Halt and catch fire – A study on business model innovation and the effect of the upper echelons mental models

Master's thesis in Business administration: Executive MBAIn the face of external shifts, the upper echelons set the strategic orientation for the company and innovate their business models accordingly. However, the industry has little understanding of the influence that dynamic conditions and the dominant logic of the firm has on business model innovation. The study applies a perspective of organizational behavioral theory to examine how business model innovation is affected by the top managers mental models. The methodology uses a longitudinal study by applying a qualitative content analysis. The sample consists of the five largest aquaculture firms in Norway listed on the OSE. The context is an uncertain market with substantial exposure to threat. Results show how the strategic orientation of firms govern the top managers risk attitude, which in turn lead to different organizational outcomes. This shows a predictably irrational behavior by the top manager’s that is anchored in their strategic orientation. Findings also demonstrate how company’s value configuration may influence innovation to firm’s business models. This is shown to act as a blinder to business model innovation and were found to be especially evident among defensive organizations. As such, the result positively confirms that top manager’s mental models are essential in the decision-making process related firm’s innovation of their business model. Based on an organization’s change perspective, the study intends to prove how top managers need to proactively challenge their mental models, both from an operative and dynamic standpoint. This, to maintain or regain competitive success in the complex market outlook. Those organizations that can learn to recognize the importance of building a diversified top management team will enable the firm to exploit and recognize both internal and external shifts, to a much greater extent. This will support firms in overcoming organizational inertia and make them appropriately fit to conduct more rational strategic choices

Microfinance and Life Satisfaction in Ecuador A study about financial determinants of life satisfaction among micro entrepreneurs in the informal economy

Masteroppgave økonomi og administrasjon- Universitetet i Agder, 2015This study examines if and how leverage, delayed payments, and business profit influence life satisfaction among microfinance clients in the informal economy in Ecuador. To examine this, cross-sectional data is used. A dataset is used consisting of 752 micro entrepreneurs who work within different industries and reside in 6 different provinces. Several different statistical analyses are conducted with the main analysis being a hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis. The analysis consists of 2 blocks where traditional variables often found in happiness and life satisfaction studies are used as control variables in the 1st block, and the 2nd block consisting of exploratory variables. The results indicate that leverage and life satisfaction have a concave relationship, with low and moderate amounts of leverage being positively correlated with life satisfaction, and higher leverage being negatively correlated with life satisfaction. Having delayed payments or not does not have any effect on life satisfaction. The effects of business profits are less conclusive. This research suggests that microfinance institutions and policymakers can direct attention towards the effect leverage have on people’s lives. This can be important to the extent that MFIs can monitor or control the borrowers leverage ratios to make sure they do not exceed a level that potentially can decrease their life satisfaction. The findings also suggest that from a personal well-being perspective, there is an optimum level of leverage where up to a certain point debt adds to the personal well-being, after which incremental debt is not making entrepreneurs better off. Thus, microfinance institutions should be wary of the leverage effect on the personal wellbeing and life-satisfaction of entrepreneurs, and not push out loans above a certain maximum point

Experimental induction of mouthrot in Atlantic salmon smolts using Tenacibaculum maritimum from Western Canada

Mouthrot, or bacterial stomatitis, is a disease which mainly affects farmed Atlantic salmon, (Salmo salar, L.), smolts recently transferred into salt water in both British Columbia (BC), Canada, and Washington State, USA. It is a significant fish welfare issue which results in economic losses due to mortality and antibiotic treatments. The associated pathogen is Tenacibaculum maritimum, a bacterium which causes significant losses in many species of farmed fish worldwide. This bacterium has not been proven to be the causative agent of mouthrot in BC despite being isolated from affected Atlantic salmon. In this study, challenge experiments were performed to determine whether mouthrot could be induced with T. maritimum isolates collected from outbreaks in Western Canada and to attempt to develop a bath challenge model. A secondary objective was to use this model to test inactivated whole‐cell vaccines for T. maritimum in Atlantic salmon smolts. This study shows that T. maritimum is the causative agent of mouthrot and that the bacteria can readily transfer horizontally within the population. Although the whole‐cell oil‐adjuvanted vaccines produced an antibody response that was partially cross‐reactive with several of the T. maritimum isolates, the vaccines did not protect the fish under the study's conditions.publishedVersio

Protective Immunization of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.) against Salmon Lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) Infestation

publishedVersio

Adaptive immune responses at mucosal surfaces of teleost fish

Paid Open Acces

The impact of co-infections on fish: a review

International audienceAbstractCo-infections are very common in nature and occur when hosts are infected by two or more different pathogens either by simultaneous or secondary infections so that two or more infectious agents are active together in the same host. Co-infections have a fundamental effect and can alter the course and the severity of different fish diseases. However, co-infection effect has still received limited scrutiny in aquatic animals like fish and available data on this subject is still scarce. The susceptibility of fish to different pathogens could be changed during mixed infections causing the appearance of sudden fish outbreaks. In this review, we focus on the synergistic and antagonistic interactions occurring during co-infections by homologous or heterologous pathogens. We present a concise summary about the present knowledge regarding co-infections in fish. More research is needed to better understand the immune response of fish during mixed infections as these could have an important impact on the development of new strategies for disease control programs and vaccination in fish