Ph.D. theses
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Beukel, Karin (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Empirical studies show that only a small number of all innovations created are valuable innovations. In spite of this, most innovation research focuses on identifying the determinants of innovation, rather than determining the factors influential in generating valuable innovations. The current knowledge therefore can guide organizations to increase innovation output, but not to increase the value of the innovation output. The purpose of this PhD research is to contribute to our understanding of the determinants of valuable innovations by investigating how different intraorganizational factors and uncertainty influence organizations’ abilities to generate valuable innovations. This thesis is comprised of four papers, a general introduction and a conclusion. The papers rely on both qualitative and quantitative research methods. One builds on interview data gathered at a Danish university and a firm, one relies on data from the Scandinavian biotech industry, and two papers rely on data from the global hydrocracking industry. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8828 Files in this item: 1
Karin_Beukel.pdf (3.146Mb) -
A cross-cultural study of the relation between users´ cognitive style, context of use, and information architecture of local websitesNawaz, Ather (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
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Abstract: Der findes en lang række bud på, hvordan man kan tænke om og arbejde med strategi. På trods af den tilsyneladende rivende udvikling indenfor det strategiske forskningsfelt gennem de seneste godt 50 år står virksomheder dog overfor en enorm udfordring, idet en overvejende del af strategiske initiativer fejler. Den manglende evne til at eksekvere strategier har den konsekvens, at det begrænser en virksomheds vækst og dens tilpasningsevne og konkurrenceevne, hvorved både virksomheder og samfundet som helhed går glip af en enorm værdiskabelse. Manglende eksekvering betegnes derfor af nogle som den største barriere for succes og vigtigste årsag til skuffede forventninger. På trods af ovennævnte har den hidtidige forskning indenfor strategi primært koncentreret sig om udviklingen af strategier fremfor eksekveringen af dem. Populært sagt har eksekveringen af strategierne i forskningen primært kun fået ’plads på bagsædet’, hvor den bagvedliggende tankegang har været, at eksekvering mest af alt bare har skullet fikses efter formuleringen af strategien. Dermed har metoder og problemer i relation til strategieksekvering fået langt mindre opmærksomhed end dem, som anvendes indenfor strategiudvikling. Med henblik på at opnå en større forståelse for ’strategieksekvering i praksis’ har afhandlingen besvaret, hvorfor danske virksomheder ikke lykkes med at eksekvere deres strategier. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8826 Files in this item: 1
Mark_Holst-Mikkelsen.pdf (1.910Mb) -
The Implications for Whole Farm Risk ManagementFriis Pedersen, Michael (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis analyzes the institutional framework around risk management in Danish agriculture, with the two main sectors, the hog and the dairy sector in mind, and it suggests a new more active role for the cooperatives in these sectors, with regard to the reallocation of price risk among members. The thesis consists of a general introduction, three linked but independent and self-contained papers and a conclusion. The first paper introduces a measure of credit capacity using Data Envelopment Analysis. This is a novel application of a well-known methodology from production economics on financial issues. The paper was motivated by the fact that most literature on risk management explains the rationale for risk management activities such as hedging, with increased ability to obtain finance via debt. However, no hedging had been performed on the output side for Danish pig or dairy farms, while access to debt capital seemed abundant. It seemed that farmers may have been thinking “Why hedge, if you can borrow?” The perception of the abundant availability of liquidity in the form of credit reserves may have been an explanation for the absence of other risk management activities in the sectors and why a measure and empirical analysis of the development in credit capacity was needed. However, existing measures of access to credit had focused on the dichotomous question of whether firms are financially constrained or not, while the relative unconstrainedness of firms (farms) would have explained the absence of risk management. An analysis of some 92,000 farm accounts from 1996 to 2009 found that access to credit roughly doubled during the period. This may have been an important explaining factor for the (absent) development of risk management institutions. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8817 Files in this item: 1
Michael Friis Pedersen.pdf (1.612Mb) -
Strategies for dealing with organizational paradoxesMaalouf, Malek (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Within a dynamic and changing world business order, the management of tensions and paradoxes affect the long term adaptability of the organization. The extant literature recommends that, by adopting the paradoxical perspective through the alternation of two opposing strategies for dealing with paradoxes – acceptance and resolution - companies are more likely to achieve transformation and change. As for lean sustainability, it is argued that the adoption of the paradoxical perspective can facilitate the interactions between lean and the physical, social and psychological structures of the company, which creates the necessary energy for change within the social system that facilitates second order learning and the shift in the mental models of the individuals involved in the lean initiative. Through the identification of the paradoxes emerging during lean implementation in three case companies and mapping the strategies used for dealing with these paradoxes, this thesis contributes to lean sustainability - theory and practice - in two ways. First, this study claims that, by adopting the paradoxical perspective, companies are more likely to succeed in sustaining lean. The main argument is that, in addition to the resolution of the paradoxes which is the main focus of the rational approach, the paradoxical perspective takes into consideration the acceptance of the paradoxical tensions which entails that paradox is also seen as an opportunity for learning and for the generation of creative insights. Second, this study concludes that the process of alternation between the acceptance and resolution of lean paradoxes is more likely to be effective if it is intermediated by the reframing of the link between the two opposing poles of the paradox. Thus, reframing becomes an indicator for shifting between acceptance and resolution strategies. It is implicit in this argument that if managers move from acceptance strategy to a resolution strategy without achieving the reframing of the relation between the two opposing poles of the paradox, then attempts for sustaining lean will be restricted. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8816 Files in this item: 1
Malek_Maalouf.pdf (2.247Mb)
