While many researchers have researched the factors affecting standard consortium success, the size and diversity of a consortium were given the most importance. However, investigating the combined effect of these two factors on standard consortium success using specific indicators of success was limited. Past research required action on applying a new approach to determine the extent to which these variables work together toward the success of standard consortia. It was also important to investigate the network configurations of consortia given the multiple factors that come into play in the process of standardization over the years. This required a configurational approach with huge consortium-level data to test. The objective of this research is to find the configurations of size and diversity that lead to standard consortium success, in the ICT and telecommunications industry, success being represented by specific indicators. The data was collected from the websites ‘consortiuminfo.org’ and LinkedIn using Python packages and was analyzed using Crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA). This analysis was done considering two indicators of success individually and combined as a single variable, summing up to three analyses. The analysis revealed that the size and diversity of consortia are necessary conditions, but only diversity is found to be a sufficient condition for standard consortium success in this sample dataset of ICT consortia. The findings suggest that researchers should continue to explore the involvement of other factors along with the size and diversity as combinations instead of only analyzing the variables’ effects individually. Furthermore, by doing this the scope of the research broadens by breadth and depth as more data and more insights about factors of standard consortium success can be gathered.

In today's fast-paced global environment, the primary challenge for high-tech companies is maintaining a consistent supply of raw materials in the form of specialized parts from their suppliers. This is essential to sustain manufacturing operations and meet performance targets, ultimately ensuring customer satisfaction. The specialized parts used as raw materials are often technically intricate and costly, which contributes to lengthy lead times for manufacturing and sourcing. Consequently, these parts are generally maintained at low inventory levels. If received incorrectly or found defective during use and if the nature of the defect is such that they are unserviceable, they require immediate intervention such as repair, reconditioning, remanufacturing, or quality analysis to ensure operational continuity. Direct replacement of these parts with new, fault-free parts is often not feasible within the required timelines due to their lengthy sourcing durations. In this context, the emerging field of Reverse Logistics becomes critical, facilitating the efficient handling of these defective parts by shipping them to their respective suppliers to take the appropriate action and ensure that they are swiftly returned to operational status, thereby minimizing downtime and maintaining the supply chain's integrity. These are termed as high-impact issues in Reverse Logistics.
Any delay in shipping defective parts or products to their suppliers extends the time required to perform necessary actions such as repairs or quality checks. These delays result in downtime and can halt the manufacturing operations of high-tech companies until the corrected parts are received back and reintegrated into the production process.
To achieve these objectives, it is essential to have a robust standardized information-sharing and communication process flow throughout the organization. This will ensure timely and accurate management of these defective parts as requested by various stakeholders within high-tech companies. The unavailability of such a process flow leads to significant delays and operational inefficiencies, undermining the company's ability to respond quickly to critical situations and maintain consistent manufacturing outputs.
Stakeholders throughout the organization, responsible for the supply and demand planning of critical and low-inventory parts, initiate requests to the Reverse Logistics Team for shipping defective parts to the supplier when they are deemed as unserviceable or incorrectly received and there is no new inventory to replace them. For the Reverse Logistics Team to achieve timely shipments, they require access to relevant information that is timely, accurate, and centralized through a platform or interface that offers transparency, traceability, and accountability. This system must also be scalable to accommodate an increasing volume of requests in the foreseeable future.
Due to the lack of a standardized process flow, stakeholders currently employ fragmented and inconsistent methods for communicating and sharing information about defective parts with the Reverse Logistics team. These methods are highly unreliable and risky, lacking traceability and visibility in a centralized interface where all incoming and processed requests can be monitored. The existing methods need continuous monitoring by the RL team to ensure they do not miss any requests. Furthermore,
when these existing communication practices are deployed, necessary preliminary steps required before sending requests to the Reverse Logistics team get bypassed, creating bottlenecks and hindering their ability to efficiently manage and expedite the shipment of defective parts. Therefore, the necessity of developing and integrating a standardized process with an advanced Information System like ERP, and adopting it organization-wide, will significantly streamline the defect-handling process. This strategic integration enhances transparency, traceability, and accountability, ensuring that requests from various stakeholders to ship defective parts from high-tech companies to suppliers are managed efficiently and effectively. The Reverse Logistics Team is pivotal in ensuring that these defective parts are promptly shipped to suppliers upon notification.
The literature underscores the necessity for a process flow that expedites the shipment of unserviceable and incorrectly received parts to suppliers for necessary corrective actions. It highlights a notable deficiency in the standardization and formalization of process flows within Reverse Logistics.
This leads to the research question of the thesis which is How can high-tech companies standardize their information-sharing and communication processes to effectively manage high-impact issues in reverse logistics? To address this research question, the research methodology used in this research draws on the Information Systems Research Framework, integrating aspects of people, organization, and technology, both current and prospective. A comprehensive qualitative analysis was conducted, involving 22 semi-structured interviews for thematic analysis complemented by document analysis to delve into the challenges and impacts arising from the absence of standardized information-sharing and communication processes. Utilizing the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, this research explores the technological, organizational, and external environmental contexts that influence technology adoption, specifically Information Systems in an organization. Additionally, it incorporates business process management and standardization theories to elucidate the standardization of business processes and the role of information systems therein. This provides foundational insights for developing an Information Systems based process flow, while also emphasizing the importance of change management theories and models for ensuring its successful adoption. This comprehensive approach facilitates a deep understanding of the factors necessary for successfully developing and adopting information systems as a standard process flow within high-tech companies to manage high-impact issues.

This rigorous qualitative analysis based on the literature framework and theories reveals that high-tech companies seeking to develop and standardize their information-sharing and communication processes to manage issues related to the shipment of unserviceable and incorrect parts in Reverse Logistics require a comprehensive approach. This approach incorporates technological, organizational, and environmental factors that significantly influence the development and successful adoption of such standardized process flows.

This research, therefore, by studying the challenges and impacts resulting from the lack of a standardized information sharing and communication process flow identifies key technological, organizational, and external environmental factors, along with their inter-dependencies, that influence the development and successful adoption of such an Information System-based standardized process flow. A framework called IS-PSF is developed which consists of these factors and inter-dependencies identified which are further spread across the phase of change management (transition from an existing state which in this case is the unavailability to the future state which is post-adoption of the to be Information System based process flow). The research methodology employed to develop the IS-PSF framework is distinctive, integrating the TOE framework with theories of business process standardization and change management models.

There are many relevant academic and practical insights derived from this research. The research demonstrated that while documentation of agreed procedures, rules, and guidelines can contribute to standardization, true standardization is unachievable without the integration of information systems alongside these formalization efforts based on the nature of the business processes used. The research highlighted that high-tech companies should deploy a proactive strategy for understanding the need for standardization by monitoring the performance of the business processes using performance indicators or metrics. The research showcased that having a robust and matured IT infrastructure alone is not sufficient but the role of human factors and how the stakeholders make sense of a technology (information systems in this case) are crucial for selecting an appropriate IS on which the standardized process can be developed and successfully adopted.

The research highlights the role of effective change management communication and strategy is vital to ensure a successful transition from the existing non-standardized fragmented information-sharing and communication practices to the standardized Information System process flow. An effective change management strategy decides whether the change management will be successful or a failure. The research also points out the importance of periodic reviews of the process flow by the process owners for continuous improvements. The research highlights that at times, owing to customer requirements, market volatility, environmental regulations, and the aim to set industry standards, high-tech companies standardize their processes in Reverse logistics.

From a practical perspective, the framework developed in the research helps managers make informed decisions on technology investments and change management strategies, allowing for seamless adoption of new systems across organizational boundaries. The study's practical application of the conceptual framework bridges the gap between theory and practice, providing actionable insights for improving process performance and stakeholder satisfaction in high-tech industries.

Overall, this study contributes to the development and successful adoption of an Information Systems Standard Process Flow. This framework is designed to efficiently and effectively manage issues related to unserviceable and incorrectly received parts, aiming to expedite their shipment to suppliers for necessary actions. The goal is to minimize delays in the process flow through the development and successful implementation of a standardized information system-based process flow.

This study explores the decisive aspects during an evaluation for the viability of an existing innovative interorganisational partnership. This research focuses on six interorganisational partnerships within the maritime sector, using semi-structured interviews conducted with eleven participants from two perspectives, the strategic and the operational. The analysis found three aspects to be decisive during an evaluation, which are the task-related, the partner-related and the environment-related aspect. Among these three aspects, ten categories are found. This research provides academic contributions and practical recommendations for organisations and individuals involved in an innovative interorganisational partnership. Among these practical recommendations, the trigger for an evaluation, the criteria for an evaluation, and the involved individuals who should execute the evaluation are provided.

The energy transition requires the adoption of various hazardous chemicals to generate, transport and utilize energy. In this adoption process, value conflicts between stakeholders need to be considered to foster the social acceptance of these chemical molecules. To be able to anticipate on these value conflicts, this study aimed to develop and evaluate a methodological framework for analyzing and addressing value conflicts in the adoption of hazardous chemicals in the energy transition. By integrating principles from systems engineering and value-driven design methods, as well as input from experts in both fields, a framework was developed. The developed methodological framework consisted of three steps being: 1) Applying Systems Thinking to define the socio-technical system the chemical is adopted in and conceptualize stakeholder values (conceptual investigation), 2) Identifying values and value conflicts (empirical investigation) and 3) Classifying and addressing value conflicts (technical investigation). This approach innovates upon the default tripartite value-sensitive design approach by incorporating Systems Thinking in the conceptual investigation phase to suit the broader context of socio-technical systems design rather than just the design of physical technological artifacts like wind turbines and nuclear reactors. Furthermore, it combines parts of existing VSD frameworks in the empirical and technical investigation phase in a novel way.

The methodological framework was evaluated by conducting a case study on the adoption process of ammonia in the Dutch energy transition. To inform the empirical investigation, 11 expert interviews with policy advisors, industry players and research experts provided in-depth information about the values and value conflicts at play. However, it was noted that the broad nature of the interview questions limited the ability to derive specific technical design requirements, suggesting that future studies should adapt the interview questions to focus on particular parts of the socio-technical system if desired. In the empirical investigation phase, value hierarchies were constructed from the value level to the norm level, which provided useful for identifying value conflicts. The results of the empirical investigation revealed seven major values which play a role in the adoption process of ammonia in the Dutch energy transition being: efficiency (of both spatial planning and the energy transition in general), competitiveness, cooperation, safety and health, environmental sustainability, transparency, and (procedural and distributive) justice. The values identified in this study were found to be comparable with those found in related works on the adoption of technologies like nuclear
energy and wind turbines. Seven value conflicts were identified by comparing the norms related to each value and the framework was used to address and classify them. This allowed to derive policy implications.

There is a need for more transparent communication with the public about the energy transition, available technology alternatives to reach net-zero, the associated risks of those alternatives, and the ethical dilemmas that the government is facing. It was established that local communities are willing to bear risks if the government clearly states what the ethical dilemmas are in the energy transition and the choices made in these dilemmas. This vision can build social acceptance from the industry and local communities and address the identified value conflicts between safety and health, justice, and efficiency. In this vision, the government should also address their standpoint on the ethical desirability of adopting certain chemicals in the energy transition. Therefore, it is necessary that the government
has specified the intended use-cases for chemicals like green ammonia. This clarity can help address value conflicts related to competitiveness and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, it is important that the government keeps fostering a strong collaboration between industry and government. This is especially important when adopting chemicals that are new and where the government possesses limited expertise on. As the industry could possess the necessary technical expertise, the government could set regulatory boundaries upon collaboration with industry, enhancing regulatory preparedness. Moreover, to ensure that imported ammonia is produced green, certification standards should be put in place. These interventions could address the identified value conflict between environmental sustainability and competitiveness, fostering the social acceptance of ammonia adoption.

90% out of all startups fail, which is the cause of several reasons like lack of funds, lack of market need and bad management among other things. Digitalization can help startups to solve these problems, by performing processes more efficient than when they are performed manually.

The objective of this research is to build a model to estimate the average influence of digitalization on the success of a startup in all phases during their lifecycle among other established factors, according to their own input. Moreover, this research will investigate the current use of digitalization at industrial startups and how digitalization can help industrial startups to accelerate their innovations. Additionally, this will result in a few examples of how digitalization is used today at startups and a number of recommendations for further research.

This research focuses on industrial startups that are located in the Netherlands, because the Netherlands is a leading high tech country with a world class technical university and science hub and for the reason that similar research has been done in several other countries, only no research has been found on the impact of digitalization (on industrial startups) in the Netherlands. This research will answer the following main research question and sub-questions:

Main RQ: How can digitalization help industrial startups to accelerate their innovations?

SQ1. What are the obstacles that industrial startups in the Netherlands run into during the startup and transition phase?

SQ2. How do startups evaluate their digitalization strategy?

Employees from eight startups have been interviewed during qualitative exploratory expert interviews. These eight startups are divided in two groups. The first group will entail five startups that are currently in the early stage startup phase and the second group will entail three startups that are currently in the scale up phase. During the analysis of the data, the startups (and their data) in the first group are compared with each other. After this, the startups (and their data) in the second group are compared with each other and at last, (the startups in) both groups are compared with each other.

The different obstacles from startups resulted from different research methods. The obstacles that were found during a literature review are: a lack of funds, lack of market need, lack of experience, bad management, premature scaling and a strong competition. From the interview with the investment director of YES!Delft the following obstacles resulted: lack of long term vision, producing everything in-house, going to the market too late, not separating main and side issues & not clearing obstacles in the near future before they run into them. The startups came up with some similar obstacles, but also different ones, like finding (new) people, sales and/or customer acquisition, cybersecurity, lack of funds, big geographical distances, strict/heavy legislation, finding suitable (scalable) software programs, maintaining high quality standards, long negotiation times with customers and decisions of widening/narrowing the product portfolio.

All startups stated that digitalization is very important (one even called it a key success factor), however only three startups could give some kind of definition of what it is exactly and only two startups have a digital roadmap. Even though several startups stated that they would recommend to other startups to start as early as possible with digitalization, they all stated that digitalization is the least important in the first two phases of a startup compared to the last two phases.

The examples of applications that startups mentioned, range from the more simple examples like online meetings and 3D modelling software, to the more advance examples like an ERP system, MES system, machine learning models and newly created API’s. With the help of these applications of digitalization, startups can save time and money in the long run.

During this research it became clear that digitalization can accelerate the innovations of industrial startups, but it is not the most important factor and cannot carry a startup on its own. Digitalization is a tool to get somewhere and not a goal on itself.

The contribution of this research to the literature is a conceptual model that has been used during this research to measure the influence of digitalization (among other variables) on the success of industrial startups in the Netherlands. The practical contribution of this research for startups is to create awareness among startups about the influence of digitalization, the fact that startups can read about the obstacles that they could encounter and some possible solutions for these obstacles as well. Companies that offer applications of digitalization can use this research as orientation for the creation of tailormade digitalization solutions for startups.

Recommendations for further research are: to dive deeper into the phenomenon digitalization, to investigate why some startups say that digitalization needs to be used early, but then contradict themselves with filling in the conceptual model, the influence of digitalization at startups in other sectors and the influence of digitalization among larger corporations.

Much research has been conducted regarding which steps to take to enhance the likelihood of entrepreneurial success. However, entrepreneurs often turn to practical books for insights on what steps to take, resulting in a research-practitioner gap. This thesis aimed at combining different models and methods into one integral yet simple framework that is practically applicable for startup founders in the early phase: customer discovery. The scientific literature for these models and methods was included. The framework included the Customer Development Model, Diffusion of Innovations Model, Technology Acceptance Model, the Mom Test method and the Lean method. This framework was then tested on a practical use case to test the applicability of the different aspects in a real-life scenario. This use case was the company Plense Technologies, a startup I recently co-founded and still in the customer discovery phase. The metric of learnings and insights was used to assess the framework during this phase. Although the initial framework proved to be insightful, some additions were made. These four additions were (1) the distinction between directive- and non-directive interviews at the different phases of the customer development insight cycle, (2) interviewing suppliers, (3) the benefit of startup coaches and (4) doing an internship to get a better understanding of the customer. With these additions, the resulting framework proved to be integral and simple to apply in a practical context. Entrepreneurs can use the models and methods in the framework to rapidly iterate and improve the business model, ultimately increasing the chances of entrepreneurial success. Factors mentioned that may influence how the framework can best be applied are the financial climate, regulatory environment, culture, market segment, market type, product type, the role of the customer and the relevance of deep tech. These should be further assessed in future research to validate their applicability in different contexts.

Maritime sectors have been notorious for their slow paced innovation efforts and although it is an efficient sector, it has big impact on the environment just because of the size of the industry (M. Rahim, et al. 2016). There is a lot of activity on the seas, changes in this sector could make a big difference when making our world become more sustainable. However, the sustainable field is a field that is faced with wicked problems. There are always many stakeholders involved and their interests and expectations on these matters can vary wildly. Conversations are important to bring alignment and understanding across stakeholders (Whitemore, 2013). These conversations involve the political and social sciences to investigate. A list of stakeholders was drafted and they were assessed on the grounds of their discourses. A discourse is “a way of shared, structured ways of speaking, thinking, interpreting and representing things in the world.” (Guardado, 2018, p 72) The following RQ was formulated: How can different stakeholders regarding the sustainable transition of the maritime industry be assessed using the discourses of Dryzek?

With a basis of Q-methodology, a list of statements was created that, based on Dryzek’s discourse theory, is then used to judge the respondents on their environmental beliefs. Also the sustainability reports of selected companies where investigated. It was possible to identify the main themes that could count on agreement/disagreement and controversy. Nature and the existence of limits to our activities where rated highly, while the way to solve it remained controversial. People are more imaginative than their company’s current policies indicate. People see the limitations to the systems that surround them. The willingness of the employees is there, or there is a lack between the strategy of the board and the values of the employees. Further action is required to bridge the gap.

It is indeed possible to asses different stakeholders and firms on their discourses and the research shows two methods to do it. The set up of the interview and the statements proved to be able to provide information about the environmentalism of the stakeholder. This information gives an insight into the social context of environmentalism and brought forward interesting observations about the willingness of the employees and the stance of the companies. The reports indicate a gap between what is needed (and wanted) and what is currently being done. The companies should be more radical and imaginative in both their vision and their solutions, instead of focussing on the solutions alone. Vision is often omitted from the reports, an important oversight.

Overarching vision and motivation can be uncovered but the specific points of departure for technological advancement remain hidden. The thesis brings a contribution to investigations on stakeholder alignment in the clean shipping sector and uncovers some important issues. The firms specific operating context remains to be investigated with more detail, as to properly find the barriers that hold back solving wicked problems. However a good effort is made to indicate the grounds for disputes from the actors.