I denna uppsats redovisas en studie av hur svenska idrottsföreningar på landsbygden påverkas av de samhällsförändringar som intåget i det postmoderna samhället har medfört. Det studerade datamaterialet har samlats in genom kvalitativa intervjuer och därefter analyserats genom forskningsmetoden grundad teori. De informanter som deltagit i studien är alla själva verksamma inom idrottsklubbar på små orter, och denna uppsats ger en inblick i deras erfarenheter som förhoppningsvis kan bidra till en ökad kunskap om hur svenska idrottsföreningar på landsbygden kan komma att utvecklas inom de närmaste åren. Resultaten avslöjar att de studerade föreningarna upplever stora problem vid rekryteringen av såväl nya medlemmar som ideellt engagerade tränare och styrelseledamöter. Dessutom påvisar studien en pågående konflikt mellan stad och landsbygd som i synnerhet berör resursfördelning och politisk prioritering. / In this thesis, a study of how Swedish sports associations in rural areas are affected by the societal changes which the advent of the post-modern society has brought is declared. The studied data has been collected through qualitative interviews and thenceforth analyzed through the research method grounded theory. The informants who have participated in the study are all active in sports clubs in small villages themselves, and this thesis provides an insight in their experiences which hopefully can contribute to an increased knowledge about how Swedish sports associations in rural areas may develop in the next few years. The results reveal that the studied sports clubs experience severe problems in the recruitment of new members as well as voluntary trainers and members of the board. Moreover, the study proves an ongoing conflict between urban and rural areas which in particular concerns allocation of resources and political priority.

The doctoral thesis examines Queensland's music industry in terms of concepts derived from cluster and network theories in the context of literature discussing creative industries. To this end, the thesis is conceived as one case study incorporating quantitative surveys, convergent interviews and document analyses as its units of investigation. This is necessary because it is the industry as a whole that is the object of theorizing (in terms of Porter and network theory). The 357 firms surveyed represent the creative content producers, distributors and suppliers that comprise Queensland's music industry. The sample for the survey was randomly selected from a universe of 10977 individuals and/or organisations involved in the following sectors of Queensland's music business: music publishing, record companies and distributors, recorded music retailing, other performing arts/music and theatre productions, music composition, and music performance. The data was analysed to understand and describe the nature of firms in the industry and investigate cluster and network dynamics in the operation of the industry. Twenty convergent interviews were also undertaken to further elaborate the qualitative dimensions of cluster and network dynamics in the industry, with particular attention to understanding how the factor input conditions of Porter's cluster model work in practice in the industry, as well as elucidating network effects not adequately addressed by Porter's theory. Policy and industry documents relating to Queensland's music industry were used to contextualise the findings. The conclusions articulate how Queensland's music industry operates as a cluster, and how innovation and creativity are facilitated. The thesis finds Porter's model insufficient to describe some key aspects of this industry's operation. Face-to-face communication, trust and informal networks combine explicit and tacit knowledge to bring about innovation. Thus the industry should be conceived of as a cluster of networks. Furthermore, the findings problematise the notion of distance in cluster and network theories. Traditionally, distance has been conceived in geographic terms; the findings suggest that in the music industry, distance must be understood as cognitive and cultural as well as geographic. The findings provide a detailed set of theoretical modifications to cluster and network theories. Implications are discussed for industry development and policy in Queensland's music industry.