With the purpose to explore what characterizes established SMEs with growth ambitions, literature on growth and in particular growth ambitions was reviewed. Five dimensions of growth ambition were used: important to grow as regards turnover, important to take risks, prioritizes growth to profitability, prioritizes market share to profitability and prioritizes to reinvest to profit. Variables previously found to characterize fast-growing SMEs were included. A sample of 384 Swedish SMEs was used where growth ambitions were collected in 2011 and financial data was obtained for 2009 and 2013. Regardless of dimension, firms with the higher values had a 50 % higher increase employee growth. For most dimensions, a higher percentage of the turnover invested in completely new products and younger managing director/shorter managing director time with the firm and a stronger focus on increasing the domestic market share characterized the firms stressing growth in turnover and not prioritizing profitability.

Bundling is a term that refers to several products (goods or services) marketed and sold together; yet, each of the products should be able to sell to a market segment of their own. Bundling usually involves price bundling. The products in a bundle are often chosen such that the customer's needs are satisfied better or to provide better value to the customer. Bundling in the form of introducing a new product together with an established one is found to particularly facilitate the adoption of radically new products. It can also be used when disposing of lasting stock of a product that is to be taken off the market. Such bundling must be done with care so that the customer can make an informed choice. Whenever bundling, marketers must avoid creating bundles that may be seen as obstructing competition.

C2C (consumer‐to‐consumer) and C2B (consumer‐to‐business) are two ways of marketing enabled by the Internet and two‐way communication software. C2C concerns one customer marketing a product to another customer. It has evolved from “putting up notes” and personal selling to sometimes global web‐based sales facilitated secure transactions systems. Further growth was noted when blogs and personal webpages became commonplace, when also opinions about products were published. Such information about consumer opinions is increasingly seen as central to businesses. C2B is less common than C2B and involves a consumer marketing something to a business. An increase of this type is seen within product groups where there is a surplus in the market. One way to describe C2B is “reverse auctions.” Then the consumer states on, for example, a web site that he or she is interested in a product at a given price and a purchase will be made from the business willing to sell at this (or a lower) prize. A recent research interest involves the role of personal blogs in Internet‐based C2C marketing and personal brands.

With many manufacturing SMEs underperforming, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate which aspects of Open Innovation (OI) are applied and how these affect the performance of manufacturing SMEs. Using a set of 132 Swedish manufacturing SMEs, internal and external aspects affecting OI application were evaluated with regard how they affect OI performance. Two clusters were identified. One cluster had higher values on all variables except from supporting organizational structures, where the other group had the higher value. However, the variable with the strongest differentiating impact was by far strategic orientation. There was no significant difference in financial performance between the two clusters but several significant differences could be established regarding innovation performance measurements. 

Perceptual mapping is used to establish a product's or a brand's position and can provide a comprehensive picture of the competitive situation and how differentiated the product or brand is in the minds of the established target group. A perceptual map is a type of diagram, where the two axes depict the criteria, and their relative importance, the target group uses when selecting a product or brand to satisfy a certain need. Several maps must be drawn to get a full picture of how a certain product or brand is positioned. Any position is to be established in relation to any competitor, direct or one providing substitutes, satisfying the same need for the established target group. Market research (or otherwise obtained equal data) is required to find out the selection criteria – and their relative importance – of the target group. The position in perceptual maps is a relative one. To judge a position, the market share size for each competing product or brand should be included in the map. A product or brand with a small market share in the close proximity of a product or brand with a large market share should consider repositioning.

Price bundling involves selling a package of products (goods and or services) at a lower price than if the products were priced and sold separately. Price bundling is closely related to bundling and is a common means to differentiate a company's offerings, regardless of type of product. The assumption in marketing theory that there is perfect information, that is, both parties involved in a transaction share the same information, often is an unrealistic condition. More frequently there are imbalances or non‐perfect conditions allowing for price discrimination. Price discrimination, which can be classified as direct, semi‐direct, and indirect, can be related to bundling. Setting an appropriate price for a bundle requires in‐depth knowledge of customers' needs. If done appropriately, the utility will be optimized. To achieve this there may be a need for a decrease in price of a bundle to compensate the loss in value and need satisfaction if the bundle consists of products with unequal vale or need satisfaction.

Push/pull marketing strategy concerns how an organization offering products (goods and or services) views the market. Organizations can be found just about anywhere on a scale from a pure push marketing strategy to a pure pull marketing strategy. A push marketing strategy focuses on what resources, competences and capacity the organization has, while a pull marketing strategy focuses on the needs of the market. Most organizations apply a mix of push and pull marketing strategy. Any adaptation of offerings to customer needs must reasonably fit the competences and capabilities within the firm or its network or such competences and capabilities, which within a reasonable time and at reasonable cost, can be obtained. An organization thus balances between what it reasonably can offer (push) and what the market demands (pull). For several types of organization, in particular within fast‐moving consumer goods, the increased data on customers have aided a shift toward a more pull‐oriented marketing strategy. The risk with applying a total pull marketing strategy is that the company may listen too much to too many types of customer resulting in too low a ratio between revenue and the production cost of the offerings to remain in the market.

The term supply chain refers to all organizations involved in moving a product (good or service) from its initiation/birth until it reaches its final customer, be it a consumer or an organizational buyer. A channel of distribution is a special type of supply chain. Recycling is often made part of the supply chain. Quite often only parts of a supply chain are studied at one time and the study is made from one organization's perspective. When looking from an organization towards a supplier it is called to view the chain upstream, and downstream when the view is towards the customer. Studies of supply chains include besides raw material or supplies, various types of financial transactions, knowledge exchange, adaption and social relations. Due to various reasons, companies may choose to move, also called to integrate, up or down the supply chain. A move up the supply chain for a certain company involves taking over activities and responsibilities previously carried out by one or more suppliers. A move down the supply chain may involve making products more complete before moving them on to the next step.

The knowledge on manufacturing SMEs and Open Innovation (OI) is limited and therefore, this article describes and evaluates how manufacturing SMEs apply and benefit from OI. Based on a survey and additional financial data, 151 Swedish manufacturing SMEs were evaluated with regard to variables concerning OI application and financial performance. The conclusions are that SMEs are very open to and want to learn from new ideas outside of the firm, however mainly applying inbound OI activities. Medium-sized firms use innovation collaboration more and are less reluctant to IP appropriability regimes. Being part of a larger organization may help SMEs use patents and trademarks. Significant relationships were established between OI variables and firms with the highest and the lowest profitability. These had a common core labelled "aiming at maintaining technology leadership". Finally, no connection between applying OI activities and firm profitability could be established.

1. Study objective:To get a better understanding on how an interaction between small firms’ managerial intentions, competences, embedded networks and firms’ perceived opportunities from industrial and institutional environments formstheir internationalization pathway over the time.

2. A brief statement of method:Four longitudinal in-depth case studies were selected from 293 respondents to a survey in 2010 on SwedishSMEs’ China business experience and interest.

• Chosen cases are contrast in their previous interna-tional business experience and traits of product/ service offerings.

• The study uses a mixed method to collect primary data and the data are collected several rounds along tar-get market entry process.

3. A summary of results:In a case of small service firm without pre-international business, influences from domestic intermediate actors in professional networks play a big role in firm’s opportuni- ties discovery process.

Other cases show that an iterative learning process in emerging market entry. However, the opportunities searching process is triggered by internal motivations such as growth.

The study captures small firms changing managerial attentions under stimulations from external environment and internal motivations. The study shows that interac- tion between small firms’ internal means (resources) and attitude, and firms’ external environment plays a majorrole in forming a dynamic process of internationalization.

4. The conclusionsThe pattern of smaller firms’ internationalization processis dynamic and non-linear.In an exploration phase of internationalization pro-cess, external stimulators might impact a direction interms of market selection and entry mode.

University spin-offs are often treated as key to establishing new high-tech ventures. The importance of relationships for such ventures has been extensively emphasised, particularly concerning innovation co-creation commercialisation. But do such establishments really produce value to the spin-off and foster its further development of innovations? This paper argues that distance in relationship is important for the continuous innovativeness of the spin-off, and discusses how such distance impacts the innovation capabilities and co-creation of a university spin-off. The paper presents a longitudinal case study of a Swedish university high-tech spin-off. It points to how horizontal proximity in the supply chain facilitates the development of the core technology but that relationship distance, in the form of geographic and vertical supply-chain distance, positively impacts the innovation capabilities of the spin-off. Supply-chain distance results in knowledge distance (or fit) which facilitates this freedom, yet moderates the co-creative capability between various parties.

Since open-source software (OSS) companies are heavily dependent on their developer communities for innovation and OSS business models are little researched, this paper takes an explorative approach to how OSS companies' business models in relation to community interaction and innovation can be characterized. By performing a cross-case analysis of four OSS companies representing different countries and company sizes and their community interaction, two distinctive OSS business models in relation to innovation were established. Community immersion means that the company subsumes into (often only) one OSS project (and community). By creating a commercial product, the company gets funds to support the community in various ways, initiating a positive spiral. This configuration seems more common early on in an OSS company’s development. Community utilization means that the company benefits directly from the OSS commitment, gaining e.g. brand recognition. By adding paid developers into the community, the project is sponsored and enhanced.

The purpose of this article is to compare within-family successions and external-party takeovers in family-owned manufacturing SMEs to determine potential differences in how they are perceived and managed. This paper focuses on two long-term aspects of family businesses – their succession and their ability to innovate – defining innovativeness as an aspect of organisational culture. Based on ten case studies, the paper concludes that the values related to a firm’s context, influenced by the divesting party as well as by the choice of successor, create inertia, to the extent that only minor changes in innovation orientation are possible. External owners may focus to a greater extent on growth and new ways of innovating, while family-succeeded firms diversify so as not to abandon previous businesses. Intermediating factors, such as customer involvement, type of SME, and the acquirers’ motives, influence the innovative organisational culture and create explanatory links to innovation intensity and methodologies of innovation.

In a study of 409 Swedish SMEs, the difference between the highest growing, which can be characterized as gazelles, and the lowest growing companies were examined regarding performance change over a four year period and what contributed to the growth from an innovation perspective. It was concluded that, besides growing, the highest growing companies also showed high profitability,increased number of employees, and significantly higher markets shares locally, nationally and internationally than the lowest growing companies. Several traits were found to contribute to this. The highest growing companies had a significantly higher portion of new products as part of the turnover during the four years studied and they perceived themselves as differentiating from their competitors concerning: (1) offering better products, (2) understanding customer needs better, (3) having a higher pace or being more agile, and (4) keeping costs down. They also found it more important to take risks, reinvest any profit, and to focus on growth than the lowest growing companies, and this regardless of industry.

The overall aim of this research is to provide new knowledge on how a design-centric logic affects the new product development process. The study focuses on the early stages of new product development, i.e. the new product strategy formulation, idea generation, idea screening, and concept development and testing (Borja De Mozota, 2004, p.120). These early stages are proven critical for successful product development and are depending on a successful interplay between design and other functional areas involved in product development. The findings from a qualitative study of five new product development projects in two design-led organizations are presented.

This paper describes and discusses the role of identity in open source software (OSS) innovations. It illustrates identities through four case studies that include the perspectives of OSS communities, OSS companies, and users. The paper concludes that the community may either have its primary function to provide an OSS aura to the OSS company, or it may have its focus on attracting developers and thereby contributing to innovativeness of the OSS community. OSS community identitie sare mainly self-reflective on its contributors, but also help to create rules of the community. Since it is the OSS company that communicates identities to external parties, the coherence and closeness between the OSS company and the community are important.

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to discuss whether or not an acquisition changes the network identity of an acquired firm and, if so, how. This study aims to bring new insights to the corporate marketing field, as it examines corporate identity in the context of how a company is perceived because of its relationships with other firms. The focus of this research is acquired innovative firms. Design/methodology/approach - This paper adopts a multiple case study approach. Data on four acquisitions of innovative firms were collected using 41 interviews, which were supplemented with secondary data. Findings - Based on the case studies, it can be concluded that the network identity of the acquired firms does change following an acquisition. The acquired firms inherited the acquirers identity, regardless of whether or not the companies were integrated. Previous, present and potential business partners regarded the innovative firms as being more solvent, but distanced themselves. In addition, some of them regarded the innovative firms as competitors. Practical implications - Changes in the way a firm is perceived by its business partners, following an acquisition, will influence the future business operations of the firm. Expected changes to business relationships should ideally be considered part of due diligence. Acquirers need to consider how they can minimise the risks associated with business partners changed perceptions of acquired firms. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the research on identity, through discussion of the consequences of an acquisition for the identity and relationships of a firm. It also contributes to the existing corporate marketing literature, through consideration of perceptions at a network level. Furthermore, this paper contributes to merger and acquisition literature, by highlighting the influence of ownership on relationships with external parties.

In a study of 409 Swedish SMEs, the difference between the highest growing, which can be characterized as gazelles, and the lowest growing companies were examined regarding performance change 2006-2009 and what contributed to the growth from an innovation perspective. It was concluded that, besides growing, the highest growing companies also showed high profitability, increased number of employees, and significantly higher market shares locally, nationally and internationally than the lowest growing companies. Several traits were found to contribute to this. The highest growing companies had a significantly higher portion of new products as part of the turnover 2006-2009, and they perceived themselves as better than their competitors at: 1) offering better products, 2) understanding customer needs, 3) being agile, and 4) keeping costs down. They also found it more important to take risks, reinvest any profit and to focus on growth than the lowest growing companies, and this regardless of industry.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how the successors of family-owned manufacturing SMEs view and manage innovativeness. Research into company takeovers mainly focuses on large companies and little is known about innovativeness in research on family-owned businesses, often SMEs. This paper presents findings from ten company successions, five of which describe family successions and five external ones. The paper points to that there is little difference in how various types of successor view and manage innovativeness. A successor is chosen with care and this also influences the view and management of innovativeness; other criteria seem to apply in the succession and radical changes can only be introduced if a number of contextual factors are managed properly. The paper also indicates that while financial constraints may limit innovations, a strong financial situation is not an antecedent for innovativeness.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how thesuccessors of family-owned manufacturing SMEs view and manageinnovativeness. Research into company take-overs mainly focuses on largecompanies and little is known about innovativeness in research on familyownedbusinesses, often SMEs. This paper presents findings from ten companysuccessions, five of which describe family successions and five external ones.The paper shows that there is little difference in how various types of successorview and manage innovativeness. A successor is chosen with care and this alsoinfluences the view and management of innovativeness: other criteria seem toapply in the succession and any (radical) changes can only be introduced if anumber of contextual factors are managed properly.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss challenges and opportunities related to the development of innovative firms' networks. The paper utilises four case studies based on interviews with representatives of young innovative firms and their present and previous network partners. The findings show that while early network partners often play several roles simultaneously, the roles of both the innovative firm and its network partners become increasingly distinct as the innovative firm develops. Such clarification of roles highlights competition between parties. For the innovative firm, the early phases are marked by innovativeness and problems related to growth and financial issues; later phases may include challenges of dependence, competition, exclusion of actors, decreased innovativeness and less innovative freedom.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss challenges and opportunities related to the development of innovative firms' networks. The paper utilises four case studies based on interviews with representatives of young innovative firms and their present and previous network partners. The findings show that while early network partners often play several roles simultaneously, the roles of both the innovative firm and its network partners become increasingly distinct as the innovative firm develops. Such clarification of roles highlights competition between parties. For the innovative firm, the early phases are marked by innovativeness and problems related to growth and financial issues; later phases may include challenges of dependence, competition, exclusion of actors, decreased innovativeness and less innovative freedom.

The field ofinterest in this study is modular innovation. This type ofinnovation replaces an old part of an existing product or adds newfunctionality to an existing product. Modular innovations areimportant to increase the performance of an existing product andretain the competitiveness of the product. The purpose of thisthesis is to suggest some explanatory factors that can influencehow and if modular innovation, which adds new functionality to anexisting product, can become adopted within a mature industry. Toachieve this purpose the analysis has been divided in two levels.The first level analyses how the modular innovation fits with theproduct architecture of the final product. The second levelanalyses how the industrial structures within the industry affectsthe possibilities for an entrant firm to establish oneself as a newsupplier. The empirical data is collected from the automotiveindustry. The study is based on in-depthinterviews.

Traditionally, the literature depicts acquisitions of technology or innovative firms as a means for the acquirer to obtain resources or knowledge. This paper challenges the traditional view. We take the perspective of an innovative firm ro ask the question: In what ways does the acquirer affect the cusromer access for the target company? This question is addressed where the acquirer is a company within a mature industry, the target is an innovative firm, and when the target's customers at the same time are competitors to the acquirer. The discussion takes its point of departure in a literature review and a case study which highlight issues of customer access in dimensions of ownership and integration. Three hypotheses targeting different aspects of customer access are developed. As this paper considers the situation from the target's perspective it contributes to the literature on acquisitions of innovative firms. Furthermore, it contributes to the innovation literature through highlighting the influence of ownership on an innovative company in the process of getting customer access.

Ger grunderna i industriell marknadsföring avseende industriella marknader, köpprocesser, säljprocesser, nätverk, funktionsförsäljning och projektförsäljning. Skriven på engelska.

Based on a questionnaire focusing on the existence of various types of relation and sent to the Örnsköldsvik Industrial Group in 1987 and 1998, an effort to capture the dynamics is made. After a statistical analysis of the data obtained, it can be concluded that the structure of the industry has changed only marginally but that the companies that have been members of the industrial group for many years do have more relations with each other. These relations both relate to buyer-seller relationships as co-operation.

It is our assumption that economic growth can be described and measured but never fully explained at the macro level. For explanation and better understanding of the emergence of innovation and the innovation process it is necessary to conduct studies at the micro level, i.e. from the perspective of the actors themselves, in our case the involved companies. Eliasson and Eliasson (1996) and other influential scholars have analyzed what different actors are necessary in the innovation process. Together the different actors create accumulate competencies, which Eliasson calls competence blocs as did Dahmén (1950) before him. The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on understanding how these actors act and interact. To illustrate and to get a richer and more holistic view of the problem we have chosen to look at a dual perspective; describing the market activities undertaken by a young, technology-driven innovative firm and the response given by the buying organization. By comparing the young firm-s view of the market potential of the innovation with the view of the buying organization the aim is to conceptualize the innovative and entrepreneurial environment for product innovation and the -driving- actors in the automotive industry. The described firms are involved in the development of active safety applications in the automotive industry. This industry is characterized by strong ties between manufacturers and suppliers. Most of the dominating actors (both manufacturers and suppliers) were established many decades ago and the industry has thus a hard-to-penetrate, rigid structure. The young firm is a new entrant in this established structure. The results of the study are insights concerning the conditions governing a young innovative firm supplying an established manufacture firm in a mature industry and how established firms react to such a firm. Other insights concern the environment and the incentives that lead to innovative ideas.

Industry standards affect the diffusion and adoption of new technology and the competitiveness of individual players but their development is not under the direct control of individual actors. Examines the role and importance of personal networks in the development of industry standards on the basis of a case study of Ericsson’s involvement in the development of standards for 3G mobile telephony. Notes how relations among parties and many types of forums stemming from previous development and marketing involvement affect the complex set of interactions shape the bottom-up self-organizing way in which standards emerge. The case study has implications for our understanding of the way standards develop and for managers attempting to influence the outcomes.

The environment in which companies operate is such that standards become increasingly important due to the built-in rigidities resulting from previous technology investments and network externalities. The research question is: How can a market-leading company gain influence on the formation of standards perceived as vital for the company-s continued business? The purpose of the dissertation is to explore, describe, and characterise how such influence may be gained; it thus aims to reveal some of the mechanisms underlying a technology standard-setting process. Market-leading here is interpreted as the company wanting to lead the development of the market by influencing the standards that will prevail in it, thereby aiming to secure market leadership (in measurable terms).

The dominant design concept, including technical, commercial, and procedural dimensions, serves as the basis for the theoretical discussion. From the review of literature it is concluded that the dominant design concept marginally addresses the emergence of a dominant design. Therefore the present study takes on a company "inside-out" perspective to examine how underlying mechanisms may be revealed.

The empirical data address the third generation (3G) mobile telephony core and access networks or the 3G infrastructure, which can be treated as the core technologies for the new 3G system. The data stem mainly from interviews with individuals involved in the process at Ericsson, the mobile telephony systems developer. One outcome of the research is a case that describes the story of 3G infrastructure standard setting from Ericsson's view.

On the basis of empirical data and theoretical framework, four foci are developed and used for analysis of the data. The foci developed are people and their relations, organizations and their relations, technology perception, and influencing others.

The point of departure is that the technology dimension is of utmost importance in this type of standard-setting process where a system of core technologies is chosen. After exploring and describing the process from the inside-out perspective, however, the overall finding from the research is that human behaviour plays the central role as individuals constitute the process by advocating and negotiating technology, form the organizations, embody the relations (including various types of network), and influence others in the market. Since people are at the core of standard-setting processes, a truly managerial issue is how to use the right people for the right tasks with proper timing during the process.

The findings from the 3G study are also related to the findings made in earlier research in a broader contextual analysis.

Critical to managing the standard-setting process is an understanding of where to fit a given standard into the technical hierarchy and the standards hierarchy. The maturity of the industry also needs to be analysed and addressed. It is concluded that each standard-setting process is a mix of de jure and de facto standard-setting mechanisms with "in-between arenas" and that there are a number of sub-processes.

A model characterising the roles of people with various functions over time and in a standard-setting process constitutes the main outcome of the research. This model constitutes three different functions (technical, tactical, strategic) and three process stages (research, formal standardisation, informal standardisation) thereby characterising nine different roles. 

Product development, in-house or in collaboration with other parties, is considered one of the key issues to consider for any company interested in developing its business. Software of some kind is increasingly central to new products. At the same time standards and standardisation processes are affecting more and more aspects of society, increasingly so due to the globalisation of the world economy. This thesis takes an exploratory approach to what interactive roles the phenomena standards and standardisation take in product development processes involving software and viewed this from multiple organisational levels. By analysing two cases, the conclusion that standards have several different faces and standardisation has different phases is drawn. It is also concluded that standards and standardisation are complex and dynamic, but manageable. Regardless of the organisational level studied, standards and standardisation involve the management of people interacting. For future research it is suggested that standardisation processes are researched from the perspective of the arenas where they are shaped. Future research should also include a better understanding of when it is advisable for a company to take an active approach to standardisation.

The paper deals with the introduction of innovations adding new functionality to a mature and modularizcd industry. The purpose of the paper is to describe and analyze 1) the technical dependencies between the innovation and the established product architecrure and 2) the organizational dependencies between the young technology-driven firm and the established firms. The paper is based on a case study containing two firms involved in the development of active safety applications in the automotive industry. One firm is a young technology-driven firm acting as a highly innovative R&D collaborator to the other firm which is an established manufacturing firm responsible for the final product. The case shows that although a young technology-driven firm may well be aware of its state-of-the-art technical capabilities, limited knowledge of the more subtle managerial requirements needed to get the innovation accepted by established firms impede marker success. The managerial requirements indicated in the case include an understanding of how power dependencies strongly influence the ability to introduce an innovation in a mature and modularized industry. The conclusion of the paper is that power dependence between different organizations within the mature and modularized industry obstructs the possibilities for young technology-driven firms to enter inro the prevailing industry structure. Based on power dependence relations the paper argues that product architecture does not create the frame for the differem modules in a one-way manner, but also that the fixed modules create the frame for the kind of architecture possible to design.

When a company wishes to introduce a new technology what kind of stakeholders exists within a technology and market process where there seemingly are a lot of network externalities and installed base effects? How does the defmition of the technology affect the interdependencies created between such stakeholders in the early development phase, i.e. the standardisation process? The purpose is to discuss from the perspective of a technology developing company how different stakeholders and their forums for interaction interfere with and support each other. The case herein presents how Ericsson managed the interaction with the stakeholders and their forums during the early phase of 30 development. The analysis focuses on the arenas and the relations and the people involved in the standardisation process, and five concluding reflections regard: negotiation and power, opinions in compromise, absent customer, informal and formal arenas, multiple human skills.

Opinion leadership theory normally applied on the adoption of consumer goods is evaluated for a third wave complex system as regards identity of opinion leaders and the character of the activities a company undertakes in its efforts to act as an opinion leader. The third wave complex system development process studied is the standardisation of the core network and radio access portions of the 30 mobile telephony system and this from the perspective of a large mobile systems developer. Based on the increased technical and market complexity compared to the second wave, it is concluded, contrary to existing opinion leadership theory, that the opinion leaders for third wave complex systems come from within the existing social system and that the opinion leadership is competence-oriented, collaboration-oriented and community-oriented.

In this paper organisational actors to which a systems manufacturing company within the mobile telecommunication sector has its relations in order to set a dominant design are discussed. It is concluded that a company has to have a good understanding of previous technological developments and the impact thereof on present activities. Moreover it needs a high sensitivity for on-going actions in its network in order to follow-up and act on events and signals obtained and initiated.