| 1. |
- Haftor, Darek
(författare)
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An Evaluation of R.L. Ackoff’s Interactive Planning : A Case-based Approach
- 2011
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Ingår i: Systemic Practice and Action Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1094-429X .- 1573-9295. ; 24:4, s. 355-357
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Russell L. Ackoff developed the Interactive Planning (IP) methodology as a conceptual tool to guide systematic and systemic development of organizations. One of its unique features is that such development should be ideal-oriented. IP has been well-received within the Systems Thinking community in particular; where more than 300 applications of IP are mentioned. However, it has not been easy to answer the question: “does the use of IP enable that which it is proposing to enable?” as there have been no systematic, empirically grounded, and critically oriented, evaluations of IP. This study attempts to offer such an evaluation. In this case, IP was employed to support a comprehensive development of a Department within a company. This IP application was evaluated using a set of predefined evaluation criteria derived from the IP as such and also from its critique. The results suggest that IP is indeed a powerful methodology to guide organizational development. While IP has several positive merits, a set of limitations were identified and serve here as a basis for deriving recommendations for the practitioners of IP and also suggestions of areas that merit further IP research.
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| 2. |
- Månsson, Jonas, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Transitions from part-time unemployment: Is part-time job a dead end or a stepping stone?
- 2011
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Ingår i: Economic and Industrial Democracy. - 0143-831X .- 1461-7099. ; 32:4, s. 569-589
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyses the effects of individual characteristics on the probability of leaving part-time unemployment. The results show that it cannot be unreservedly asserted that part-time work offers access to the core labour market. Among the part-time unemployed, there are great variations in the degree to which they are likely to leave part-time unemployment. A concentration of labour market policy activities on the part-time unemployed who are least likely to succeed in finding full-time employment can, therefore, be expected to have positive consequences from both equity and efficiency points of view. In this respect, part-time unemployed women, persons with work-related disabilities and persons with temporary employment come to the forefront. The article shows that the likelihood of finding a full-time job is certainly not great for persons belonging to these groups. For many of them, part-time job is not a stepping stone but rather a dead end on the labour market.
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| 3. |
- Haftor, Darek
(författare)
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Adapting to local ethical standards: a case of a global company
- 2011
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Ingår i: International Journal of Business and Globalisation. - : Inderscience publishers. - 1753-3627 .- 1753-3635. ; 7:3, s. 367-385
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The normative challenges that emerge from a global-local tension, particularly with regard to the supra-legal normativity structures, such as ethical, aesthetical, or creedal, are addressed here. This study investigates a globally operating company that successfully adapted to the local ethical conditions, which contributed to its achievement of business success. Theoretically regarded, it is not clear how the phenomena of globalisation should be conceived. This investigation assumes a novel approach to the conceptual elaboration of globalisation, based upon some selected components from the Cosmonomic philosophy of H. Dooyeweerd. A multi-modal analysis of this case is presented, which uncovers inherent normativity structures governing the involved actors. This in turn provides a rationale for why the alignment between the ethical and economic norms may be congruent and positive. In this way, some initial and tentative proposals are advanced here for an alternative approach to the conception of the phenomena of globalisation.
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| 4. |
- Pourmand, Firouze, 1981-
(författare)
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How do Small Firms Manage their Political Environment? : - A Network Perspective
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- To this point research on firms’ political behavior has contributed knowledge concerning large firms’ relationships and strategies with political actors and their surrounding environment. Less is known about small firms’ behavior towards political organizations. As a matter of fact, the fields of international marketing, international business and corporate political science have left the political behavior of small firms almost untouched. Therefore, extant literature assumes that small firms due to their resource constraints are passive receivers of political initiatives. About 99 percent of all firms within the European Union are small firms, and it is therefore questioned whether all these firms are passive receivers of political initiatives. The intention with this thesis is to challenge some assumptions regarding how small firms manage their relationships with political actors concerning EU related rules and regulations. Consequently, the study raises the overarching research question; how do small firms manage their political environment? Theoretically, the study takes a network perspective on business political interaction to examine both individual and/or collective political behavior of small firms. It develops a theoretical view constituted of knowledge, commitment and legitimacy. Methodologically, two sequential stages are followed: first an in-depth qualitative case study of three successful cases is presented and second, the in-depth understanding is broadened to a wider population of firms based on a quantitative survey. A central contribution of this thesis is to aid research on the political behavior of small firms. It is found that small firms, in contrast to prevailing assumptions, do possess political resources. They are not passive receivers of political initiatives. Instead, the findings show that small firms are active and can exercise influence. This, however, is shown to be dependent on the firm’s political commitment, political knowledge and competency and business-political legitimacy. It is also shown that small firms mobilize these critical resources not only directly, but also indirectly through various intermediating actors. Besides the theoretical contributions, these conclusions are important not just because of the managerial implications but also, and perhaps more importantly, for the policy implications that can be drawn from the study. Being exploratory and opening up the black box of small firm’s political behavior, the thesis ends with a number of future research directions.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Ahmed, Ali
(författare)
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Women are not always less competitive than men: Evidence from Come Dine with Me
- 2011
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Ingår i: Applied Economics Letters. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1350-4851 .- 1466-4291. ; 18:12, s. 1099-1101
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Are women less competitive than men? Many experimental and nonexperimental studies have documented gender differences in competitiveness. This article presents the results from a study that examines gender differences in competitiveness in the television show Come Dine with Me. It is a cooking show in which amateur chefs compete against each other for a cash prize. The show provides an unusual opportunity to study gender differences in a high-stakes game environment. The results demonstrate that there are no gender differences in competitiveness.
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| 7. |
- Bastani, Spencer, et al.
(författare)
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Public Provision of Private Goods, Tagging and Optimal Income Taxation with Heterogeneity in Needs
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Previous literature has shown that public provision of private goods can be a welfareenhancing device in second-best settings where governments pursue redistributive goals. However, three issues have so far been neglected. First, the case for supplementing an optimal nonlinear income tax with public provision of private goods has been made in models where agents dier only in terms of market ability. Second, the magnitude of the welfare gains achievable through public provision schemes has not been assessed. Third, the similarities/dierences between public provision schemes and tagging schemes have not been thoroughly analyzed. Our purpose in this paper is therefore threefold: rst, to extend previous contributions by incorporating in the theoretical analysis both heterogeneity in market ability and in the need for the publicly provided good; second, to perform numerical simulations to quantify the size of the potential welfare gains achievableby introducing a public provision scheme, and to characterize the conditions under which these welfare gains are sizeable; nally, to compare the welfare gains from public provision with the welfare gains from tagging.
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| 8. |
- Bastani, Spencer, et al.
(författare)
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The Welfare Gains of Age Related Optimal Income Taxation
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Using a calibrated overlapping generations model we quantify the welfare gains of an age dependent income tax. Agents face uncertainty regarding future abilities and can by saving transfer consumption across periods. The welfare gain of switching from an age-independent to an age-dependent nonlinear tax amounts in our benchmark model to around three percent of GDP. The gains are particularly high when there are restrictions on debt policy. The gains of using a nonlinear- as opposed to a linear tax are even larger. Surprisingly, it is of secondary importance to optimally choose the tax on interest income.
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