Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2005. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-182). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Low-carbon development (LCD) in China and India is crucial to global sustainability. As representatives of the emerging world, China and India have to tackle the LCD challenge at the same time as they address rapid urbanization, industrialization and globalization, making this process an unprecedented problem in policy and practice. My dissertation uses a comparative perspective to examine the unique institutional change processes of China and India's LCD during the period of late 1970s to the present day - through the lens of energy efficiency (EE). I argue that despite the manifold differences in political, economic and social contexts in contemporary China and India, the process of institutional development and change in EE reveals some similar mechanisms. I investigate the common mechanisms through a five-phase framework, and find: First, in both countries, EE was initially triggered by complicated interactions between international and domestic crises. Second, through processes of political negotiation led by various policy groups, EE was conceived and planned by each state to embody not one single objective but multiple political, economic and social development goals. Third, in order to realize EE, an organizational complex formed within an existing governance structure. Fourth, detailed policy processes (which both shape and are shaped by their institutional settings) emerged from the previous stages. Finally, EE institutions are stabilized jointly through legalization and the establishment of specialist technical subfields. I argue that the key mechanism of the five-phase process of institutional change is the bundling structure between EE organizations and the host governance structure. While in China the latter is the structure of economic governance, in India it is that of energy governance. These bundling structures imprinted multiple path-dependencies from the host governance structure to the newly developed EE regime, which in turn determine the long-term impact of EE on LCD in China and India. My original contributions are threefold. First, this project is one of the first scholarly attempts to systematically make sense of LCD in large and complex countries with fast economic growth by using the perspective of institutional change. Second, drawing on broad theoretical resources and through an interdisciplinary exploration, the thesis tries to construct a cause-effect, systemic, and political-economic theory of LCD in contemporary China and India. Finally, my comparative framework adds a systemic and nuanced methodological viewpoint to the emerging field of multidisciplinary China-India comparative scholarship.

Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Ökad konkurrens sätter press på företag att vara anpassningsbara och utveckla sina verksamheter vilket har resulterat i att fler företag, framförallt tillverkande, infört Lean Production (LP) på grund av dess potential att stärka produktionseffektiviteten. Tidigare forskning menar att den traditionella verksamhetsstyrningen och ledarskapet inte stödjer användandet av LP och är i behov av att anpassas för att stödja de förändringar som LP-strategin innebär. Tidigare forskning har vidare inte haft svenska företag som sin utgångspunkt vilket skapar intresse om tidigare identifierade effekter på hur LP påverkar verksamhetsstyrning och ledarskap även går att bevittna i svenska tillverkande företag. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva samt analysera de effekter och utmaningar som kan identifieras i en övergång mot LP på verksamhetsstyrning och ledarskap bland några svenska tillverkande företag. Metod: En kvalitativ flerfallsstudie på fyra svenska tillverkande företag: Emballator Lagan Plast, Emballator Växjöplast, Glamox Luxo Lightning och Gårö Plåtprodukter. Teorin underbyggdes av relevant litteratur, vetenskapliga artiklar och sekundärkällor, samt tidigare empirisk forskning. Empirin hämtades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer på plats samt observationer. Slutsats: Samtliga fallföretag har genomgått förändringar som följd av LP, med vissa genomgående karaktäriserande drag men även förändringar som skiljer sig emellan företagen. Utifrån analysen har det gått att se att LP frambringat flertalet effekter bland fallföretagen på verksamhetsstyrning och ledarskap där de flesta har liknelser med tidigare empiriska studiersresultat. Dock har andra effekter identifierats, bland annat den ökade mognadsgraden hos ledarskapet och hur den påverkat utformningen av verksamhetsstyrningen och de LP principer som införts. Ytterligare har även framtida utmaningar med LP identifierats. / Background and problem discussion: Increased competition on the market puts pressure on companies to be adaptable and develop their operations which has resulted in that more companies, especially within manufacturing, has introduced Lean production (LP) as a way to streamline and improve their operations. Previous research argues that the traditional view of management control and leadership does not support the use of LP and needs to be adapted to support the changes resulting from the LP strategy. Previous research has furthermore not focused on exclusively Swedish companies which makes it interesting to see if previously identified effects on management control and leadership caused by LP also can be identified in some Swedish manufacturing companies. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the effects that can be identified in a transition toward LP on management control and leadership among some Swedish manufacturing companies. Method: A qualitative multi-case study of four Swedish manufacturing companies, Emballator Lagan Plast, Emballator Växjöplast, Glamox Luxo Lightning and Gårö Plåtprodukter. The theory was supported by relevant literature, scientific articles and secondary sources. The empirical data was retrieved through semi-structured interviews and observations. Conclusion: All case companies have undergone changes as a result of LP, with some consistently characterizing traits but also changes that differ between the companies. Based on the analysis, it has been possible to identify several effects regarding the companies leadership and management control due to LP, where some have previously been identified in other empirical studies. However, other effects have also been identified, including the increased maturity of leadership and how it has influenced the design of management and control within the case companies and the LP principles they introduced. Furthermore future challenges regarding LP have also been identified.