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- Björklöf, Sune, 1935-2012
(författare)
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Byggbranschens innovationsbenägenhet : En studie om den svenska byggbranschens inställning till innovationer och branschens beredskapatt hantera innovationsfrågor
- 1986
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The attitude of the building sector towards innovation and its intellectual and organizational preparedness for dealing with the issues of innovation is the aim of this study. The core question can be formulated as follows: Why does a building company accept certain innovations but not others? The fundamental ideas of the study are rooted in the central European tradition of the historico-qualitiative school of thought. Another basic idea for the thesis is Dewcy’s and Bcntley's theory of transactional cognition introduced in Sweden by Hanssen under the term ""field concept" according to which the content and object of knowledge are seen as an entirety. The reason for approaching the problem qualitatively. that is through not highly structured interviews based on the author's long personal experience in the sector, is its compound and many face ted nature a long with the fact that verbal discussion is firmly grounded in building sector tradition.Innovations has to pass trough three different filters. These filters are at the point where the innovation enters the company, during the bid preparation process and upon the absorption of the innovation into the project. Important factors influencing the passage through these filters arc papyrophobia, the old boy network (OBN) and the structure of the production system. Papyrophobia is expressed in a general reluctance to deal with theoretical issues and documentation. OBN denotes an informal communication network. Production is run by and within project organizations. i.e. repetitive ad hoc aggregates independent of the parent organization. These factors in combination with time and financial pressure obstruct the possibility of creating a research tradition.Characteristic features of the socio-cultural tradition of the sector are that it is male dominated, that the educational system classifies those working in the field according to trade and profession, and that the strong position of production aspects have brought to the forefront the energetic practitioner. His values are strictly professional. Information is to a great extent transmitted orally. There is strength in the ability of Swedish construction firms to plan and improvise within an established frame. However, a certain streak of marginalism with the potential of inhibiting innovation does exist in their pattern of action. Also typical of the tradition is the ideal of the free entrepreneur and the organization of large companies as confederations of a number of small and medium size firms. Finally, a fundamental cultural feature of the construction industry is openness. News spreads rapidly to a competitor.Innovations are disseminated in several ways, but one dominant pattern persists that cannot be seen in other industries. While the projects are important for testing and diffusion of innovations, the companies arc more intrumental in propagating information of innovations. The building materials industry's R&D work follows a pattern similar to that of production companies in other sectors.The building sector's readiness to follow and work with innovation issues can generally be rated as low. The confinement of interest to production aspects combined with the marked open· ness provides ample room for the materials manufacturers and companies outside the sector to introduce new products and materials. In the long run, it is the gradual change in this assortment that will transform building techniques and technology. Change is generated by other sectors.
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| 2. |
- Eriksson, Gunnar, 1950-
(författare)
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Företagets immateriella investeringar : En begreppsutredning = Intangibles as an object for capital investment
- 1985
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Normally the concept of capita! investment refers to tangibles. The resource allocation process deals in this case with the problem of acquiring different kinds of "physical facilities". However, if the concept of capita! investment is made to apply to intangibles, the question of definition becomes confusing. The concept of intangibles is almost indescribable, at least when it comes to defining an empirical content. Almost every expenditure can be regarded as an investment. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to determine the concept of intangibles and thereby lay the foundations fora discussion of intangibles as an object for capita! investment.To solve the problem of conceptualization, an empirical study was carried out. The focus of the study was on intangibles and the manner in which these are treated in capital Investment processes. In total six different investment processes were investigated. In the concept analysis it is argued, that the distinguishing quality of intangibles is that they can only be defined as an idea or a mental construction. The economic resources are necessarily connected with individuals in the organization and with routine activities. Therefore, the activity to develop and to maintain the resources is accentuated. It is also emphasized that the purpose of the investment is to build up earning capacity. The essential characteristic of this capacity is that all factors interact in the final service or product and in producing cash inflow.It is further argued, that the concept should be given a meaning that includes the possibility of (ex-post) revenue measurement. Consequently, an economic term, "expenditure-allocation", is chosen. In this denomination the profit center is the object of evaluation. This implies a management responsibility which comprises and extends over different business functions. The evaluation is also based upon a strategic argumentation.As a concept "expenditure-allocation'' emphasizes that costs, written off when they are incurred, have a strategic dimension. The word is an expression of how the expenditures in one period are allocated between and within different business functions. In the context of strategic argumentation and evaluation it is also an expression of how expenditures (ex-ante) are allocated to different periods.Finally, the concept of "expenditure-allocation" will be related to three theoretical contexts First, the concept is discussed with reference to Bower (1970) and his descriptive mode!. Second, the context is marginalism or the marginalist mode! of business behavior. Third the question is whether the elements of the "expenditure - allcoation" should be deferred or not.
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| 3. |
- Pehrsson, Anders, 1956-
(författare)
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Strategic planning and environmental judgements : the performance in SBU organized industrial groups
- 1985
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Formal Strategic Planning, FSP, has become an instrument to find long-term directions under profitability constraints in industrial companies. This instrument is used to decentralize decisions and more effectively adapt to unstable environments. FSP must, however, to some extent be adjusted to unique situations of single organizational units. Such adaptation implies that anti-planning biases could be avoided and that premises for efficient FSP become more favorable. Furthermore, if FSP is seen as a way to orient units towards unstable environments, then it is necessary to know how planning actors judge their environments in FSP. When this is clear to a satisfactory degree, it is easier to concentrate on crucial matters.This doctoral thesis presents a model of outline of main FSP activities, diagnoses and formulations, and planning styles in organizational units. If the applied motivational type is adapted to needs for FSP in the various phases of implementation, FSP can be utilized as an effective instrument to guide strategically A model is also presented for general managers uncertainty in judging the environment. In order to deal with uncertainty, time horizons for judgements ought to be adapted to the uncertainty in each sector of the environment. Relatively short horizons generally ought to be applied to the business climate sector and relatively long horizons to established competitors.The performance in industrial groups, which are organized according to Strategic Business Units, SBU's, is accentuated. In longitudinal in-depth studies of the Swedish international groups ASEA, Ericsson and Gunnebo, primarily qualitative data have been used to obtain a holistic perspective of FSP. A complementary cross-sectional study has been carried out in the ASEA Group. Multi-variate analysis has been applied to quantitative data.
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