This thesis traces the history of organization from the society of Ancient Athens, through the medieval Church, the Industrial Age, and the 20th century – the latter characterized by the Bureaucratic, Administratively controlled, and Hierarchical (BAH) organization – until today’s contemporary reality of Ubiquitous Connectivity and Pervasive Proximity (UCaPP). Organizations are rarely, if ever, entirely BAH or entirely UCaPP, but do tend to have tendencies and behaviours that are more consistent with either end of a spectrum delineated by this duality. Valence Theory defines organization as being an emergent entity whose members (individuals or organizations) are connected via two or more of five valence (meaning uniting, bonding, interacting, reacting, combining) relationships. Each of these relationships – Economic, Socio-psychological, Identity, Knowledge, and Ecological – has a fungible (mercantile or tradable) aspect, and a ba-aspect that creates a space-and-place of common, tacit understanding of self-identification-in-relation, mutual sense of purpose, and volition to action. Organizations with more-BAH tendencies will emphasize the fungible valence forms, and primarily tend towards Economic valence dominance; more-UCaPP organizations tend to emphasize ba-valence forms, and are more balanced among the relative valence strengths. The empirical research investigates five organizations spanning the spectrum from über-BAH to archetypal UCaPP and discovers how BAH-organizations replace the complexity of human dynamics in social systems with the complication of machine-analogous procedures that enable structural interdependence, individual responsibility, and leader accountability. In contrast, UCaPP-organizations encourage and enable processes of continual emergence by valuing and promoting complex interactions in an environment of individual autonomy and agency, collective responsibility, and mutual accountability. The consequential differences in how each type of organization operates manifest as the methods through which organizations accommodate change, coordination, evaluation, impetus, power dynamics, sense-making, and view of people. Particular attention is paid to the respective natures of leadership, and effecting organizational transformation from one type to the other. Set in counterpoint against Zen-like, artistically constructed conversations with a thought-provoking interior sensei, the thesis offers a new foundational model of organization for the current cultural epoch that enables people to assume their responsibility in creating relationships and perceiving effects in the context of a UCaPP world.

This essay is a business history about the Swedish midsized tobacco company J A Boman & Co, previously Ferd Körner and Körner & Boman, which was part of the blooming tobacco industry in Sweden during the 19th century.  One purpose of the essay is to fill a gap within both business history in general and the study of tobacco companies in particular, since they both tend to favor studies on larger companies. The other purpose is to find a methodological way to study a smaller sized, older company with very few sources from the actual company. The essay seeks to answer questions about the company’s production history and how it changed over the years. The study takes use of both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the company and how it developed over time. It is not an essay deeply embedded in theory, it rather seeks to use different theoretical approaches. One approach is a micro level macro theory, that claims that a company only can be understood through the macro level and that the company, itself being the micro level, can deliver exciting new findings that creates a deeper understanding for the macro level. Throughout the essay, the company’s production statistics are examined, and combined with newspaper articles, letters and previous academic works within the field, the essay closes in on answers to the questions that were introduced in the beginning. The examination of the company finds that the midsized company managed to survive through adaptability to its time and circumstances. The company chose to sell their products through merchants instead of directly to the consumers, unlike most of the other tobacco companies at the time. The methodological problem, which was part of the essay’s purpose, was resolved by the combined method described earlier in the abstract, although the essay would admittedly have been better if there had been some papers left from the examined company.

Organising is the general process by which we structure our world. It is a process that goes beyond social ordering by involving also the technical and the natural realms. Further, it is a process which involves us all. All the time. This dissertation focuses on the organising of business enterprise, more specifically, the organising of food distribution. It is study of formative events in the history of ICA, a major Swedish food distributor. The study provides a detailed account of the development of Hakonbolaget, one of four purchasing centres that formed ICA. Primarily, it accounts for Hakonbolaget´s efforts to establish a modern, rational food distribution system in the 1940s and 1950s. The thrust of these efforts was directed toward three areas of rationalisation: internal operations at the wholesale warehouses, retail operations, and wholesale-retail interaction. Incidentally, these were also central themes in the public debate about the growing costs of goods distribution in Sweden at the time. Through its efforts, Hakonbolaget realised a number of new solutions and established something of a model for modern food distribution. A model that came to characterise operation within ICA from the 1960s and well into the 1990s. Drawing on work within the sociology of science and technology, a conceptual vocabulary is developed for analysing the process of organising. This vocabulary suggests that organising can be regarded as a framing process – as attempts to define and realise sociotechnical situations. The inherent instability of such situations makes stability rather than change a puzzling observation. Consequently, change processes should be regarded as efforts to stabilise situations. Such efforts are closely linked to the establishment of metrics and the generation of representations. In addition to traditional social aspects of organising, the vocabulary also directs attention to the whole heterogeneous materials that surround us. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001

O objetivo deste estudo foi escrever a história da empresa têxtil Malharia Nossa Senhora da Conceição, pioneira na fabricação de meias finas na América Latina, sediada na cidade de Jacareí SP. Ela foi fundada em 1879, por Luiz Simon e, a partir de 1944, passou a pertencer à família Haddad. A relevância do estudo está no fato de ser uma empresa centenária, ainda ativa, que permitiu a análise do modelo de industrialização brasileira através da sua história. Ao longo de sua trajetória, comprovou-se que as principais características da Malharia foram: a visão estratégica para buscar oportunidades, a inovação e a qualidade. A empresa conquistou espaço no mercado, mesmo em épocas de crise. Utilizou das mais avançadas tecnologias para a produção de meias e buscou a qualidade para diferenciar os seus produtos no mercado. No transcorrer de sua existência, a qualidade dos produtos gerou o reconhecimento através de diversos prêmios e homenagens recebidos. A inovação foi demonstrada pelo seu pionerismo na produção de diversos produtos. Isso evidenciou a prosperidade dessa fábrica através de sua tradição consolidada por mais de um século de existência e de sua permanência no mercado até os dias atuais. Para a elaboração deste trabalho, fez-se um levantamento bibliográfico sobre o assunto; uma pesquisa documental no acervo da Malharia Nossa Senhora da Conceição e da Imprensa Oficial do Estado de São Paulo e uma entrevista com o principal executivo da organização. O levantamento dos dados sobre a trajetória da empresa tem grande importância porque foi elaborado, por meio de um trabalho consistente de crítica e de seleção de informações que se apresenta como um instrumento que contribuirá para uma melhor compreensão da história da empresa, da região em que ela atua e do próprio país. / The purpose of this study was to write the history of the textile company Malharia Nossa Senhora da Conceição, the pioneer in the manufacture of stockings in Latin America, headquartered in Jacareí SPs city. It was founded in 1879 by Simon Luiz; however, Haddad family owned since 1944. The relevance of the study is the fact that a century-old company, still active, alloawed the analysis of the model of Brazilian industrialization through its history. Throughout its career was shown that the main features of Malharia were strategic vision to pursue opportunities, the innovation and the quality. The company has space in the market, even in crisiss times. It is used the most advanced technologies for the production of socks and the quality to differentiate their products on the market. The quality of their products given recognition through several awards and honors received. The innovation was demonstrated by its pioneering in the production of several products. This showed the prosperity of the plant through its established tradition for more than a century and remain on the market nowadays. To do this work, there was several literature on the subject, documentary research on the achievements of Malharia Nossa Senhora da Conceição and an interview with the CEO of the organization. It was proven the relevance of the study on the history of business writing, through a consistent and critical selection of information that is presented as an instrument that will contribute to better understanding of the companys history, the region in which it acts and the country itself.

Die detaillierte Aufarbeitung der Unternehmensgeschichte von Siemens bot zum einen Möglichkeiten die kontrafaktische Analyse exemplarisch anzuwenden. Zum anderen konnte im Rahmen der Untersuchung von Pfadabhängigkeiten und der Anwendung dieses Konzepts auf die Entwicklung des Unternehmens eine solche bezogen auf das Wachstum festgestellt werden. Im Falle Siemens führten demnach die Economies of Scale zu einem Wechsel an der Unternehmensspitze.

L’existence et la mise à disposition d’un important matériau documentaire composé d’archives visuelles(affiches, photographies, films) ont révélé les potentialités d’une recherche approfondie et systématique sur lesmodalités de création d’images par l’entreprise de chocolats Suchard de 1945 à 1990, date qui correspond à lafermeture des ateliers de fabrication de Neuchâtel. Cette recherche est l’occasion de développer dessoubassements méthodologiques à même de participer au renouvellement de l’histoire d’entreprise par lerecours à des sources permettant d’en saisir l’univers visuel. La création des images se réalise au travers d’unecollaboration entre des acteurs internes et externes à l’entreprise. La seconde moitié du XXe siècle correspondà une professionnalisation de la fabrique d’images au cours de laquelle les différents supports s’accumulent,mais aussi s’articulent, se complètent ou parfois se concurrencent, au sein de la pratique de l’entreprise. Lesphotographies se font le reflet d’événements, positifs ou négatifs, qui agissent directement sur la fabrication.Elles apparaissent comme un outil de relations publiques, notamment au travers de la médiatisation des visitesd’usine. Les films institutionnels se veulent le reflet d’une évolution plus structurelle de l’entreprise, sensiblesà sa raison sociale, à sa diversification, à son implantation. Au niveau des collaborateurs, l’image permetd’accroître la reconnaissance envers des corps de métiers qui ne sont en contact avec les autres queponctuellement. Quant aux machines, elles peuvent constituer autant un facteur favorable que défavorable àl’image de l’entreprise. Les facteurs incitant l’entreprise à représenter la machine permettent de définir lescontours du concept de modernité. Jusqu’au milieu des années 1970, l’image productive, incarnée par uneorganisation systématique des ateliers et des machines, prend un sens positif. Dans la seconde moitié desannées 1970, en période de récession économique, la machine permet une réduction des coûts de fabricationpar une diminution de la masse salariale. Sur le plan de l’image du produit, l’étude montre qu’il faut sedébarrasser de l’association unique du chocolat suisse avec la montagne. Cette construction est largement lereflet d’un regard de l’étranger et ne constitue pas une constante en Suisse. Depuis le début des années 1950 etpendant plus d’une vingtaine d’années, le chocolat Milka n’est pas associé à l’image du lait et de la montagne,mais bien à un environnement urbain. Ce refus de « suissitude » pendant les Trente Glorieuses s’évanouit dansles années 1970 en partie sous l’impulsion de l’étranger. Suchard renoue alors avec les symboles alpestresfondamentaux. / The existence and availability of an important documentary material composed of visual archives (posters,photographs, films) have revealed the potentialities of a thorough and systematic research on how thechocolates company Suchard, based in Neuchâtel (Switzerland), created images from 1945 to 1990, date of theclosure of the manufacturing facilities. This research is the cause of developing methodological foundationsable to participate in the renewal of business history by the use of visual sources. The creation of images wasmade by actors both within and outside the company. The second half of the twentieth century correspond to aprofessionalization of the “picture factory” in which different media pile up, articulate, complete or compete.Photographs reflect positive or negative events directly linked with the production state. They appear as apublic relations tool, particularly through the factory visits. Films are intended to reflect an institutionalevolution of the company, sensitive to its name, its diversification, its implementation. Regarding to theproduction image, staff pictures enhance the recognition for the employees that are only occasionally incontact with others. The machines are as much a favourable as an unfavourable factor for the enterprise’simage. Factors inciting the company to represent the machine make it possible to define the concept ofindustrial modernity. Until the mid-1970s, productive image, embodied by a systematic organization ofworkshops and machines, takes a positive sense. In the second half of the 1970s, in times of economicrecession, the machine reduces manufacturing costs by reducing payrolls. In terms of the product image, thestudy shows it takes to get rid of the unique association of Swiss chocolate with the mountains. Thisconstruction is largely a reflection of a view from abroad and is not a constant in Switzerland. Since the early1950s and for over twenty years, Milka chocolate was not associated with the image of milk and mountains,but with an urban environment. This refusal of “Swissness” during the post-war boom faded in the 1970s,partly under the impetus from abroad. Suchard then revived with the basic alpine symbols.

This dissertation focuses on the formation, growth and discontinuance of business populations and firms in Sweden during the 20th century. It addresses some key issues in the domain of economic and social sciences, and in particular entrepreneurship and small business research: if and when firms grow, stagnate and decline, as well as how long firms survive and when they are likely to disband. Previous research has primarily analyzed these questions from a short time frame. Further, an individual or firm-oriented focus is commonly assumed. In that, alternative or complementary explanations to the growth and survival of firms may be disregarded. In contrast to much previous research, this dissertation assumes a micro-to-macro, longitudinal and demographic population approach. The period of investigation is over one hundred years. In addressing the growth and survival of firms, it takes into account the impact of firm-specific structural factors (such as firm age and size), generation (cohort) effects, as well as the influence of macroeconomic, exogenous factors. Further, the relationship between managerial/ownership succession and firm performance is also addressed. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal databases are employed in the dissertation. Its main empirical material consists of unique longitudinal data on new business firms, traced at the firm level from their birth to their termination. More specifically, seven birth cohorts – generations – of approximately 2,200 firms founded in 1899, 1909, 1912, 1921, 1930, 1942 and 1950 are included. The main findings show that ownership/management succession in firms had a quite weak correlation with firm performance and survival. At least at an aggregate level, and with some exceptions, it is debatable if the loss and replacement of owner-managers in small and in larger firms have any observable effects on firm performance. Furthermore, macroeconomic phenomena influence the conditions of individual firms as well as populations/aggregates of businesses. Both the growth and termination of firms and firm populations are found to be related to real economic (environmental) conditions; e.g. favorable macroeconomic conditions implied that firms grew in size. At the same time, under certain circumstances, the influence of structural variables (firm age and size) – as suggested in much previous research – is found to be of importance. As concerns firm growth, as well as firm termination, the economic environment and structural factors interact. These findings challenges individual or firm-level research that mainly focus on personal traits and behaviors in explaining firm success and failure. Other previous assumptions are also challenged when taking a longer time perspective into consideration. For decades, organization and business research have acknowledged a liability of newness and of size for business firms. While this might be true under some conditions, this liability of newness is falsified in the study: the termination behavior of some firm generations did not correspond with these assumptions. Thus, the perspectives and methodology applied in the dissertation complement earlier approaches in entrepreneurship and small business research.

The aim of this thesis is to reach further understanding of the development of environmental adaptation in Swedish heavy industry by studying the case of the Rönnskär Smelter 1960-2000. More specifically, the aim of the thesis is to investigate the interplay between firm level environmental adaptation and national environmental politics and economic development. To fulfil this aim, the following questions are asked: How have company activities such as production processes, organisation and company strategies been developed and adopted in order to meet environmental demands with maintained competitiveness? How have company activities been framed by environmental policies and the specific environmental regulations, relevant for this case? What other factors, beside environmental regulations, have driven and framed the environmental adaptation process of the firm? The study concludes that a long-range competitive environmental adaptation was reached by a combination of investments in environmental technology with an overall rationalisation and modernisation of the enterprise. The study suggests that the environmental adaptation process of the Rönnskär Smelter became part of an overall process of industrial modernisation during the period, which reflects a wider context than the environmental issue itself. It mirrors technological development on other fields than the environment, and an increasing competition on a global scale that called for lower unit costs of production. This led to a modernisation for pollution reduction strategy that enabled the firm to increase production but still cutting its pollution levels considerably over time. The result is partly consistent with the Porter hypothesis that suggests that strict environmental regulation can strengthen firms’ and nations’ competitiveness. Time series data shows that emissions from the Rönnskär factory have radically declined since the 1960s. For these changes, process technology has proven to be most important. Technological adjustments came about through a step-by-step adaptation. It is clear that internal solutions, developed by the companies’ own engineers were more important at an early stage, when the supply of external solutions was limited. The study also concludes that environmental regulation has strongly influenced the environmental adaptation at the Rönnskär Smelter. Of most importance is the Environmental Protection Act (EPA: Miljöskyddslagen) implemented in 1969. In the economic historian Nathan Rosenberg’s terminology, this study suggests that the EPA model of individual testing promoted long-term innovative and cost-effective technical solutions, because it was consistent with decentralised experimental activity and the specific conditions that characterise the dynamics of technological development. However, not much can be said before comparative studies within the Swedish system have been conducted, or perhaps most fruitful, between various national systems of environmental protection. This study also concludes that the environmental issue became of strategic dignity at the very beginning of the 1970s, mainly as a consequence of the implementation of the EPA. Even though environmental issues did not become important for market strategies until the 1990s, the environmental issue called already in the 1970s for adjustments that required financial and personnel resources that demanded priorities and strategic decisions at the highest level of the organisation. The study also concludes that even though the technological dimension has played the most decisive role for lowering emissions, the significance of organisation has increased over time. While the 1960s, and especially the 1970s, brought about substantial pollution reductions through new technology, organisational aspects became relatively more important when the costs of abatement were rising in the 1980s. Organisational co-ordination, division of local responsibilities and education of personnel became a supplement to technology to obtain further pollution reductions. The technician as the “environmental hero” of the firm was successively replaced by the organisational co-ordinator.

My research seeks to explain the evolution of trade policy debates among American business leaders between World War I and the 1960s. The key finding is that a new framework for discussing trade policy was widely adopted after the United States became a creditor nation during World War I. This framework related tariffs and imports to exports, international lending and American foreign policy. High levels of imports ceased to be a threat and instead came to be seen as a pre-requisite for high levels of exports and a well-functioning global economy; raising the levels of imports, including through tariff cuts, became a strategy for providing American allies and debtors with dollar revenues. This new insight into the political economy of American foreign economic policy is based on new evidence from the archival records of business associations and a wide range of other primary and secondary sources. In addition to bringing to light new evidence, my research also addresses some of the gaps that still exist in the literature on the history of the foreign economic policy of the United States, the Cold War and transatlantic relations.

The Banco de Moçambique (Bank) was established in May 17, 1975. The 1920 Brussels Conference recommended that in countries without a central bank, it should be created. The ‘Bank’ followed the new model of emerging countries’ central banks (mid-1950s), where those central banks regulated and controlled an existing financial system and promoted the emergence of a money and capital market. From 1975 the Bank performed commercial functions until 1992, when the functions of commercial banking and central banking were separated. Mozambique tried to establish a socialist society. The prevailing financial system, primarily consisting of of expatriate banks, was reorganised under the state bank. This was a restructuring and integration process. In 1980 the Metical, the new currency of Mozambique, was introduced. In the 1980s weakening economic conditions in Mozambique mandated the reconsideration of post-independence economic policies. In 1984 Mozambique accepted assistance from the Bretton Woods institutions and from 1987 the country embraced the Economic Rehabilitation Program. The Bank embarked on monetary, credit, supervisory and regulatory policies reforms, to consolidate conventional central bank functions. / History / M.A. (History)