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- Pallas, Josef, 1974-
(författare)
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Talking Organizations : Corporate Media Work and Negotiations of Local Practice
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contemporary business organizations are becoming increasingly medialized. The present thesis builds on the assumption that the media play an important part in shaping relations between organizations and their environments, and that we need to know more about the way organizations respond to and influence the media and the production of news. Following a close examination of thirteen major Swedish corporations and their media activities it has been suggested that business organizations are actively involved not only in direct media work, i.e. activities concerned with news coverage, but also in influencing the organizational and professional settings in which the production of news occurs. This involvement on the part of the companies embraced the production of media texts, the development of various relationships with the media, organizational arrangements for their Corporate Communications departments, and the professionalization of company-media interaction.This corporate involvement has been perceived as being exercised via a set of purposeful negotiations whereby the companies contribute to the co-shaping of the short-term conditions for the coverage of news regarding their conduct, as well as other general settings consisting the routines, norms and expectations that shape their long-term interactions with the media. It has been concluded that more attention should be paid to company-media activities identified as a negotiated local practice. This practice constitutes a formal behavioural frame of reference for the interacting actors, as it allows for the possibility of mutual adjustments and professional improvisations. Thus, with its suggestion for bridging between institutional expectations and locally developed solutions, the notion of negotiated local practices gives us a more comprehensive understanding of the way individual organizations interact with and co-shape their environments.
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| 2. |
- Spencer, Robert, 1953-
(författare)
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Strategic Management of Customer Relationships-A Network Perspective on Key Account Management
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with the key account management theme. The traditional view of key account management takes its roots in company practice and considers key customer accounts to be large complex customers with high financial returns - hence the notion of key - for the supplier firm. The role of key account management is considered to be that of understanding the characteristics and needs of thes key customers, then adapting the supplier organisation to better serve them, with a view to optimising on revenues. The nature and value of relationships with key customers per se receives little attention. The nature and value of networks of relationships influencing these relationships with key customer accounts is given even less consideration. Also, very little consideration is given to the strategic companty setting in which these key customers are managed. Taking these factors into account, the end result is complexity which goes beyond the simple issue of understanding the customer's organisational characteristics. The main purpose of the thesis is to provide a better understanding of the nature of key customer accounts and the forces at play when handling relationships with them. The empirical base used in the thesis comprises five papers with focus on important supplier-customer relationships. The main findings are the following: important customers earn their "key" status due to their value to the supplier across multiple dimensions, not just financial. This value comes partly from simple exchange of resources with the customer, partly from value generated within and by the relationship itself, and partly from the value of the network accessed via the relationship. As a result three corresponding levels of management exist, and no clear dividing line allows separation of the handling of key accounts from handling of the customer base overall. Consequently a proposal is made which suggests that an SMCR - Strategic Management of Customer Relationships - approach is to be preferred to a KAM approach.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Abrahamson, Martin, 1977-
(författare)
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Shareholders and Cherry-Picking IPOs : Studies on Shareholders, Initial Public Offerings and Firm Ownership Structure
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation explores investor characteristics and shareholdings of publicly traded Swedish firms. The dissertation consists of an introductory chapter, three published papers, and one working paper. All four papers use Swedish data. Two of the studies examine initial public offerings (IPOs) and the ownership structure; one explores first-time shareholders, and one examines IPOs and first-time shareholders.Paper I studies IPOs with the focus on initial return, the allocation of the shares and inside holdings. The paper presents evidence on allocation of shares to institutional and individual investors. The paper highlights the information asymmetry between institutional and individual investors and shows a wealth transfer from old to new shareholders. The results also show that money left on the table is received primarily by institutions rather than individual investors.Paper II explores the characteristics of first-time shareholders (rookies). I portray the rookies of the stock market and present a model to explain portfolio characteristics. The results show that despite the trend of individuals leaving the stock market, there are new individuals investing in stocks. I also show that gender balance among individual shareholders is rather even, which contradicts approximations of previous studies in other countries. The paper also raises the concern of diversifying stock portfolios, as the average portfolio holds less than four shares for all individuals and less than two for rookies. Paper III studies the relationship between IPOs and rookies. The paper highlights whether rookies invest in IPOs. The results show that besides bringing new firms to the stock market, IPOs contribute to that market, as they attract rookies to invest in the IPOs. The results also show that the return for rookies investing in IPOs is lower compared with rookies investing in non-IPOs.Paper IV studies the relationship between offer price and post-IPO ownership structure. The paper uses price groups and two definitions of breadth of ownership in the analyses. The results show that firms can affect their post-IPO ownership structure through the offer price.
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| 5. |
- Abrahamsson, Gun, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Problemlösningsarbete på låg organisatorisk nivå : Två studier om implementering respektive konkretisering av idéer om kundorderstyrd tillverkning
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The two studies reported in this thesis are about problem solving at a low organisational level in an organisational unit in a Swedish manufacturing company, which has adopted ideas of World Class Manufacturing. In the first study, we analyse, from an organisational learning perspective, the implementation of the well-known concept Continuous Improvement at shop-floor level and how management accounting may facilitate or impede improvement work. A case study was conducted in two workgroups in one production unit for about seven months. In one of the groups, management accounting facilitated improvement work with high organisational scope and, in the other group, impeded the organisational scope. Our conclusion is that management accounting may facilitate a high organisational scope by supporting the leadership style, stressing co-operation, dialog and participation, or, by the way the manager uses management accounting, make boundaries distinct between groups of employees and between departments, and therefore impede improvements with high organisational scope. In the second study, we analyse, from a rule-based behavioural perspective, how ideas of World Class Manufacturing are institutionalised in cross-functional problem solving at a low organisational level. A case study was carried out in two cross-functional weekly group meetings for about nine months. Problems raised and solutions decided followed a repeated pattern. The actors draw on instrumental rules, which can be described as technical as well as economic. We concluded that ideas of World Class Manufacturing were institutionalised as different variants of World Class Manufacturing in the different functions at a low organisational level. At the meetings, contradictory instrumental rules were activated by the functions and treated according to interaction rules. Two overall patterns of action, articulated the two main interaction rules guiding actors in how to treat contradictory ideas of World Class Manufacturing.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Alimadadi, Siavash
(författare)
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Consistent Inconsistency : The Role of Tension in Explaining Change in Interorganizational Relationships
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis commences with the notion that interorganizational exchange relationships are dynamic to an unprecedented degree. It is argued that, global production networks have integrated firms into interdependent structures that blur traditional geographical and organizational boundaries. It is also true that the same networks bring together companies with diverse socio-cultural and economic backgrounds. Thus, the thesis focuses on the complexity of the contemporary international business landscape. The purpose of the work performed was to understand the process of change in interorganizational relationships under these complexities.Through a qualitative study of two main cases and a pilot study, the thesis investigates the networking behavior and the relationship dynamics between multinational companies from Sweden and Turkey, operating in Turkish and Swedish markets, respectively. By examining how firms create, maintain, dissolve and reconstruct their relationships, the thesis contributes to problematizing some of the assumptions that are commonly taken for granted, but which underpin several studies of interorganizational relationship dynamics. The findings illustrate that as recent trends such as cross-border acquisitions frequently perturb the contexts within which firms are embedded, the impact might be favorable for some actors, while others might push for new and different ‘directions’, finding the existing relational arrangements and resource structures counter to their future goals. Yet, the actions of parties are constrained by the structural position in which they find themselves. Thus, the development of an exchange relationship involves multiple processes, often inconsistent with one another, thereby disturbing the stability of the relationship.Through the aggregation of each paper’s contribution, the “Thesis Summary” offers a wide perspective of the relationship dynamics. By incorporating both teleological and dialectical views, the framework proposed captures both the actions undertaken by individual firms to make change, and the structural forces both promoting and opposing change. Ultimately, the thesis offers a framework for investigating the impact of complexity on change in interorganizational relationships, opening doors to an improved understanding of the significance divergent perspectives and disruptive experiences have on relationship change.
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| 8. |
- Anderson, Lakin
(författare)
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Tensions in Transdisciplinary Research : A study of a climate research group
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a time of sustainability predicaments and ‘grand challenges’, transdisciplinarity has been put forward as an approach through which researchers can engage with societal transformation for a better world. This study examines tensions that arise in the on-the-ground efforts of researchers to establish and manage a transdisciplinary research group within a Norwegian university. Tensions have been of interest in both studies of science and studies of organizations. Scholars have inquired into the ways in which tensions between interrelated, divergent demands influence the work of scientific knowledge production and organizational life. Transdisciplinary research groups, centers and institutes are proliferating, yet studies of the tensions and challenges they face at the micro-level remain nascent. Drawing on intermittent fieldwork over a two-year period, this dissertation analyses a local case in which climate and energy researchers took a transdisciplinary approach in establishing a “societally engaged” research group and research center in a social sciences department. Key questions are: which tensions do they encounter? How do they respond to them? The study makes use of concepts on tensions and paradox developed in organization and management studies to inform discussions on challenges in inter- and trans-disciplinary research in practice. The case study identifies, illustrates, and analyses several tensions salient for researchers: between the need for both consolidation and interrelation; between the need to grow and formalise the group while also maintaining its closeness and values; between ideas of researchers’ relationship to societal change as both distant and engaged; and between the need to maintain academic autonomy while providing usefulness to non-academic actors. Various responses to these tensions are identified and explored, including defending against, and actively embracing them. The findings allow for rethinking transdiscipclinary research in practice, with implications for research managers, practitioners, and policy makers.
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| 9. |
- Andersson, Anneli, 1963-
(författare)
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Vi blev antagligen för många : Könskränkande behandling i akademisk miljö
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to further the theoretical understanding of gender harassment. I suggest an approach and a theoretical model that answers the question of how to understand and describe gender harassment both in terms of specific actions taken against an individual because of gender and the combined actions that constitute a gender harassment process. Due to the fact that gender harassment takes place in a structure and that the perpetrator needs structural support to be able to harass, the model considers existing power relationships at the workplace, i.e. how gender harassment reflects the distribution of power and structural behaviour of men and women. As my empirical material indicate aggressive behaviour and fear it is crucial to raise the issue of violence and to consider to what extent gender harassment is expressed av violence in the workplace. The empirical material contains broad-based and in-depth narratives about a kind of situation that is not well defined in the extant literature or elsewhere. It is essentially unknown whether gender harassment takes place to the same extent as sexual harassment. Even though quite a few narratives about daily working life bear witness of such situations they have remained largely undefined and little understood. In the present study, a combination of feministic organization theory about powerstructures at the workplace and violence theory is used to broaden the picture and to develop an instrument for understanding narratives about gender harassment. The results from the analysis, drawing upon material from practical gender equality work at a university and four in-depth interviews with victims of gender harassment, suggest that a combination of feministic organization theory and violence theory is fruitful for understanding the phenomenon of gender harassment. It is suggested that the proposed theoretical model offers a first but important step towards identifying and preventing gender harassment at the workplace.
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| 10. |
- Andersson, David E.
(författare)
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The Emergence of Markets for Technology : Patent Transfers and Patenting in Sweden, 1819–1914
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is concerned with the emergence of markets for technology and studies the evolution of patent transfers and its determinants, patent agencies and independent versus firm patenting in Sweden during the 19th century and the turn of 20th century. It explores how and why markets for technology emerge and under what circumstances by investigating the evolution of Swedish patent legislation and the patterns of patent transfers between individuals and firms. It presents a three-pronged framework studying: structure and actors, technology and transactions.Using a new and unique database covering every Swedish privilege and patent over the 1819–1914 period the empirical analysis reveals that although the transferability of intellectual property goes all the way back to the 18th century patent transfers did not start to increase significantly until the first modern Swedish patent law was passed in 1884. Along with the new law a market for patenting services also emerged where actors such as patent agents and the firms they founded, patent agencies, functioned as intermediaries in the market for patents and international networks of patenting. A few older patent agencies managed to create an oligopolistic setting where they introduced price controls through special interest groups.The thesis also questions the current dichotomous classification of independent and firm patenting. The methodological contribution lies in showing that research that depend too much on patent statistics run the risk of underestimating the importance of the firm when patents granted to individuals actually cover inventive activities that has taken place inside the boundaries of firms.Finally, the study shows that special marketplaces for the sale of patented and unpatented technology were created to help inventors find buyers and financiers for their invention and to help firms find new technology. The patent law of 1884 made it possible to trade in several submarkets of technology where the right to patent a certain invention could be bought, ideas could be financed, pending patent applications or the priority right to foreign markets could be bought and sold.The results lend support to the research emphasizing the role of intellectual property as a disclosure and diffusion mechanism for new technology.
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