Browsing Ph.D. theses (MPP/LPF) by Year Published
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Now showing items 21-36 of 36
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Abstract: The thesis is a thorough empirical study of discourses, fantasies, and patterns of interaction in highinvolvement knowledge work. My interest in the issue was sparked by a fascination with the intensity and contradictory nature of working life for many high-skilled workers. I was curious about the ambiguities and paradoxes existing within the same dynamic, and I was puzzled by the fact that such tension-ridden and precarious machinery could keep functioning despite its constant episodes of breakdown – be they emotional or organizational. My intention was to find a gaze and a language which could capture these ambiguities and tensions, rather than insisting on classical dualisms such as profit versus meaning, instrumentality versus authenticity, power versus freedom, and influence versus vulnerability...... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8061 Files in this item: 1
Susanne_Ekman.pdf (2.207Mb) -
Kampagnestyring i Velfærdsstaten: En diskussion af trafikkampagners styringspotentialeSpeiermann, Sabrina (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
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A study of the pathologies of performativityJohnsen, Rasmus (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Temaet for denne afhandling er en undersøgelse af tre historiske ’formationer’ organiseret omkring en ’ting’ i kroppen i melankoliens brede og farverige historie i et forsøg på at skabe baggrund for en filosofisk undersøgelse af sammenhængen mellem patologi, arbejde og performativitet i samtiden. I denne forstand er der tale om et stykke filosofisk grundforskning, der forsøger at etablere og åbne et felt for mødet mellem de klassiske, filosofiske discipliner, og temaer i organisationsteori og ledelsesfilosofi. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7929 Files in this item: 1
Rasmus_Johnsen.pdf (1.060Mb) -
Exemplified by the transformation of the Danish pine furniture manufacturersLutz, Salla (København, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Dette forskningsprojekt tager udgangspunkt i observationer omkring de danske producenter af fyrretræsmøbler. Siden slutningen af 90’erne har industrien været præget af priskonkurrence som ses dels indbyrdes mellem de danske producenter, dels fra aktører i lande med lavere omkostningsstrukturer. Derudover er slutbrugernes interesse for fyrretræsmøbler dalet betragteligt. I takt med den heraf følgende lavere efterspørgsel på fyrretræsmøbler er de danske producenter i stigende grad begyndt at købe færdigproducerede møbler fra lavprismarkeder som Kina og Østeuropa for at komplementere deres egen møbelproduktion. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7762 Files in this item: 1
Salla Lutz.pdf (1.214Mb) -
In search of micro-foundationsKnudsen, Line Gry (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to improve the understanding of how collaborative R&D capabilities come about and how they are jointly determined by individual and organizational level factors. I argue that despite the fact that a surge of interest in inter-organizational collaboration has been witnessed in research fields as diverse as strategic management, economics, sociology, and organization theory, we know very little about the micro-foundations of collaborative R&D capabilities. Processes going on internally in collaborating firms are treated like a ‘black box’ in many strands of research. How, we may ask, does openness towards external knowledge sources lead to enhanced R&D performance? What are the internal organizational mechanisms that facilitate the collaborative processes? How are specific collaborative capabilities developed to ensure collaborative success, and—most importantly—what is their composition in terms of organizational and individual level factors? In this thesis these and related questions are addressed by means of empirical as well as theoretical analyses. It is argued that studies of strategic alliances and R&D collaborations have suffered from being mainly conducted on large datasets and with little attention to individual level factors that may be key drivers of alliance success. The case-study methodology is emphasized as a useful complementary method as it entails the option of learning from the employees engaged in the formation and operation of collaborative arrangements. Three narrative studies are undertaken with the aim of identifying the micro-foundations of collaborative R&D capability in the firms. This is done to provide an explorative overview of the determinants rather than to evaluate the degree to which the capabilities have been implemented successfully leading to better performance. The objective is thus to challenge the existing theories in the field of strategic alliances and to qualify them by joining theoretical knowledge about firm level benefits of R&D alliances with theories on individual level work motivation, and behaviors in connection to R&D collaboration. The study is focused on knowledge intensive firms (as distinct from ‘supplier dominated firms’, ‘specialized equipment suppliers’ or ‘scale intensive firms’). It is stressed that even core knowledge used in the various R&D or innovation processes does not necessarily need to stem from sources internal to the firm, but is likely to originate externally. R&D collaboration has become an important means to foster opportunities to learn, and to access, transfer and utilize knowledge to create innovative solutions But very high failure rates are shown and between fifty and seventy percent of all alliances do not justify the expectations. This vindicates a better understanding of collaborative R&D capabilities. A study of the micro-foundations of these capabilities is both timely and warranted. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7925 Files in this item: 1
Line_Gry_Knudsen_1.pdf (1.469Mb) -
Om udvikling af medarbejdernes brandorienterede dømmekraftHermansen, Dorte (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: How can service companies get their employees to ‘live the brand’? This thesis answers this question through a dialogue between practice and theory. It investigates the potential of philosophical-dialogical methods to transform abstract brand values into action in corporate branding praxis at TDC and explores opportunities to apply the methods in context of service companies in general. It develops an understanding of corporate branding as an organisational and cultural project in which collective dialogue-processes serve as the main sensemaking process. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7813 Files in this item: 1
Dorte_Hermansen.pdf (2.588Mb) -
On the Vulnerability of Diversity ManagementMuhr, Sara Louise (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Denne afhandling handler om mangfoldighed og etik. Mere specifikt sætter den spørgsmålstegn ved mangfoldighedsledelsens etiske fundament. Mangfoldighed ønskes ledet med det udgangspunkt, at det er et etisk anliggende. Det er etisk korrekt at sørge for ligestilling, at tilgodese minoriteter og dermed at opbygge en arbejdsplads, der er social ansvarlig. Dette etiske ønske betvivler jeg ikke, men jeg sætter spørgsmålstegn ved det etiske grundsyn. Mangfoldighedsledelse beror på etiske retninger som utilitarisme, deontologi og dydsetik. Denne afhandling argumenterer derfor for et skift mod en nærhedsetik, der tager udgangspunkt i Levinas’ lære om respekten for den Andens uendelige andethed. Derved argumenterer denne afhandling, at når forskelligheder på denne måde tydeliggøres og kategoriseres, øges fokus på forskellighederne—oftest negativt—i stedet for at tilgodese dem for hvad de i virkeligheden er. Afhandlingen konkluderes ved at sætte fokus på skrøbelighed. Først på den skrøbelighed i mangfoldighedsledelseslitteraturen, som ’kalder’ på etisk afbrydelse, derved på skrøbeligheden i den Sydafrikanske situation, og til sidst på den skrøbelighed jeg som forfatter har overfor min egen tekst. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7736 Files in this item: 1
Sara_Louise_Muhr.pdf (1.458Mb) -
On the production of the stress-fit, self-managing employeePedersen, Michael (København, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Routine work‐process, lack of self‐management, and long work‐hours have traditionally been the main topics of discussion within the occupational stress literature, constituting the primary factors that make people breakdown and burn out. But within the last couple of years, this discussion has expanded its focus from issues concerning the disciplinary work‐space. Increasing attention is now being placed on the problems related to the burgeoning interest in employee empowerment and self‐management in contemporary work‐life. In short, how stress relates to self‐management. These working conditions, which put a great deal of emphasis on the subjectivity of the employee and the ability of the employee to self‐manage in a pursuit of an organization’s goals, are thus no longer regarded as something that decreases stress, but rather as something that evokes it. However, as this thesis argues, one can regard stress as more than a crisis we are faced with in our work‐life. It is also an element that co‐produces what it is to be a efficient employee‐subject within this work‐life. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s ontology of flows and machines, this sketches out how stress among self‐managing employees, and in particular the manner in which stress is reduced to a matter of individual coping, can be viewed as an organising process that separates, joins and codes the ontological fabric of our lives. In this regard, certain modes of existence centred on stress issues and the coping strategies of individuals are themselves produced as an individual responsibility for maximizing one’s own productivity as a self‐managing and committed employee. As I will argue, the production of this mode of existence of the employee‐subject revolves around the assumption of an employee subject that is able to tune its feelings, desires and thoughts in to a life of productivity without breaking‐down their body and soul. In fact, the potential break‐down of stress should act as an internal limit for personal productivity, as a way of rebooting to an ever more efficient self‐management. All in all, we can therefore talk of a production‐process revolving around the presumption of an always fitter, happier, more productive employee. The questions raised in the investigation of this particular form of production of subjectivity are: what notions of subjectivity as a productive resource are we presented with when not only self‐management but also the management of the stress this self‐management might entail becomes an underlying foundation for a flexible and efficient organization? What can an employee think, do and hope for under such circumstances? What are the dynamics that drive such a notion of subjectivity? And with what necessity does this notion set itself forth? All in all, the claim made in the thesis is that for this fitter, happier, and more productive employee, dealing with oneself and stress are primarily matters of individual responsibility and personal development. But by turning stress into matters of individual responsibility, happiness and productivity, one thereby misses some of the underlying ontological processes working within selfmanagement theories and practices. These processes are pre‐personal or preindividual in the sense that they outline ways we can be produced as individual subjects. These not only produce stress as a possibility for any particular individual to assume, they also convert stress‐issues amongst employees into matters of being unable to adequately contribute towards the organization, leading in turn towards an understanding of these issues as something best handled if employees can improve their own coping abilities. If they can better their own self. We can hence talk of a commitment machine that produces a zone of indiscernability between the subjectivity of the employee and the efficiency of the organization connecting up with a coping machine that frames problems within this zone as a matter of personal problems regarding one’s subjectivity. The coping machine serves to reinforce the production of the self‐managing employee by making the employees themselves each responsible for learning to take control of their own passion for working in the organization. The employee has to be passionate and committed, of course; but they now also have to distance themselves from this passion and commitment in order to perform well at their tasks. These passions are simultaneously considered both essential and problematic: the employee is both part of an ideal state and a pathological condition. The coping machine makes this pathological condition into a problem of personal commitment rather than making it a task for questioning how the production of the pre‐individual zone of indiscernability between the work and the employees’ subjectivity is itself set up by the commitment machine. In other words, the coping machine produces a mode of existence wherein stress results from an overemphasis, on the part of the employees, upon the commitment towards their work and from a failure to deploy the most appropriate selfmanagement technologies. The thesis can thus be said to be guided by three ambitions in its unfolding of this tune in, break‐down and reboot motion. First of all, to give an account of the inherent modes of existence produced within the contemporary organizational ideal of the committed self‐managing employee. This is done through a reading of various discussions about the management of employee subjectivity ranging from the self‐leadership literature focusing on self‐management as intrinsically motivating and enjoyable through to discussions of incitements to self‐manage and commit as a subtle ways to encroach and exploit the employee’s personal subjectivity to contemporary discussions of the new nature of capitalism and its focus on the active living forms of knowledge as the key to value‐production. The second ambition is to address a prevalent paradigm within the occupational stress and stress‐management literature, namely that of coping, as a reinforcement of this demand for a committed and self managing employee. This is done through a reading of some of the most influential scholars within stress and coping and best‐sellers on stress‐management. The third and final ambition is to describe this movement of reinforcement, or tune in, break‐down and reboot movement, through the Deleuzian notion of machines that in various dynamic ways produce and regulate ways of being or modes of existence. Consequently, it will be suggested that the nuts and bolts making up the relation between self‐management and stress is part of a mode of existence that sets up certain expectations about the problem of stress and the enterprise of dealing with stress as an individual productivity and enjoyment issue: being fitter, happier, and more productive rather than being regarded as part of the pre‐individual collective endeavor that constitutes us as these very subjects. Today in self‐management these machines of commitment and coping might produce us as a fitter, happier, and more productive subject. But this very machinic production that unleashes and confines our subjectivity as employees depends on an extremely unstable pre‐individual force. Tapping into this force always means that the foundation of these machines are themselves vulnerable and fragile, or as Deleuze might put it: we do not know yet what we are capable of as this fitter, happier, more productive employee, we do not know were the preindividual forces that animates the machines of commitment and coping might bring us, so we must tune in, breakdown, and reboot to find out. Besides a short introduction and a first chapter that highlight some of the most important notions in the thesis, such as self‐management, stress, subjectivity, modes of existence, pre‐individual forces and social machines, the thesis consists of three parts. The first part running from chapter two through five, is called Machines and Maps. Here I discuss the concept of machines as it is developed by Deleuze and Guattari. Of particular interest is their notion of a social machine. Also crucial is what a machinic approach in general implies when analyzing an object of research and how this approach is utilized to understand the production of subjectivity in contemporary work‐life. The second part Self‐management and the Commitment‐machine runs from chapter six to eleven. Here I outline two machinic indices of a self‐management, namely the ‘subjectivity’ and ‘commitment’ and the machinery that drives them; the commitment machine. In the third and last part Stress and the Coping‐machine, which runs from chapter twelve to fifteen, I shift my focus towards the two machinic indices of stress: ‘the somatic subject’ and ‘the coping processes’. I end up with a description of the coping machinery that drives these indices and how this machinery connects up with the commitment machine resulting in the production of the stress‐fit self‐managing employee. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7761 Files in this item: 1
Michael_Pedersen.pdf (1.515Mb) -
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Abstract: Offentlige forvaltninger verden over har været præget af voldsomme reformbølger de seneste 20-30 år, og den private sektor er i stigende grad blevet inddraget i den offentlige serviceproduktion. Privatiseringer og udliciteringer kendetegnede således forvaltningspolitikken i mange vestlige lande op gennem 1980erne og 1990erne. De mange reformtiltag er i forvaltningslitteraturen kendt under betegnelsen New Public Management. En af de senere udviklinger i den moderne forvaltningshistorie er fremkomsten af offentlig-private partnerskaber (OPP). OPP har i dag fået en lignende udbredelse som de tidligere privatiserings- og udliciteringstendenser. De fleste vestlige landeforvaltninger har således forsøgt sig med OPP, og i forvaltningslitteraturen har antallet af publiceringer om emnet været hastigvoksende de seneste cirka 10 år. Trods den store udbredelse, i såvel teori som praksis, skorter der imidlertid med klassifikationer, endsige definitioner af OPP begrebet. Denne afhandling har to centrale formål. Det ene er at afdække OPP begrebets mangetydige betydninger. Det gøres ved at kortlægge hvordan begrebet bliver anvendt i den internationale forvaltningslitteratur. Analysen viser at begrebets grænser er slørede, og at betegnelsen OPP bliver anvendt om en mangfoldighed af offentlig-private samarbejdsformer dækkende over uformaliserede netværksbaserede relationer såvel som stærkt formaliserede kontraktstrukturer. På baggrund af analysen inddeles forvaltningslitteraturen i en række strømninger. Dermed skabes et overblik over feltet som ikke eksisterede forud for analysen. Denne del af analysen munder endvidere ud i en ny måde at klassificere og definere forskellige typer OPP på. OPP er et relativt ungt forskningsfelt. En markant barriere for udviklingen af feltet har været manglen på anerkendte klassificeringer/definitioner. Begrebsdefinitioner er en forudsætning for teoriudvikling. Ved at afdække OPP begrebets mangetydige betydninger, og ved at udvikle nye måder at klassificere og definere OPP på bidrager denne analyse væsentligt til den fremtidige teoriudvikling om OPP. Afhandlingens andet formål er at afdække hvad der kendetegner samarbejdsrelationerne i idriftsatte OPP-projekter. Det er en udbredt opfattelse blandt praktikere såvel som forskere at OPP bebuder noget kvalitativt nyt relativt til de fordums tiders privatiseringer og udliciteringer. Der findes således en udbredt teoretisk diskurs om at OPP indebærer tætte og tillidsbaserede samarbejdsrelationer, dialog og fokus på processer frem for output. På trods af sådanne udbredte forventninger og antagelser om samarbejdsformens karakter, så er der forbavsende få systematiske empiriske studier af hvordan samarbejdsrelationerne ser ud i praksis. Ved empirisk at kortlægge samarbejdets karakter i fem britiske OPP-projekter udfylder afhandlingen derfor et vigtigt hul i den internationale forvaltningslitteratur. Analysen bidrager til litteraturen på to centrale måder. Den viser, for det første, at forventningerne om kvalitativt anderledes samarbejdsrelationer ikke bliver indfriet i flertallet af de analyserede cases. Det forventede skift fra hierarkiske, kontrolorienterede principal-agent relationer mod fladere, tillidsbaserede principalprincipal relationer ses ikke i praksis. For det andet ses der dog alligevel stor variation i den måde hvorpå samarbejdet udmønter sig i de forskellige cases. Den ene case udviser således mange af de førnævnte samarbejdskarakteristika som typisk bliver kædet sammen med OPP. Analyseresultatet peger på, at samarbejdsrelationernes kan udmøntes væsensforskelligt indenfor den samme type kontraktstrukturer. Dette peger videre på, at formelle strukturer kun giver en begrænset indsigt i samarbejdets karakter. For at få en dybere forståelse af OPP, er det derfor nødvendigt at gå bagom kontrakten og analysere hvordan samarbejdsformen udspiller sig i praksis. Der identificeres endvidere en sammenhæng mellem samarbejdspraksis og partnerskabsperformance. De cases som involverer de mest tillidsbaserede og tætte relationer ser samtidig ud til at være de cases, der præsterer bedst. Analyseresultaterne har implikationer for OPP litteraturen og ledelsesmæssige implikationer. For det første giver resultaterne anledning til at revidere den eksisterende teoretiske diskurs om OPP. Der er en tendens i litteraturen til at forbinde bestemte samarbejdsstrukturer med bestemte typer samarbejdsprocesser. Resultaterne her indikerer at disse to dimensioner ikke følger hinanden. Dernæst peger resultaterne på at ressourcer og ledelsesmæssig opmærksomhed med fordel kan rettes mod de løbende samarbejdsprocesser, da dette kan få betydning for samarbejdets udfald. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7734 Files in this item: 1
Gudrid_Weihe.pdf (4.007Mb) -
Value creation and ambiguity in client-consultant relationsSmith, Irene Skovgaard (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Et godt og effektivt samarbejde mellem kunde og konsulent fremhæves generelt som en afgørende betingelse for at få succes med brug af eksterne konsulenter. Dansk Industri har sammen med Dansk Management Råd (DMR) og Copenhagen Business School (CBS) etableret et udviklingsprojekt, der under overskriften 'Vækst i Vidensamfundet' har til formål at udvikle det afgørende samarbejde mellem kundevirksomheder og konsulentvirksomheder. Nærværende ErhvervsPh.d.-afhandling er en del af dette udviklingsprojekt og sætter fokus på, hvad der sker i kunde-konsulent samspillet i konteksten af konsulentopgaver, hvor det handler om at implementere forandring. På sådanne forandringsprojekter forventes konsulenterne at bidrage med viden, værktøjer og løsninger samtidig med, at de fungerer som forandringsagenter i kundeorganisationen og involverer og arbejder med ledere og medarbejdere på forskellige niveauer. Det gør kunde-konsulent samspillet til en kompleks størrelse, der ikke bare handler om den personlige relation og godt samarbejde mellem konsulent og opdragsgiver/projektsponsor. Når vi har at gøre med ydelser, hvor konsulenterne går i clinch med organisationen for at implementere forandring, må kunde-konsulent relationer ses i et bredere perspektiv end fokus på personlige relationer mellem enkeltindivider tillader. Kunden er en organisation; en kompleks social konstellation af mennesker med forskellige positioner og interesser. Det afgørende er, hvilken rolle konsulenterne får, når de bevæger sig ind i denne sociale sammenhæng, og hvilke muligheder og begrænsninger det indebærer for at være med til at skabe forandring som ekstern part i processen. Afhandlingen stiller skarpt på disse sociale aspekter af samspillet mellem konsulenter og interne aktører i konteksten af kundeorganisation. Forskningen, der ligger til grund for afhandlingen, er udført som antropologisk feltarbejde på to forandringsprojekter; den ene i en industrivirksomhed og det andet på et hospital. Dette indebar både observation af konkrete situationer, hvor konsulenter og interne aktører arbejdede sammen, og efterfølgende interviews med både konsulenter og de relevante ledere og medarbejdere om deres oplevelse af samspillet. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7127 Files in this item: 1
irene_skovgaard_smith.pdf (1.890Mb) -
en analyse af diskussionen omkring indførelse af EPJ på en hospitalsafdelingSchnack, Morten (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to analyse how the implementation of electronic patient records (EPR) may affect cross-disciplinary clinical practice in a particular hospital department. The thesis presents a modified discourse analysis, a technology analysis, and some reflections on power. Using nineteen interviews of doctors and nurses in the Paediatric Department of Hvidovre Hospital, it emphasizes those actions in relation to the implementation of EPR that may either hinder or foster cross-disciplinary co-operation between doctors and nurses. The general pattern is that EPR fosters mono-disciplinarity, even though the management’s ambitions in regard to EPR had been to foster crossdisciplinarity. The overall conclusion of the thesis is that EPR has the capacity to open a space for cross-disciplinarity. The changes in the documentation practices of the doctors and the nurses that follow from the implementation of EPR have also brought changes in their communication and decision-making processes. This can be seen especially when they prepare for regular rounds, during rounds, and in the subsequent documentation of rounds. Also, the changes in both the structures of communication and the processes of decision-making do not seem to result in fundamental task slippage between the doctors and the nurses because the doctor maintains ultimate authority and responsibility in regard to diagnosis, prescriptions, and treatment plans, while the nurses remain responsible for patient care (nursing) and keeping the doctors informed. Like the paper-based patient record, EPR expresses the rationality of medical science but, unlike the paper-based patient record, the doctors no longer hold a monopoly on the expression of this rationality. The thesis focuses on the spaces of conduct that arise as a result of the managing doctor’s political intention to use the transformation of patient record technology as an occasion for managers and professionals to reconsider how they have hitherto organized the routines and tasks in the department. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7129 Files in this item: 1
morten_schnack.pdf (5.242Mb) -
Candi, Marina (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The goals of this thesis are to examine new technology-based firms’ use of aesthetic design as an element of service innovation and to explore potential relationships between aesthetic design and performance in this same context. There is a scarcity of research on aesthetic design as an element of service innovation, particularly in new technology-based firms. Because of this scarcity, a hybrid research strategy is appropriate and the empirical basis for this research encompasses multiple case studies, longitudinal quantitative data and evaluations by expert panels. The first phase of the research involves developing an operationalization of design that enables evaluation of aesthetic design as an element of innovation in technology-based firms. The second phase uses case research to explore the role and organization of aesthetic design in service innovation in new technology-based firms. The final phase explores relationships between aesthetic design and performance in the research context. Hypotheses are developed based on existing research, on one hand, and the results of the case research, on the other, and these hypotheses are tested using longitudinal survey-based data. The operationalization of design developed is a three-dimensional model consisting of functional design, visceral design and experiential design. Functional design is concerned with utility, features and delivery; visceral design is concerned with appealing to the human senses; and experiential design is concerned with message, symbols, culture, meaning, and emotional and sociological aspects. Visceral design and experiential design are combined to yield a formative measure of aesthetic design. The findings of the research are that new technology-based firms emphasize functional design over aesthetic design. Emphasis on aesthetic design is related positively with the importance of design in a firms’ sector and founders’ experience of sales and marketing, while it is negatively related with founders’ technical education. In new technology-based firms, aesthetic design can be characterized as being used to exploit or counteract the characteristics that distinguish services from products, namely intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability. The application of aesthetic design to counteract these characteristics is more prevalent than exploitation. Aesthetic design in new technology-based firms is found to be primarily silent, meaning that those performing design activities are mostly managers and technical staff engaged in design activities as part of their development efforts and without these activities necessarily being acknowledged as design. The findings regarding the relationship between aesthetic design and performance are that aesthetic design is positively related with competitive advantage, but that this relationship is dependent upon moderating factors. The effectiveness of aesthetic design in achieving competitive advantage through differentiation is found to differ depending on the current stage of commoditization. The greater the level of commoditization of a service the more effectively aesthetic design can be employed to improve competitive advantage. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the objectives underlying managers’ decisions to use aesthetic design in service innovation are attracting new customers, improving firm image and/or retaining existing customers, and doing so at lower cost. Hypothesis testing using longitudinal survey-based data confirms that by and large these benefits are realized by new technology-based firms. This research makes a number of important contributions. The research focus lies in an area where there is little existing research and, thus, the operationalization of aesthetic design developed and the characterization of aesthetic design as an element of service innovation in new technology-based firms constitute important contributions. The characterization provides a picture of the prevalence, roles, organization and actors of aesthetic design in the research context. The research also contributes insight about the relationship between aesthetic design as an element of service innovation and performance of new technologybased firms. The research shows that various positive relationships exist but that they can be contingent upon existing conditions, which act as moderating factors. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7132 Files in this item: 1
marina_candi.pdf (4.416Mb) -
Hanh, Pham Thi Song (Frederiksberg, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Departing from my interest in finding key factors determining a developing country firms’ export success, this research explores two fascinating topics: one is the debate on whether a developing country’s producers should become involved in marketing functions where a developed country’s firms already hold a strong position, and the other is the very limited attention given in the export literature to the role of relational capability in a firm’s export business.... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7742 Files in this item: 1
pham_thi_song_hanh.pdf (1.155Mb) -
Vintergaard, Christian (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Dette værk er indgivet til Ph.D. bedømmelse under Forskerskolen i Viden og Ledelse ved Institut for Ledelse, Politik og Filosofi ved Copenhagen Business School som en del af opfyldelse af kravene for at opnå graden Ph.D. Målet med denne afhandling er, at fremsætte en kombination af nye teoretisk perspektiver og ledelsesmetoder, som tilsammen vil give et bedre indblik i de tidlige stadier af corporate venturing. Dette vil inkludere nye perspektiver på corporate venturing, eftersom afhandlingen videreudvikler akademiske og praktiske værktøjer for beslutningsprocesser. Afhandling bidrager med to overordnede tilføjelser til den nuværende litteratur om corporate venture. For det første, sætter den fokus på de vigtige, men oversete, tidlige faser ved venture processen. Dette indebærer de forhold, nødvendige for udvikling af nye innovative venture muligheder (venture basen), opdagelse af investeringsmuligheder og endelig forberedelse til evaluering af investeringsmuligheder. Venture basen er de karakteristika og forhold der for et firma og dets miljø kan udgøre ressourcer til opstart af nye ventures. Grundet ventures innovative natur bliver det, at opdage entreprenelle muligheder en hovedudfordring der involverer en diversificeret gruppe af aktører. Den tidlige fase inkluderer også specifikke vidensskabende handlinger der skal udføres for at kunne evaluere de mange investeringsmuligheder. For det andet bibringer afhandlingen nye perspektiver til hvorledes aktiviteterne i de tidlige faser er forbundet i værdikæden. I modsætning til tidligere litteratur, hvor venture processer præsenteres som lineære og forudsigelige, demonstrerer dette værk, at en mere dynamisk tilgang er tiltrængt, en tilgang der er særlig fokuseret på hvordan vidensprocesser og læringsfremmende aktiviteter driver venture processen, lige fra udviklingen af nye ideer til deres betydning evalueres. Disse bidrag trækker på teoretiske perspektiver fra den nuværende corporate venture litteratur (såsom Block and MacMillan, 1993; Burgelman, 1984, 1996; Chesbrough, 2000; Zahra, 1991) og komplementerende litteratur der tilvejebringer et netværk og videns perspektiv (såsom Gibbons et al. 1994; Kline and Rosenberg, 1986; Powell et al., 1996). Disse perspektiver er særligt gennemslagskraftige i deres argumentation om innovations processer og evolutionær udvikling. De bringer også ny indsigt om den type læringsproces som corporate ventures er en del af når de udvikler og evaluerer nye venture muligheder. I modsætning til en traditionel monografisk Ph.D. afhandling, så præsenterer denne afhandling sine resultater i fem (5) uafhængige men forbundne undersøgelser, udgivet i internationale peerreviewed tidsskrifter og bog kapitler. Udover disse studier så indeholder afhandlingen også en teoretisk introduktion og metode, en litteratur gennemgang og en konklusion. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7133 Files in this item: 1
christian_vintergaard.pdf (4.638Mb) -
Janning, Finn (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: There is a story about two companies, and how the one was supported and dominated by the other. Even today, more than 13 years after their separation, the support and domination of one company over the other seems to continue. In 2001 NNE (Novo Nordisk Engineering A/S), celebrated its tenth anniversary as an independent affiliate within the Novo Group. The anniversary was celebrated with a huge party at the Øksnehallen Exhibition Centre located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here NNE launched its new Corporate Visual Identity (CVI). The CVI was created in order for NNE to show the world that it strived to become the market leader in the growing fields of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Equally important, NNE wanted to detach itself from its supporter and dominator, the company Novo Nordisk A/S. To begin with, NNE changed its name from Novo Nordisk Engineering A/S to NNE; secondly it created a new logo; and last, as a brand promise, it stated: Unique Know How. In fact, NNE changed all of its visual identity (i.e. CVI) in a manner like that of pirates who want to change identity by raising another flag on the mast before anchoring at a harbor. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7128 Files in this item: 1
finn_janning.pdf (1.848Mb) -
Articulations of Social and Natural Order in Mass Mediated Representations of BiotechnologyHorst, Maja (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Afhandlingen undersøger massemedierede kontroverser om bioteknologi som politiske uenigheder ved at analysere argumenters konstruktion af problemer og løsninger. Det hævdes at ethvert argument i kontroverserne altid implicit artiku-lerer en eller anden bestemt forestilling om den sociale (og naturlige) orden og om, hvordan denne orden opretholdes eller kritiseres. En sådan forestilling er afgørende for at argumentet kan fungere som argument, dvs. som en menings-fuld sammenkædning af et problem og en mulig problemløsning. Kontroverser-ne om bioteknologi handler derfor ikke kun om teknologi og forskning, men er grundlæggende uenigheder om, hvilken rolle forskningen skal spille i samfun-det, og om social organisering i al almindelighed. En analyse af mønstre i disse argumenter kan derfor belyse de diskursive mulighedsbetingelser for regulering af bioteknologi i Danmark. Afhandlingens teoretiske grundlag er en relationel ontologi formuleret på bag-grund af den franske filosof og videnssociolog Bruno Latour, der giver anled-ning til at formulere en forståelse af offentlig meningsdannelse som en konstant produktion af italesættelse i netværk. For at kunne analysere denne strøm af ita-lesættelse inddrager afhandlingen den britisk-amerikanske antropolog Mary Douglas’ kulturteori som et analysestrategisk redskab. Det empiriske materiale udgøres af dagbladsartikler fra Politiken, Jyllandsposten, Information og Ekstra Bladet. På baggrund af en række søgeord er der udvalgt 1575 artikler i perioden 1. august 1997 – 31. december 2001, der omhandler sundhedsrelateret biotekno-logi. En foreløbig indholdsanalyse af disse artikler er dokumenteret i et bilag til afhandlingen. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7130 Files in this item: 1
maja_ horst.pdf (2.424Mb)
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