom treated together and linked. It provides an integrated knowledge based framework to help us understand how firms manage the development and market introduction of such typical discontinuus innovations. It also provides empirical evidence along the areas related to the theoretical contribution. In particular, it provides contribution concerning such development and market introduction in the heavy vehicle industry. Research in the field of the management of innovation related to the heavy vehicle industry is less observed.
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| 3. |
- Dahlgren, Sofia, 1992-
(författare)
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Decision-making and decision support connected to biogas use in Sweden
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Human activities cause many sustainability challenges in the world, which need to be dealt with. One way to decrease the negative impacts related to those challenges is by replacing currently dominating technologies with better, alternative technologies. However, such shifts are not easy to achieve – for example, each new user has to make a decision to start using the technology.The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a greater understanding of what the decisions to use alternative technologies are based on and how the decisions can be supported. In order to achieve this aim, the thesis focuses on the decisions of private companies’ and public organizations in Sweden of whether or not to use biogas in Sweden. The thesis is based upon six appended papers, which are used for addressing three research questions: How do biogas compare to other potential alternatives? Why do decision-makers in Sweden find it interesting to use biogas, and what makes them hesitant? And, how can decision support be used in decision-making to deal with complexities connected to biogas decisions?It is concluded that biogas has environmental and social advantages compared to several other renewable alternatives, but that it can be more expensive. The technical maturity of biogas use depends partly upon the usage area – biomethane buses is a mature area while heavy trucks is less mature. Biogas is perceived by decision-makers as a good environmental option and a better long-term solution than several other renewable alternatives since there are investments done and since the policymakers seem positive towards biogas. Public organizations tend to look at the broader positive aspects of biogas, such as energy security and nutrient recovery, while private companies tend to be more focused on biogas as an environmental action that can benefit the image of the company. However, decision-makers can be hesitant towards biogas due to economic or policy aspects or a lack of technical maturity. The decision-makers can also experience a lack of knowledge that makes them uncertain about biogas. Decision support can help the decision-makers in different ways, with different tools being more suitable for different parts of the complexities connected to biogas decisions. Multi-criteria assessments can help the decision-maker focus on several impacts at once and making the decision process transparent for trade-offs, while socio-technical scenarios can help the decision-maker understand how the wanted changes can be realized.
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| 4. |
- Werner, Viktor, 1993-
(författare)
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Ghosts of the Past or Facilitators of the Future? : Firm-System Interactions in the Transition to Electrified Goods Transportation
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- If you visit Linköping, you have good chances to see electrified cars, or you may even take a ride on an electric city bus. However, you will have some difficulty spotting one of the very few electric trucks operating in the city. The transition to a road-based goods transportation system with electrified trucks is much slower than the transition to electrified passenger transport in Sweden. Part of the explanation for this are the profound system changes required to realize a competitive electrified goods transportation system, a system that involves different firms with significantly different resources and varying relationships to existing system structures. This thesis aims to contribute to transition studies by mapping out how firm-system interactions unfold during an ongoing sustainability transition. Therefore, attention is placed on how dynamic transition processes are affected by firms with stakes in the emerging socio-technical system for electrified goods transportation. The thesis also emphasizes the firms' limitations in shaping the environment in which the electrified trucks will operate. The data on which the thesis is based was collected within the context of two research projects, both funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and affiliated with the Swedish Electromobility Center. The data collection included observations at 42 industry events and 34 semi-structured interviews with different actors involved in the development of electrified goods transportation in Sweden. In addition, a literature review was conducted based on articles in the research community of transition studies, highlighting how established firms in the automotive sector handle major transitions of socio-technical systems. In general, the thesis contributes to the ongoing discussion in transition studies about the role of firms in transitions. In particular, there is a vivid discussion about two issues in this research community: how established firms can contribute to ongoing transition processes and how to understand the interactions between firms and systems during ongoing transitions. This thesis synthesizes the results of five articles to address these questions in three main ways. First, the thesis contributes to the discussion on incumbent firms with an "extreme" empirical case of system reconfiguration, characterized by the interactions between two socio-technical systems where incumbent firms play the role of users and producers in both systems. The thesis describes how different incumbent firms have different system functions and different resources and how these functions and resources are reshaped as the new system emerges. Second, the dissertation contributes with a conceptualization of two types of interactions between firms and systems, covering how the firm can influence the emerging system and how feedback from the emerging system travels back to the firm. The thesis nuances the academic discussions on firm-system interactions by considering the possibilities of established firms to strategically invest in a favorable dynamic of co-evolution between their own resources and the emerging socio-technical system. Third, the thesis develops analytical tools to investigate how incumbent firms can influence changes in their environment by contributing to the design of favorable future markets and to understand how incumbent firms influence problem-solution couplings during transitions.
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| 5. |
- Andreasson, Martin, 1993-
(författare)
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The process of executing digital transformation strategies : Case studies in established Swedish manufacturing firms
- 2023
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The emergence of digital technologies has forced established firms to engage in a digital transformation. Digital transformations are complex and time-consuming processes, and therefore, they require unique strategies for coordinating and prioritizing activities. Existing research provides some examples of established Swedish firms engaging in digital transformations to keep up with competition. Responding to the need to better understand how these firms approach their digital transformation, this thesis explores how digital transformation strategies have been executed by established Swedish manufacturing firms and why some digital transformation strategies are realized whereas others are not.This thesis builds on digital transformation and digital transformation strategy literature. The term "digital transformation" primarily refers to firms’ incorporation of digital technologies into products and services, the development of new digital business models, and new organizational setups. The term "digital transformation strategy," likewise, refers to the process of executing the digital transformation.To answer the research questions presented in this thesis, I conducted two studies at two different firms. Study 1 was an embedded longitudinal single-case study conducted at the corporate unit and two business units of one firm and includes 30 interviews. Study 2 was a multiple-case study conducted at two firms and included six cases and a total of nine interviews.This thesis’ examination of digital transformation strategies demonstrates how the firms incorporated both basic- and advanced-level digital technologies into existing and new products and created new digital services. The firms also implemented new business models, such as e-commerce channels and pay-per-use payment schemes. Further, the firms also introduced new organizational setups, such as cross-functional teams and departments specializing in digital technologies and their potential applications. The execution of the digital transformation strategies was dynamic, and the firms regularly reformulated their strategies throughout the process. Furthermore, this study’s analysis of the execution of digital transformation strategies highlighted how managers interpreted the firm’s intentions and created emergent strategic responses to adapt to new digital technologies and customer demands. The firms measured the outcomes of the digital transformation strategy by considering both traditional measurements, such as return on investment, and new measurements, such as positive brand image and customer engagement.The thesis identified three key elements that impact whether or not a firm is able to realize its digital transformation strategy. First, new digital products and services must be aligned with market demands and customer needs. Second, internal and external collaboration support digital product and service development. Third, all dimensions of the digital transformation must be managed to avoid creating a misalignment between the firm’s digital transformation strategy and current business strategy.The execution of a digital transformation strategy requires managers to constantly reevaluate the strategy and respond to changing customer demands and available digital technologies. The lessons of this thesis can provide managers within digitally transforming firms with useful tools to improve the execution process of their digital transformation strategy.
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| 6. |
- Borghei, Benny Behbood, 1980-
(författare)
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Incumbent Actors in Sectoral Transformations Towards Sustainability : A sociotechnical study of the European heavy commercial vehicles sector
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Industrial sectors need to be transformed in response to the increasing demands for environmental sustainability as one of the greatest challenges in the modern times. In social science research, extensive efforts have been made over the recent decades to formulate comprehensive theories about transformation of various sectors such as energy, manufacturing, agriculture, food and transportation. Accordingly, ‘sustainability transitions’ have emerged as a research field dedicated to the study of far-reaching sociotechnical transformations.Understanding sectoral transformations and how different actors can get involved in sustainability transitions are in the heart of these efforts. Of particular importance is the involvement of industry incumbents that hold established positions and considerable amounts of knowledge, resources, and technological competence built upon vigorous structures of the existing industrial setup. This in turn calls for more attention to the role of incumbents to actively participate in the transformation of established sectors towards sustainability.However, despite the potentials to get involved in processes of transformative change, incumbents are often neglected in transition theories, and their role is predetermined to resist the change. Incumbents are widely black-boxed as a homogenous group of actors to the extent that they are conceived as a single entity whose predefined role is to act as the guardians of the existing structures and defenders of the status-quo. While there are legitimate concerns about the power of incumbent firms, such one-sided views do not offer an inclusive approach in formulating multi-actor processes for sustainability transitions. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to a more comprehensive theorization on the role of incumbent actors in sectoral transformations. The main research question is formulated as follows: how can incumbents act to facilitate sectoral transformations towards environmental sustainability?In answering this research question, the thesis offers an alternative perspective to the dominant view about incumbents in sustainability transition theories. It challenges prevailing assumptions by providing empirical evidence from the heavy commercial vehicles sector in Europe. The research findings show that incumbents are able to adopt various technological strategies ranging from incremental innovations with highly coordinated actions for reducing emission levels based on the established technologies, to the adoption of radical technological choices for introducing alternative propulsion technologies in the market. In fact, the strong position of incumbents can sometimes enable them to introduce radical innovations in established markets. The research findings also indicate that incumbents can act as learning agents or knowledge repositories to overcome the problem of isolation for new technological innovations by transferring knowledge and technologies over the boundaries of time and space. Moreover, incumbents can facilitate diffusion of radical innovations and ramp up the adoption of new technologies through standardization at the industry level. In addition, incumbents from a range of different sectors have been recognized as integrators for the development of new technological solutions that span over traditional boundaries. Hence, new industrial sectors can emerge through the integration of knowledge and technologies from various established sectors, and incumbents are at the heart of the integration processes due to their knowledge and familiarity of the established sectors.Finally, the theoretical implications from the thesis invite transition scholars to reconsider the role of incumbent actors in sustainability transitions, while the practical implications suggest that policy-makers need to pay more attention to the diversity of technology strategies of incumbent firms and their alignments for sectoral transformations towards sustainability.
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| 7. |
- Borghei, Behbood, 1980-
(författare)
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Sustainability Transitions in Established Industries : The case of European Commercial Transport Vehicles
- 2015
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the increasing trends in trade of goods and services as well as the expansion of road infrastructure and networks, commercial road transport has dominated a significant share of inland and urban logistics in the world and particularly in Europe. This includes not only the basic supply of citizens’ needs through long-haul traffic and short-distance city trucks but also by providing urban services such as courier delivery, household waste pickup and refuse collection as well as passengers movements by public bus transport and inter-city coach transit.Meanwhile, concerns over air quality problems and environmental sustainability of road transportation have soared up as more and more vehicles travelled on fossil fuels resulting in more pollution, particularly in dense urban areas. The problem is not only limited to the air pollution and adverse health effects caused by exhaust gas emissions, but also dependency on fossil fuels as non-renewable sources of energy and as a major contributor to global warming and climate change over the long time.Having said that, the purpose of this thesis is to provide an understanding that could be helpful in envisioning sustainability transitions in an established industry setting which is dominated by a very few number of incumbent firms who retain majority of the market share as well as current technological paradigm which mainly determines the choice of technological solutions in this field.Study results suggest that sustainability transitions can be envisaged through evolutionary processes that include both technological and institutional change at the same time. Regarding technological change, the role of incumbent firms must be considered as important sources of knowledge, skills, experience as well as R&D investment capital and the pool of critical human expertise that would otherwise remain unexploited if their competences were not effectively absorbed in synergies for sustainability transitions. This is termed as regime-driven transformation in this study.Meanwhile, continuous landscape pressure have to be maintained through effective regulatory frameworks that govern further reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions and to engage incumbents in a collectively shared envisioning of sustainability transitions. This can be enabled by bringing back the role of institutions as an alternative (complementary) entry point to the existing literature on sociotechnical transitions. In doing so, the predominant notion of institutions as the rigid and static structures that constrain innovation is questioned. Instead, it is suggested that institutions can provide resources and structures for actors to engage and for technologies to advance and thus to facilitate long-term sustainability transitions.
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| 8. |
- Magnússon, Gunnlaugur, Associate Professor, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Vetenskapsteori och teori i tillämpning inom utbildningsvetenskaperna
- 2021
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Ingår i: Vetenskapsteori och forskningsmetoder i utbildningsvetenskap. - Stockholm : Natur och kultur. - 9789127827394 ; , s. 42-80
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Det här kapitlet syftar till att behandla frågor kring tillämpningen av teori inom det utbildningsvetenskapliga fältet, både avseende metodologiska tillvägagångssätt och tolkning samt vilka kunskapsanspråk som görs, och kan göras, med hjälp av dessa teorier och metoder. Innan vi går in på specifika tillämpningsområden redogörs först för forskningsfältets bredd och komplexitet. Detta är särskilt viktigt eftersom det, vilket föregående kapitel visade, finns uppenbara problem med allt för snäva normer kring vad som kan studeras och hur det görs. Att förstå många teorier och metoder och betrakta forskning utifrån olika perspektiv ger en fördjupad förståelse för utbildningens och forskningens mångtydighet och nyanser.
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