| 1. |
- Netz, Johan, 1984-
(författare)
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First things first - think before you decide : The how, what and who of idea screening
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis investigates decision-making activities leading to the initial selection of which new ideas should be selected for further development or rejected. This process, often referred to as idea screening, is described as being one of the most important, but also challenging, tasks to master during the entire innovation process. There are two main reasons for this: Firstly, not all ideas are good and secondly no firm has the resources to develop every single idea proposed to it. Thus, it is important to be careful when initially deciding which ideas are to be selected and developed into future possible innovations in order to eliminate weak ideas and retain those that have a substantial chance of becoming successful. Two alternative decision-making approaches are explored in the thesis (the intuitive and rational approaches). In the thesis, the concept of intuition during the screening of product and service ideas is demystified. The empirical findings show that decision-makers utilize five main underlying criteria when intuitively assessing ideas. Of these, the findings indicate user-value to be the most important one, or at least the criterion that most assessors emphasize when making intuitive decisions. The findings presented in the thesis increase our understanding of the use of rational and holistic intuitive decision-making when screening ideas during the Front End Innovation phase, as well as questioning the traditional view of intuition, as a decision-making tool that is only reliable if applied by those with a vast amount of experience and expertise. The reported findings indicate that, for example, users with an understanding of the idea context are able to intuitively identify the ideas that decision-making experts identify as the top (best) ones. Hence, managers faced with a situation where they are being inundated with new ideas can turn to non-experts for help.
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| 2. |
- Sundström, Johan, Professor, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Risk factors for subarachnoid haemorrhage : a nationwide cohort of 950 000 adults
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press. - 0300-5771 .- 1464-3685. ; 48:6, s. 2018-2025
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is a devastating disease, with high mortality rate and substantial disability among survivors. Its causes are poorly understood. We aimed to investigate risk factors for SAH using a novel nationwide cohort consortium.METHODS: We obtained individual participant data of 949 683 persons (330 334 women) between 25 and 90 years old, with no history of SAH at baseline, from 21 population-based cohorts. Outcomes were obtained from the Swedish Patient and Causes of Death Registries.RESULTS: During 13 704 959 person-years of follow-up, 2659 cases of first-ever fatal or non-fatal SAH occurred, with an age-standardized incidence rate of 9.0 [95% confidence interval (CI) (7.4-10.6)/100 000 person-years] in men and 13.8 [(11.4-16.2)/100 000 person-years] in women. The incidence rate increased exponentially with higher age. In multivariable-adjusted Poisson models, marked sex interactions for current smoking and body mass index (BMI) were observed. Current smoking conferred a rate ratio (RR) of 2.24 (95% CI 1.95-2.57) in women and 1.62 (1.47-1.79) in men. One standard deviation higher BMI was associated with an RR of 0.86 (0.81-0.92) in women and 1.02 (0.96-1.08) in men. Higher blood pressure and lower education level were also associated with higher risk of SAH.CONCLUSIONS: The risk of SAH is 45% higher in women than in men, with substantial sex differences in risk factor strengths. In particular, a markedly stronger adverse effect of smoking in women may motivate targeted public health initiatives.
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| 3. |
- Eriksson, Martin, 1975-
(författare)
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Trafikpolitik och regional omvandling : Beslutsprocesserna om isbrytningen längs Norrlandskusten 1940-1975
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to understand the decision-making processes concerning ice-breaking along the coast of Norrland, with the specific aim to analyse the activities of regional interest groups in the Norrland region and government agents at different administrative levels at the key stages of the decision-making processes: initiation, drafting and decision-making. The thesis also explores how institutional factors at different administrative levels affected the agents that were involved at those stages of the decision-making processes. As navigation along the northern Swedish coast must negotiate winter conditions which causes ports to freeze over, the government ice-breaking service functions as an instrument to compensate the export firms in Norrland for these constrains. Year-round navigation in the north Swedish coastal waters was achieved through a series of decision-making processes that took place during the period from 1940 to 1975. These decision-making processes are important to study since ice-breaking was an integrated component of the expanding heavy basic industries in Norrland and thereby for the rapidly growing exports during the 1950s and 1960s. This period is the decisive point in the economic history of the Norrland region regarding how the natural resources should be exploited and how exports should be advanced. This study concludes that the decision-making processes were initiated by government agents at different administrative levels. Official investigatory commissions were set up at several occasions to deal with issues related to the government ice-breaker service by the ministries responsible for ice-breaker policy. It is also demonstrated that the decision-making processes concerning ice-breaker investments were initiated by the government boards that were responsible for the operation of the ice-breaker service. In this respect, the study concludes that the government activities during the initiation stages should not be confused as a sign of regional interest group passivity on these issues. The activities of the interest groups during the initiation stages were primarily intended to draw attention to the problems caused by winter to regional shipping, in order to put the issue on the political agenda. As the decision-making processes proceeded into the drafting stages, the participation from regional interest groups was much more significant as the government offered interest groups forums and procedures for structural consulting through various organisational arrangements. The regional interest groups that participated in those arrangements were industrial firms in the heavy basic industries sector. In those cases other regional interest groups participated, they would promote the interests of those firms. As a result, the final drafts from committees and government bodies included arguments that favoured an expansion of ice-breaking to promote the growth of the heavy basic industries in the Norrland region. The analysis of the decision-making stages suggests that a combination of institutional factors at different administrative levels contributed to the outcome of the decision-making processes. One result is that the general aims of macro policy such as trade policy, growth policy and regional development policy were favourable towards an expansion of the government ice-breaker service, which would benefit the export industries in the Norrland region. Another result is that the sectoral organization within the government maritime bodies contributed significantly to the outcome of the decision-making processes. Large-scale planning and operational experimentation was allowed to take place within the ice-breaker service, which convinced the government that ice-breaking and winter navigation was a feasible transport alternative.
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| 4. |
- Häggqvist, Henric, 1981-
(författare)
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On the Ocean of Protectionism : The Structure of Swedish Tariffs and Trade 1780–1830
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the field of international trade there is an intriguing tension between the ideological allure of free trade and the political reality of protectionism. Typically, the former is favored by scholars while the latter has been more historically prevalent. Protectionism in the form of tariffs and other obstacles trade was generally a preferred trade policy around the globe in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Sweden was no exception and has been seen as highly protectionist and mercantilist during this period.This thesis has sought to shed new light on Swedish trade policy between 1780 and 1830. It has done so by quantifying and homogenizing tariffs and import bans in order to be able to analyze the structure of tariffs. The thesis stands on a theoretical ground which takes into account the different plausible reasons for setting tariffs. It has placed some emphasis on the possible tension between the desire to shelter one’s own industry from foreign competition and the need to use tariffs for fiscal purposes, as an important source of government revenue. It is therefore argued that tariffs need to be separated theoretically and empirically. A simple model is presented which aims to discern three types of tariffs. The model takes into account the tariff rate itself, and also the structure of trade and the presence of domestic substitution.The thesis has found that Swedish tariffs were generally high over the period and that protectionism was prevalent in a large number of economic sectors. There is tentative evidence that protectionist tariffs also distorted trade in certain types of goods, even if they didn’t have an impact on total import levels. Tariffs were also set so as to separate between raw materials and more processed goods, what is called mercantilist differentiation. Substantial empirical support is given to the claim that certain tariffs on inelastic consumption goods were of great fiscal importance, and increasingly so as the period progressed. The fiscal pressure maintained or even increased the import tariffs, which made it possible to decrease tariffs on exports.
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| 5. |
- Machat-From, Laura, 1982-
(författare)
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Identity, Old(er) Age and Migrancy : A Social Constructionist Lens
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- ldentity research in relation to ethnicity and migration has tended to focus an younger people whilst identity research in relation to ageing and old(er) age has not focused an migrants. This inadvertent mutual neglect has led to a lack of identity research that examines the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy together, a lacuna that this dissertation aims to redress. This dissertation departs from a social constructionist understanding of identity as situationally accomplished in the interplay between how one defines oneself (internally) and how others define one (externally). The questions raised by this perspective and addressed in this dissertation are: When (in what situations) and in relation to whom do old(er) age and migrancy (respectively) seem to become meaningful for identification? How do the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy seem to be negotiated? The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with 24 older migrants (13 men, 11 women) aged between 55 and 79 who have been living in Sweden for 18 to 61 years. Interviewees come from 12 different countries that vary in perceived cultural distance from Sweden. The findings suggest that identifications with old(er) age and migrancy seem to be dynamic and flexible rather than necessarily permanently meaningful, thus gaining meaning in specific situations and in relation to particular Others. External definitions furthermore do not always seem to match with internal ones. Regardless of how old(er) age and migrancy are constructed, they seem to be negotiable. This dissertation thus contributes to identity research by studying old(er) age and migrancy together and furthermore sheds light onto how the social constructionist lens allows us to see variability where stability otherwise would be presumed.
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| 6. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-
(författare)
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Interregional Migration, Wages and Labor Market Policy : Essays on the Swedish Model in the Postwar Period
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish model is perceived as a successful framework for combining rapid labor market adjustment with low inequality. Formulated by Gösta Rehn and Rudolf Meidner and implemented from the 1950s, it has been associated with the peak in economic restructuring and interregional migration during the 1960s. However, there is little empirical evidence for this. This thesis consists of an introduction and four essays. It explores three aspects of the model from a long-run perspective: interregional migration, wage dispersion and labor market policy.Essay I uses new data to track interregional migration rates in the postwar period (1945-1985). The results show that the responsiveness of interregional migration to local labor market conditions remained stable over time; it was neither higher during the 1960s nor lower when migration declined after 1970.Essay II employs a regression-decomposition framework to analyze the evolution of wage dispersion. The results suggest that wage dispersion was stable from centralized bargaining’s introduction in 1956 to the late 1960s. Afterwards, there was a rapid decline, likely because of solidaristic bargaining.Essay III contrasts the implementation of the active labor market policy to regional policy. Following a decisive shift around 1970, the focus on north to south mobility was replaced with policies to stimulate northern employment. Declining rural support for the Social Democrats and electoral competition from the Center Party caused this shift.Finally, Essay IV is a case study about mobility subsidy usage in Västernorrland County using sources on relocation allowances from 1965, 1970 and 1975. The results indicate that in the 1960s there was strong selection into the program by young persons with good labor market prospects. However, the program’s use did not change after the regional policy shift in the early 1970s.The collective results suggest that the policies associated with the Swedish model were minor for economic restructuring patterns. The migrations of the 1960s and the decline in regional disruptions after 1970 should instead be explained by studying the consequences of structural changes, how regions were progressively affected differently and the possible role that government policies played in directing demand for labor across space.
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| 7. |
- Olsson, Mikael, 1966-
(författare)
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Ownership reform and corporate governance : The Slovak privatisation process in 1990-1996
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Since 1989, there has been a period of rapid change of the economies of the former Eastern bloc. Within a few years, the majority of the formerly centrally administered economies had begun restructuring their economic systems, including the privatisation. of formerly state-owned enterprises. This process developed differently in different countries, depending among other things on their historical traditions and the momentum of their social, political and economic transformations. This doctoral dissertation examines the privatisation of large-scale industrial enterprises in Slovakia prior to 1997. In particular the thesis analyses the changing political and institutional framework governing the process and method of privatisation; and how the governance of firms was affected by the new markets and ownership- and control-structures that were established. Special attention is paid to the role played by investment funds andinvestment-companies established as a consequence of voucher privatisation. The research problem is approached both from an aggregate national level and from the enterprise level. The thesis includes a number of case studies of enterprises in Slovakia that underwent privatisation, and of investment funds that emerged to take part in the process. In addition, two panel-data sets were constructed for the sake of statistical analysis. The study points to the drastic changes in privatisation policy and its enactment, under different governments. It leads to the conclusion that privatisation is a highly political process, whose economic effects cannot be separated from its distributional effects. This politicised nature of ownership reform is shown to have some negative side-effects with regard to the development of well-functioning governance structures. It is, for example, pointed to that the capital market, as it developed during the period of study, was highly non-transparent,characterised by high transaction costs and insider-trading. The study also documents an increasingly concentrated ownership structure of the Slovak industry and relates it to the changes in privatisation policy. In the final analysis attention is drawn to a recurring theme in the study, namely the issues related to the relative stability and durability of the institutional set-up. In many cases an insecurity about "the rules of the game" led to short-term incentives and opportunism on behalf of the economic and political agents.
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| 8. |
- Stenfors, Cecilia U. D., 1982-
(författare)
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Subjective Cognitive Complaints in the Working Population : The Influence of Objective Cognitive Functioning and Working Conditions
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cognitive functioning is important for managing work and life in general. However, subjective cognitive complaints (SCC), involving self-perceived difficulties with concentration, memory, decision making, and clear thinking are common in the general and in the working population and can be coupled with both lowered well-being and work ability. The present thesis investigated the extent to which SCC among people in the work force can be explained by objective cognitive functioning (study I & II) and working conditions (study III), utilizing samples from the working population. The potential roles of other common psychological problems which often co-occur with SCC were also investigated in studies I-III.In Study I, high levels of SCC were associated with significantly poorer episodic memory performance during high executive demands and a trend was found towards poorer episodic memory, while not being associated with semantic memory. In Study II, high levels of SCC were associated with significantly poorer executive cognitive performance on all three executive cognitive tests used. Symptoms of depression, chronic stress and sleeping problems were found to play an important role in the relations between SCC and episodic memory during divided attention in study I and executive cognitive functioning in study II. In Study III, in all cross-sectional data analyses, high quantitative demands, information and communication technology (ICT) demands, underqualification in the work situation and inter-personal conflicts were positively associated with SCC, whereas social support, good resources at work and overqualification in the work situation were negatively associated with SCC. In all prospective data analyses, quantitative job demands, ICT demands and underqualification were positively associated with future SCC, including when adjusted for baseline cognitive complaints.The findings may guide prevention of and interventions for SCC among people in the work force.
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| 9. |
- Söderberg, Gabriel
(författare)
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Constructing Invisible Hands : Market Technocrats in Sweden 1880–2000
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Dominant market theories analyze markets as ahistorical entities without the need for professional groups that manage crucial functions within them. This thesis, in contrast, approaches markets as historical systems that develop over time and that can be constituted in many different ways because of different historical trajectories. Different professional groups managing market routines, further, are seen as a crucial part of markets. Two concepts are introduced: “market architecture”, the specific way a market is constituted at a given time; and “market technocrats”, the seemingly disinterested third party functionaries that manage routines in markets and advocate changes in market architecture. The thesis argues that market technocrats exist because of uncertainty and lack of trust between market actors, and that they are an important part of how market architectures develop over time. It presents an analytical framework for understanding market technocrats and how they interact with and develop markets. Four different aspects of market technocrats are explored: the process of establishing market technocrats in market routines; the capture of the authority of market technocrats by other market actors; the expansionistic behavior of market technocrats; and the way changes in economic theory, as an important part of how economists with technocratic authority advocate market change, can help to explain changes in markets. These aspects are explored through four empirical papers: The Market Technocracy of Import Substitution: The Role of Asymmetric Information and The Swedish Seed Association 1880–1935; Limits of Market Technocracy: Swedish Fertilizer Research and the Crisis of Objectivity 1945–1960; Central Banks, and the Pursuit of Influence, Prestige, and Legitimacy: The Creation of the Nobel Memorial Prize; and From Market Engineering to Institutional Engineering: Reform Economics in Sweden 1950–2000. The results of the papers form the basis of a hypothetical narrative of how the role of market technocrats has changed during the 20th century. This provides a roadmap for further research in the development of markets and the role of market technocrats.
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| 10. |
- Dahlkvist, Andreas, 1980-
(författare)
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Conflicting Contexts : The Implementation of European Works Councils in Sweden
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The European directive on the establishment of European Works Councils (EWCs) provides an example of how the implementation of EU-level regulation is shaped by national legislation and practice, and previous research on EWC implementation has stressed the role of national factors for the organisation and work of these information and consultation forums. This thesis addresses the EWCs from a Swedish perspective and aims to analyse the role of the national system of employee participation for the implementation of EWCs in the national context. Through an examination of the views and reasoning of national groups and organisations involved in the implementation, during the legislative process that preceded the national EWC Act as well as in the establishment and work of councils, the study illustrates how national factors shaped the handling of the EWC issue in Sweden. The findings of the thesis, which rest on an analysis of official documents and interviews, show how the national system of employee participation influenced the views and reasoning of national groups and organisations regarding how to handle the EWC issue. However, the results of the analysis also indicate that alternative influences, such as company-specific factors and the provisions of the EWC directive, were important during the implementation of EWCs in the Swedish context.
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