| 11. |
- Hansson, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
-
Bypassing public procurement regulation : a study of rationality in local decision making
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Regulation and Governance. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 1748-5983 .- 1748-5991. ; 5:3, s. 368-385
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using private contractors through procurement is common in most public sector areas. Despite the benefits of procurement, officials are sometimes tempted to circumvent procurement regulations. The aim of this article is to examine the strategies used by local governmental decisionmakers to bypass procurement regulations and to analyze the rationality underlying these officials' actions. Interviews, court documents, municipal documents, and newspaper articles describing the actions of Swedish municipal officials concerning special transport service (STS) procurements were collected and analyzed. In a case in which rural municipalities lost regular taxi services after STS procurement, we demonstrate how decisions were driven by pressure from the public and local interest groups, making municipal officials deviate from procurement regulations in striving to secure the existence of regular taxi services. One outcome was that local businesses were given preferential treatment, violating regulations and reducing economic efficiency.
|
|
| 12. |
- Öberg, Christina, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
-
Acquisitions and network identity change
- 2011
-
Ingår i: European Journal of Marketing. - Yorkshire, United Kingdom : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0309-0566 .- 1758-7123. ; 45:9/10, s. 1470-1500
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
|
|
| 13. |
- Sundin, Elisabeth, 1946-, et al.
(författare)
-
The Masculinization of the Elderly Care Sector : Local-Level Studies of Public Sector Outsourcing
- 2010
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship. - : Emerald. - 1756-6266 .- 1756-6274. ; 2:1, s. 49-67
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- – The paper aims to explore the consequences of new public management (NPM) inspired reforms in general and outsourcing of traditional public sector responsibilities in Sweden to private organizations in particular. At centre stage are the roles of entrepreneurs, women‐owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and socially constructed paradigms of gender in this process. The paper's aim is to explore, through a local‐level case study, the currently ongoing process of gendering and regendering in a female‐dominated sector. This is done by a qualitative real‐time study of the introduction of a customer‐choice system in elder care in a Swedish municipality.Design/methodology/approach– The formal decision in Spring 2008 to introduce a “customer‐choice model” into home‐based elderly care in the municipality is the formal starting point of the research. The authors are given full access to all relevant information and informants including all questions and suggestions from the potential suppliers who were applying to be “authorized and certified suppliers”. Interviews are the main method but also written material like applications and newspaper articles and “letters to the editor” are studied.Findings– The outcome of the changes are, from the decision‐makers point of view, disappointing. The consequences so far of the customer‐choice system, that have been examined here, can be labelled increased masculinism or even a masculinization of the elderly care sector. Whether the polarization is a presage of the process to come is too early to tell. If so, the masculinization observed in this paper extends along three dimensions: governing logic, leadership and ownership. These gender consequences are not those expected or intended by the leading local actors.Research limitations/implications– The study is made in an ongoing process. The politicians are making changes aiming at making better working conditions for SMEs and former employees especially women. It is therefore important to follow up what is going to happen in the future. Comparisons with other municipalities and other regimes, nationally and internationally, would also be valuable.Practical implications– In this case, the practical implications are, almost, the same as the research implications.Originality/value– The real‐time research design is used focusing on what is happening in practise at the lower organizational levels of an organizational “experiment” of this kind make this paper unusual and valuable both for researchers and practioners.
|
|
| 14. |
- Sandberg, Erik, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
-
Characteristics of a Logistics-Based Business Model
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Journal of Marketing Channels. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1046-669X .- 1540-7039. ; 18, s. 1-23
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In companies where excellence in logistics is decisive for the outperformance of competitors and logistics has an outspoken role for the strategy of the firm, there is present what we refer to here as a “logistics-based business model.” Based on a multiple case study of three Nordic retail companies, the purpose of this article is to explore the characteristics of such a logistics-based business model. As such, this research helps to provide structure to logistics-based business models and identifies a way forward for companies for whom logistics and distribution are a major concern for the overall strategy of the firm.
|
|
| 15. |
- Öberg, Christina, 1970-
(författare)
-
Customer roles in innovations
- 2010
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Innovation Management. - London, UK : Imperial College Press. - 1363-9196 .- 1757-5877. ; 14:6, s. 989-1011
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to discuss and classify the roles of customers in innovations. In literature on innovations, customers have been increasingly emphasised as a source for innovations and also in how they help develop ideas in their early phases. This paper exemplifies various customer roles in innovations through three case studies. These describe the customer as initiator, as co-producer and as inspiration for business development. Through using role theory to discuss customers in innovations, it becomes explicit how customers may play their traditional roles, add roles or transfer to new roles beyond the scope of being a customer. Furthermore, the paper shows that customer roles change during the innovation process from added or transferred towards more traditional ones.
|
|
| 16. |
- Öberg, Christina, 1970-
(författare)
-
The core-customer concept
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Service Industries Journal. - : Routledge. - 0264-2069 .- 1743-9507. ; 31:16, s. 2677-2692
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss the core-customer concept. This concept examines how a company develops its operations around a single or only a few customers. The customer steers what products and services the supplier develops, which means that it is the customer that dictates the supplier's operations. The core-customer concept may be one method for designing a company's operations, but the paper also aims to challenge companies to consider how they think about customers. The paper contributes to research on customer value and extended service offerings by indicating a business-development strategy based on the customer rather than the supplier's operations. Building a company around a single customer, requires flexibility and competences in finding collaboration partners or in adjusting the organisation to new requirements. The paper refers to these as secondary/supporting competences, while the core competence upon which the company builds its operation is the customer.
|
|
| 17. |
- Tinghög, Gustav, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
-
Individual responsibility for what? : A conceptual framework for exploring the suitability of private financing in a publicly funded health-care system
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Health Economics, Policy and Law. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1744-1331 .- 1744-134X. ; 5:2, s. 201-223
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Policymakers in publicly funded health-care systems are frequently required to make intricate decisions on which health-care services to include or exclude from the basic health-care package. Although it seems likely that the concept of individual responsibility is an essential feature of such decisions, it is rarely explicitly articulated or evaluated in health policy. This paper presents a tentative conceptual framwork for exploring when health-care services contain characteristics that facilitate individual responsibility through private financing. Six attributes for exploring the suitability of private financing for specific health-care commodities are identified: (i) it should enable individuals to value the need and quality both before and after utilization; (ii) it should be targeted toward individuals with a reasonable level of individual autonomy; (iii) it should be associated with low levels of positive externalities; (iv) it should be associated with a demand sufficient to generate a private market; (v) it should be associated with payments affordable for most individuals; and finally, (vi) it should be associated with 'lifestyle enhancements' rather than 'medical necessities'. The tentative framework enables exploration of individual responsibility connected to health care as a heterogeneous group of commodities, and allows policymakers to make decisions on rationing by design rather than default.
|
|
| 18. |
- Lindblom, Lars
(författare)
-
The Structure of a Rawlsian Theory of Just Work
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 101:4, s. 577-599
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article outlines the structure of a Rawlsian theory of justice in the employment relationship. A focus on this theory is motivated by the role it plays in debates in business ethics. The Rawlsian theory answers three central questions about justice and the workplace. What is the relationship between social justice and justice at work? How should we conceive of the problem of justice in the economic sphere? And, what is justice in the workplace? To see fully what demands justice makes on the workplace, we should first spell out the implications that domestic justice has for working conditions. When this is done, we can develop a conception of workplace justice and investigate what content such local justice should have. John Rawls's political liberalism was constructed for the specific problem of a just basic structure; in order to apply it to another problem the key theoretical concepts must be revised. Reasons for a specific construction of a local original position are given and arguments are presented in support of a principle of local justice, which takes the form of a choice egalitarian local difference principle.
|
|
| 19. |
- Eliasson, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
-
The unexpected “yes!” : Explanatory factors behind the positive attitudes to congestion charges in Stockholm
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Transport Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0967-070X .- 1879-310X. ; 18:4, s. 636-647
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Several authors have argued that acceptability for road pricing is likely to increase with familiarity. The experiences in Stockholm, where a trial period with congestion charges changed the public opinion from negative to positive, support this hypothesis. Analysing acceptability and attitudes in Stockholm allows us to study a situation where the population is in fact familiar with congestion charges, and explore what the decisive factors for acceptability are in such a situation. By analysing a survey collected after the referendum and the subsequent reintroduction of the charges, we analyse the prerequisites to achieve acceptability given that the public is familiar with congestion charges.As expected, low car dependence and good transit supply are associated with high acceptability. But the two most important factors turn out to be beliefs about the charges' effectiveness, and general environmental attitudes. The importance of beliefs and perceptions of the effects of the charges underscores the importance of both careful system design and careful evaluation and results communication. The strong connection between environmental concerns and positive attitudes to congestion charges underscores the importance of considering and "marketing" the charges' environmental effects. In Stockholm, the politicians' decision to "re-label" the congestion charges to "environmental charges" and emphasising their positive effects on air quality may very well have had a positive impact on acceptability.
|
|
| 20. |
- Ahmed, Ali, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
-
Sexual orientation and occupational rank
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Economics Bulletin. - 1545-2921. ; 31:3, s. 2422-2433
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a study of differences in occupational rank between gay and heterosexual males as well as between lesbian and heterosexual females. We estimate different specifications of an ordered probit model on register data from Sweden. Our data consist of married heterosexual men and women and homosexual men and women living in civil unions. We find that homosexual men have a lower probability of working in a profession demanding a longer university education or a management profession than heterosexual men. In contrast, we find that homosexual women are more likely than heterosexual women to work in such professions.
|
|
