The central role of exploration in designing business concepts and strategy

Design thinking is described as a combination of thinking and acting that leads to new solution possibilities for design problems. Though traditionally linked to the design of objects and services, it can be applied to organizational processes as well. This paper examines design thinking in developing a new business, focusing on the business concept and strategy formation in the start-up phase of the company. How and what elements of design thinking are manifested in the process of designing a business concept and forming a strategy? What is the importance of these elements in this process? The results reveal the experimental and iterative nature of developing the business concept and strategy. In addition, these organizational processes were strongly influenced by the product offering, stakeholders, and environment that the company operated in. While the results highlighted the importance of emergence, they also illustrated a need for structure and planning, thus reminding of the need of balancing between the two. Overall, the results suggest that many of the fundamental elements of design thinking are found in the development process of a company.Peer reviewe

Framing activities and the co-evolvement of products and operations in new ventures

New ventures need to simultaneously develop both their first offering and the operations of the venture itself. This paper extends the notion of problem-solution co-evolvement from product design to venture design, presenting results from four new Finnish ventures in the midst of creating their first offering market-ready. Based on qualitative analysis of interviews of the entrepreneur teams of these ventures, it is suggested that differences in how the venture idea is initially approached translates into different types of co-evolvement between the offering and the operations of the new ventures. In two of the companies, the product frame had been collaboratively created and remained relatively stable. Development activities within product, business model and working practices did not require large changes in the other arenas. In contrast, the product frame was shifting in the two other ventures, and the co- evolvement of the product problem and solutions had major implications for the business model and operations, and vice versa. The entrepreneurs in these companies would have seemingly benefited from having more structured systematic micro-level working practices to balance the variance in the offering and operations. By conceptually linking venture formation to co-evolvement resulting from the initial frame of development efforts, the study serves to strengthen the link between product development and entrepreneurship research.Peer reviewe

Prototyping in practice – Paths and partners for testing novel industrial product and service ideas

Prototyping is a core activity in developing new products, processes, and organisations alike. This paper describes the prototyping activities of 31 engineering design professionals in a high-technology industrial company, examining the distribution of different types of activities across different phases of development based on thematic interviews. Examining 62 prototyping and testing pathways, we found that most prototyping paths started with the practitioners’ own activities, which was also more likely to lead to paths with more prototyping steps than if the first prototyping activity took place with a stakeholder. Overall, the paths were short, indicating a lack of iteration. Both internal and external stakeholders were involved in collaborative prototyping. This collaboration was enabled by personal and unit level relationships, and different stakeholders were involved in different phases of development. Taken together, our results suggest that practitioner attention in prototyping may focus on latter development phases and demonstrate less iteration than what literature might suggest, with opportunities for prototyping highly dependent on personal networks in the high-technology context in the absence of flexible prototyping budgets

Vacuum ultraviolet photon-mediated production of [F-18]F-2

The chemistry of F-2 and its derivatives are amenable to facile aliphatic or aromatic substitution, as well as electrophilic addition. The main limitation in the use of [F-18]F-2 for radiopharmaceutical synthesis is the low specific activity achieved by the traditional methods of production. The highest specific activities, 55GBq/mol, for [F-18]F-2 have been achieved so far by using electrical discharge in the post-target production of [F-18]F-2 gas from [F-18]CH3F. We demonstrate that [F-18]F-2 is produced by illuminating a gas mixture of neon/F-2/[F-18]CH3F with vacuum ultraviolet photons generated by an excimer laser. We tested several illumination chambers and production conditions. The effects of the initial amount of [F-18]F-, amount of carrier F-2, and number of 193-nm laser pulses at constant power were evaluated regarding radiochemical yield and specific activity. The specific activity attained for [F-18]F-2-derived [F-18]NFSi was 10.3 +/- 0.9GBq/mol, and the average radiochemical yield over a wide range of conditions was 6.7% from [F-18]F-. The production can be improved by optimization of the synthesis device and procedures. The use of a commercially available excimer laser and the simplicity of the process can make this method relatively easy for adaptation in radiochemistry laboratories

Using mergers and acquisitions to prepare for disruption

Industry incumbents often encounter significant troubles in the face of disruptive innovations. These types of innovations erode the existing capabilities and resources of the firm, forcing them to seek out new capabilities outside their own organization in order to remain competitive and survive. Exploitation and exploration, organizational learning strategies utilized to develop incremental and radical innovations, respectively, are considered common drivers for mergers and acquisitions (MA) among firms. MA's enable the firm to obtain new capabilities and competencies in order to respond to the threat of substitution of their current ones by disruptive innovations and new entrants employing them. According to the research, firms' operative actions are more strongly linked to preparing for disruption than strategic ones in the motives for acquisitions.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Early age exposure to moisture damage and systemic inflammation at the age of 6 years

Cross-sectional studies have shown that exposure to indoor moisture damage and mold may be associated with subclinical inflammation. Our aim was to determine whether early age exposure to moisture damage or mold is prospectively associated with subclinical systemic inflammation or with immune responsiveness in later childhood. Home inspections were performed in children's homes in the first year of life. At age 6 years, subclinical systemic inflammation was measured by serum C-reactive protein(CRP) and blood leucocytes and immune responsiveness by ex vivo production of interleukin 1-beta(IL-1beta), IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha) in whole blood cultures without stimulation or after 24h stimulation with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin(PI), lipopolysaccharide(LPS) or peptidoglycan(PPG) in 251 to 270 children. Moisture damage in child's main living areas in infancy was not significantly associated with elevated levels of CRP or leucocytes at 6 years. In contrast, there was some suggestion for an effect on immune responsiveness, as moisture damage with visible mold was positively associated with LPS-stimulated production of TNF-alpha and minor moisture damage was inversely associated with PI-stimulated IL-1beta. While early life exposure to mold damage may have some influence on later immune responsiveness, it does not seem to increase subclinical systemic inflammation in later life. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Validation of [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose and positron emission tomography (PET) for the measurement of intestinal metabolism in pigs, and evidence of intestinal insulin resistance in patients with morbid obesity

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Microbial secondary metabolites in homes in association with moisture damage and asthma

We aimed to characterize the presence of microbial secondary metabolites in homes and their association with moisture damage, mold, and asthma development. Living room floor dust was analyzed by LC-MS/MS for 333 secondary metabolites from 93 homes of 1-year-old children. Moisture damage was present in 15 living rooms. At 6 years, 8 children had active and 15 lifetime doctor-diagnosed asthma. The median number of different metabolites per house was 17 ( range 8-29) and median sum load 65 ( 4-865) ng/m(2). Overall 42 different metabolites were detected. The number of metabolites present tended to be higher in homes with mold odor or moisture damage. The higher sum loads and number of metabolites with loads over 10 ng/m(2) were associated with lower prevalence of active asthma at 6 years ( aOR 0.06 ( 95% CI <0.001-0.96) and 0.05 (<0.001-0.56), respectively). None of the individual metabolites, which presence tended ( P <0.2) to be increased by moisture damage or mold, were associated with increased risk of asthma. Microbial secondary metabolites are ubiquitously present in home floor dust. Moisture damage and mold tend to increase their numbers and amount. There was no evidence indicating that the secondary metabolites determined would explain the association between moisture damage, mold, and the development of asthma.Peer reviewe

Ruthenium-Mediated 18F-Fluorination and Preclinical Evaluation of a New CB1 Receptor Imaging Agent [18F]FPATPP

Cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) controls various physiological and pathological conditions, including memory, motivation, and inflammation, and is thus an interesting target for positron emission tomography (PET). Herein, we report a ruthenium-mediated radiolabeling synthesis and preclinical evaluation of a new CB1R specific radiotracer, [18F]FPATPP. [18F]FPATPP was produced with 16.7 ± 5.7% decay-corrected radiochemical yield and >95 GBq/μmol molar activity. The tracer showed high stability, low defluorination, and high specific binding to CB1Rs in mouse brain.</p