This master thesis focuses on extensification of agricultural production and land use, and on driving forces and factors that influence this process. The research concentrates on land-use changes resulting from the extensification of agriculture (especially grassing-over and abandonment of agricultural land) in last twenty years. Emphasis is put on an analysis of driving forces of extensification processes that have an influence on land-use change. Factors with an impact on extensification are divided into natural and socio-economic ones. Natural factors are represented for example by air temperature, precipitation, altitude, slope, or soil productivity. As socio-economic ones we consider for instance the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, Gross Domestic Product, population density, spatial exposedness, or patterns of use and ownership of agricultural land. These factors are studied on European, Czech and local scales. Data for this research were collected from international and Czech databases; on the local level there was performed the author's own field research. Results of this thesis are obtained by quantitative research that demonstrate the main influence of natural driving forces on the process of extensification in Europe. Land-use changes related with extensification of agriculture...

Introdução: O tema medicalização emerge como objeto de estudo no campo da sociologia da saúde, a partir da década de 70, nas vozes de Irving Zola, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad e Michel Foucalt; as quais indicaram a crescente influência da medicina em campos que até então não lhe pertenciam. E, no decorrer dos anos, o termo vem sendo apropriado por vários campos: na saúde, na educação, na psicologia, entre outros. Esta configuração levou alguns estudiosos da primeira década do século XXI, a se preocupar com o uso impreciso e vago do conceito de medicalização na produção científica. Neste sentido, este estudo busca olhar para os processos de medicalização, tomando-o em sua pluralidade a fim de discernir as principais forças motrizes e coteja-las com as mudanças na contemporaneidade. Objetivo: Recuperar as forças motrizes contidas nas principais contribuições dos autores primários sobre os processos de medicalização. Método: Realizou-se um exercício hermenêutico composto pelos seguintes passos: leitura profunda do texto, fichamento dos aspectos centrais que caracterizam as diversas concepções sobre medicalização. Interpretação do conteúdo por meio da abstração dos núcleos de sentido e dos referenciais teóricos que lhe dão suporte. Resultados: A partir deste movimento reflexivo e crítico conseguiu-se desvelar quatro conceitos nucleares que representam as principais forças motrizes: a indústria, as instituições, o Estado e a sociedade. Zola oferece indícios que o Estado e a indústria teriam levado a sociedade à dependência da medicina. Para Illich, a medicina, por si só, detém o poder comparada as outras instituições. Para Michel Foucault, a medicina deixou de ser uma ciência pura e transformou-se numa instituição subordinada a um sistema econômico e de poder, enfim a uma lógica subjacente aos princípios e regras de governo. Em contrapartida, para Conrad a medicalização não constitui um empreendimento exclusivo da medicina, prevalecendo os interesses de outras instituições e organizações sociais. O sentido com que cada um desses conceitos é usado difere entre os autores e a distinção desses aspectos é chave para compreender a contribuição efetiva de cada um. Da mesma forma, ocorre quando os autores discutem as consequências e os efeitos causados pelos processos de medicalização. Alguns autores direcionam seus efeitos para os indivíduos, num processo de exacerbação da individualização; enquanto que outros focam os efeitos da medicalização nas políticas de saúde e na questão econômica associada ao oneroso custo financeiro para a sociedade e o país. Considerações finais: A recuperação e a compreensão dos significados subjacentes às principais forças motrizes presentes nas contribuições de cada autor apresentadas nesta investigação constituem-se em passo importante para subsidiar a reflexão sobre processos concretos de medicalização no início do século XXI, um período marcado por aceleradas transformações, no qual, entre outros aspectos, a medicina e várias instituições têm sido crescentemente, capturadas para satisfazer, de um lado o consumismo, e de outro, a avidez pelo lucro do mercado capitalista; ao mesmo tempo em que forças desagregadoras atravessam os sujeitos impactando sua autonomia e identidade política, social e econômica. / Introduction: The theme medicalization rises as an object of study in the sociology of health field, starting in the 70s from Irving Zola, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad and Michel Foucault; which indicated the growing influence of medicine on groups not yet belonged by it. And, as years went by, the term has been appropriated by several fields: health, education, psychology, and so forth. This configuration took some scholars from the first decade of the 21st century to worry about the inaccurate and vague use of the concept of medicalization in the scientific production. Hence, this study focus on looking at the process of medicalization, taking it in its pluralities in order to discern the main driving forces and collate them with the changes in contemporaneity. Goal: Recover the driving forces contained in the main contributions from the primary authors about the process of medicalization. Methodology: It was performed an hermeneutic assignment made by the following steps: deep reading of the text, indexing of main aspects that characterize the various conceptions about medicalization, and interpretation of the content by the abstraction of the core of senses and theoretical references that support it. Result: From that reflexive and critic movement it was able to unveil four core concepts that represent the main driving forces: the industry, the institutions, the state and society. Zola offers clues showing that the state and the industry had taken society to a dependence of medicine. As for Illich, medicine by itself holds the power compared to the other institutions. For Michel Foucault, medicine stopped being plain science and became an institution subordinate to an economic and power system, therefore to an underlying logic to the government\'s rules and principles. In contrast, for Peter Conrad medicalization doesn\'t consist in a medicine exclusive enterprise, prevailing the interests of other social institutions and organizations. The meaning of which each of these concepts is used differs among the authors and the distinction of these aspects is the key to understanding an effective contribution of each one. Accordingly, it happens when the authors discuss the consequences and effects caused by the medicalization process. Some authors aim its effects to individuals, in a process of aggravation of individualization; whereas others focus the effects of medicalization on health policies and the economic aspect associated with the onerous financial cost to society and to the country. Final considerations: The recovery and understanding of the underlying meanings to the main driving forces contained within each authors contribution shown in this investigation consist in an important step to support the reflection about the factual process of medicalization at the beginning of the 21st century, a period marked by fast transformations which, among other aspects, medicine and several institutions have been increasingly taken to satisfy on the one hand consumerism, and on the other hand the greed for profit of the capitalist market, at the same time that disintegrating forces cross the subjects, impacting its political, social and economic autonomy and identity.

Introdução: O tema medicalização emerge como objeto de estudo no campo da sociologia da saúde, a partir da década de 70, nas vozes de Irving Zola, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad e Michel Foucalt; as quais indicaram a crescente influência da medicina em campos que até então não lhe pertenciam. E, no decorrer dos anos, o termo vem sendo apropriado por vários campos: na saúde, na educação, na psicologia, entre outros. Esta configuração levou alguns estudiosos da primeira década do século XXI, a se preocupar com o uso impreciso e vago do conceito de medicalização na produção científica. Neste sentido, este estudo busca olhar para os processos de medicalização, tomando-o em sua pluralidade a fim de discernir as principais forças motrizes e coteja-las com as mudanças na contemporaneidade. Objetivo: Recuperar as forças motrizes contidas nas principais contribuições dos autores primários sobre os processos de medicalização. Método: Realizou-se um exercício hermenêutico composto pelos seguintes passos: leitura profunda do texto, fichamento dos aspectos centrais que caracterizam as diversas concepções sobre medicalização. Interpretação do conteúdo por meio da abstração dos núcleos de sentido e dos referenciais teóricos que lhe dão suporte. Resultados: A partir deste movimento reflexivo e crítico conseguiu-se desvelar quatro conceitos nucleares que representam as principais forças motrizes: a indústria, as instituições, o Estado e a sociedade. Zola oferece indícios que o Estado e a indústria teriam levado a sociedade à dependência da medicina. Para Illich, a medicina, por si só, detém o poder comparada as outras instituições. Para Michel Foucault, a medicina deixou de ser uma ciência pura e transformou-se numa instituição subordinada a um sistema econômico e de poder, enfim a uma lógica subjacente aos princípios e regras de governo. Em contrapartida, para Conrad a medicalização não constitui um empreendimento exclusivo da medicina, prevalecendo os interesses de outras instituições e organizações sociais. O sentido com que cada um desses conceitos é usado difere entre os autores e a distinção desses aspectos é chave para compreender a contribuição efetiva de cada um. Da mesma forma, ocorre quando os autores discutem as consequências e os efeitos causados pelos processos de medicalização. Alguns autores direcionam seus efeitos para os indivíduos, num processo de exacerbação da individualização; enquanto que outros focam os efeitos da medicalização nas políticas de saúde e na questão econômica associada ao oneroso custo financeiro para a sociedade e o país. Considerações finais: A recuperação e a compreensão dos significados subjacentes às principais forças motrizes presentes nas contribuições de cada autor apresentadas nesta investigação constituem-se em passo importante para subsidiar a reflexão sobre processos concretos de medicalização no início do século XXI, um período marcado por aceleradas transformações, no qual, entre outros aspectos, a medicina e várias instituições têm sido crescentemente, capturadas para satisfazer, de um lado o consumismo, e de outro, a avidez pelo lucro do mercado capitalista; ao mesmo tempo em que forças desagregadoras atravessam os sujeitos impactando sua autonomia e identidade política, social e econômica. / Introduction: The theme medicalization rises as an object of study in the sociology of health field, starting in the 70s from Irving Zola, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad and Michel Foucault; which indicated the growing influence of medicine on groups not yet belonged by it. And, as years went by, the term has been appropriated by several fields: health, education, psychology, and so forth. This configuration took some scholars from the first decade of the 21st century to worry about the inaccurate and vague use of the concept of medicalization in the scientific production. Hence, this study focus on looking at the process of medicalization, taking it in its pluralities in order to discern the main driving forces and collate them with the changes in contemporaneity. Goal: Recover the driving forces contained in the main contributions from the primary authors about the process of medicalization. Methodology: It was performed an hermeneutic assignment made by the following steps: deep reading of the text, indexing of main aspects that characterize the various conceptions about medicalization, and interpretation of the content by the abstraction of the core of senses and theoretical references that support it. Result: From that reflexive and critic movement it was able to unveil four core concepts that represent the main driving forces: the industry, the institutions, the state and society. Zola offers clues showing that the state and the industry had taken society to a dependence of medicine. As for Illich, medicine by itself holds the power compared to the other institutions. For Michel Foucault, medicine stopped being plain science and became an institution subordinate to an economic and power system, therefore to an underlying logic to the government\'s rules and principles. In contrast, for Peter Conrad medicalization doesn\'t consist in a medicine exclusive enterprise, prevailing the interests of other social institutions and organizations. The meaning of which each of these concepts is used differs among the authors and the distinction of these aspects is the key to understanding an effective contribution of each one. Accordingly, it happens when the authors discuss the consequences and effects caused by the medicalization process. Some authors aim its effects to individuals, in a process of aggravation of individualization; whereas others focus the effects of medicalization on health policies and the economic aspect associated with the onerous financial cost to society and to the country. Final considerations: The recovery and understanding of the underlying meanings to the main driving forces contained within each authors contribution shown in this investigation consist in an important step to support the reflection about the factual process of medicalization at the beginning of the 21st century, a period marked by fast transformations which, among other aspects, medicine and several institutions have been increasingly taken to satisfy on the one hand consumerism, and on the other hand the greed for profit of the capitalist market, at the same time that disintegrating forces cross the subjects, impacting its political, social and economic autonomy and identity.

No description available.

<p>As the Chinese rate of growth has accelerated, China is increasingly considered as an important market for a diverse range of goods and services, including the advancedand complex. This has caught the attention of foreign firms in general and Swedish multinational companies in particular (Demir & Söderman 2007). This thesis focuses on a Chinese perspective of Chinese partners' decision making in SFJV, which is lacking in previous research. Six variables which are related to Chinese partners'decision making in SFJV are founded on a theoretical background. Then these six variables are compiled into a Chinese partners' decision making model. Each of these six variables is further divided into several factors. Data is then collect by a case study in which several SFJVs and their Chinese parents-Chinese partners are interviewed.This data is later used to verify and improve the original model which is founded on theoretical background. Finally an updated Chinese partners' decision making modelis created. The thesis concludes with the important findings and a discussion of the applicability of this model, contribution of the research, and future possible research orientation.</p>

The integration of defence companies in Europe and the U.S. has in the defence market’s environment for a long time received considerable interest. Companies see business opportunities and attractive technology on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Governments advocate in a public discourse that transatlantic defence industry integration is highly desirable and that it would benefit all concerned. This supportive discourse is compared to the action; the corporate integration that has occurred. The aim of the thesis is to understand and explain the level and nature of the transatlantic defence industry integration and its driving forces and inhibitors. A combination of three focal theoretical concepts has been used: integration, discourse and organizational field. The thesis shows that there is a marked discrepancy between the discourse for and the actual extent of transatlantic defence industry integration. This discrepancy and the nature of the corporate integration is analyzed and explained through the combination of discourse and integration within an organizational field. The thesis shows that defence companies’ in transatlantic acquisitions achieve very limited influence over the acquired company’s strategy and operations, and that synergies and rationalization are strongly disencouraged by governments. The processual integration within trans-national groups and in transatlantic defence materiel collaboration is highly restricted by governments. The thesis also shows that the defence innovation largely is separated between the U.S. and Europe. The defence market is an example of a political market showing a very different corporate rationality compared to ideal models of corporate rationality as the SCP paradigm. The findings suggest that defence companies’ strategy and integration appear non-rational in isolation, but become rational when understood through the lens of the defence market seen as an organizational field – a perspective that emphasizes the influence of the government field. If you want to understand, analyze or engage in transatlantic defence industry integration, you should benefit from this study. It should be of interest to researchers who study the defence industry, defence procurement, political markets, organizational fields, regulatory governance and corporate integration. It should be of interest to policymakers and others engaged in the discourse that concerns reforms of political markets in general, and of the defence market in particular. Martin Lundmark is a researcher at the Center for Marketing, Distribution and Industry Dynamics at the Stockholm School of Economics. His research focuses on the defence market, defence procurement, Europeanization and the transformation within political markets. Martin also works as defence market and defence procurement analyst and deputy research director at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011

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Outsourcing can be defined as transferring an activity from internal to external control. This thesis studies outsourcing in the wood product manufacturing (WPM) sector from both a customer and supplier perspective. The research design is a multiple case study approach, and it is based on six Scandinavian companies in the door, floor and window industries and one larger supplier of raw material. This study provides an understanding of driving forces for outsourcing in a different context than previously studied and has identified cost reduction in combination with reallocating resources from non-core activities as main driving forces. Compared to several other industrial sectors, outsourcing strategies for the WPM firms have little to do with accessing external sources’ capabilities. In the literature, there is often a main focus on the strategic level of outsourcing, however, such heavy resource-based focus in terms of a core competence approach in the formulation of outsourcing strategies at the customer side risks forgetting that components can still be vulnerable to supplier failure. Here, more focus needs to be put on the operational level when considering outsourcing. This thesis illustrates customers considering outsourcing where there are not any given outsourcing supplier partners developed. At the same time, for the supplier side, forward integration and specialising by taking over outsourcing is complicated by an initial divergent production flow of sawn timber. When not all contexts have developed supplier markets for directly managing outsourcing, it should not be assumed that general outsourcing models are directly applicable. In general, the question of whether or not to outsource seems too complex to simply be considered as either “in or out”. A company needs safeguards when conducting outsourcing and in a situation where there is a non-developed supplier market, parallel in-house production becomes an alternative.

No description available.

As the Chinese rate of growth has accelerated, China is increasingly considered as an important market for a diverse range of goods and services, including the advancedand complex. This has caught the attention of foreign firms in general and Swedish multinational companies in particular (Demir &amp; Söderman 2007). This thesis focuses on a Chinese perspective of Chinese partners' decision making in SFJV, which is lacking in previous research. Six variables which are related to Chinese partners'decision making in SFJV are founded on a theoretical background. Then these six variables are compiled into a Chinese partners' decision making model. Each of these six variables is further divided into several factors. Data is then collect by a case study in which several SFJVs and their Chinese parents-Chinese partners are interviewed.This data is later used to verify and improve the original model which is founded on theoretical background. Finally an updated Chinese partners' decision making modelis created. The thesis concludes with the important findings and a discussion of the applicability of this model, contribution of the research, and future possible research orientation.