The choice of pricing model for software products is a complex procedure due to the different characteristics compared to physical products.

This thesis investigates and compares software pricing models in a B2B setting, and describes how KAM plays a role in executing a pricing model. The research has been conducted as an opportunist case study on Adebro, a technology company in the B2B sector. The thesis have come to the following conclusions, with data from interviews and literature:

• Perpetual license is, and will continue to be, an attractive pricing model for Adebro. However, a subscription-based usage independent pricing model is also attractive for the future.
• Implications of switching pricing model would be largest when changing between a perpetual and subscription model, where revenue will have the most visual impact.
• The most important task for KAM is to communicate the change to current and new customers. KAM and the pricing model must also be structured to support each other to be successful.

The thesis contributes to science by providing research on pricing models for manufacturing related software. However, studies concerning the weighting of importance for different pricing parameters would be of interest for the future.

This paper describes the way start-ups use Project Management, what their needs in this field are, and what tools they use to support it. In the first part of this paper, a comprehensive literature review is performed, divided into three main parts. First, Project Management in general is studied; second its benefits to SMEs are pinpointed; and finally its application to startups are reviewed. The second part of this paper is based on three case studies of start-ups in the Stockholm-region. Five representatives of these start-ups were interviewed, and the results of these face-to-face conversations are first exposed and then discussed by the author.

In the end, this paper shows the traditional phase-based approach to Project Management does not suit start-ups. Instead, a more agile and iterative method is put forward, such as SCRUM. It is argued that such strategy should be kept by start-ups when growing and tapping other markets outside Sweden, although it is recognized that Project Management should become more formal than the general “on the go” approach witnessed in the three start-ups.

In acquisition of high-tech and knowledge intensive firms, scholars have paid special attention to top managers’ status after the deal. Literature suggests that these managers in particular CEOs if kept in post-acquisition provide coordination capacity for the acquirer to transfer the knowledge and technology from the target to the acquirer while minimizing the disruptive effect of post-acquisition integration process. In addition, the acquirer benefits from human capital embedded in target’s managerial resources; especially in high-tech and knowledge intensive firms where top managers are founders or patent holders. Although the above mentioned argument have been validated by empirical studies showing that top manager’s turnover reduces the post-acquisition performance for the acquirers, multiple empirical studies have reported abnormal managerial turnover shortly after the acquisition. This thesis made an attempt to explain this puzzling phenomenon by investigating on the determinants of the top manager’s turnover of the target in the post-acquisition period. The study finds that in case of CEOs, acquirers do not rely always on coordinating capacity provided by them in post-acquisition. Indeed, the acquirer’s choice of provision of coordination is beyond the target’s CEO retention. The choice of coordination depends on the existing level of coordination capacities and the acquisition’s motivation. In addition, founder-CEOs are more likely to stay after the acquisition because of their valuable firm-specific human capital for the acquirer. However, this value diminishes by the maturity of the target. In addition, similarity in demographic characteristics of the two CEOs (of the acquirer and target) causes social attraction, collaboration and cooperation which ultimately increases the chance that the target’s CEO retention. Finally, diversity within the target’s top management team (TMT) directly increases their chance of departure after the deal. The diversity engenders social frictions, conflicts and coordination inefficiencies.

This paper investigates on behavioral aspects of managerial turnover in post-acquisition period. In particular, the paper aims to determine to what extent demographic similarity between CEOs improves their (intergroup) relations which ultimately causes target’s CEO retention in post-acquisition. The paper found that similarity in demographic characteristics of CEOs increases the probability of announcing the retention of target’s CEO after the deal is closed. Additionally, similarity increases the probability of misjudgment in determining target’s CEO status in post-acquisition period. Finally, the paper found that experience as the acquirer’s capability reduces the effect of similarity. This results is based on acquisition of small high-tech firms between 2001 and 2005.

The present paper reviews the literature on the role of top management teams (TMT) in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Given variety of theoretical lenses applied in this field - such as agency theory or upper echelon – and the plethora of on-going empirical studies in the last three decades, we believe this literature review has a crucial value for the existing strand of studies and future studies to come. In particular, it systematizes the extant knowledge by documenting the contradictory results of prior empirical studies, making argument on the sources of these contradictions, and pointing out future directions of research.

This study investigates on firm specific human capital of target CEOs in small high-tech firms as the antecedent of their retention after the acquisition. The main finding of the paper is that acquirers are willing to keep the founder-CEOs because of their valuable embedded human capital. This value is to the extent that founder-CEOs compare to professional CEOs have a higher chance of retention when relatedness between acquirer and target is high or when the acquirer structurally integrates the target after the acquisition; the two conditions that general managerial skills and industry specific skills of the CEOs are not of interest for the acquirers. Also the value of firm specific human capital depends on the maturity of the target. The value diminishes as the target is more mature at the time of acquisition. This research is based on empirical analysis of acquisition of small high-tech firms between 2001 and 2005.

In post-acquisition, the main challenge for the acquirer is choosing the right coordination mechanism with respect to the required level of coordination and associated costs of implementation of the mechanism. In acquisition of small high-tech firms, the challenge is exacerbated as technology and knowledge transfer requires high level of coordination while the costs related such as loss of autonomy and organizational disruptions are also higher. In this paper, we showed that acquirer’s choice of coordination mechanisms is determined by the cost-benefit trade-off. In particular, we found that, component technology as a form of task interdependency necessitates higher level of coordination and justifies choosing mechanisms to provide high level of coordination at higher cost. On the contrary, technological relatedness and prior alliance between acquirer and target provide coordination capacity, which in turn reduce the benefits of choosing mechanisms to provide high level of coordination with respect to the associated costs. This study is based on empirical analysis of 403 acquisitions of small high-tech firms between 2001 and 2005. 

This paper proposes a complementary explanation behind the turnover of target’s top managers in post-acquisition periods. Although human capital and acquisition implementation literature describe managerial retention as desirable, empirical studies have reported significant managerial turnover in acquisition of high-tech and knowledge intensive firms. Borrowing some insights from the team diversity literature, the paper examines the ex-ante diversity among top managers of knowledge-intensive and high-tech firms as an antecedent of their turnover in post-acquisition. We argue that diversity reduces the coordination efficiency necessary to transfer knowledge and facilitate post-acquisition organizational integration, and managers belonging to such teams are more likely to be replaced. Empirical analysis drawing on 2164 top managers in 297 Swedish firms shows that managerial position diversity as a separation, pay disparity and industrial tenure diversity as a variety indeed are associated with managerial exit in three years after the acquisition.

The development of public housing companies in Sweden is strongly influenced by legal, economic, and demographic changes. The companies long tradition of taking responsibility for customer welfare in living have recently been criticized for excessive dominance over price setting, which is claimed to give them competitive advantages in the housing market. New legislation in 2011 requires financial return on investment, implying increased competition with radical changes for the companies. Because of the law, they find themselves transitioning from the role of being responsible for living conditions in Sweden to having to work in a businesslike manner with increased competition.The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze how the public housing companies’ deal with market orientation constructs and what their impact is on construction strategy choices. Theoretically, the market orientation concept is seen as a tool for companies to create superior value for the customers and influence strategic performance, which is a relationship tested and analyzed in this dissertation.The research was conducted through data collection stages using qualitative and quantitative methods. In the first stage, a qualitative pilot study was conducted with interviews of 15 managers in 11 public housing companies in central Sweden. In the second stage, two quantitative comparative studies of public and private housing companies in declining markets in central Sweden were conducted, collecting data from 23 (22 survey respondents) public and 37 private housing companies (16 respondents). In the third and final stage, two quantitative studies were conducted, collecting data from all 289 public housing companies (165 respondents) in Sweden.Results of the five studies show, firstly, that economic condition in the municipality have a major impact on the housing companies’ construction strategies, causing them to act innovatively in order to create superior customer value. Secondly, market orientation efforts contribute to competitive advantages in growing markets, while weak economic conditions limit the companies’ construction strategy choices in declining markets. After analyzing the link between market orientation constructs and construction strategy in declining markets, results showed that the public housing companies demonstrate higher responsiveness to customer demands compared to the private sector, but these have no effects on construction strategy. Thirdly, the analysis of moderating (external) and mediating (corporate social responsibility) effects on the market orientation and construction strategy relationship confirms that economic conditions in society influence construction strategy planning and decisions. The results of the mediating effects of CSR indicate that environmental and social issues have a positive influence on the market orientation and construction strategy relationship.

The purpose of this study is first to examine and compare sustainable strategies within public and private housing companies in declining markets in central Sweden. Then, the study evaluates the impact of new legislation that requires public housing companies to act in a ‘businesslike’ way, in the same way as a long-term private company. A quantitative study was conducted based on a survey sent to 72 housing companies. The results show that public housing companies are more strategy oriented than private housing companies. The results can be viewed as an on-going interaction process, where a company’s strategies affect its profit. The study aims toincrease the understanding of activities within housing companies in adeclining market that engage the companies in sustainable strategies to improve their market knowledge and profit.

Allmänhetens intresse över hållbarhetsfrågor ökar samtidigt som tilliten för företag minskar. Företagsledare ser numera hållbarhet som en viktig komponent i att bibehålla deras konkurrenskraft och att återfå allmänhetens tillit. Det är således viktigt att finna nya sätt att förena samhällsnytta med företagande, vilket kräver nya sorters kompetens inom hållbarhetsområdet. Denna studie har undersökt vilka hållbarhetsämnen som är centrala för industriell ekonomistudenten, givet deras profil i näringslivet, samt vad av detta som berörs i programmen.

Studien var indelad i två faser. Den första ämnade till att skapa en lista av de, för dessa ingenjörer, centrala ämnen genom intervjuer med experter inom området. Den andra fasen kartlagde de ämnen som berördes inom de fem största industriell ekonomiprogrammen (täckandes cirka 74% av studenterna) samt vilka utmaningar som associerades till detta arbete. Den första fasen var till stora delar kvalitativ. Den efterföljande fasen var en kvantitativ kartläggning där varje datapunkt representerade en kvalitativ intervju.

Ur studien uppkom fem nyckelinsikter, som står sig oavsett normativ ståndpunkt. Dessa inkluderade: 1) De hållbarhetsämnen som ansågs relevanta för denna målgrupp spänner en vid area av discipliner och aspekter. 2) Fördelningen på ämnen som täcks inom programmen påvisar en preferens mot den miljömässiga aspekten. 3) Det finns en brist på integrerande instanser i utbildningarna, där kunskap från olika aspekter och källor sammankopplas. 4) Nyckelutmaningarna centreras runt definiering och kommunikation. 5) Normativitet, sammankoppling och pedagogik bidrar alla till osäkerhet och komplexitet i bedömning av hållbarhetsutbildningar.

Studien avslutas med en syntes av de olika insikterna för att komma till slutsatsen att hållbart företagande som övergripande syfte för utbildningarna, en gemensam målbild för innehållet samt komplettering med ”active learning” metodiker skulle övervinna många av de uppfattade utmaningarna samtidigt som det skulle uppfylla näringslivets kompetensbehov för framtida konkurrenskraft.

Denna studie bidrar till förståelsen över vilken hållbarhetsutbildning som bedrivs och vilken som anses behövd av industriell ekonomistudenter i Sverige. Studien har därmed praktiska implikationer för de program som studerades. Teoretiska bidrag inkluderas av den empiriska data som framtagits gällande relevanta hållbarhetsämnen vilka uppvisar hög konvergens med litteraturen inom ämnen, samt de upplevda utmaningar kring att inkludera detta ämne i befintliga program. Vidare bidrar studien med empirisk data kring det som faktiskt berörs idag på de olika industriell ekonomiprogrammen. 

Few different goods or beverages are as particular as wine in History of humanity, even being the main symbol of luxury and status from days of Rome. Its particular intoxicating effects together its complex and long-term elaboration makes wine one of the biggest attractions for food and beverages lovers.Unfortunately, being one of the most famous beverages in History does not provide wine to be a competitive good without proper commercial strategies. Due the big local offer and costs reduction, markets are saturated and the competitiveness versus other wines and other kind of drinks make more difficult to survive in a diverse and constantly evolving sector. Therefore, internationalization and marketing strategies become the key of success for small and medium size wineries to survive in this business ecosystem.The following thesis explores different marketing strategies developed on different wine markets, taking a small Spanish winery as a case study. In order to give an insight of the current strategies carried out by the company, the author interviews the main direction of the winery and analyse the data collected versus the theoretical framework developed. In addition, two other interviews on different levels of the wine market will be added to reinforce the empirical framework: from a wine import company and form a public institution for the promotion of the Spanish companies.

Kostnaderna för informationsteknologi (IT) i stora multinationella företag utgör ofta en betydande del av företagets totala årliga omsättning. Samtidigt som IT-organisationer förväntas leverera värde till företaget, utsätts de även för kostnadsnedskärningar. Därför är det inte ovanligt att IT-ledningen väljer att fokusera på kostnadsbesparingar, snarare än kostnadskontroll, för att nå bolagets finansiella mål. Det är inte alltid enkelt att förstå vad som driver kostnader i en IT-organisation, vilket försvårar besluten om vilka nyckeltal som IT-ledningen bör styra efter. Denna studie tar upp frågan om kostnadskontroll och prestationsmätning i IT-organisationer i form av en fallstudie, som genomförts på IT-avdelningen på ett stort svenskt multinationellt bolag i telekommunikationsbranschen. Organisationen kan delas in i Enterprise och Engineering, där Enterprise tillhandahåller IT i form av skrivare, persondatorer, applikationer, IT support och kommunikationstjänster genom nätinfrastruktur och taltjänster. Engineering tillhandahåller infrastruktur för mjukvaruutveckling och en miljö för testning av produkter för forsknings- och utvecklingsenheter. Testmiljön består av både mjukvarutestning i form av simuleringar samt tester av hårdvara i fysiska laboratorier. Med utgångspunkt i intervjuer med chefer och andra nyckelpersoner ansvariga för stora budgetposter, identifierades 130 kostnadsdrivare inom IT-avdelningen. Efter reduktion av återkommande kostnadsdrivare och sammanslagning av liknande drivare, filtrerades kostnadsdrivarna med aveseende på kvantifierbarhet. Kostnadsdrivare som var kvantifierbara översattes sedan till nyckeltal med hjälp av SMART-modellen. I efterföljande steg  poängsattes nyckeltalen med avseende på kostnadseffekt och möjligheten för implementering. Detta resulterade i en rekommendation av 49 nyckeltal för effektiv kostnadskontroll i hela organisationen. Ett urval av rekommenderade nyckeltal är totala lönekostnaden / antal anställda, antal virtualiserade servrar / totala antalet servrar samt mängden videorelaterad datatrafik / totala bandbreddskapaciteten. Ambitionen med denna studie är att på ett ett holistiskt sätt kontrollera kostnadsdrivare, genom prioritering av nyckeltal. Även om denna fallstudie specifikt riktar sig mot IT-avdelningar, anser författarna att tillvägagångssättet även kan tillämpas på andra avdelningar och branscher.

It is fact that one of the main reasons why a country is considered developed or developing lies on its industry development level. A nation without a well-developed industry does not create jobs enough, thus wealth to keep its population on high standards. It is critical to a nation have its national enterprises boosting employment and developing internal technologies, which is the driving force behind innovation. Thus, small companies pose a tremendous opportunity to allow expansion and development; however one of the main constraints avoiding it is due to the difficulty in providing financial funds to entrepreneurial ventures, which is the main track of this study. This thesis was based in two “newly industrialized countries” (Bozyk) (Brazil and Thailand) by analysing entrepreneurs in terms of how they have got seed funds to start their business, what they think about other options of start-up financing and if they would open a new company, would they choose a different source of funding? Moreover, a comparison between the two countries is assessed showing commonalities and differences between them, demonstrating the most viable seed funding options in the entrepreneur’s perspectiveas the completion of this study.

Motivated by the environment of their country, Colombia, the co-authors present in this paper a research and analysis about the Manufacturing Industry (MI) and its relation to the growth of the economy in the different sectors of their country.

Industrial innovation is key to competitiveness and development of economies; therefore, Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) is seen by the co-authors as an answer for the Manufacturing Industry in order to keep on bringing value to the society and its related sectors.

To have an approach to this CE analysis, theoretical framework used in the research is based in the Four Models of CE presented by Wolcott and Lippitz (Wolcott, 2010). Within the paper, it will be introduced the Opportunist, Enable, Advocate and Producer Model as conceived by them.

No surprises were found when looking to the actual state of the companies in the MI, those with more budgets are the ones that invest more in innovation and the small ones are more conservatives in the topic.

As part of the response to the research question, the co-authors established the path for the different company types in order for them to have an easy way to build CE.

The purpose of this study is to find out how the cultural dimensions effects on management style. In more detailed way this research would like to reveal the differences between the Chinese and Swedish management style based on the Swedish employee viewpoint. Hofstede work-related cultural dimensions and Denison model of organizational culture to high-tech multicultural company has been applied. It is concluded that obvious differences exist between Chinese and Swedish management style and culture has influence on management style. However, since the results are limited in the scope of study cannot be generalized but worth to investigate and validate in future research.

To create an understanding of enterprises and the ways they do business, a starting point could be to identify the main actors and the values transferred between them. Business models are created in order to make clear who the business actors are in a business case and to make their relations explicit. The relations are formulated in terms of values exchanged between the actors. The purpose of the work reported in this paper is to create a better understanding of business models by identifying basic notions used in such models. It does so by constructing a common ontology based on three established business model ontologies: e3-value, REA, and BMO. By means of a careful analysis of these ontologies a conceptual schema is created that defines the common concepts. An example is worked out that explains how the common ontology should be understood.

In this paper we discuss the problem of how to go from a business model to a process model in a systematic way. Business models are economic models used for business analysis, while process models capture low-level business activities and their coordination. We propose a method that starts with a business model where the main actors and their relationships are identified. This forms a basis for design of a final process model. Processes are described in terms of patterns stored in a pattern library.

Purpose - Organizations of today are becoming ever more focused on their business processes. This has resulted in an increasing interest in using best practices for business process re-engineering. Two problems arise in connection to using best practices: how to find a best practice that suits particular purposes, and how to ensure that the process from the best practice has the same nature as the process under re-engineering. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach - The paper suggests using business process patterns, i.e. relatively high level business process models, for making near formal comparison of business processes. The paper analyzes widespread modeling techniques to find out which of them suits the task of building patterns for comparison. Based on this analysis, the state-flow modeling technique is chosen and first steps towards formal definition of business process patterns based on this technique are suggested. Findings - A pattern is defined based on the notions of state space, goal, as a surface in the state space, and valid movements towards the goal. A thinkable procedure of constructing patterns is demonstrated on two real-life examples. A hypothetical procedure for comparing process is suggested but it still needs to be verified in practice. Originality/value - The originality of the paper is the way the patterns are formulated and the underlying model, the state-flow view of processes, upon which the patterns are founded.

Male and female non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners differ in inheritance positions, valuations and forest management style. A survey of Swedish NIPF owners found that male and female owners differ in their willingness to take a financial risk. The preliminary analysis, looking only at gender, revealed no difference in the willingness to take risk. Dividing the population according to dependence on income from forestry, however, showed that female NIPF owners increased their willingness to take financial risk when the dependence of income from forestry changed from insubstantial to notable. Females' tolerance towards risk was also significantly higher than males' at the notable level of dependence of forestry income. Having or not having economic yield as one of the most important objectives of ownership seemed to have a little effect on the willingness to take financial risk; however, the results were further strengthened when adding this dimension. A gender perspective was applied to explain identified differences between male and female forest owners concerning their willingness to take financial risks. Whether these differences emanate from real differences in willingness to take risk, or whether they are effects from other differences in male and female forest ownership, is discussed.

In this work in progress paper we will discuss company capabilities related to telecom services and how they can be developed or acquired in order to increase the compositeness of the firm. Traditionally, the technical infrastructure and platforms are designed and deployed by the vendors and operators and the role of end-users, private persons or enterprises,  is to accept the offered service, pay and use. This may be a sustainable model when the user requirements are limited to connectivity, communication between persons and internet access, and to delivery of media services where the network acts as a channel. However, we argue that the design and deployment process of telecom services must be changed in order to provide flexible support of customers´ working processes. As a supplier you also have to consider how value is added in the working process of the customer. The full paper will include problem formulation, research questions, theoretical analysis and empirical data from case studies. 

In this paper we will discuss services that support the value creation process and the interaction between companies in the supply chain. The value added services for professional users hence should support both the internal working processes within a company and, maybe even more important, the interaction between different market actors.   We will discuss how communication systems and value added services can be designed in order to support professional users.

We target business users using services supporting work in mobile environments with a temporary project organization. The discussion and some analysis will be based on findings from construction projects and from public safety services.  These “projects” are usually temporary with different duration, highly mobile and geographically distributed organizations with common work processes that require close interaction between multiple users and partners belonging to different organizations.

The analysis starts with characterization of user behavior, user environments and project organizations.  Communication and mobility patterns are described and possible services and business roles are proposed.

Analysis of empirical results in identification of different types of organization of the provider network. The position of actors within this network is important. Using these findings we discuss adaptive or adaptable business models that could be configured in different ways depending on the duration and the position of actors within the network. An important aspect is the ability for companies to change perspective and consider new ways to assess business opportunities and/or to organize the value creation activities. 

The mobile phone attracts an increasing number of service applications enabled by technical developments. On-going efforts aim to widen the scope of mobile payments and “turning the mobile phone into a wallet” with the help of Near Field Technology (NFC). A number of industries are involved in this development. To enable large scale commercial application of the new technology for mobile payments, several global industry associations, what we label Global Policy Networks (GPNs), are involved in standard setting, certification, visions and promotion of business applications, etc. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the role of GPNs in establishing global policies to enable business actors to develop and implement local policies applying the new technology for business purposes. The paper focuses on how some yet to be settled global policy issues affect local policies.

How do new business ventures emerge, and how is their emergence linked to technical development? What are the challenges of forming new business ventures when the business involves the connection of previously unconnected or loosely connected networks? This paper analyses the connections between technical development and the formation of new business ventures.

A set of case studies is presented that show how existing market structures, business development and associated wireless, technologies and systems are affected by the emergence of new mobile payment and ticketing services. This paper presents result from an on-going research project on near field communication based services in Sweden. In late 2008 the project “Foundation For NFC/Sensor Network B2B2C Services” (FORCE) was initiated by TeliaSonera Mobile Network, KTH Center for Wireless System, and Center for Information and Communication Research at the Stockholm School of Economics.

This paper analyzes new business formation connected to the use of established mobile technologies and associated services. The purpose of the paper is to describe how a set of alternative business network situations can emerge when established wireless application technologies are exploited and new value is created and new business ventures are formed. A set of short cases describe how new business can be created based on established SMS applications and services. The paper discusses central aspects of the formation of new business ventures in networks. Here, focus is on opportunities to create value based on the exploitation of existing technology. The technology is used in a new way and is perceived by existing actors as an opportunity to exploit by creating a new intermediary performing a new role. In business practice, technology development is related to formation of new business ventures, they cannot be separated from each other.

During the past 15 years, Swedish higher education policy has emphasized the spatial decentralization of post-secondary education. We investigate the economic effects of this decentralization policy on productivity and output per worker. We rely upon a 14-year panel of output and employment for Sweden's 285 municipalities, together with data on the location of university-based researchers and students, to estimate the effects of exogenous changes in educational policy upon regional development. We find important and significant effects of this policy upon the average productivity of workers, suggesting that the economic effects of the decentralization on regional development are economically important. We also find evidence of highly significant, but extremely localized, externalities in productivity. This is consistent with recent findings (e.g., Rosenthal and Strange, 2003) on agglomeration in 'knowledge industries.'

This study explores the response of worker job stress to the implementation of lean production.

Purpose - The characteristics of successful lean operations make a committed workforcea necessity. However, there is an ongoing debate over whether lean characteristics inherently enhance or impede commitment. The purpose of this paper is to help settle the debate, as well as provide insights into the role specific work practices play. Design/methodology/approach - Based on responses from 1,391 workers at 21 leansites, the authors examined the relationship between the degree of lean implementation and worker commitment; as well as the commitment effects of 21 lean work practices. Findings - The paper examines relationships between worker commitment and leanproduction, sheds light on the lean commitment debate and provides guidance for designing lean systems that complement high-commitment work practices. Practical implications - The results will be of value to readers with interests in operations, human resources and high-performance work practices, as well as the management and implementation of lean and its associated practices. Originality/value - The study described in the paper is unique in that it establishes a statistically valid relationship between lean production and worker commitment and associated work practices. 

Innovation is key source of a company's competitiveness in the knowledge economy, and continuous improvement is a key element of such corporate pursuit. Lean production is a globally competitive standard for product assembly of discreet parts. Successful Lean application is conditioned by an evolutionary problem-solving ability of the rank and file. Such ability is in itself contingent on employee involvement in improvement programs and the implementation of appropriate practices. But the challenge of operating innovative Lean systems lacks statistically valid guidance. This empirical study is based on 294 worker responses from twelve manufacturing sites in four Brazilian industry sectors. It identifies particular practices that impact employee participation in change or improvement activities and their performance outcomes.

In the past quarter century there has been a focus on the benefits that Lean can provide to anorganization. Much of this work has focussed on the process and content of Lean with littlework that focuses on its implementation. This research is conceptual and theorizes about theimplementation of lean. It draws on organizational theory – mainly sociotechnical systems –to create a number of propositions for the implementation of Lean.

This study explores approaches to management of value creation in complex systems and provides a basic method of determining to what extent a system is complex. In doing so it reviews approaches to value creation, the change from goods to services and implications for a business model and associated operational models. The study also examines the elements of value at the point of engagement. The concluding discussion highlights the importance of customer-centered rather than output-centered approaches to operational design and the implications which they have for both product and service offerings.