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- Johannisson, Bengt, 1942-, et al.
(author)
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Organizing Societal Entrepreneurship : A Cross-Sector Challenge
- 2015. - 1
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In: Handbook of Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development Research. - Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Publishing. - 9781849808231 - 9781849808248 ; , s. 130-154
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Allying and expanding the diverse fields of entrepreneurship and sustainable development research is a modern day imperative. The Handbook of Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development Research cuts through the different approaches and perspectives of the two fields to point the way ahead for research on sustainable entrepreneurship, outlining the motivation, intentions and impact of ecopreneurs in a local, national and global context.This Handbook paints an illuminating picture of the historic and current understanding of the bond between entrepreneurship and sustainable development. The authors explore the basic contradictions between the two fields and outline the transformative role entrepreneurship can play in achieving sustainable development. 45 expert researchers and their research communities from 16 countries across Europe, Africa, Australia and North America provide original and informative contributions on a variety of issues, from women’s empowerment to climate change and organic farmers to ecotourism.With current and authorative contributions spanning the globe, this Handbook will inspire researchers, teachers and policy-makers to compose their own understanding and contribution on the fast expanding field of entrepreneurship and sustainable development.
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- Schwartz, Birgitta, 1957-, et al.
(author)
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Den institutionella teoribildningens begränsningar för att förstå maktförhållanden och organisationers ansvar i arbetet för en hållbar utveckling
- 2009
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In: Nordiske organisasjonsstudier. - 1501-8237. ; 3, s. 82-98
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The article discusses the potential for using institutional theory to understand organisational behaviour, and to identify alternative behaviours that could contribute to social change with regard to environmental and social issues. The discussion is based on three studies in which institutional organisation theory has been applied, while at the same time it identifies a common need to supplement the theory formation with other theoretical perspectives in order to address the actors' responsibilities and the power relationships that arose when environmental and social issues were developed in the respective organisational fields. The studies show that sustainable development, in the form of the acceptance of environmental and social responsibility, comprises political/social issues in which the dominance and power of institutions affect how the actors act. In a comparison of the studies, the time perspective plays a salient role in terms of the ways in which environmental and social issues are handled in organisational fields as they continue to mature. The freedom of action enjoyed by companies and government agencies appears to be limited by this process over time, and the options for legitimate behaviour seem increasingly to follow standardised models such as environmental management systems and social standards. At the same time, the environmental and social issues become depoliticised, and those constructions that fit into the standardised control models take precedence over a focus on deeper and more complex perspectives. In this context, institutional organisation theory contributes significantly to an understanding of the ways in which organisations translate ideas and act to achieve legitimacy in their environmental and social behaviours over time. Supplemental theoretical perspectives are also needed to elucidate what is not constructed as an environmental or social issue. By combining the merits of institutional organisation theory with critical perspectives, we are looking toward a developmental process that will enable analyses of potential social changes in relation to organisational behaviour.
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- Schwartz, Birgitta, 1957-
(author)
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Environmental Strategies as Automorphic Patterns of Behaviour
- 2009
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In: Business Strategy and the Environment. - : Wiley. - 0964-4733 .- 1099-0836. ; 18:3, s. 192-206
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The article is based on a study of three companies, i.e., Volvo, The Body Shop, and Tarkett, focusing on their development of environmental strategies. Using a drama metaphor, the empirical case indicates in detail how Tarkett has been strategically able to handle increasing environmental demands. The study also demonstrates that Tarkett depends on itself in its relationship with other actors in its organizational field, and that this influences the interplay between the actors. The article concludes that the three studied companies adopted different strategies for managing environmental demands, and that the strategy each used involved a specific sense of “dependency”. The strategies are explained by institutional automorphism, which means that the companies imitate themselves, employing strategies similar to those they have previously used when tackling other changes in their organizational fields.
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- Schwartz, Birgitta, 1957
(author)
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Företagsstrategier för olika miljöutmaningar
- 1995
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In: Miljöstrategier : ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv Ed. by Dobers, P. & Wolff,R.. - Stockholm : Nerenius & Santérus Förlag. - 9188384640 ; , s. 71-92
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
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- Schwartz, Birgitta, 1957-, et al.
(author)
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Holding on to the anomaly of social entrepreneuring dilemmas in starting up and running a fair-trade enterprise
- 2013
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In: Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. - London : Routledge. - 1942-0676 .- 1942-0684. ; 4:2, s. 237-255
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The different shapes taken on by social entrepreneurship in contemporary society show that social goals are integrated by commercial enterprises and commercial goals are incorporated by organisations with a social mission. Combining a social mission with commercial goals is often presented as a “win-win” situation. In this article we highlight the potential tensions and conflicts created by the conflicting demands and expectations when the institutional non-profit and for-profit logics meet in social entrepreneuring. From this viewpoint, social entrepreneurship is an anomaly which seems difficult to resolve. Despite this we often read descriptions of social entrepreneurs as heroes, which shows how social entrepreneurship is glorified and part of the marketisation of society. This article sets out to present a more complex and problematic picture of practising social entrepreneurship where the obvious “win-win” situations more often appear as “win-lose” and sometimes even as “lose-lose”. From a three-year ethnographic study of an emerging fair-trade enterprise, the concept of disharmony shows that dilemmas are part of everyday life in social entrepreneuring. Instead of posing insoluble conflicts, dilemmas light the way for the individual social entrepreneur. They are managed through temporary rationalisation; finding a way to integrate conflicting demands into the life of a social entrepreneur. Disharmony includes moments of identity struggle, but is also a learning process in which the social entrepreneur tries to understand the difference between what she does and what she actually achieves.
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- Schwartz, Birgitta, 1957-
(author)
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Is Fair Trade a fair tool for implementing CSR in different contexts?
- 2011
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paper is based on a study of how a Swedish Fair Trade textile company interplays with other organizations such as business customers, Fair Trade suppliers in India and NGOs and how they act for changing the situation in India regarding to social and environmental issues. The paper discusses how the idea of Fair Trade is interpreted by the actors and how they translate Fair Trade into practical actions in relation to the contexts of Sweden and India. The study shows that the diffusion and translation process of Fair Trade and sustainability issues in India is dependent on actions driven by the actors’ contextualized values and norms. The Swedish actors focus on Western management models such as standards and certifications since they see control and legitimacy as important. The Indian Fair Trade supplier adapts to the standards and certifications and utilizes them for making business outside India. This adaption could also been seen as postcolonial coercive forces that maintain asymmetrical power relations when Swedish and European customers also make their own controls of the suppliers compliance to the CSR standards. A Fair Trade paradox could be seen as the Swedish Fair Trade companies in the Indian context are forced to make business in the profit maximizing logic, a logic that they as change agents for Fair Trade try to change due to its utilization of workers.
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