| 1. |
- Al Ghafri, Aziza, 1982-
(författare)
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"I Wanna Be Free" : On the Challenges and Coping Strategies of Women Entrepreneurs in Sweden
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Women's entrepreneurship is often presented as important for creating economic prosperity at the national level and is said to offer freedom, independence, and emancipation for women. The purpose of this study is to explore the conditions of women entrepreneurs who have different backgrounds in Sweden. To achieve this purpose, this study focuses on the challenges women entrepreneurs perceive and the coping strategies they employ to navigate these challenges. The study adopts an intersectional gender perspective, grounded in research on entrepreneurship, gender, and ethnicity. It draws on qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs in Sweden who have different backgrounds. The findings show that the challenges experienced by the women entrepreneurs included lack of support, being belittled, being excluded, having to work harder and be strong and having to adapt. The analysis discusses that these challenges can be understood as a result of gendered perceptions of entrepreneurship and processes of Othering. Ethnicity and race also play a role in shaping these conditions. The interviewed women deal with the conditions through four strategies: the assimilation strategy; the positive strategy, the ambiguity strategy, and the change strategy. The coping strategies are discussed in relation to empowerment and emancipation. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to developing concepts and conceptual relationships to capture how gender, ethnicity, and race impact women's conditions as entrepreneurs.
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| 2. |
- Winborg, Joakim
(författare)
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Financing Small Businesses - Developing our Understanding of Financial Bootstrapping Behavior
- 2000
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this composite thesis, consisting of five articles, is to develop concepts for furthering the understanding of small business managers´ handling of finance. The main contribution is the development of a conceptual understanding of so-called financial bootstrapping behavior in small businesses (referring to the use of methods for minimizing and/or eliminating the need for financial means for resource acquisition). Empirical data has been collected through two survey studies and one case study. The aim of the first survey study is to describe small business managers´ attitudes towards and use of financial sources and to identify variables influencing the use of financial sources. The overall conclusion is that the small business managers´ financial preferences and behaviors are in line with Myers´ (1984) Pecking Order Framework (POF). In the second survey, the use of financial bootstrapping in small businesses is examined. On the basis of a cluster analysis, different groups of bootstrappers are identified and named. Furthermore, variables separating the groups of bootstrappers are isolated. Finally, it is shown how the groups of bootstrappers differ in terms of their orientation towards handling the need for resources, referring to an internal, social and a quasi-market mode of resource acquisition. One of the groups identified from the analysis of the data was labeled relationship-oriented financial bootstrappers, distinguished by their reliance on personal relations with external actors for securing resources at favorable terms. In a third stage, a case study was undertaken focusing exclusively on the use of relationship-oriented financial bootstrapping. The findings from the case study show, among other things, that different modes of trust are important means for the relationship-oriented bootstrapper in securing access to, and use of, resources. It is moreover, shown how the use of different modes of trust changes over the development of the business. Furthermore, insights from the case study, together with literature studies within sociology, indicate that the behavior of the relationship-oriented financial bootstrapper can be understood as a social contracting behavior for securing the needed resources. Against this background, the final step in the thesis is to develop the conceptual understanding of the unique characteristic of social contracting, as opposed to financial contracting, for resources. In so doing, it is shown, among other things, how the concepts of social obligation, social capital, and trust together constitute the basis for social contracting.
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| 3. |
- Saeedi, Mohammad Reza
(författare)
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Pluripotent Dynamic Capabilities in the Internationalization of Firms : Focus on Learning, Innovating and Networking in SMEs from Sweden
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been a considerable concern for international business (IB) scholars. Particularly, for those economies such as Sweden with small local markets, internationalization of SMEs could be fundamental. The firm-specific advantages (FSAs), including what the firm has and does, are crucial for SMEs to overcome in the face of their numerous different obstacles such as liability of smallness (LOS) and liability of foreignness (LOF).Examining the extant literature on the evolution of IB theories indicates that over time, IB scholars have been reaching to dynamic-based FSAs (what the firm does) as the source of developing and protecting sustainable competitive advantages (SCA) across national borders in a changing business environment. The nature of dynamic-based FSAs could be similar to dynamic capabilities. But, when it comes to determining specific component factors of dynamic-based FSAs (as dynamic capabilities), there has been little agreement between IB researchers. In other words, the room of the dynamic capabilities is still dark. In this respect, shedding light into this room, particularly in the area of IB studies, is crucial. In addition, after determining the component factors of the dynamic-based FSAs, it is also critical to know the likely relationships between the identified component factors as well as their impact on the SMEs’ international performance (IP) as an important outcome of the internationalization. This means that there is a potential theoretical gap associated with the conceptualization of the component factors of the dynamic-based FSAs on one hand, and a potential empirical gap on the other. Given both theoretical and empirical research gaps, the purpose of this study is to examine, from a theoretical perspective, the nature of the dynamic-based FSA and its related component factors in the IB context, as well as empirically explore how SMEs’ IP is influenced by the identified component factors of the dynamic-based FSAs.To perform this study, first of all, based on lenses of the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability view (DCV), the literature on organizational capability in the context of the IB studies was systematically reviewed to fill the theoretical gap. Consequently, three component factors of dynamic-based FSAs including networking capability (NC) as a relational-based FSA, innovative capability (IC) as an innovative-based FSA and absorptive capacity (ACAP) as a learning-based FSA were identified, all of which are pluripotent and dynamic in nature. Then, a deductive approach was followed to develop several hypotheses and the associated conceptual model. Furthermore, a survey strategy, collecting data from 330 Swedish internationalized manufacturing SMEs, was applied to accomplish the purpose of the study. Then, the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) as a quantitative method was used to analyze the collected data.The results of the PLS-SEM analysis show that the SMEs’ international performance (IP) is positively influenced by the three identified component factors, whether directly or indirectly. In this regard, ACAP and NC are the two reliable predictors (directly) of the SMEs’ IP. The results indicate that innovative capability (IC) does not have direct impact on the SMEs’ IP, and that its effect is fully transmitted on IP only by the mediating effect of the networking capability (NC). Further analysis showed that ACAP, as an endogenous latent variable, additionally has a positive indirect association with SMEs’ international performance (IP). Moreover, the results also indicate that innovative capability is directly and positively affected by ACAP (innovating-by-learning effect). It was also empirically revealed that ACAP is a very strong predictor for networking capability, which is labeled as the networking-by-learning effect. Another major finding was that in internationalized SMEs, NC is strongly, directly and positively affected by IC; this effect also is termed as the networking-by-innovating effect. The overall picture resulting from the PLS- SEM analysis indicates that ACAP in internationalized SMEs is a wellspring to develop both innovative capability and networking capability, as well as influence SMEs’ IP. Furthermore, these results suggest that the networking capability is a vital gateway to transmit the effect of the other two component factors on IP and, at the same time, directly influence IP.
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| 4. |
- Onufrey, Ksenia
(författare)
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Enabled by the past : understanding endogenous innovation in mature industries
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Mature industries have played and still play a crucial role in national and world economies. To survive and retain competitiveness, they need to innovate, as innovation is the driver of economics growth and industrial transformation. However, existing research does not provide sufficient explanation of how innovation in mature industries can be enabled based on resources and internal development logic of those industries, i.e. endogenously. Some previous studies focused on incremental innovation patterns, which led to an underestimation of innovation potential of mature industries. Other studies acknowledged a high innovation potential of mature industries, but failed to explain how, through what mechanisms, industry-endogenous logic can bring about major innovations.Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to systematically address, explain and conceptualize endogenous industry- innovation and its driving mechanisms in mature industries. To achieve this purpose, three main issues are addressed. First, the thesis investigates and conceptualizes the notion of industry endogenous innovation mechanisms based on the path dependency theory. Second, the thesis addresses strategic choices and actions by established companies that are rooted in the industry endogenous mechanisms and result in highly innovative outcomes. Third, the thesis systematically analyses different aspects of radicalness of innovations resulting from industry endogenous mechanisms.The thesis represents a qualitative, embedded case study with two main industry cases, i.e. the global lighting industry and the Swedish pulp and paper industry. The lighting industry and its sub-cases in the form of specific lighting technologies have been studied via the analysis of patents of leading lighting manufacturers, archival and secondary data sources as well as interviews with different types of actors in the industry. The pulp and paper industry and its sub-cases in the form of innovation initiatives have been studied with the help of interviews with leading manufacturers and research institutes, as well the analysis of annual reports and secondary data sources. The outcomes of the study are presented in the form of the thesis cover paper and five appended papers.The results show that innovations of any magnitude can be endogenously developed in mature industries. At the industry level, endogenous innovation is driven by innovation mechanisms that can be conceptualized as reactive sequences and self-reinforcing mechanisms. At the level of individual companies, the exploitation strategy corresponds to the logic of endogenous innovation mechanisms by enabling highly innovative outcomes and building on a wide range of resources available in the industry. The endogenous character of innovation mechanisms imposes certain limitations on the radicalness of the outcomes in the form of trade-offs in terms of how many and what particular aspects can be radically new at once.With these results, the thesis contributes to a more balanced overall understanding of innovation potential of mature industries and allows shifting the focus of discussion from whether mature industries can develop radical innovation to when and under what conditions they can succeed in this process. The results of the thesis also suggest several recommendations for managers in established companies with regard to how they can they can take advantage of industry endogenous innovation mechanisms.
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| 5. |
- Englund, Oskar, 1982
(författare)
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On Sustainability of Biomass for Energy and the Governance Thereof
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Due to concerns about climate change, energy security, and resource scarcity, non- renewable resources are increasingly being displaced by biomass. As with most human activities, the production of biobased products can be associated with negative impacts. Primarily, this relates to the biomass supply systems, i.e., agriculture and forestry, which currently are major causes of biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystem services. Developing sustainable production systems when transitioning from non-renewable resources to biomass is imperative. This thesis aims to clarify the meaning of sustainability in the context of biomass for bioenergy, and contribute to our understanding of how different forms of governance can promote sustainably sourced biomass for bioenergy. The thesis is based on five appended papers: Paper I analyses to what extent, where, and under what conditions oil palm for biodiesel in Brazil can be produced profitably, and what risks and opportunities that can be associated with introducing large-scale oil palm production in Brazil. Paper II lays the foundation for understanding how new biomass production can be introduced into landscapes while supporting rather than compromising the ability of the landscape to supply other ecosystem services. Paper III describes different forms of governance and shows how these can play different roles in promoting sustainable bioenergy in different countries. Paper IV focuses on how short rotation coppice production systems are affected by EU policy and how different governance forms can assist in adapting production systems to conform to the corresponding sustainability requirements. Finally, Paper V assesses how sustainability certification (private governance) addresses biodiversity conservation and contributes to our understanding of possible improvements.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Monachino, Michelle Sara
(författare)
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The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach as a framework for business involvement in health promotion in the welfare state
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation is to be situated in the debate about the development of the contemporary Western European welfare state, its displacement of responsibilities from state to non-state societal actors and the resulting concerns vis-à-vis the optimal distribution of responsibilities. Drawing, in interdisciplinary fashion, from the fields of political sociology, political economics, welfare studies, public health policy, and management, it focuses upon the involvement of for-profit, non-state actors into a field traditionally of state competence, that of public health. In order to do so, are considered two spheres of research and practice that frame and motivate the involvement of business actors in public health in the welfare state, and that have been seldom crossed: the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach and the health promotion approach. Through the means of a qualitative policy analysis relying on a variety of methods, literature review, document analysis, case studies and participant observation, this dissertation sets out to identify the features of business involvement in health promotion through CSR, and to examine and discuss the issues arising from such involvement in the context of the Western European welfare state. Specifically, the purpose is that of participating to the clarification and discussion of the potential contributions and dilemmas CSR initiatives pose for health promotion policy and practice, as well as unveiling the limits to such contribution. The findings suggest that initiatives formulated within the CSR framework are apt to allow business actors to further contextual health promotion priorities and approaches, as well as enabling the advancing of social capital and trust building at local level. Nevertheless, such contributions were found to be partial, limited by a number of specific boundaries inherent to the way the CSR approach is configured and to the way it is applied. Boundaries are resumed in terms of: coexistent rationalities and partial understandings concerning the CSR approach; lack of awareness of business actors concerning the health promotion approach and its dimensions; positive understanding of social responsibility; and limited instruments for cross-sectoral negotiation and collaboration. On the basis of the findings, the dissertation refutes the dilemmas, presented in literature, concerning the potential for CSR initiatives to constitute a mean for the scaling back of governmental responsibilities or the divulgation of a narrow understanding of health. On the other hand, it confirms their potential instrumentality to the pursuit of opportunistic objectives, such as market differentiation and regulation avoidance. The information collected did not allow discussing the aptitude for CSR initiatives to constitute channels for the direct lobbying of political élites or the exercise of organizational control upon employees. The dissertation further warns that the selection of causes, beneficiaries, and social partners operated in absence of mechanisms of alignment with contextual priorities and of inclusion of stakeholder interest into business decision-making may lead to CSR initiatives emphasising, rather than counterbalancing, inequalities in the access to resources and opportunities for health. Ultimately, it is recommended for the term CSR to be modified as to better fit the ensemble of business actors that may engage in the approach, for instance, substituting it with the more encompassing term social responsibility of businesses, or with any other term apt to the depict the dialogic purpose of CSR.
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| 8. |
- Millak, Jurek
(författare)
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Organisatorisk kompetens : organisatorisk kompetens och inlärning vid IT-satsningar i tre sjukvårdsorganisationer
- 1998
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of the study is to analyse and to create an understanding of the phenomenon of organisational competence in conjunction with the introduction of information technology (IT) or other competence raising measures where IT plays an important part. Comparative case studies have been chosen as the method and three different organisations have been investigated. The analysis and conclusions are based on a qualitative method inspired by Strauss and Corbin.The contribution to research from this study is as follows:In addition to technical and social competence the concept of awareness is introduced, which relates both of these concepts to the environment. Without awareness or insight into the competence which is required, or where and when it is required, the organisation is unable to utilise its total competence in a suitable manner. Further dimensions, both visible and invisible, are required in order to make a more penetrating analysis of the phenomenon of organisational competence.Two new concepts, core competence and peripheral competence are introduced. Core competence has a direct bearing on the core activity of the organisation. It is established in the study that organisational competence is developed when the investment relates to this core competence.There are a number of dimensions in an organisation which are extremely important if an investment in organisational competence is to succeed. These include cooperation among different employee groups, management support which legitimises the investment and the attitudes of the individual managers and employees. The size of the organisation is also important; it is primarily the small organisations which are successful. The financial circumstances of the organisation are of course important, but to a lesser extent than expected. Investments in organisational competence, as long as they refer to core competences, take place whether or not external financing is available.The study shows clearly that investment in IT should not be regarded as a goal in itself. In the successful investments, it is apparent that IT is only one of the means available and that it should be regarded as an integral part of a greater whole.For organisational learning to take place and for changes in organisational competence to be attained, it is essential that the organisation regards and classifies IT as part of its core competence.
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| 9. |
- Brink, Johan, 1976
(författare)
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Accumulation, Boundaries, Capabilities and Dynamics - Explaining Firm Growth
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to further develop the theoretical understanding of the growth of knowledge intensive business organizations. The overall aim is to understand the growth challenges of emerging firms in the knowledge-based economy. In particular this thesis addresses several aspects of the growth of small bioscience based firms. In a world characterized by global markets and rapid information transfer, the existence of firms can no longer be justified by established products and defence of old positions. The traditional logic of economic activities and industrial organization has instead increasingly been replaced by dynamic Schumpeterian competition in which firms compete based upon knowledge and innovations. This thesis depart in the emergent theories of evolutionary economics which focus on economic action and firm behaviour in a restless disequilibrium and endogenous technological change (Nelson and Winter 1982). Within such a restless capitalistic society, new firms play a central role in economic development. As a consequence, economic as well as management researchers has increased their interest in entrepreneurship and industrial dynamics. The emergence and growth new firms have been found to relate to both the introduction and diffusion of new knowledge, innovations, as well as generators of new employment. The growth of new firms is hence vital to understand from the perspective of industrial dynamic throughout the process of Schumpeterian competition and technological evolution and in the longer perspective, economic growth. The thesis is structured around the general, puzzling phenomenon of the relative absence of growing firms within this specific technological and industrial context. In order to investigate the research problem a theoretical framework is put together along two main dimensions. The first consists of a review of the research field of firm growth including such as entrepreneurial and organizational aspects. The second dimension provides a theoretical outline regarding the specific industrial and institutional environment and thus presents a context in which these new firms evolve. The focus within this thesis is primarily on the growth of the individual business organizations. The initial research problem centres around the empirically evident relative low growth rates of bioscience based firms. As a consequence of this low growth rate of firms, the industrial dynamics is instead shaped by entries of new actors, creating a highly turbulent industry. According to the dominant theories of the firm, the reasons for performing activities within the institutional form of a business organization, resulting in economic advantages of being inside the boundaries. Such knowledge and innovation based competition should be seen in the context of the firm’s unique trajectory and as a process of accumulation of associated specific capabilities and distinctive competences. Innovation is thus a process of knowledge accumulation of both internal and external learning, influenced by the specific context in which the firm resides. The lack of growth of new knowledge intensive firms within this specific industry is thus found in the complexities of knowledge accumulation as generating firm capabilities for further actions. The pressure on innovativeness and the ability for firms both to foster and take advantages of knowledge raises several issues regarding growth of knowledge intensive business organizations. Altogether understanding firm growth within this context might potentially be seen as role models for increasingly knowledge intensive firms within other industries. Even with more modest implications such findings might have profound effect when limited to the studied industrial context.
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| 10. |
- Ljungbo, Kjell, 1962-
(författare)
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Language as a Leading Light to Business Cultural Insight : A Study on Expatriates' Intercultural Communication in Central and Eastern Europe
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Language competence is decisively important in international business and could increase efficacy, efficiency, sales and profits. Language is an underresearched area in business studies though language constitutes management and the managers building structures, processes, cultures and personalities being the most vital working tool to get things done and make them understandable. Since 1970 Swedish companies lose market shares globally and in Europe. In an era requiring better foreign language skills there is a declining trend among young Swedish business people and students in other languages than English. The aim of this study is to investigate and analyse the role of language in intercultural business communication between Swedish expatriates and locals in Serbia, The Czech Republic, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria and indirectly also Russia and Poland. To understand the business culture in these countries the author has learned the local language in these seven countries taking 3687 private language lessons. This improves the researcher’s understanding of the culture and its people giving directness and depth in communication, independence and receptivity. This ethnographically inspired hermeneutic study holds semi-structured interviews with expatriates. Better language skills among expatriates – particularly in the local language - could make them more self-dependent and win contracts and it strengthens closeness to customers, relationship and trust, strategic view and ability and also operational effectiveness and efficiency enabling their companies to gain market shares. Using Weber’s ideal types the cultural significance structures emerge featuring the cultures in these countries showing that expatriates have to strengthen the ability of the locals in the areas of trust, responsibility and initiative, independent thinking, holistic view, win-win thinking and reduce fear while the expatriates’ own abilities in these areas are strengthened if they speak the local language. Language strategies permitting the expatriate to be more communicatively and linguistically self-dependent are having a common company language, using multilingualism or having the expatriate speak or learn to speak the local language where the advantages, disadvantages and characteristics of these and other aspects of the role of language are given in ideal types.
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