| 1. |
- Box, Marcus
(författare)
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New Venture, Survival, Growth : Continuance, Termination and Growth of Business Firms and Business Populations in Sweden During the 20th Century
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation focuses on the formation, growth and discontinuance of business populations and firms in Sweden during the 20th century. It addresses some key issues in the domain of economic and social sciences, and in particular entrepreneurship and small business research: if and when firms grow, stagnate and decline, as well as how long firms survive and when they are likely to disband. Previous research has primarily analyzed these questions from a short time frame. Further, an individual or firm-oriented focus is commonly assumed. In that, alternative or complementary explanations to the growth and survival of firms may be disregarded. In contrast to much previous research, this dissertation assumes a micro-to-macro, longitudinal and demographic population approach. The period of investigation is over one hundred years. In addressing the growth and survival of firms, it takes into account the impact of firm-specific structural factors (such as firm age and size), generation (cohort) effects, as well as the influence of macroeconomic, exogenous factors. Further, the relationship between managerial/ownership succession and firm performance is also addressed. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal databases are employed in the dissertation. Its main empirical material consists of unique longitudinal data on new business firms, traced at the firm level from their birth to their termination. More specifically, seven birth cohorts – generations – of approximately 2,200 firms founded in 1899, 1909, 1912, 1921, 1930, 1942 and 1950 are included. The main findings show that ownership/management succession in firms had a quite weak correlation with firm performance and survival. At least at an aggregate level, and with some exceptions, it is debatable if the loss and replacement of owner-managers in small and in larger firms have any observable effects on firm performance. Furthermore, macroeconomic phenomena influence the conditions of individual firms as well as populations/aggregates of businesses. Both the growth and termination of firms and firm populations are found to be related to real economic (environmental) conditions; e.g. favorable macroeconomic conditions implied that firms grew in size. At the same time, under certain circumstances, the influence of structural variables (firm age and size) – as suggested in much previous research – is found to be of importance. As concerns firm growth, as well as firm termination, the economic environment and structural factors interact. These findings challenges individual or firm-level research that mainly focus on personal traits and behaviors in explaining firm success and failure. Other previous assumptions are also challenged when taking a longer time perspective into consideration. For decades, organization and business research have acknowledged a liability of newness and of size for business firms. While this might be true under some conditions, this liability of newness is falsified in the study: the termination behavior of some firm generations did not correspond with these assumptions. Thus, the perspectives and methodology applied in the dissertation complement earlier approaches in entrepreneurship and small business research.
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| 2. |
- Gawell, Malin, 1964-
(författare)
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Activist Entrepreneurship : Attac'ing Norms and Articulating Disclosive Stories
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation aims to extend entrepreneurship theory to also comprise entrepreneurship in non-profit organizations in civil society. Entrepreneurship is claimed to be highly relevant also to this non-profit setting. Since entrepreneurship theory is highly embedded in an economic discourse and a business setting there is, however, a need to elaborate on the two different frameworks. The analysis of this study is grounded in an empirical study of the entrepreneurial process of Attac Sweden. The study has been conducted with a narrative approach. In this dissertation entrepreneurship theory is re-contextualized in the framework of non-profit organizations. The paradox of profit versus non-profit is elaborated on as well as the dilemmas of opportunities, legitimacy and the bounding of the new organization. The analysis of this study shows that the discussion on opportunities in entrepreneurship theory is highly relevant also in the case of Attac Sweden. However, this study suggests to supplement the discussion on opportunities with a discussion of ‘necessities’ to relate to perceived convictions to engage and to act. This study further shows and elaborates on the close connections between the process by which entrepreneurship becomes and other group formations in society. The organization created through the entrepreneurial process becomes an actor in civil society challenging established practices and norms. However, the entrepreneurial process also reaches beyond the creation of an organization. In this dissertation an alternative framework for entrepreneurship, based on a social process of organizing, is developed. This framework connects the entrepreneurial process to group dynamics as well as to social movements and articulation of disclosing stories in society.
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| 3. |
- Larsson Segerlind, Tommy, 1964-
(författare)
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Team Entrepreneurship : A Process Analysis of the Venture Team and the Venture Team Roles in relation to the Innovation Process
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- New ventures are rather often founded by more than one person. Still, we do not know much about how these venture teams are formed, develop and finally dissolve. The manner in which the venture team roles develop when there is more than one owner is also a neglected area in the entrepreneurship research. It is argued in this thesis that the most prolific way of studying the venture team process and the venture team roles process is in relation to the innovation process. The over-all aim of this thesis is to explore what kinds of theoretical, conceptual, empirical and methodological insights are achieved by studying innovation processes in new ventures in a transformative institutional context, from the team-level of analysis. The empirical materials are a pilot-case (Tetra Pak) and an in-depth extended case-study from the publishing sector in Poland (Proszynski i S-ka, from 1985 to 2003). The method used in the thesis is a retrospective process approach with a phasic analysis of the polyphonical narratives of the experiences of key persons as well as data from archives. In the final analysis, a number of propositions are presented that relate to how the venture team process and the venture team roles process develop over extended time periods and in relation to the innovation process. The conclusions are that the team as a level of analysis helps us to theoretically understand and explain phenomena such as periods of divergence in the innovation process; the process of social commitments in the venture team; and how a venture team develops over time to a balanced and experienced expert leadership team. Methodologically, it is claimed that the polyphonical data collection gives more comprehensive, valid and reliable measurements of the innovation process. Finally, this thesis contributes with a story of the transformation of the Polish society and economy described in an unusual way via employing the team as a level of analysis.
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| 4. |
- Jüriado, Rein
(författare)
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Learning within and between public-private partnerships
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Local and national governments face increasing demands for modern, high-quality public services. To meet these challenges, a growing number of public organisations has, in the past few decades, ventured into public-private partnerships (PPP), a novel approach to improving public services by using the expertise accumulated in the private sector. Given that PPPs are often established for complex infrastructure projects, which may last for several decades and involve considerable investment from the partners, learning both within and between public-private partnerships is of utmost importance.Triangulation is employed in this dissertation to explore who learns, what is learned and how learning occurs in PPPs. Three case studies from Estonia and Sweden provide the main empirical insight into the topic. In addition, findings from expert interviews carried out at the European Investment Bank and a pan-European database of over 800 PPPs are compared with the case study results.The dissertation finds that public-private partnerships challenge existing theories on organisational learning because learning dynamics in PPPs take a different form than that found in strategic alliances. Organisational learning in public-private partnerships can be understood as occurring on five interrelated levels, each of which is characterised by a specific set of indicators put forward in this dissertation. The indicators take into account the creation and development of routines, flexibility, absorption of new knowledge, and informal learning. A managerial implication of the study is that institutional support for learning is likely to remain in the shadow of private sector consultancies unless the role of the PPP knowledge centres is rethought.
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| 5. |
- Svensson, Jenny, 1977-
(författare)
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The Regulation of Rule-Following : Imitation and Soft Regulation in the European Union
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Present times are sometimes referred to as "the golden era of regulation", as more and more areas of social life are regulated. But regulation is not only increasing; it is also changing. New regulators are emerging, and they are issuing new kinds of rules. These new kinds of regulation are frequently not legally binding, and are therefore labelled soft regulation as opposed to hard law. It is not compulsory to follow soft rules but many actors - including sovereign states - still do, and the thesis asks the question why this is so. Why do even states, which are powerful regulators themselves, abide by soft regulation, and wherein lies the regulative power of soft rules? Through an in-depth study of the European Union's pre-accession instrument Twinning an answer to the question of the power of soft regulation has been arrived at. Treating Twinning as a critical case of soft regulation, and using theories of imitation to grasp the meaning and evolution of Twinning projects, makes it possible to define three regulative elements involved in soft regulation. These are the combinative, co-productive and constitutive elements of soft regulation, from which the thesis suggests that it derives its power. First of all, soft regulation combines different kinds of rules, the regulation of identity and the regulation of activity, and a variety of sources of legitimacy. Second, it depends on regulators and regulatees interacting to co-produce regulation. And third, as its main result, it constitutes the rule-followers as formal, rational, and modern organisations. Accordingly, soft regulation has rather impressive regulative capabilities, builds on complex, dynamic, and social interactions, and embodies as well as promotes some of Western society's most strongly institutionalised ideas. The thesis argues that it is through these characteristics that actors, including states, are compelled to follow soft rules.
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| 6. |
- Söderholm Werkö, Sophie, 1972-
(författare)
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Patient Patients? : Achieving Patient Empowerment through active participation, increased knowledge and organisation
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study examines patient empowerment in two local diabetes branch organisations in Sweden. In particular, the study focuses on the organisations’ membership, participation and influence on external actors. The overall aim of this thesis is to explore patient empowerment in order to discern what influence patient organisations and individual members can have and how they use it. This study is based on both quantitative and qualitative empirical data. Interviews with active members from two local diabetes organisations were conducted and a survey was carried out to identify the members’ thoughts and feelings about their membership, motivations, participation and influence, as well as to examine their local organisation, its work and influence. The findings form an overall picture of how members experience their organisation, memberships and empowerment. Characteristics of the two local patient branch organisations were identified and the leaders were found to be intensely dedicated people. The interviews, survey and participant observations revealed the members’ opinions about their organisation, their reasons for joining, their involvement, participation and influence, as well as their understanding of the local organisation and the Swedish Diabetic Association (SDA) and their possibility to empower them. Without organisations, members felt that they could not have a significant influence on external actors and events.
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| 7. |
- Tomson, Klara
(författare)
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Amnesty in Translation : Ideas, Interests and Organizational Change
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Swedish Amnesty was founded in 1964 for the purpose of working for the release of prisoners of conscience. Forty years later the organization has expanded its realm of activity to include ideas such as women’s rights, homosexuals’ rights and corporate responsibility for human rights. When these ideas were first introduced, they challenged prevailing assumptions about what the organization should be concerned with. Adopting a longitudinal approach, this dissertation investigates how these three ideas have been transformed from organizational anomalies into organizational practices. This study contributes to organizational institutional theory in general, and the translation of ideas in particular. The study shows that the translation of ideas in an organization is characterized more by conflicting interests and power relationships than previous research in the area has suggested. Four different editing strategies through which ideas were translated into practice could be seen: assimilation, colonization, creolization, and loose coupling. The processes were driven by institutional entrepreneurs who had a personal interest in the ideas and who saw the organization as a tool for promoting their development in society. The entrepreneurs were primarily new members who were shaped more by their historical life trajectories than by the organizational context into which they had entered. The study shows that the institutionalization of ideas about new practices is an incremental process in which ideas are translated into the organization in piecemeal versions. It suggests that institutionalization is an ongoing process in which the practice changes continuously. At the same time this process is also characterized by a certain amount of stability. New practices blend elements of old ones. Finally, this study has shown that organizational identities and interests are not antecedents of action, but rather are something emerging in the translation process.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Karabag, Solmaz Filiz
(författare)
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Strateji Ve Endüstrinin Firma Performansına Etkisi : Türkiye'nin Öncü Sanayi İşletmeleri Üzerine Bir Araştırma
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study analyzes the effects of industry structure and competitive strategies on firm performance of Turkish leading manufacturing companies. The results of regression and structural equations model analyses indicate that competitive strategies have more influence on firm performance than industry structure. Findings specifically show that market dynamism and threat of substitute products reduce firm performance while industry entry barriers partly increase it. However, the findings also demonstrate that bargaining power of suppliers and degrees of competition have no effect on firm performance. Further analysis indicates that there is also an indirect effect on firm performance coming from the state support. Accordingly, state support influences firm performance through competitive strategies. On the other hand, all of the competitive strategies are positively related to firm performance at a significant level. Particularly hybrid strategy has a highly strong impact on firm performance.
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